A record number of presidential spouses (169) participated in CIC’s Presidents Institute to learn about the ways presidential spouses serve their institutions and to support one another in their work. Discussion groups led by presidential spouses focused on topics such as “Friend Raising for the College,” “Planning a Centennial or Sesquicentennial,” “Issues for Male Presidential Spouses,” and “Raising Children in a Presidential House.”
    In the session on “How to Have a Life While Serving as a Presidential Spouse,” Bob Seurkamp, presidential spouse at the College of Notre Dame of Maryland, stressed that spouses need to adjust their expectations about the kind of life they will lead. “A normal life is not a realistic expectation for presidential spouses,” he said.
    “Financial Compensation of Presidential Spouses,” a frequent conference topic, involved presidential spouses explaining how they came to be compensated by their boards. They discussed the reports they provided to the board of their work, types of compensation, and the title that reflected their work for the institution. The New York Times published an article about presidential spouse compensation following the conference, featuring one of the session speakers, Hannah Lapp, presidential spouse at Eastern Mennonite University (VA).

Visit the Presidential Spouses section of CIC's website.

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Last updated: March 2003
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