In 2001, CIC received a grant from the Henry Luce Foundation, Inc. of $200,000 to launch several services for college and university presidents. Through efficiencies in administration, the grant lasted four years—longer than the planned period. By all accounts, the activities were highly successful.

The Presidents Consulting Service, led by Allen Splete, CIC’s president emeritus, offered individual, confidential consulting by highly successful former presidents on such critical issues as president-board relations, financial management, and presidential evaluations. Beginning in 2002, 12 former presidents provided 27 consultancies at 25 institutions.

President-Trustee Dialogues, managed by Thomas Flynn, president of Alvernia College (PA), engaged presidents and key governing board members in a structured one-day conversation on such issues as board development and president-board relations. Each dialogue included five to a dozen president-trustee teams, and took place in a centrally located metropolitan area. The meeting agendas included a few pre-announced topics, brief readings, and time for wide-ranging discussion. During the project period, 66 institutional teams participated in a dialogue.

Presidential Forums, led by Peter Armacost, former president of Eckerd College (FL) and now president of Forman Christian College in Pakistan, and George Houston, president emeritus of Mount St. Mary’s University (MD), established small, ongoing groups of presidents, who met several times a year to share problems and solutions in a candid, confidential conversation. Each forum chose its own meeting locations, established its own schedule, and determined its own agenda and style. Ten forums were convened during the grant period. In developing the forums, CIC hoped that such groups might stay in existence for a number of years, and several forums are continuing to meet on their own without CIC support.