This spring CIC and the American Academic Leadership Institute (AALI) launched a new series of President-Trustee Dialogues with meetings hosted by S. Georgia Nugent, president of Kenyon College (OH), on May 28 and Louis Agnese, president of University of the Incarnate Word (TX), on June 4.

These regional meetings brought together small groups of five or six presidents and one or two trustee leaders from each institution to examine topics such as board governance, president-board relations, and institutional strategy. In preparation for the discussions, participants received copies of William G. Bowen’s recently published The Board Book and read sections in advance. (CIC arranged through the book’s publisher, Norton, for a 50 percent discount on large orders from member presidents—see related story on page 25). Ann Die Hasselmo, former president of Hendrix College (AR) and now president of AALI, moderated the dialogues.

Both presidents and board members praised the wide variety of ideas that were shared and the informal atmosphere of the dialogues. Stuart Gulley, president of LaGrange College (GA), who participated in the Kenyon dialogue, said, “The President-Trustee Dialogue, under the able facilitation of Ann Die Hasselmo, provided quality time for interaction with institutional trustees and networking with presidents and trustees of other CIC-related colleges through the sharing of best practices, from which we all learned something to enhance our boards’ management and operation. It was time well spent.” David E. Hosler, chairman of the board at Elizabethtown College (PA), found that while “roundtable events with others in one’s field or discipline are almost always valuable, the President-Trustee Dialogue was exceptional with many solid ‘take away’ ideas able to be considered for implementation back on our own campus.” Enthusiastic participants continued to share materials with each other by email following the dialogues.

Three additional dialogues will be held in the fall at Utica College (NY) on September 10; at Rhodes College (TN) on September 23; and at Augsburg College (MN) on October 30. Presidents who are interested in participating in the dialogues should contact Stephen Gibson, CIC’s director of projects, at (202) 466-7230 or sgibson@cic.nche.edu, as soon as possible.