Annual Report 2006-2007 - The Council of Independent Colleges
Annual Report 2006-2007 - The Council of Independent Colleges
Annual Report 2006-2007 - The Council of Independent Colleges
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Message from the Chair<br />
Williams College, MA<br />
In my two years as Chair <strong>of</strong> the CIC Board<br />
<strong>of</strong> Directors, I have been pleased to witness<br />
great advancement in the independent higher<br />
education sector. Across the country, small and<br />
mid-sized private colleges and universities have<br />
set new records for enrollment and endowment,<br />
institutional leadership and programming has<br />
become more effective than ever, and increased<br />
use <strong>of</strong> measures <strong>of</strong> accountability and assessment has helped inform<br />
and guide our institutions in a rapidly changing world. <strong>The</strong> state <strong>of</strong> our<br />
sector is indeed strong, as is the <strong>Council</strong> <strong>of</strong> <strong>Independent</strong> <strong>Colleges</strong> itself,<br />
which continues its impressive growth as an association.<br />
CIC continues to add many new top-quality programs, tools,<br />
and services to connect higher education leaders, promote highquality<br />
education, make the case for the independent sector, advance<br />
institutional effectiveness, collaborate to strengthen programs, and<br />
stimulate reform.<br />
Among the new programs <strong>of</strong>fered by CIC in <strong>2006</strong>–<strong>2007</strong> and<br />
described in this report are the Network for Effective Language<br />
Learning and the Institutional Diagnostic Service for New Presidents.<br />
CIC also was selected this year to administer the prestigious Woodrow<br />
Wilson Visiting Fellow Program, beginning in January 2008. <strong>The</strong><br />
<strong>Council</strong> is continuing other esteemed programs such as the American<br />
Graduate Fellowships (now in its second year); seminars for faculty<br />
members in American history and in the uses <strong>of</strong> classical texts; and<br />
libraries and learning spaces workshops. In addition, CIC continues to<br />
strengthen and update many existing services such as the Key Indicators<br />
and Financial Indicators Tools (KIT and FIT) that help improve<br />
institutional decision-making; the Making the Case website that<br />
provides up-to-date data on the effectiveness <strong>of</strong> our institutions; and<br />
the Historic Campus Architecture Project website that documents the<br />
wealth <strong>of</strong> important historic buildings and landscapes on our campuses.<br />
Long before the recent calls for assessment and accountability by<br />
the Spellings Commission, CIC encouraged its member colleges and<br />
universities to use tools such as the Collegiate Learning Assessment<br />
(CLA) and National Survey <strong>of</strong> Student Engagement (NSSE) to<br />
document their effectiveness. CIC also has increased its role in<br />
advocating the strength and self-governance <strong>of</strong> our sector and has<br />
actively sought to be a major voice for the independent sector by<br />
reaching out strategically to the media, the public, and other higher<br />
education constituencies with opinion pieces, guest columns, and<br />
letters to the editor in national newspapers and higher education<br />
trade publications.<br />
CIC continues to break records in membership as well as in<br />
participation at its major conferences. Membership in CIC for<br />
<strong>2006</strong>–<strong>2007</strong> reached a new high <strong>of</strong> 582 institutions, and the <strong>2006</strong><br />
Institute for Chief Academic Officers, which included chief student<br />
affairs <strong>of</strong>ficers, attracted the largest number <strong>of</strong> academic leaders in the<br />
event’s 34-year history.<br />
It has been an honor and a privilege to work with CIC’s Board <strong>of</strong><br />
Directors, President Richard Ekman, and CIC’s talented and hardworking<br />
staff during this period <strong>of</strong> impressive growth and achievement.<br />
Today, independent higher education faces great challenges—yet the<br />
state <strong>of</strong> the sector is strong. With the steady, practical, and ongoing<br />
help <strong>of</strong> organizations such as the <strong>Council</strong> <strong>of</strong> <strong>Independent</strong> <strong>Colleges</strong>, our<br />
colleges are better equipped than ever to succeed.<br />
Sincerely,<br />
Antoine M. Garibaldi<br />
President, Gannon University<br />
Chair, CIC Board <strong>of</strong> Directors<br />
• <strong>The</strong> <strong>Council</strong> <strong>of</strong> <strong>Independent</strong> <strong>Colleges</strong>