CIC Announces Competition for Presidential Essays
CIC recently received a grant from the Lumina Foundation for Education to support the preparation of a volume of essays by college presidents, on ways in which their institutions are successfully educating low-income students. The Council announced an open competition for essays in November, outlining the specifications for the presidential essays. The volume, Educating Low-income Students: Access and Success, Presidential Essays on Effective Practice, will be published as part of the Lumina Foundation’s New Agenda series. CIC presidents were also contributors to a prior volume in that series, Success Stories: Strategies that Make a Difference at 13 Independent Colleges and Universities (March 2000).
    The book of essays will describe institutional efforts to promote access and success for individuals from low-income families. The range of institutional initiatives can include assistance in preparing prospective students, outreach to increase awareness of opportunities, student financial aid strategies, student advising and support systems, instructional support, and incentives for completion of educational programs.
    An advisory committee has been established to help outline some possible thematic areas and select those presidents to be invited to prepare essays. Committee members include: Larry L. Earvin, president, Huston-Tillotson College (TX); A. Lee Fritschler, vice president and director, Center for Public Policy Education, The Brookings Institution; Jamie Merisotis, president, Institute for Higher Education Policy; John F. Noonan, president, Bloomfield College (NJ); and Matthew J. Quinn, executive director, Jack Kent Cooke Foundation. The book of essays is expected to be published by the Lumina Foundation in early 2004. Information on the initiative has been sent to CIC member presidents; for more information, visit the CIC website at www.cic.edu/projects_services/other/educating.asp or call Richard Ekman or Russell Garth at (202) 466-7230.

CIC’s Presidential Forums Gaining Momentum
Three Presidential Forums involving a total of 35 presidents have convened since the presidential leadership initiative was launched last spring, and four additional forums are beginning this fall.
    The forums, consisting of small groups of presidents who meet several times each year to discuss professional concerns, have convened in Atlanta, Columbus, and New York. Two of the forums have met twice; all intend to gather approximately four times each year. Two new forums are being formed—one in New England/Middle States is scheduled to meet for the first time in New York City on December 12, and another in the South is scheduled to meet in Atlanta on December 18, while two additional groups are being formed in the West and North Central regions.
    Peter Armacost, president emeritus of Eckerd College (FL), is serving as director of the Presidential Forums. “The forums provide a valuable opportunity for presidents to test new ideas in a non-threatening setting and to gain important insights from colleagues before further work on their own campuses,” Armacost said. “As might be expected when CIC presidents gather, the discussions cover such topics as dealing with difficult board issues, strategic planning, strategies to secure faculty support for new initiatives, enrollment management, the proper priority in weighing the need to have a balanced operating budget and the need to invest in the future of the institution, and the personal life of a president amidst the many demands of the job,” he noted.  
    When the initiative was launched, more than 200 CIC member presidents indicated interest in participating in a forum, each of which will include about a dozen presidents from colleges and universities that are somewhat comparable but are not in direct competition with one another. The forums are arranged to include people who came to the presidency from different backgrounds, and who, therefore, have different areas of expertise to share. The groups’ typical agenda will include a presentation by a member of an idea, issue, problem, or proposal on which he or she seeks advice; time for members to give a brief update of events on their campuses; and a discussion of some new concept, idea, or program of mutual interest to forum members.
    This initiative is one among several new presidential leadership services offered by CIC, including a Panel of Presidential Consultants to advise sitting presidents on issues such as crisis management, financial management, and board relations; a travel grants program to help presidents needing financial assistance to attend CIC events; and a series of regional meetings of presidents and trustees to share information about board development and president-board relations. These presidential leadership services are supported by a grant from The Henry Luce Foundation.
    For questions about the Presidential Forums, please call (202) 466-7230 or
e-mail parmacost@cic.nche.edu.

CIC Announces Partnership with New York Times
CIC has arranged a partnership with the New York Times that will provide CIC member institutions with discounted subscriptions, advertising rates, and rights and permissions site licenses for the New York Times archives, as well as opportunities to meet with Times staff and to bring reporters and editors to campus for speaking engagements, among other benefits. The idea for the CIC/New York Times Partnership in Education Program followed a special meeting the Council organized for a group of CIC member presidents with reporters and editors from the Times in March 2002. For information on the partnership, contact Laura Wilcox at (202) 466-7230.

