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CIC PRESENTS TOP ACADEMIC
AWARDS FOR 2001

WASHINGTON, DC - The Council of Independent Colleges (CIC) announced today the two winners of its annual awards for distinction in academic administration for 2001.

The awards, presented on Saturday, November 3 at the Institute for Chief Academic Officers held at the Palm Springs Marquis Hotel in Palm Springs, CA, are the Council’s highest honors for exemplary academic leadership. This year’s awardees are George D. Kuh, the chancellor’s professor of higher education at Indiana University in Bloomington, who received CIC's Academic Leadership Award, and Patricia A. Matthews, I.H.M., vice president for academic affairs at Marywood University (PA), who received CIC's Chief Academic Officers Award.

In presenting the award to Kuh, CIC President Richard Ekman noted, "Professor Kuh is an outstanding teacher, writer, and researcher whose efforts on behalf of higher education have had, and will continue to have, an extraordinary influence on campuses nationwide. We are grateful for his activities and example."

Kuh has published more than 200 articles, books, and monographs on higher education. He directs the College Student Experiences Questionnaire Research Program and the National Survey of Student Engagement, which is sponsored by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching and supported by the Pew Charitable Trusts.

Kuh received his Ph.D. from the University of Iowa (1975) and has served in various capacities at Indiana University. He served as chairperson of the Department of Educational Leadership and Policy Studies (1982-84), associate dean for academic affairs in the School of Education (1985-88), and associate dean of the faculties for the Bloomington campus (1997-2000). He has earned many academic and scholarly awards and has been a frequent contributor to far-reaching academic projects and national association conferences.

Ekman noted that Matthews’ “ability to revitalize institutions and to promote independent higher education has encouraged many chief academic officers across the nation. Her unfailing willingness to serve as a mentor, offering advice and counsel, illumination and instruction has stimulated other chief academic officers to envision a proud future for their own colleges and universities."

Matthews is a widely-respected educator, scholar, consultant, and lecturer on higher education subjects, including teaching, academic administration, professional development, gender issues, outcomes assessment, and strategic planning. She has been a CIC mentor dean and was appointed to CIC's CAO Task Force in 1996, serving as its chair in 1999-2000.

Matthews has spent her entire career at Marywood University, starting as an instructor of political science in 1969. She has been chairperson of both undergraduate (1974-78) and graduate (1972-75) Departments of Social Sciences, dean of the undergraduate school (1978-1986), and vice president for academic affairs since 1986. She earned her bachelor's degree from Marywood, followed by master's and doctoral degrees from St. John's University in Jamaica, NY.

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