CIC will offer its fourth Presidents Governance Academy January 3–4, 2017, in Orlando, Florida, immediately preceding the 2017 Presidents Institute. The two-day intensive and highly participatory workshop will focus on the president’s role in strengthening president-board relations, aligning board bylaws with principles of good governance, making bylaws more effective, and sustaining a high-performing board of trustees.

The Academy is unique in its exclusive emphasis on the perspective of the independent college president. CIC President Richard Ekman explained, “While it respects the distinction between the president’s and the board’s authority, the Academy starts with the premise that the president must have the tools and the mandate to lead an effective governing board and advance the institution.”

Open to experienced CIC member presidents but limited to 20 participants, the Presidents Governance Academy builds on the governance issues broached during CIC’s New Presidents Program and Presidents Institute sessions and will be especially helpful to those who are at least a few years into their presidencies.

The Presidents Governance Academy will address many essential topics including the following:

• Desirable and undesirable bylaws provisions;
• Board committee structures;
• Committee on trusteeship and executive committee roles and responsibilities;
• Board membership issues and recruitment;
• Term limits for trustees and officers;
• Performance reviews of both the president and the governing board;
• Strategies for trustee education and board development;
• Effective board meetings and board retreats; and
• Shared governance with the faculty.

Participants in the previous offerings of the Academy have found the advance readings, facilitator presentations, and discussion with presidential colleagues especially helpful. “The program far exceeded my expectations. In particular, I appreciated the consideration of board assessment practices and procedures during the Academy,” commented Laurie M. Hamen, president of Mount Mercy University (IA). Lester C. Newman, president of Jarvis Christian College (TX), said, “I found the readings extremely helpful. They put the workshop in context.” Sandra S. Harper, president of McMurry University (TX), added, “The expertise and experience of the program facilitators and the wisdom and ideas of colleagues were two of the most helpful aspects of the Academy.”

Richard T. (Tom) Ingram, CIC senior advisor for president-board relations and former president of the Association of Governing Boards of Universities and Colleges, and Richard J. Cook, president emeritus of Allegheny College (PA), again will lead the program. The Presidents Governance Academy is supported by a grant from the Henry Luce Foundation. For more information about the program, visit www.cic.edu/2017GovernanceAcademy.