Chief student affairs officers will join chief academic officers this fall at CIC’s 34th annual Institute for Chief Academic Officers, to explore effective ways of collaborating to ensure student persistence and achievement. The meeting will be held November 4–7 in St. Petersburg Beach, Florida, under the theme of “Leadership for Learning and Student Success.”

“As institutional leaders, CAOs and CSAOs wrestle with the effects on campus of significant developments in the wider society—from technological change to diversifying student populations, public calls for accountability, and escalating institutional competition,” said CIC President Richard Ekman. “In response, leaders must work together to frame the proper balance between encouragement for students’ own responsibility for their learning and institutional responsibility to establish conditions that promote student success,” he added.

The conference will provide numerous opportunities for CAOs and CSAOs to work together on issues of mutual concern, along three thematic tracks: responding to societal challenges; balancing student responsibility for learning with the responsibility of academic and student affairs educators; and competition and accountability as imperatives for institutional leaders.

Responding to Societal Challenges: In this cluster of sessions, CAOs and CSAOs will examine the effects of mental health on student learning, the challenges and strategies for providing an education for a diverse student body, and how technology in the pursuit of learning can be used but also abused.

Balancing Responsibilities: In exploring the balance between student and institutional responsibility for learning, participants will discuss best practices in various forms of experiential learning (service learning, internships, student-faculty research), first-year programs, and advising programs. Speakers also will discuss leadership programs, honor codes, undergraduate research programs, and issues of attribution and plagiarism.

Competition and Accountability: Speakers will present research and exemplary practices on the competitive marketplace, especially the enrollment and retention of students, as well as on external factors such as accreditation agencies that influence the institution. With the emergence of the extremely involved “helicopter parent,” how can institutions work to make this parental interest a resource for advancing student success in college?

Roger H. Martin, president emeritus of Randolph-Macon College (VA), will deliver the keynote address on “Student Consumerism and the Ivory Tower.” Martin brings a unique perspective to the examination of the responsibility of students and the responsibility of the institution for fostering student success. During a recent sabbatical, he was enrolled as an undergraduate student at St. John’s College (MD), and he is currently writing about that experience. His perspective on the institution’s role in fostering student learning derives from many years of private college leadership, including nine years as president of Randolph-Macon College, and 11 years as president of Moravian College (PA).

Jamie P. Merisotis, founding president of the Institute for Higher Education Policy, will speak on the topic of “Accountability and Leadership for Learning.” Merisotis is recognized as a leading authority on college and university financing, particularly student financial aid, and has published major studies and reports on topics ranging from higher education ranking systems to technology-based learning. Merisotis serves as the coordinator and facilitator of the Alliance For Equity in Higher Education, a coalition of national associations that represent more than 350 minority-serving colleges and universities.

For the Institute’s theme of societal challenges, Diana G. Oblinger, vice president for EDUCAUSE, will deliver the plenary address on “Listening to What We Are Seeing.” At EDUCAUSE, the leading national association promoting the intelligent use of information technology in higher education, Oblinger is responsible for the association’s teaching and learning activities and is director of the Learning Initiative. She also has served as the executive director of higher education at the Microsoft Corporation. Oblinger is a coauthor of What Business Wants from Higher Education and coeditor of six books: The Learning Revolution, The Future Compatible Campus, Renewing Administration, E is for Everything, Best Practices in Student Services, and Educating the Net Generation.

In addition to sessions on “Leadership for Learning and Student Success,” the Institute, as is customary, will provide numerous opportunities for CAOs and CSAOs to share ideas and discuss problems with colleagues in formal and informal settings.

Registration materials are available here.