Financial and governance challenges escalate during times of significant institutional change, and to meet those obstacles, presidents must plan ahead. The Council of Independent Colleges 2002 Presidents Institute will explore the myriad financial issues and decision-making structures involved in successful planning initiatives during the January 4-7 meeting. In addition, a new workshop on comprehensive fundraising campaigns will be held after the Institute. More than 500 participants, including 300 presidents and spouses, are expected to gather in Fort Myers, Florida at the Sanibel Harbour Resort & Spa for the annual event.

Financial Considerations. Panelists at this year's Presidents Institute will address a number of the financial considerations that influence many strategic planning discussions. Among them... How can presidents budget strategically? In the current higher education marketplace, how should tuition-dependent colleges and universities use institutional financial aid (or tuition discounting) as an enrollment management tool? What are the evolving approaches to funding technological developments? What are the implications of growing competition for the adult-oriented, master's level programs that often provide critical revenue streams? Do we have a sufficient understanding of instructional costs? What fundraising opportunities are available?

Planning and Governance. In addition, a number of sessions will address changing institutional practices in planning, communication, and decision-making. Are current governance and decision-making structures able to render the effective and timely decisions colleges now require, given the pace of change, as well as extraordinary financial and enrollment challenges? How can institutions find and apply relevant information, given their broadening constituencies?

Sessions and Speakers. Ellen Condliffe Lagemann, president of The Spencer Foundation, will give the keynote address on Friday, January 4. She is expected to explore issues in leadership, in relation to trends in education and philanthropy.

Among the scheduled sessions:

• Learning to Thrive During the Next Depression,Michael McPherson, president, Macalester College, and Morton Schapiro, president, Williams College
• Strategic Budgeting,Kent Chabotar, vice president for administration and finance and treasurer, Bowdoin College, and faculty member, Harvard Institutes on Higher Education
• Tuition Discounting: What Presidents Should Focus On,Lucie Lapovsky, president, Mercy College
• Why Planning Fails and What Makes It Successful,Rodney Napier, president, The Napier Group
• Governance in a New Age: Special Challenges for Liberal Arts Colleges,Larry Shinn, president, Berea College
• Creating the Entrepreneurial College: An Oxymoron?,Paul Le Blanc, president, Marlboro College
• Compensation and Security in Presidential Contracts,Raymond Cotton, vice president for higher education, ML Strategies, LLC
• Communicating Through a Crisis,Debra Murphy, president, Nichols College, and Rodney Ferguson, Lipman Hearne Inc.
• Evaluation of the Teagle Foundation's Collaborative Ventures Program,researchers and presidents report on the evaluation of this program (see related story, page 11.)
  

New Post-Institute Workshop, Comprehensive Campaigns: The Science and Art (January 7-8). A new feature of this year's Presidents Institute is a workshop focused on comprehensive fundraising campaigns. The session will explore the "science" of evolving campaign techniques and strategies, and the "art" of establishing effective relationships with boards, development officers, and consultants.

New Presidents Workshop (January 3-4). This day-and-a-half long workshop for recently appointed college leaders is a regular feature of the Presidents Institute (programming for spouses of new presidents is also included). It is uniquely focused on the needs of leaders of smaller private liberal arts colleges and universities in their first or second year.

Spouses Program. As always, the annual Spouses Program runs concurrently with the program for presidents and provides opportunities for spouses of presidents to share information and advice. This year, the program will
feature sessions on fundraising for presidential couples, mistakes made while serving as presidential spouses, and discussion groups on planning campus commemorative events, raising children in the presidential house, and working with the community, among others.

Independent
The Council of Independent Colleges
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tel: (202) 466-7230 • Fax: (202) 466-7238 • e-mail: cic@cic.nche.edu • www.cic.edu

Last updated: November 26, 2001
Copyright © 2001 The Council of Independent Colleges