A major focus of the 2009 Institute for Chief Academic Officers will be the challenge of creating and sustaining high-quality curricula and programs while making necessary changes to ensure the financial stability of the campus in a time of fiscal constraints. The 37th annual Institute will be held November 7–10 in Santa Fe, New Mexico. This year’s conference registration fees remain at the 2008 rate.

Featured speakers include W. Robert Connor, president of the Teagle Foundation; Sandy Baum, senior policy analyst at the College Board; and Azar Nafisi, author of Reading Lolita in Tehran: A Memoir in Books and Things I’ve Been Silent About: Memories and executive director of Cultural Conversations at the Foreign Policy Institute of Johns Hopkins University’s School of Advanced International Studies. Three panelists, Catherine R. Cook, co-founder of Miller/Cook & Associates, Inc.; John Lawlor, founder and principal of The Lawlor Group; and Michaelita Quinn, president of Executive Management Services, Inc., will close the conference with a discussion on “Recruitment, Retention, and the New Economy: What Happened? What Now?”

Other sessions during the conference will focus on issues such as financial forecasting, insights from chief advancement officers on the CAO’s role in fundraising, analysis of the costs of academic programs, using assessment to institute change, trends in enrollment, strategies for growth, and student retention. The conference also will assist the CAO in working with the faculty by showcasing concrete practices in sessions on understanding the needs of faculty members from different generations, developing faculty members as leaders, helping faculty members use technology to advance student learning, and improving learning in cost-effective ways.

Detailed Information about the 2009 CAO Institute

The keynote address, “When the Budget Sinks Can Student Learning Still Rise?,” will be delivered by W. Robert Connor, president of the Teagle Foundation. Connor was Andrew Fleming West Professor of Classics at Princeton University and chair of the department. When he became president and director of the National Humanities Center in Research Triangle Park, North Carolina, he also was professor of classics at Duke University.

Other plenary speakers include:

Sandy Baum, senior policy analyst at the College Board, will explore “The Economy and the Future of Private Colleges and Universities.” She is coauthor of Trends in Student Aid, Trends in College Pricing, and Education Pays: The Benefits of Higher Education for Individuals and Society for the College Board. Her knowledge of private colleges and universities is grounded in her work as professor of economics at Skidmore College.

Azar Nafisi will address the topic of “The Liberal Arts and Democracy.” Nafisi authored the national bestsellers Reading Lolita in Tehran: A Memoir in Books and Things I’ve Been Silent About: Memories. Nafisi is also executive director of Cultural Conversations at the Foreign Policy Institute of Johns Hopkins University’s School of Advanced International Studies in Washington, DC. She is currently working on a book entitled Republic of the Imagination about the power of literature to liberate minds and peoples.

Three panelists in the closing plenary session will discuss “Recruitment, Retention, and the New Economy: What Happened? What Now?”

Catherine R. Cook is co-founder of Miller/Cook & Associates, Inc., a firm offering independent colleges and universities an integrated approach to enrollment management.

John Lawlor is the founder and principal of The Lawlor Group (TLG), a market research, brand management, and marketing communications firm that works almost exclusively with private education clients.

Michaelita Quinn is president of Executive Management Services, Inc., a consulting group that provides services in enrollment management and student affairs to private colleges and universities including assessments, coaching, interim management, searches, and consulting.

A number of workshops will be offered during the CAO Institute. “Budget Fundamentals for the CAO” will be led by Mark Matson, vice president for academic affairs and dean of Milligan College (TN) and Joanne Passaro, provost and vice president for academic affairs, Carroll University (WI). “Financial Forecasting” will be led by Michael Townsley, special assistant for finance to the president and professor of business at Becker College (MA). Azar Nafisi will lead a seminar on “The Future of the Liberal Arts Curriculum.” David Townsend, director of Wye Programs, Aspen Institute, and tutor at St. John’s College (MD), will address classical and contemporary texts that have bearing on issues of leadership in the CIC/Aspen/Wye Seminar on Leadership.

The Workshop for CAOs in their Third or Fourth Year of Service will be led by Robert L. Entzminger, provost, Hendrix College (AR); Bryon L. Grigsby, senior vice president and vice president for academic affairs, Shenandoah University (VA); Adrienne Israel, vice president for academic affairs and academic dean, Guilford College (NC); Judith Muyskens, provost, Nebraska Wesleyan University; Stephanie Quinn, executive vice president and dean, Rockford College (IL); and Mark Sargent, provost, Gordon College (MA). And, as always, new chief academic officers are encouraged to participate in the day-long New CAO Workshop as well as the mentor program led by experienced colleagues.

Registration materials are available on the CIC website at www.cic.edu/CAOInstitute.