CIC’s 2004 Institute for Chief Academic Officers will give special emphasis to issues that bring the chief academic officer and the chief financial officer together in order to meet the institution’s competitive challenges. This is the first time CFOs have been invited to the CAO Institute. The meeting will be held on October 30-November 2 in San Francisco, CA, and is co-sponsored by the National Association of College and University Business Officers (NACUBO).
     Conference participants will address key areas requiring collaborative work by CFOs and CAOs, such as establishing priorities for academic program review; enrollment management and tuition discounting; legal ramifications of personnel issues; creating adult-friendly institutions with a focus on technology and assessment; planning and renovating academic facilities; and using models and data sets for program costing.
     “CAOs and CFOs must increasingly work together to meet the challenges our campuses face. Piece-meal responses are no longer adequate,” said CIC President Richard Ekman. “Recognizing the importance of effective, collaborative working relations between CFOs and CAOs, the Council designed this Institute to create a distinctive professional development opportunity for both officers.”
     Featured speakers include: Michael L. Lomax, president and chief executive officer of the United Negro College Fund (UNCF), who will deliver the keynote address on the “Challenge of Leadership of Insti-tutions to Achieve Both Educational and Financial Strength”; Brian L. Hawkins, president of EDUCAUSE, who will discuss the “Challenge of Investing Wisely in Technology”; David Kirp, professor of public policy in the Goldman School of Public Policy at the University of California, Berkeley, who will address the “Challenge of the Market Place in Academe”; and Martha D. Lamkin, president and CEO of the Lumina Foundation for Education, who will speak on the “Challenge of Educating Low-Income Students.”

(Pictured left to right) Brian L. Hawkins, EDUCAUSE; David Kirp, University of California, Berkeley; Martha D. Lamkin, Lumina Foundation for Education; and Michael L. Lomax, United Negro College Fund (UNCF).

     In addition, Ann Taylor Green, provost, vice president for academic affairs, and professor of mathematics at Bethune-Cookman College (FL), has been selected to receive the 2004 Chief Academic Officer Award for contributions to her colleagues at private colleges and universities.
     The Institute program will also feature several two- and three-hour workshops. These sessions will explore institutional initiatives and strategies that frequently require the joint efforts of both the CAO and CFO. Many of these sessions will offer hands-on work and tools that can be used when participants return to their campuses. Leaders of all sessions intend to address the personnel, budgetary, data, planning, and partnership implications of their topic.
     Workshops include “Designing Academic Space Focused on Learning,” “The CAO and the Budget,” “The Quantitative Side of Program Review: Credible Analysis that Leads to Action,” “Prioritizing Academic Programs: Where Academics and Finances Meet,” “Impli-cations of Tuition Discounting: Predicting Educational and Financial Impacts,” “Evaluating and Planning Your IT Future,” “The Adult Learning-Focused Institution,” and “Legal Issues Involving Hiring and Firing in Higher Education.”
     Concurrent sessions will help CAOs and CFOs with specific programmatic challenges, such as “Assessing the Health of Information Literacy Systems”; others will provide tools that administrators can use in assessing and prioritizing programs, such as “Making Decisions with Comparative Data” and “Benchmarking Academic Program Costs to Improve Departmental Performance.” Individualized issues will also be explored, such as “Career Paths of CAOs at Independent Colleges,” “Women in the Presidency— Approaches and Adaptations,” and, for spouses, “Effective Communication and Conflict Resolution Skills.”
     Conference information and registration forms are available here. The deadline for receiving the reduced rate for conference registration is September 24 (fees increase by $30 after that date). The deadline for receiving the reduced rate for hotel accommodations at the Hyatt Regency San Francisco is October 5.