Through seminars, discussions, consultations, and extensive reading, a team of facilitators—experienced presidents and their spouses—guide participants in this inquiry over the course of one year.
Program participants gather twice for group seminars. The first seminar takes place over four days in the summer, and the second lasts for a day and a half in the winter. Participants read assigned materials in advance of each seminar. Each participating individual or couple also has at least three telephone consultations with members of the facilitator team spaced out over the program year.
Many practical aspects of the presidential search process deliberately are not part of this program. We do not practice interviewing or meet with search consultants. Other programs do those things well. What we intentionally do is read, reflect, discuss, discern, and talk about the applications of these activities to each participant’s life and career. The purpose is to help participants gain a better understanding of how to discern both an institution’s mission and their own calling.
This program was tremendously helpful in my career discernment. For Alan and me, it was a unique opportunity to evaluate our next steps within the context of calling and purpose and to consider what service would mean to us in the future. We benefited from the guidance of experienced facilitators and met peer colleagues who became friends. Their ongoing support continues to undergird our work, and we are extremely grateful for what the program provided to us.”
—Debbie Cottrell, President and former Vice President for Academic Affairs, Texas Lutheran University
Sample Seminar Topics
The seminar topics and readings vary each year. These past examples illustrate the program’s distinctive approach to the process of considering a college presidency.
Early in the Summer Seminar, participants break into four groups and discuss texts such as:
- Dietrich Bonhoeffer,
The Cost of Discipleship (book excerpt)
- David Brooks, “The Summoned Self” (New York Times article)
The discussion focuses on understanding vocation and participants consider questions such as: What are significant challenges to vocation as a framework for life?
Toward the end of the summer gathering, participants meet to discuss the public nature of a college presidency—informed by these texts:
- Abraham Lincoln, “Second Inaugural Address” (speech)
- Martin Luther King, Jr., “Where Do We Go from Here?” (speech excerpts)
- Hugh Heclo, “George Washington’s Mind” (excerpt from
On Thinking Institutionally)
The discussion focuses on how to inspire and how to lead with vocation.
Other authors include Abigail and John Adams, Aristotle, Wendell Berry, Jill Ker Conway, Louise Erdrich, Homer, Thomas Merton, Henri Nouwen, Eboo Patel, and Amy Tan. The readings are deliberately eclectic—including the ancient and modern, the contemporary and classic, spiritual and secular—and are analytical, reflective, and creative.
Program Facilitators
Program Director
Frederik Ohles, president emeritus of Nebraska Wesleyan University (2007–2019)
Program Facilitators
These individuals served as facilitators for the 2019–2020 program. CIC will announce the facilitators for the 2021–2022 program in spring 2021.
Jane Easter Bahls, presidential spouse, Augustana College (IL) (since 2003)
Steven C. Bahls, president, Augustana College (IL) (since 2003)
Donna M. Carroll, president, Dominican University (IL) (since 1994)
Christopher L. Holoman, president, Centenary College of Louisiana (since 2016)
Constance Currier Holoman, presidential spouse, Centenary College of Louisiana (since 2016)
Rosemary Ohles, former presidential spouse, Nebraska Wesleyan University (2007–2019)