Annual Report 2006-2007 - The Council of Independent Colleges

Speeches and Addresses, Books and Reports, and a newly added Making
the Case Resources section (formerly CIC’s Communications Resources),
which serves as a toolkit of data, ideas, talking points, strategies, and
other resources that help independent college and university leaders tell
their institution’s story. Key Messages and Data is the site’s main section
and includes research findings from alumni and student surveys and a
consolidation of data from a variety of sources.
CIC periodically disseminates compelling information and
statistics from the Making the Case website to all member presidents,
chief academic officers, and public relations and institutional research
directors. These Making the Case emails include sample charts
containing links driving traffic to the website, along with news articles,
op-ed pieces, and other material added to the various sections of
the website.
Since its launch, the Making the Case website has received steady
traffic—thousands of visitors and more than 100,000 pageviews during
2007, with significant activity in the Key Messages and Data section.
The site has been used by CIC in presentations about the independent
sector and has assisted presidents and other institutional leaders in
preparing articles and speeches and compiling comparative data for
institutional purposes, among other uses.
Increased Activity with the
National Media
Major Articles, Op-eds, and Media Meetings—CIC recently
increased its presence as a national voice for independent higher
education through a growing number of interviews and opinion pieces.
Media activity in 2006–2007 was robust, with more interviews and
meetings with higher education reporters than ever before, as well as
a record number of opinion pieces and stories published in media
outlets nationwide.
The significant increase in media activity results from CIC’s efforts.
These media activities are not only resulting in exposure for CIC and
coverage of CIC conferences, programs, and services, but CIC member
institutions are also being highlighted in stories by national reporters
who otherwise might not have focused on small or mid-sized private
colleges or universities.
CIC staff members met with higher education reporters and editors
in 2007 from the New York Times, Bloomberg News, Wall Street Journal,
U.S. News & World Report, and University Business.
In addition, a collaboration between CIC and University Business
has provided an excellent opportunity to shine the spotlight on issues
of importance to independent higher education in the magazine. Over
the course of 2007, CIC President Richard Ekman authored a series
of six columns for University Business that were published under the
heading of Independent Outlook. Topics included “Creating Campus
Appeal” on CIC’s Historic Campus Architecture Project, “Not Business
as Usual” on combining business programs with liberal studies, “The
Public Voices of Private College Presidents” encouraging presidents to
speak out on important issues, “Assessing Assessment,” “Small Colleges:
Tops in Training Scientists,” and “By the Numbers” encouraging
presidents to share comparative data with constituents.
Several CIC programs and services received coverage this year
by the national and trade press: Chronicle of Higher Education, Inside
Higher Ed, Baltimore Sun, and University Business covered the launch of
CIC’s Historic Campus Architecture Project; stories on CIC’s Collegiate
Learning Assessment Consortium have run in the New York Times and
Inside Higher Ed; the 2007 Presidents Institute was the focus of two
opinion pieces in the Chronicle of Higher Education; and a Presidents
Institute panel discussion led by Education Conservancy President
Lloyd Thacker and others that discussed the false appearance of
precision and authority of various college rankings guides set the stage
for scores of college presidents to boycott the peer-assessment section
of the US News & World Report annual college guide and generated
significant national media coverage.
MidAmerica Nazarene
University, KS
2006–2007 Annual Report • 15