• Keck Foundation Provides Grant to Strengthen Language Instruction
• Mellon Foundation Grant Supports New Institutional Diagnostic Service

Keck Foundation Provides Grant
to Strengthen Language Instruction

The Los Angeles-based W.M. Keck Foundation has awarded CIC a grant of $360,000 to implement the Network for Effective Language Learning (NELL) in cooperation with Drake University (IA). The program is designed to assist small and mid-sized private colleges and universities to invigorate their offerings in language instruction to meet the needs of the 21st century student. Jan Marston, founding director of the Drake University Language Acquisition Program (DULAP), will serve as project director.

CIC President Richard Ekman explained, “There is a real crisis of modern foreign language teaching and learning on today’s campuses. Language study is a much less common requirement than it once was, few students attain fluency in a foreign language, and the variety of languages offered in most institutions is very small. Critical languages such as Arabic and Chinese are frequently unavailable. NELL is a project at the heart of the international and intercultural dimension of a liberal arts education and is a part of CIC’s increased emphasis on providing services that bolster the international competencies of its member institutions.”

Twenty-four liberal arts colleges will be selected to participate in NELL over three years. Each year, four-person teams from eight institutions will attend a summer meeting that will introduce them to the core features of Drake’s Language Acquisition Program, DULAP. The program brings together a mentorship collective that includes professional linguists and learning specialists, experts in the target language and civilization, and native speaker tutors. Using internet-based resources and tools, DULAP students connect with real-life native speakers and writers while learning to use target-language materials written by and for native speakers. DULAP students produce an e-portfolio documenting their progress in the language, and external examiners provide an independent evaluation of student work. The program also emphasizes intercultural competence, and encourages all students who study a language to use it in an intensive immersion experience abroad.

During the summer meeting, the teams will explore ways to adapt DULAP’s innovative teaching approach to the needs of their own campuses. After the summer workshops, institutions will engage in ongoing support activities. NELL consultants will visit campuses and continue to provide guidance. In addition, institutions will take part in an online community through a NELL website, which will become the core of a permanent alliance of institutions developing language-learning resources together and sharing best practices and materials.

“Drake University’s role as an innovator in the development and application of alternative methods to enable students to acquire foreign languages is well established,” said Drake President David Maxwell. “We look forward to sharing what we have learned with colleges and universities, and to learning ourselves from the successes of others. Together, CIC and Drake will work toward reversing a serious decline in our national capacity to understand other cultures through the functional use of their languages.”

The first NELL workshop will take place July 9–13, 2007 at Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa. Subsequent workshops will be offered in the summers of 2008 and 2009. More information about NELL is available here on CIC’s website.

Mellon Foundation Grant Supports
New Institutional Diagnostic Service

The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation has awarded CIC a grant to implement a pilot Institutional Diagnostic Service (IDS). This service, to be provided in cooperation with The Presidential Practice, will assist recently appointed college and university presidents in identifying serious problems that should be addressed immediately, as well as promising opportunities for strategic attention.

In announcing the initiative, CIC President Richard Ekman said, “CIC has for many years made effective presidencies one of its principal concerns. A good start can lead to a long and effective tenure as a college or university president. The Institutional Diagnostic Service involves an intensive, multifaceted, on-the-spot diagnosis of the institution’s well-being to benefit presidents and their identification of strategic actions.” Ekman noted that ten presidents will be selected for the pilot project to receive support and test this innovative new approach to providing presidents with excellent information on challenges and opportunities at their institutions from the very start. “New presidents must learn significant cultural, organizational, and financial subtleties. The learning curve takes time for a new president to discern both the deeper problems and the true treasures of an institution.”

College presidents in their first or second year in office who apply for the Institutional Diagnostic Service will meet with a four-person team of former independent college and university presidents and experienced higher education consultants. The team will review a large quantity of written and electronic materials and spend a day-and-a-half on the campus, meeting with the president, members of the board, and senior staff, as well as discussing findings and possible strategies with the president. Following the site visit, the team will prepare a written report on its findings, recommendations, and next steps. In addition, team members and the president will hold a confidential follow-up conference call.

The Service for each institution will be coordinated by The Presidential Practice (TPP), an organization that provides coaching and counsel to newly and recently appointed presidents, as they work out complex institutional and cultural issues.

The current roster of consultants for The Presidential Practice, who will also participate in the IDS, consists of the following individuals:

• Rita Bornstein, President Emerita, Rollins College (FL)
• Scott Colley, President Emeritus, Berry College (GA)
• Ann Duffield, Founding Principal, The Presidential Practice
• Gregory Farrington, President Emeritus, Lehigh University (PA)
• James Galbally, Founding Principal, The Presidential Practice
• Richard Kneedler, President Emeritus, Franklin & Marshall College, (PA)
• Stephen R. Lewis, Jr., President Emeritus, Carleton College (MN)
• Dale Rogers Marshall, President Emerita, Wheaton College (MA)
• John McCardell, President Emeritus, Middlebury College (VT)
• Kenneth Shaw, President Emeritus, Syracuse University (NY)
• Jon Strauss, President Emeritus, Harvey Mudd College (CA)

More information about the Institutional Diagnostic Service is available here on CIC’s website.