Looking for the 2024–2025 Program?
Learn MoreThe Presidential Vocation and Institutional Mission program is designed for senior leaders at CIC member schools to explore their potential calling to serve as a college or university president. The program is designed to help participants explore their vocational calling, as well as examine what types of institutional missions they might best serve.
CIC is grateful to Lilly Endowment Inc. for its ongoing support of the Presidential Vocation and Institutional Mission program.
Current Status
Up to 20 participants from independent colleges and universities were selected for the program, which is intended for senior administrators—and their spouses and partners—who are considering whether to seek a presidency.
Selection of participants were announced by March 9, 2023.
How Is This Program Structured?
Through seminars, small group discussions, individual 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 two days in the winter. Participants read assigned materials in advance of each seminar. Each participating individual or couple also has at least three video 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, discern, and discuss 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.
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 meet in small groups to discuss texts such as:
- Mary Catherine Bateson, “Composing a Life Story” (book excerpt); and
- Robert Frost, “Two Tramps in Mud Time” (poem).
The discussion focuses on understandings of vocation. Participants consider questions such as: How do we discern our callings?
Several times in the summer gathering, participants meet in a large group. The topics on these occasions include the nature of a college presidency, the support presidents receive from their communities, and the importance of presidents aligning themselves with an institutional mission. Participants are informed by texts such as:
- Jill Ker Conway, “A Different Choice” (book excerpt);
- Ta-Nehisi Coates, “Mecca and the Death of Mythology” (book excerpt); and
- Abraham Lincoln, “Second Inaugural Address” (speech).
Discussion questions include: What will help us decide where we go and when?
Other authors include diverse voices, such as Martin Luther King, Jr., Eboo Patel, Abigail and John Adams, Aristotle, Louise Erdrich, Henri Nouwen, Amy Tan, Dorothy Sayers, Thomas Merton, Jhumpa Lahiri, and Vincent Harding. 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
Director
Steven C. Bahls, president emeritus, Augustana College (2003–2022)
Facilitators
Jane Bahls, former presidential spouse, Augustana College (2003–2022)
Donna M. Carroll, executive director, Association of Catholic Colleges and Universities, and president emerita, Dominican University (1994–2021)
Alan Cottrell, presidential spouse, Texas Lutheran University (since 2019)
Debbie Cottrell, president, Texas Lutheran University (since 2019)
Christopher Holoman, president, Centenary College of Louisiana (since 2016)
Constance Holoman, presidential spouse, Centenary College of Louisiana (since 2016)
Program Dates and Costs
Summer Seminar
July 16–19, 2023
Essex, Vermont
Winter Seminar
February 25–27, 2024
Atlanta, Georgia
Thanks to a generous grant from Lilly Endowment Inc., most expenses, including travel stipends for both the Summer and Winter Seminars as well as lodging, meals, consultations, and materials during the program, will be covered by CIC for participants and their spouses or partners. There is a one-time registration fee of $400 for the prospective president and $250 for an accompanying spouse or partner due upon acceptance into the program.
Contact Information
Steve Bahls, CIC senior advisor and president emeritus of Augustana College, is leading this project. Nominators and prospective participants can direct questions about the program to Titilayo Ufomata, CIC senior vice president for academic programs, by phone at (202) 466-7230 or email at tufomata@cic.edu or to Steve Bahls, by email at sbahls@cic.edu.