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The CIC Board of Directors elected five new members during its January 4, 2019, meeting in Scottsdale, Arizona. “The Council is pleased to welcome these outstanding leaders as members of the Board,” said CIC President Richard Ekman.
Mary-Beth A. Cooper
Cooper became the 13th president of Springfield College in Massachusetts in 2013. Previously, she served as senior vice president for student affairs of the Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT), dean of students of the University of Rochester, and vice president for student affairs of St. John Fisher College in New York. Cooper chaired the board of directors of the YMCA of Greater Rochester and is past recipient of the RIT Four Presidents Distinguished Public Service Award. She is a member of the NCAA Division III Presidents Council. Cooper earned a BA degree in criminal justice from the University of Delaware, an MEd from the University of Georgia, an MBA from the University of Rochester, a PhD in education administration from Michigan State University, and a DM (doctor of management) from Case Western Reserve University.
Barbara A. Farley
Farley is president of Illinois College. Before coming to Illinois College in 2013, she was vice president for academic affairs and dean of the college at Augsburg University in Minnesota. Farley has served higher education in the classroom and through administrative roles for more than 30 years in a range of liberal arts colleges and universities. She is president of the Associated Colleges of Illinois, is a member of the executive committee for the Federation of Independent Illinois Colleges and Universities, and sits on the Tax Policy Committee for the National Association of Independent Colleges and Universities. In addition, Farley is a director for the governing boards for Passavant Area Hospital and the Association of Presbyterian Colleges and Universities. She earned a BA degree in business administration from the College of Saint Benedict and an MBA and PhD in business administration from the Carlson School of Management at the University of Minnesota.
Celeste Schenck
Schenck, president of the American University of Paris, was formerly its provost and dean, as well as professor of comparative literature. In 2004, she founded AMICAL, a consortium of American universities across Europe, the Middle East, Central Asia, and North Africa that hold common missions of sharing resources, technologies, curricular projects, and faculty and student exchanges across 27 institutions, 21 countries, and 19 languages. She also has served as president of the Association of American International Colleges and Universities, a presidents’ organization spanning American-style universities across the world. Schenck has edited two international series and published widely on women’s autobiography and poetry, critical theory, international development, and educational and pedagogical issues. She earned a BA degree in English, summa cum laude, from Princeton University and a PhD in comparative literature from Brown University.
H. James Williams
Williams is president of Mount St. Joseph University in Ohio. Previously, he served as president of Fisk University, as dean of the business schools of Grand Valley State University, North Carolina Central University, and Delaware State University, and as a faculty member for several business schools. He also has practiced law and worked as an accountant for Ernst & Young. Williams has served on the boards of several nonprofit organizations and on the advisory board of Fifth Third Bank of Tennessee, as a member of the Metropolitan Nashville Airport Authority’s Air Service Coalition, and of the board of trustees of St. Mary’s Hospital. He has received three “Teacher of the Year Awards” at Florida A&M University and Texas Southern University and numerous recognitions and awards for his work with students and student organizations, as well as a number of community-service recognitions. Williams earned a BS degree in accounting from North Carolina Central University, an MBA in accounting from the University of Wisconsin, Madison, a PhD in accounting from the University of Georgia, and JD and LLM, specializing in taxation, degrees from Georgetown University Law Center.
Paul C. Pribbenow
Pribbenow since 2006 has been the tenth president of Augsburg University, in Minnesota. He has led Augsburg in the development of new mission and strategic vision statements that anchor the institution’s priorities and initiatives, shaping the university’s strategic plan, Augsburg 2019. Pribbenow also has become a leader among the 26 colleges and universities of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (which includes Augsburg), helping to articulate the gifts shaping and supporting Lutheran higher education in the 21st century. Previously, he was president of Rockford College (now Rockford University) in Illinois. He also served as research fellow at the Center for Inquiry in the Liberal Arts at Wabash College, dean for college advancement and secretary of the board of trustees at Wabash College, vice president of the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, and associate dean of the Divinity School of the University of Chicago. Pribbenow holds a BA degree in sociology/political science from Luther College and an MA in divinity and PhD in social ethics from the University of Chicago.