Two President-Trustee Dialogues are planned for the fall and two were held this spring. These regional meetings, offered by CIC together with the American Academic Leadership Institute (AALI), bring together small groups of five to six presidents and one or two trustee leaders from each institution to examine topics such as board governance, president-board relations, and institutional strategy.

The presidents of Chatham University (PA) on May 4 and Edgewood University (WI) on June 3 hosted President-Trustee Dialogues on their campuses. Participants used sections of William G. Bowen’s The Board Book that they had read in advance to help frame parts of the discussion. Ann Die Hasselmo, former president of Hendrix College (AR) and now president of AALI, moderated the dialogues.

Participants praised Hasselmo for her skillful facilitation of the meetings and for their flexible format. The frank and open nature of conversation that these small meetings encourage has been one of the most popular features of all the Dialogues. A participant from the Chatham Dialogue said it offered “real world solutions to problems we all face.”

Two additional President-Trustee Dialogues will take place in the fall at California Lutheran University on November 10 and at Ursinus College (PA) on October 28.

For more information, please see www.cic.edu/projects_services/coops/trustee_dialogues.asp.