Friday March 19 - Sunday March 21
1:30 pm Friday - Noon Sunday
Workshop for Board Professionals ($365)
Meredith Harper Bonham, chief of staff and secretary to the board of trustees, Hamilton College, and chair, Program Committee
Charlene Reed, secretary to the board of trustees, Kent State University, and vice chair, Program Committee
Build on your expertise and enhance your understanding of trusteeship, governance, and your role as a board professional. The opening plenary session features a panel of trustees and presidents who will focus on the issue of higher education and the public trust. Other session topics include ethics, conflict of interest, accountability, board orientation, presidential transitions, cutting-edge style, and much more. Activities on Friday include a tour of the Frank Lloyd Wright designed campus of Florida Southern College; special technology sessions; newcomers' session; and a welcome reception. Events on Friday, breakfast on Saturday and Sunday, and lunch on Saturday are included in the registration fee.
Saturday March 20
9am - 4:30pm
Successful Fund Raising in Hard Times: What Presidents and Trustees Need to Know ($315)
Jake B. Schrum, president, Southwestern University
James L. Lanier, former president, East Carolina State University Foundation and AGB senior fellow
How do you assure your institution has an effective, efficient, and successful fundraising program in tune with the current economic climate? What is your role in raising money? How do you evaluate your institution's development efforts? Two experienced professionals will lead you through the essentials of successful fundraising. The workshop will cover the influence of the stock market; the structure of the development office; prospect identification, cultivation, and solicitation; what you need to know about major gifts, planned gifts, and capital campaigns; and much more. Lunch is included.
9am - Noon
Wye Seminar: Educational Leadership in the American and Global Polity ($225)
David Townsend, director of the Wye Seminars, and senior advisor, Aspen Institute
Following the Wye/Aspen format, a selection of readings from classical and contemporary texts will be used as the basis for a facilitated discussion of the role of educational leadership in the 21st century. Participants will probe basic social and educational values and consider the public purposes of education in a free, democratic society. The seminar will give participants a taste of liberal education at its best. Reading materials will be provided in advance.
1:30 - 3:30pm
Management of Trustee Conflicts of Interest ($225)
Martin Michaelson, partner, Hogan and Hartson
Under the norms that apply today, most college and university boards are obliged to address actual and potential conflicts of interest of some members. How is this proficiently done with a view to maintaining institutional integrity and avoiding adverse publicity? AGB will issue in 2009 best-practice principles for trustee conflict of interest policy and practice. Will your institution's board be in compliance with these principles and with pertinent requirements? Is your institution's trustee conflict of interest up-to-date? Martin Michaelson, a Washington, DC attorney who has worked extensively with AGB on this topic, will lead this workshop, including an extensive Q&A session.
1:30 - 4:30pm
Preparing for Presidential Assessment ($225)
Richard Morrill, chancellor, University of Richmond and president-elect, Teagle Foundation
Kenneth "Buzz" Shaw, chancellor emeritus and university professor, Syracuse University
Participants will share ideas and learn about principles and best practices in annual and comprehensive presidential assessment. The workshop will examine ways both to assess and to contribute to the leadership development of the president and of the board by exploring the concept of integral leadership.
Sunday, March 21
8:30am - 3:30pm
Seminar for New Trustees ($315)
Kent John Chabotar, president, Guilford College
Jill Derby, higher education governance consultant and former board chair, Nevada Board of Regents
Beverly E. Ledbetter, vice president and general counsel, Brown University
An essential session for new board members! Learn about the full range of trustee responsibilities and standards of best practice, with special attention to legal issues, accountability, and finance. Small-group discussions, case studies, Q&A sessions, and new book, Effective Governing Boards (included), will address the needs of trustees from public and private institutions. Lunch is included.
8:30 - 11:30am
Better, Cheaper, Faster: Board-CEO Partnership for Change($225)
Ellen Chaffee, AGB Fellow and president emerita, Valley City State University and Mayville State University
Rick Staisloff, vice president for finance and administration, College of Notre Dame of Maryland
The current short-term economic impact on institutions is now revealing a long-term business truth: institutions must shift their focus to a strategic allocation of resources if they are to thrive. This transformation requires a fundamental change in the partnership between boards and CEOs and, in turn, between CEOs and senior management. To fulfill their mission and pursue opportunities presented by the market, leaders will need to frame new questions around the return on their investments, develop new assessment tools, and educate themselves and the board about this new reality. How can boards ensure that the institution is choosing the right paths and moving at the right pace? What role will the board and the CEO be asked to play? AGB's Governance for Student Success project, funded for two years by Lumina Foundation for Education, is addressing these questions. Learn proven strategies to ensure that the board, president, and other chief officers are setting strategic directions, monitoring their progress, and making needed course corrections.