CIC Cosponsors Symposium, Paper on Small Colleges in the Information Age
CIC and the Center for Academic Transformation cosponsored an invitational symposium on “Small Colleges in the Information Age: Challenges and Opportunities,” as part of the Center’s Pew Symposia in Learning and Technology series. A paper stemming from this meeting was recently released by the Pew Learning and Technology Program, Redefining Community: Small Colleges in the Information Age, which describes the conclusions of the meeting and includes case studies of the uses of technology to improve learning and control costs at six independent institutions.
    The paper’s author, Carol Twigg, who is director of the Center for Academic Transformation at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, addresses the information technology questions that confront small, liberal arts institutions: Under what circumstances can methods for improving academic quality and controlling costs developed at larger institutions transfer effectively to the small college environment? What is the appropriate balance between face-to-face and online instruction? What new approaches are being pioneered by peer institutions that may be transferable to others?
    In his foreward to the publication, CIC President Richard Ekman states that, “My hope is that the clarification of what is realistic and what is possible, as detailed in this paper, will help colleges and universities make better-informed choices—choices that will be reflected in faculty debates about pedagogy, in purchasing and leasing decisions, and in students’ modes of learning.”
    This publication may be downloaded at www.center.rpi.edu/PewSym/Mono5.html. For more information, contact the Center for Academic Transformation at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute at (518) 276-6519.

Staff Spotlight—People Who Make CIC Work Stephen Gibson is CIC's Projects Coodinator, and assists in the running of a number of grant programs such as the Teaching Scholar Partnerships program and the Engaging Communities and Campuses program. His work includes data analysis, writing and editing, and making logistical arrangements for conferences and meetings. Recently, he prepared an analysis of the applicant pool for the CIC/Lehrman Institute of American History seminar on slavery debates that is available on CIC's website.     Stephen, who grew up in Washington, DC, has been with CIC since March 2001. After graduating from Tufts University and the University of Washington with an MFA in creative writing, Stephen lived in Washington and San Francisco, working as a bicycle messenger and editing the literary magazine Mobile City, which has been featured on NPR's "Morning Edition." In his spare time, he enjoys mountain biking and writing poetry. Some of his poems have been published in the magazines Ploughshares, The Boston Review, Poetry Northwest, and Gargoyle. Stephen has helped curate art shows at the new DC arts space, Transformer Gallery.

Staff News and Notes
CIC this fall made several shifts in staff responsibilities to enable the Council to implement some of the new ideas emerging from the strategic planning process.
    Michelle Gilliard was named Vice President for Planning and Evaluation, in addition to her CAPHE Executive Director role, and Elizabeth Bishop has assumed additional responsibilities as Vice President for Operations (her previous title was Director of Conferences and Chief of Operations). Elizabeth Hamshaw moved to a newly created position of Communications Assistant, and Monica Amato was recently hired to take over Hamshaw’s duties as Assistant to the President. Chris Call will assume another newly created position of Data Coordinator. In addition, Thomas Flynn, recently president of Millikin University (IL), is serving as CIC Senior Fellow to direct the project on the liberal arts and the corporate community.
    CIC President Richard Ekman was on the speaking circuit during the month of August. He spoke at Oakwood College’s (AL) opening Faculty and Staff Colloquium on August 9, at Benedictine College’s (KS) opening Faculty/Staff Workshop on August 21, and at Baker University’s (KS) opening Faculty Workshop on August 22. In addition, Ekman gave the convocation address at LaGrange College (GA) on September 4, and made a presentation at Harvard University on October 2 to advanced graduate students entitled “Life Beyond the Research University: Size May Matter,” about the advantages of academic careers at small, private colleges. Stanton Hales, president of the College of Wooster (OH) was the other speaker.
    Vice President for Development Candace Groudine’s review of the book, Trust and Civil Society, edited by Fran Tonkiss, Andrew Passey, and Natalie Fenton (2000), was published in the September 2002 issue of Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly.