For the second time in the 35-year history of CIC’s annual Institute for Chief Academic Officers, chief financial officers were invited to participate. Held November 3–6, 2007, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the meeting included 318 CAOs and other academic officers and 106 CFOs. The National Association of College and University Business Officers cosponsored the meeting.

With a theme of “Vital Investments: Programs, Personnel, and the Purse,” most sessions addressed issues needing the attention of both CAOs and CFOs, including investments in academic and co-curricular programs (i.e., strategic budgeting, program review, prioritizing academic program costs, merging computing and library services, assessment, and retention); investing in personnel (i.e., diversifying the faculty, post-tenure review, legal issues, the information flow from CFOs and CAOs to faculty members, using technology to foster learning, and faculty development); and the prudent investment and use of the financial resources of the institution (i.e., long-term financial forecasting, tuition discounting, campus planning for learning, tools for balancing the academic mission and finance, and emerging issues in data-informed decision-making).

One of the most popular features of the conference was the Strategic Budgeting Workshop led by Kent Chabotar, president of Guilford College (NC). Also, to provide additional professional development for newer CAOs, the Workshop for CAOs in their Third or Fourth Year was expanded to a full-day program. Many of the presentations are available here on CIC’s website.