Leadership Issues for Board Chairs of Independent Colleges and Universities ($225)
Yvonne Jackson, board chair, Spelman College, and president, BeecherJackson
Doug Orr, president emeritus, Warren Wilson College, and trustee, Berea College and University of North Carolina, Asheville
For incoming, new, and experienced board chairs of independent institutions. Learn successful strategies for leading and developing the governing board, working with the president, making the agenda relevant and interesting, and managing "hot topics" as well as difficult trustees. Share with other board chairs the challenges that concern you most and solutions that have worked for you. Reception for board chairs Saturday evening included.
Leadership Strategies for Board Chairs of Public Colleges, Universities, and Systems ($225)
Thomas D. Layzell, former president, Kentucky Council on Postsecondary Education
Thomas C. Meredith, former president, Western Kentucky University, and former head of state university systems in Georgia, Alabama, and Mississippi
For incoming, new, and experienced board chairs of public institutions. Examine the distinctive work of public governing boards and strategies for assessing leadership without micromanaging, working successfully with the president, making the agenda relevant and interesting, managing "hot topics" as well as difficult trustees, and keeping politics out of discussions. Reception for board chairs Saturday evening included.
12:30-3:30pm
Achieving High Performance ($225)
Susan Whealler Johnston, executive vice president, Association of Governing Boards of Universities and Colleges, and trustee, Rollins College
Terry MacTaggart, senior fellow, Association of Governing Boards of Universities and Colleges, and former chancellor, University of Maine System
What makes the difference between pretty good boards and the really first-rate? Based on the findings of an AGB research project on excellent boards, this workshop will present the distinctive features of truly exceptional boards, then offer guidance for building stronger institutions through superior trustee and presidential leadership.
Presidential Search and Transitions ($225)
James P. Ferrare, senior consultant, Academic Search, Inc.
Thomas K. Hyatt, partner, Sonnenschein Nath & Rosenthal LLP, and AGB Senior Fellow
Learn best practices for a successful search, including establishing a search committee and its charge; selecting a firm or deciding not to; managing the steps in the search process; negotiating terms of employment; ensuring a smooth transition; and avoiding search disasters. This interactive workshop will focus on the roles of the board and search committee throughout the process.
The Board and Educational Quality ($225)
Bernard W. Harleston, trustee, Leslie University; trustee emeritus, Tufts University; senior associate, New England Resource Center for Higher Education, University of Massachusetts Boston; and former president, The City College of New York
Michael F. Middaugh, associate provost for institutional effectiveness, University of Delaware, and commissioner, Middle States Commission on Higher Education
Explore the responsibilities of the governing board and academic affairs committee for monitoring and enhancing student learning outcomes and academic programs. Learn about assessment; indicators of academic quality; the role of diversity; successful strategies for analyzing academic resource use and needs; academic appointments, promotion, and tenure; and faculty development and instructional technology investments.
4:00 - 6:00pm
Addressing the Growing Need for Access to Higher Education
Freeman Hrabowski, III, President, University of Maryland, Baltimore County
President Freeman Hrabowski will open the conference by challenging us to raise the bar on access and quality, asking more of institutions and their leaders. With special thanks to College Board for support of this session.
Monday, March 22
8:45 - 10:00am
Can This Marriage Be Duplicated? A Conversation about Successful Board-CEO Relationships
Richard Chait, Research Professor, Harvard Graduate School of Education
Stephen Jordan, President and Adele Phelan, Board Chair, Metropolitan State College of Denver
Gordon Gee, President and Alex Shumate, Board Member, Ohio State University
Lawrence Bacow, President and James Stern, Board Chair, Tufts University
Governance guru and provocateur, Dick Chait will lead teams of presidents and board leaders in a discussion of what makes their partnerships successful and will invite the audience into the conversation.
Special opportunity:
Monday morning's plenary session will take a look at the unique relationship between presidents and board chairs. Led by Harvard professor and governance expert Dick Chait, three teams will reveal how they work together, lead their institutions, communicate, and problem solve, and how together they engage their boards. Your questions will be answered during the session, if you ask them in advance.
