The 2006 Presidents Institute, held January 4–7 in Naples, Florida, included several features to recognize CIC’s 50 years as an association. The conference theme, “Presidential Leadership and Vision: The Next 50 Years,” encapsulated CIC’s desire to use the anniversary as an occasion for retrospection, while emphasizing key challenges and opportunities that presidents frequently encounter today and will surely face in the future. The Institute featured a preview of the Council's Historic Architecture website that will be launched later this year, and a new book, Meeting the Challenge: America's Independent Colleges and Universities Since 1956, which highlights the evolution of smaller private colleges and universities and reflects on the development of CIC as an organization.This year’s meeting again set a record for participation of presidents (325), spouses (177), and new presidents (42).

Featured speakers included James T. Laney, president emeritus of Emory University and former United States Ambassador to the Republic of Korea; Linda A. Hill, Wallace Brett Donham Professor of Business Administration at the Harvard Business School; George Kuh, Chancellor’s Professor of Higher Education and director of the Center for Postsecondary Research at Indiana University; and Humphrey R. Tonkin, president emeritus of the University of Hartford. Laney opened the Institute with a stirring address urging presidents to think of themselves as “educators-in-chief,” and Hill’s closing presentation focused on the role of leaders in preparing organizations for significant change. Tonkin offered proposals on how presidents can internationalize college and university campuses, and Kuh urged presidents to take steps to foster student success.