Alexander Astin, professor and director of the Higher Education Research Institute at UCLA, will launch a series of public talks about the future of higher education with a lecture Tuesday, Jan. 24, at the University of California, Davis. His talk, titled "Assessment and Evaluation in the Research University," begins at 4 p.m. in the University Club. It is the first in the new Chancellor's Forum on the Future lecture series, which will sponsor three other guest lecturers in February and April. • Feb. 28 -- Robert Zemsky, director of the Institute for Research on Higher Education at the University of Pennsylvania and senior editor of "Policy Perspectives," a publication of the Pew Higher Education Roundtable. He plans to address academic restructuring. • April 10 -- Walter Massey, UC provost and senior vice president for academic affairs and former director of the National Science Foundation. He plans to address the future of the research enterprise in the university and around the nation. • April 20 -- C. Peter Magrath, president of the National Association of State Universities and Land-Grant Colleges and past president of the University of Missouri System. He plans to address the present outreach mission of land-grant universities. All talks will be held at 4 p.m. in the University Club. Astin, former director of research for both the American Council on Education and the National Merit Scholarship Corp., has written more than 18 books and published some 200 other publications in the field of higher education. His research and writing interests focus on student development, values, educational policy, and reform in higher education. In 1990, a study in the Journal of Higher Education identified Astin as the most frequently cited author in the field of higher education. In 1985, Change magazine readers selected Astin as the person "most admired for creative, insightful thinking" in the field of higher education.