10:15 - 11:30am
10 Things Boards Need to Know Now about Higher Education Finances
John Mattie, National Education & Nonprofit Leader, PricewaterhouseCoopers
John Nelson, Managing Director, Moody's Investors Service Health Care & Higher Education Teams
Are the dismal days behind us now, or is more turbulence on its way? What does the economy hold for higher education's future, and what should boards be focusing on to ensure stability and opportunities for growth going forward?
Branding From the Inside Out: Beyond Logos
Jo Ann Gora, President, Ball State University
Elizabeth Scarborough, CEO & Partner, SimpsonScarborough
A brand is much more than your institution's logo or tagline--it is your institution's promise to deliver and delivery on that promise. A strategic focus on your institution's distinctiveness sharpens institutional planning, energizes enrollment efforts, and breathes new life into college relations.
New Relationships with Institutional Foundations
David Bass, Director of Foundation Programs & Research, AGB
Jerry Farley, President, Washburn University
Paul Robell, Vice President for Development & Alumni Affairs, University of Florida Foundation, Inc.
With reduced funding from states and an increased need for resources, institutions are looking to their foundations for ever greater support. But institutional foundations have their own challenges and often their own agendas. As a result, too many times foundations and institutions reach a stand-off, and no one benefits. How can foundations and institutions forge new relationships and move forward together to serve the needs of students and states?
What Boards Should Know about the Coming Wave of Presidential Retirements
Rita Bornstein, President Emerita, Rollins College; Member, Board of Directors, AGB
Peter Eckel, Director of Programs and Initiatives, American Council on Education
Higher education experts anticipate a large wave of presidential retirements in the next few years. What are the implications for board work? Where will new leaders come from and how well prepared will they be to face the challenges of leading at a time of great change? What should boards anticipate about these new leaders and the search processes that will result in their hires? How can a well-planned transition process ensure the new leader's success? Is it time for higher education to embrace succession planning?
12 - 1:30pm
Luncheon Plenary Session: Global Hot Spots: What's Next?
Robin Wright, award-winning journalist, foreign affairs analyst, and expert on the Middle East
Robin Wright has reported from more than 140 countries on six continents for the Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times, the New Yorker, the New York Times Magazine, TIME, Atlantic Monthly, Foreign Affairs and other publications. She shares her insights on the world's political hot spots.
1:45 - 3:00 pm
Philanthropy and FundRaising: A New Normal?
Jane Eaves, Partner, Gonser Gerber Tinker Stuhr, LLP
Una Okonkwo Osili, Director of Research, The Center on Philanthropy at Indiana University
The last decade has seen record giving to higher education, with billions raised annually. But, the last year's economic upheaval and continuing job losses may have put an end to this run of strong growth in giving. Is higher education looking at a new normal for philanthropy? What can institutions expect as the economy makes a slow recovery and individuals recalculate capacity for giving?
Board - Faculty Relations
Barbara Gitenstein, President, The College of New Jersey
Tom Longin, Consultant on Governance, Institutional Planning, and College Cost, AGB; Trustee, Carroll College (MT)
Michael Robertson, Professor, The College of New Jersey
Suzanne Thomas, Past Chair, Skidmore College
At a time when higher education confronts serious challenges, current governance structures often fall short of providing the needed pathway to change. Boards and faculty typically do not understand each other's roles and responsibilities related to governance, leaving presidents in the murky middle. For institutions to be truly responsive to the appropriate demands of their constituents, our systems of governance must work in the interest of the institutions.
Student Debt, Student Aid, and the Cost of College
Sandy Baum, Senior Policy Analyst, The College Board
American higher education is caught in a dilemma: More students than ever need to attend and graduate from college, but the cost of education is growing increasingly out of reach for average students and their families. What do economic studies of higher education tell us about affordability, and what are the implications for the future?
System Governance: Challenges for the Future
Terry MacTaggart, Senior Fellow, AGB; Former Chancellor, University of Maine System
Tom Meredith, Former Commissioner, Mississippi Higher Education
Michael Spector, Chair, Board of Regents, University of Wisconsin System
Nancy Zimpher, Chancellor, SUNY-System Administration
State systems of higher education currently educate over half of all students in higher education. If they are to continue to provide the educational programs and access that citizens demand and states need, boards and executive leaders must be prepared for challenges that range from financial capacity to leadership succession. In addition, they must be able to bring the academy and public policy makers together to ensure excellence.
