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CIC PRESENTS TOP ACADEMIC AWARDS FOR 2000 TO TWO LEADERS

WASHINGTON, DC – Dr. Allen P. Splete, president emeritus of the Council of Independent Colleges, and Millikin University President Tom Flynn received the Council of Independent Colleges (CIC) top annual awards for Year 2000 in the field of academic leadership in higher education. The awards were presented on Saturday, Nov. 4 at the Chief Academic Officers (CAO) Institute in Tampa, FL.

Dr. Splete won the Academic Leadership Award given annually to a nationally recognized educator for academic leadership assisting chief academic officers in their work. The honored person has contributed to the improvement of academic life on campuses throughout the country by scholarship, service, or example. President Flynn was named the recipient of the Chief Academic Officers (CAO) Award given annually

by CIC for exemplary service to American higher education.

Splete's tenure of 14 years as CIC president was the longest of any leader in the association's history. Dr. Splete is credited as being the catalyst for CIC's dramatic growth over the past decade, and for raising the organization's national visibility. Under his leadership, CIC's college and university membership has nearly doubled, to a record 477 institutions. Participation in CIC's conferences and workshops has increased

significantly during his presidency, as has the scope and number of CIC's national projects for education reform. During his tenure, CIC's annual budget more than quadrupled—to $3.6 million in 1999, and Splete raised $17 million during his tenure to support CIC's work.

"Throughout his distinguished tenure as president of CIC, Al Splete helped strengthen the effectiveness of chief academic officers on their campus," said Dr. Splete's successor and current CIC President, Dr. Richard Ekman. "Through his many projects and in his campus visits, Al Splete assisted numerous colleges and universities in understanding better the role of the chief academic officer in the leadership of change."

The CAO award is given annually to a current or former CAO for service to his or her colleagues at independent institutions and for service to the Council of Independent Colleges. Flynn, now entering his second year as president at Millikin, was selected from the nation's chief academic officers for his outstanding work while he was provost and vice president for academic affairs since 1993 at the Decatur, IL, university.

"Tom Flynn has contributed in so many ways to his colleagues - through his work on the CAO Task Force, through the role model he's been for others on CIC campuses, through frequent conference presentations, and as a stalwart champion of the liberal arts," said CIC President Ekman.

Currently a member of the American Council on Education (ACE) Board of Directors, Dr. Flynn has served as a senior fellow in the president's office at Georgetown University, as dean at Mount St. Mary's College, and as a consultant for the Association of American Colleges and Universities as well as for more than 35 other institutions. President Flynn is a Boston native and a 1974 graduate of Boston College. He earned his M.A. and Ph.D. degrees in American Culture from the University of Michigan, where he received the 1978 University Distinguished Teaching Award. In 1990 he completed Harvard University's prestigious Institute for Educational Management (IEM) program.

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