Near record-breaking attendance, two “sold-out” budget workshops, a pre-conference fiscal workshop, and well-received speakers and sessions marked a highly successful 31st annual Institute for Chief Academic Officers. The CIC meeting was held November 1-4 in Savannah, GA.
     Throughout the conference, panelists explored the theme of “Leadership Challenges: Competition, Resources, and Excellence” with a focus on their changing leadership roles, and steps they are taking to provide students an excellent educational experience with limited resources in a competitive environment. The emphasis on financial issues was of intense interest to chief academic officers—a second budget workshop had to be added due to high demand for the first. In addition, a pre-conference workshop for teams of chief financial officers and chief academic officers lay the groundwork for the 2004 conference (to be held October 30 – November 2, 2004 in San Francisco, CA), which will include CFOs as well as CAOs.

• CAO Leadership Awards
• Key Speakers
• Budget and Fiscal Workshops
• Breneman Offers CAOs Steps for Effective Management
• Chabotar Outlines Strategic Budgeting Process
• Strenthening Academic Quality Can Turn Institutions Around, Panelists Say
• Five Essentials Will Sustain a College Financially and Academically
• New Student Learning Outcomes Survey Focuses on Liberal Arts
• Updates on CIC Projects

CAO Leadership Awards

Kent John Chabotar, president and professor of political science at Guilford College (NC), was awarded the Academic Leadership Award during the conference for his service to independent college and university chief academic officers through his publications and his leadership of professional development programs. CAO Task Force member Vicki Vernon Lott of Lane College (TN) presented the award.

Chabotar advised in his address that CAOs participating in the strategic budget process should: know the data, think of the entire budget, learn the money issues, make friends with the chief financial officer, be seen as a faculty advocate, but not a faculty mouthpiece, and be involved in the strategic plan, faculty hiring, enrollment plans, and capital projects.

Marie Joan Harris, CSJ, provost and vice president for academic affairs at Avila University (MO), is presented with the 2003 Chief Academic Officer Award by CAO Task Force Chair, Mary Ann Gawelek, Seton Hill University (PA), for advancing academic excellence at private colleges and universities. In accepting the award, Harris took the opportunity to share a few insights, including:

The hiring process is one of the most important things that you do. Take time to do it well. Create a culture of ideas and flexibility. Be a person of integrity and be willing to deal compassionately and fairly in difficult situations. Find mentors and colleagues who will serve as a sounding board and a reality check. Learn to live with ambiguity and a job that’s never done. Don’t take faculty comments personally even when they are meant to be personal. Get a good night’s sleep and have a good sense of humor.

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Last updated: December 2003
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