3:15 - 4:30pm
The Board's Responsibility for Academic Quality
Peter Ewell, Vice President, National Center for Higher Education Management Systems
Stanley Ikenberry, Interim President, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Marie Johns, Board Chair and Trustee, Howard University
Paul Lingenfelter, President, State Higher Education Executive Office
Sylvia Manning, President, The Higher Learning Commission, North Central Association
Ed Welch, President, University of Charleston
A trustee and leading national consultant on matters of academic quality and assessment, Peter Ewell will lead a panel discussion of the board's responsibility for educational quality.
4:45 - 5:45 pm
Special Plenary
Tom Hyatt, senior fellow, AGB
Richard Legon, president, AGB
John Walda, president, National Association of College and University Business Officers
In October 2008, the Internal Revenue Service mailed a compliance survey to approximately 400 colleges and universities. The 33-page questionnaire asked institutions to furnish a wide range of data related to endowment management and performance, executive compensation and benefits, and UBIT. To assist higher education, AGB and NACUBO recently issued a report on an independent study of the completed surveys; the study was conducted by Ernst & Young. This independent analysis promotes clarity and understanding of the results for higher education, the general public, and policymakers. This session will provide information about the report, its findings, and the implications for higher education.
Tuesday, March 23
8:00 - 9:15am
Overcoming Inertia: Can Higher Education Change?
Richard D. Legon, President, AGB
Jim Geringer, Chairman, Western Governors University
Kevin Reilly, President, University of Wisconsin System
Jose Jaime Rivera, President, University of the Sacred Heart
Jane Wellman, Executive Director, Delta Project on Postsecondary Costs
Robert Zemsky, Chair and CEO, The Learning Alliance
Higher education's mission is to facilitate change in others, but it seems essentially immune to systemic change itself. AGB president Rick Legon and a panel of experts will discuss what board members and institutional leaders can do to positively affect the future of higher education.
10:45 am - 12:00pm
Demographic Shifts and a New Enrollment Reality
Richard Blomgren, Dean of Admission, Warren Wilson College
Helen Ferre, Board Chair, Miami Dade College; Member, Board of Directors, AGB
Gary Fretwell, Senior Vice President, Noel-Levitz
Different parts of the country and different institutions will find the next decade a turning point. For many, traditional college-aged students will become less common, and non-traditional students will become the new normal. For some, demand will grow beyond the capacity to serve, while others will find traditional sources of students drying up. What should boards be thinking about now to plan for a new reality in enrollment?
Legal Issues for Boards and Presidents
Robert Donin, General Counsel, Dartmouth College
William Mullowney, Vice President for Policy & General Counsel, Valencia Community College
Karen Stone, Vice President & General Counsel, University of North Florida
Lawsuits are a part of modern life, but are certain types of suits and legal issues more common in higher education? If so, what can boards and institutional leaders do to protect themselves and their institutions? And, what new legal challenges are on the horizon?
State Planning Imperatives
Pat Callan, President, National Center for Public Policy & Higher Education
Sally Clausen, Commissioner of Higher Education, Louisiana Board of Regents
Brian Noland, Chancellor, West Virginia Higher Education Policy Commission
As state and system higher education leaders undertake planning initiatives for higher education, what priorities rise to the top? What is the responsibility of the state's institutions in contributing to the national goal of increasing degree attainment? How important are adult education, K-12 partnerships, and articulation between two-year and four-year institutions? How can state policy makers, educational leaders, and boards contribute to defining and addressing these and other imperatives as part of a "public agenda--within the realistic constraints of dramatically reduced budgets?
Understanding and Protecting Academic Freedom: A Governing Board's Responsibility and Opportunity
Cynthia Baldwin, Immediate Past Board Chair, The Pennsylvania State University; Member, Board of Directors, AGB
Alison Bernstein, Vice President for Knowledge, The Ford Foundation
Cliff Kendall, Board Chair, University System of Maryland; Member, Board of Directors, AGB
Robert O'Neil, Executive Director, The Thomas Jefferson Center for the Protection of Free Expression
Governing boards play a central role in defining and protecting academic freedom for the faculties of their institutions. In this session, several seasoned trustees will share their perspectives on various dimensions of that role, including adopting and revising academic personnel policies, reviewing any proposed faculty dismissals, and defending the institution against external or internal threats to the academic freedom of its personnel. Note will be taken of pertinent AGB policies that emphasize the centrality of academic freedom, integrity, and autonomy.
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