Ohles Named President of Nebraska Wesleyan University

CIC congratulates Senior Vice President Frederik Ohles on his recent appointment as president of Nebraska Wesleyan University. In announcing the news, CIC President Richard Ekman said “All of us at CIC wish Fred and his family the best in this new venture, and we congratulate Nebraska Wesleyan on its excellent choice. Fred has been a significant contributor to CIC’s recent successes. Happily, his important contributions to independent higher education will continue in his new role.” Ohles will be taking up his new duties in Lincoln in the summer.

The search for a new vice president or director for advancement is underway. Of the search Ekman said, “The essential part of the job description, accounting for about half the time, is responsibility for fundraising—including both the corporate sponsorships for conferences and the foundation grants that support topical projects. Other duties—leading programs and supervising others—will be shaped by the incumbent’s experience and interests. The ideal candidate may be a former dean and faculty member who knows about the substantive issues that face CIC institutions, who writes clear expository prose quickly, and who would thrive in this fast-paced and hands-on environment.” The full job description is available here on CIC’s website.

CIC Presidents Meet with International Leaders
of Independent Universities

Thirty-seven leaders of independent colleges and universities and educational organizations from Muslim-majority countries and the U.S., including several CIC member presidents and CIC President Richard Ekman, participated in a Hollings Center “Conference on Independent Universities” in Istanbul, Turkey on January 19–21.

The purpose of the conference was to help leaders of independent institutions in Muslim-majority countries exchange ideas with their U.S. counterparts about models of governance, how to create a broader educational experience, how to attract the best students through scholarships and exchanges, and how to assess educational quality and measure learning outcomes. Participants also discussed possibilities for partnerships and exchanges.

CIC presidents Pamela Jolicouer of Concordia College (MN), Lee Pelton of Willamette University (OR), Richard Wilson of Illinois Wesleyan University, and Dorothy Cowser Yancy of Johnson C. Smith University (NC), as well as Pamela J. Gunter-Smith, provost and academic vice president of Drew University (NJ) and Richard Detweiler, president of the Great Lakes Colleges Association (MI), joined colleagues from private universities in Saudia Arabia, Turkey, Jordan, Morocco, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Lebanon, Malaysia, Egypt, Bangladesh, Iran, Indonesia, and Kuwait for the three-day conference.

CIC Names Davies-Jackson Scholar

A graduating senior at Mercer University (GA) has been selected to receive the 2007 Davies-Jackson Scholarship. Randalle Hughes will study English at St. John’s College of the University of Cambridge in Great Britain beginning in the fall.

Ms. Hughes will read English with a focus on women’s writers and the Victorians. She intends, ultimately, to pursue a PhD with a goal of teaching undergraduate English and women’s studies. Besides increasing her knowledge and understanding of literature at St. John’s, she plans to “immerse myself in British culture.”

The Davies-Jackson Scholarship provides tuition and expenses for two years, and gives students with exceptional academic records and who are among the first in their families to graduate from college the opportunity to participate in a course of study at St. John’s. Candidates are awarded a Cambridge B.A. Students from a list of institutions similar to the undergraduate institution attended by the anonymous donor may apply. Application materials for the 2008 Scholarship will be available on CIC’s website in early September 2007.

CIC Cosponsors Conference on Integrative Learning

CIC is one of several organizations that collaborated with the Fetzer Institute on a conference titled “Uncovering the Heart of Higher Education: Integrative Learning for Compassionate Action in an Interconnected World.” It was held on February 22–25 in San Francisco, California.

On February 22, CIC organized a special pre-conference workshop on “The Heart of Leadership: Vocation and Values.” Workshop leaders included presidents Sr. Margaret Carney of St. Bonaventure University (NY) and David Pollick of Birmingham-Southern College (AL), as well as Larry Braskamp, former chief academic officer of Loyola University of Chicago, and Jon Wergin, the author of several books for department chairs.

The larger conference addressed several issues of particular concern to independent colleges and universities. Do current education efforts address the whole human being—mind, heart, and spirit? What can be done to make colleges and universities places that awaken the full potential of students, faculty, and staff? Faculty members, administrators, student life professionals, and chaplains addressed the relationships between curriculum and values; intellectual, aesthetic, and moral intelligences; technical competency and compassionate action; critical reasoning and contemplative inquiry; and vocation and life purpose. Plenary speakers included author and speaker Parker Palmer, researchers Alexander and Helen Astin, Wellesley College president Diana Chapman Walsh, psychologist Robert Kegan, and South African scholar Pumla Gobodo-Madikizela.

