The Presidents Institute returns to the newly-renovated Marco Island Marriott in Marco Island, Florida, January 4–7, 2008. The program, based on the theme of “Revaluing Higher Education,” is designed to help leaders of independent colleges and universities understand and respond to new societal expectations, student preferences, and demands for accountability. Many presidents find that these issues can challenge the institutional values that anchor their leadership. Presidents will benefit from sessions that sharpen the questions they face, formulate meaningful processes for exploring choices, and learn from the experiences of fellow presidents and other experts. The Spouses Program, running concurrently with the program for presidents, includes sessions on the role of presidential spouses and opportunities to learn from colleagues. Presidential spouses are also welcome at sessions designed for presidents.

Immediately preceding the Institute on January 3 and 4, CIC will once again offer its popular New Presidents Program for recently appointed college presidents, typically in their first or second year. Coordinated by Marylouise Fennell, RSM, senior counsel for CIC, the workshop is led by experienced presidents and affords opportunities for new presidents to meet and share ideas with others who are new to the presidency. The spouses of new presidents are invited to participate in the New Presidential Spouses Workshop led by experienced presidential spouses.

Howard Gardner will deliver the keynote address on “Five Minds for the Future: Intellectual and Ethical Dimensions,” in which he will describe the importance of the “five minds”—or mental abilities needed to be successful in today’s rapidly changing world—and how to nurture them in leaders as well as students, particularly regarding ethical issues. Gardner is John H. and Elisabeth A. Hobbs Professor of Cognition and Education at the Harvard University Graduate School of Education and a highly-esteemed scholar in the education field, perhaps best known for his theory of multiple intelligences and his work at Harvard’s Project Zero. The author of 20 books that have been translated into 26 languages, his most recent is Five Minds for the Future (2007). Among his many impressive honors are the MacArthur Prize Fellowship (1981), the Grawemeyer Award in Education (1990), and a Guggenheim Fellowship (2000).

In a plenary session entitled “Higher Education Leadership to Create a Healthy, Just, and Sustainable Society,” Ray Anderson and Anthony Cortese will consider specific ways in which colleges and universities can respond to global climate change. Anderson is founder and chairman of Interface, a global company manufacturing carpet tiles and upholstery fabrics. He served as president of the President’s Council on Sustainable Development during the Clinton administration and is recognized as a corporate leader in creating sustainable businesses. Anderson has been lauded by government, environmental, and business groups alike. In 1996, he received the Inaugural Millennium Award from Global Green, presented by Mikhail Gorbachev, and won recognition from Forbes Magazine and Ernst & Young, which named him Entrepreneur of the Year. In January 2001, he received the George and Cynthia Mitchell International Prize for Sustainable Development. Anthony Cortese is president of Second Nature, a nonprofit organization with a mission to catalyze a worldwide effort to make healthy, just, and sustainable action a foundation of all learning and practice in higher education. He also serves as codirector of the American College and University Presidents Climate Commitment. Cortese was the first dean of environmental programs at Tufts University and head of the Department of Environmental Protection in Massachusetts.

In the third plenary session, Ann Austin, professor at Michigan State University holding the Dr. Mildred B. Erickson Distinguished Chair in Higher, Adult, and Lifelong Education, will discuss the president’s role in addressing changes in faculty demographic characteristics, types of appointments, and the nature of faculty work. Austin’s research concerns faculty careers and professional development, teaching and learning in higher education, organizational change and transformation in higher education, and reform in doctoral education. She is coauthor of Rethinking Faculty Work: Higher Education’s Strategic Imperative (2007). (See Books of Note for a description of the book.) Austin was a Fulbright Fellow in South Africa in 1998 and the 2001–2002 president of the Association for the Study of Higher Education.

The closing plenary session will feature Robert Berdahl and Stephen Trachtenberg, two extraordinary former presidents who represent the public and private sectors, respectively. Together they offer a perspective informed by more than 40 years of service in the role of university president or chancellor. Berdahl is currently president of the Association of American Universities, and earlier served as chancellor of the University of California, Berkeley, and president of the University of Texas at Austin. He is a graduate of CIC member Augustana College (SD). Trachtenberg is president emeritus and university professor of public service at George Washington University. Previously he was president of the University of Hartford. Together they will explore the future of American higher education. Their commentary is based on unparalleled depth and range of experience in the presidency.

Among the concurrent sessions to be offered during the Presidents Institute: “Financial Benchmarking for Better Planning and Decision-Making”; “Presidential Role in Disaster Planning and Response: Lessons from the Front”; “Fundraising and Boards of Trustees”; “Innovative Practices to Enhance Trustees’ Effectiveness”; “Attracting Transfer Students from Community Colleges”; “Recent Research about Prospective Students”; “Development of Senior Staff”; “Rethinking Presidential Relations with the Faculty”; “The Creative Campus of the 21st Century”; “Higher Education’s Response to Global Climate Change”; “Issues in College Athletics”; and “Media Perspectives on Higher Education.”

More information about the Presidents Institute, including an online registration form, is available here.