Participants in a roundtable meeting hosted by Otterbein College (OH) in July discussed the future of CIC and independent colleges. Pictured are (from left to right) CIC President Richard Ekman; Brent DeVore, Otterbein College; Richard Scaldini, Hiram College; Jack Calareso, Ohio Dominican College; George Matthews, Lourdes College; Sister Francis Marie Thrailkill, College of Mt. St. Joseph; and Kendall Baker, Ohio Northern University (forefront). (Photo by Ed Sygunda)

The Board of Directors of the Council of Independent Colleges (CIC) at its June meeting approved several new initiatives aimed at addressing key issues facing private colleges and universities. The Board approved plans to launch additional presidential leadership development activities, establish an Information Technology Advisory Service, and create the capacity to collect and analyze data on private higher education, among other activities. These initiatives grow out of a major effort at strategic planning in which CIC is now engaged. Additional initiatives are likely to follow in due course.
     "I'm delighted that the Board of Directors wants CIC to address these challenges for small and medium sized private colleges and universities," said CIC President Richard Ekman. During the meeting, Board Chair Margaret McKenna, president of Lesley University (MA), said "Each of these activities will help our institutions grapple with ongoing leadership, governance, technological, and other concerns. The database on independent higher education is a much-needed initiative that undoubtedly will help our members make the case more effectively for smaller, teaching-oriented colleges." A description of each of the new CIC initiatives follows:

Presidential Leadership Development. A two-year $200,000 grant from the The Henry Luce Foundation, Inc., will support several new presidential leadership initiatives:

• Establish a roster of consultants comprised mainly of recently retired college and university presidents who will be available to provide short-term assistance to current presidents in targeted areas that require specific expertise, including financial management, president/board relations, and crisis management. Consultants will be available either to give advice by telephone, free of charge to CIC member presidents, or to provide a few days of "live" consulting time on campus, with the cost partially subsidized by CIC.
• Organize presidential forums for groups of seasoned and new college presidents (from non-competing institutions), who will meet several times over the course of a year in convenient locations to share problems and solutions on a wide range of issues.
• Offer travel subsidies to presidents and other institutional leaders of the least affluent member institutions to encourage participation in CIC events.
• Convene regional conferences of trustees and presidents to improve working relations and help prevent misunderstandings between the two. The day-long meetings may include outside speakers, but will have as their agenda mainly the issues that participants put forward.

Information Technology Advisory Service. CIC will establish an Information Technology Advisory Service to assist presidents and other institutional leaders in their decisions about purchasing and using information technology to improve student learning and institutional management. Project activities, funded in part by a $100,000 Verizon Foundation grant, will include the establishment of:

• a board of consultants and colleagues who are able to advise institutional leaders in these decisions;
• a small library and bibliography of materials such as "instructional modules" and charts comparing various technology products. These materials will be available on CIC's website and possibly in print.

Database on Private Higher Education. To help colleges "benchmark" their activities and give greater precision to claims for the effectiveness of independent higher education, CIC will develop a new database on small and medium sized private institutions and establish an ongoing program of research and analysis. With help from a $125,000 grant from The Andrew Mellon Foundation, data on a range of issues such as retention rates (which appear to be better at small, private institutions at all levels of selectivity) will be collected, analyzed, and made available.
    In addition, CIC's efforts to develop a strategic plan, with help from The William Randolph Hearst Foundations, Inc., will strengthen the organization's work in addressing some of the key issues facing private colleges and universities. A series of roundtable discussions with presidents and chief academic officers nationwide is taking stock of issues facing independent higher education in America, assessing the effectiveness of CIC programs and activities, and gauging CIC's current and prospective role as a national voice for independent higher education, among other issues (see Strategic Planning story).

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The Council of Independent Colleges
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tel: (202) 466-7230 • Fax: (202) 466-7238 • e-mail: cic@cic.nche.edu • www.cic.edu

Last updated: August 2, 2001
Copyright © 2001 The Council of Independent Colleges