Making the Case for Independent Higher Education

CIC President Richard Ekman and other CIC staff members have spoken at events and worked with the media to make the case for the nation’s private colleges and universities. Ekman delivered the Henney Lecture at Manchester College (IN) on “Independent Higher Education and America’s Future” on October 19; participated in a panel discussion on “Liberal Arts in the Twenty-First Century” with Elizabeth Kiss, president of Agnes Scott College (GA), television journalist Roger Mudd, and Pauline Yu, president of the American Council of Learned Societies, at the inauguration of Washington and Lee University (VA) President Kenneth Ruscio on October 20; and gave the keynote address on “Key Issues and Trends in Private Higher Education” at Gannon University’s (PA) board of trustees retreat on November 9, which was organized by CIC Board Chair Antoine Garibaldi, the university’s president.

CIC projects and activities that make the case have also been featured in the news. CIC’s new Network for Effective Language Learning was covered by InsideHigherEd.com in February. The launch of CIC’s Historic Campus Architecture Project website in November received coverage from The Baltimore Sun, University Business, Chronicle of Higher Education, and InsideHigherEd.com. And CIC’s Collegiate Learning Assessment consortium was mentioned in a November 13 article in the New York Times on assessment activities in colleges and universities.

Ekman was interviewed by the Christian Science Monitor for a story on the appointment of Drew Gilpin Faust as Harvard’s first female president in February; by Mary Beth Marklein of USA Today for a November 14 story on the Spellings Commission’s report; by a Newsweek reporter for an article on women’s colleges entitled “Extreme Makeovers” in the November 6 issue of the magazine that highlighted several CIC member institutions; and by University Business for an article in the November issue on “Rising Stars” that featured five college and university leaders, including three CIC member presidents—Roy Nirschel of Roger Williams University (RI), Laura Skandera Trombley of Pitzer College (CO) and G. David Pollick of Birmingham-Southern College (AL). A number of other interviews with Ekman included the Chronicle of Higher Education for “Making an Art Form of Assessment” (October 27); Milwaukee Magazine for “Brain Power—Complete Guide to the State’s Best College and University Programs” in the September 2006 edition; InsideHigherEd.com for “Branches in Different Time Zones” (November 28, 2006); and FoxNews.com for a story on college and university endowments.

Finally, Richard Ekman wrote a column for the February 2007 edition of University Business magazine entitled “By the Numbers” in which he urged college administrators to collect, use, and share assessment data. The column is the first in a series Ekman will be writing for the publication.

Staff News

David Paris of Hamilton College (NY) joined CIC as a senior advisor to organize a National Symposium on Business and Liberal Arts, supported by the James S. Kemper Foundation. The symposium, scheduled for May 3–5, 2007 in Chicago, will draw faculty members and chief academic officers into a conversation about ways that business career preparation and liberal arts education can be aligned. Paris served from 2000 to 2005 as provost of Hamilton, where he has taught political science since 1979.

CIC President Richard Ekman attended a meeting at the Kauffman Foundation in Kansas City cosponsored by the New York Times on teaching about entrepreneurship in colleges and universities on November 28–29; participated in a press conference cosponsored by The Teagle Foundation and Hechinger Institute on reporting about accountability and assessment in Washington, DC on September 20 (see photo at top right); spoke at the annual Chase/J.P. Morgan gathering of college presidents that is part of the White House Initiative for Historically Black Colleges and Universities on November 12 in New York City, as well as a meeting of presidents and business leaders associated with the Wisconsin Foundation for Independent Colleges in Milwaukee on December 13.

Mary Ann Rehnke, vice president for programs, published an article, “The Life of a Department Chair,” about private college and university department chair roles in The Department Chair newsletter, Fall 2006, Vol. 17, No. 2.

Director of Research Hal Hartley authored a column on CIC’s Data and
Decisions Workshops for the November issue of NACUBO’s Business Officer magazine, and he participated in an IPEDS technical review panel in January examining the financial data collected by the U.S. Department of Education.

CIC Senior Counsel Marylouise Fennell, RSM, with Wesley College (DE) President Scott D. Miller edited a book designed to help new college and university presidents in North America connect with one another and learn from more experienced peers. President to President: Views on Technology in Higher Education, was well-received in North America and has been translated into Spanish for institutions in Latin America.