Background
As part of
a larger strategic planning effort to concentrate the energies of the CIC on
a range of important areas of mutual interest and concern to the member
universities, the CIC staff initiated a series of campus visits in the fall
of 2000, ending in the spring of 2001.
Each visit
was scheduled in concert with the office of the provost, and thus the format
varied from campus to campus. During the visits, the staff met with
approximately 700 individuals in one-on-one sessions, group meetings, and
informal settings. The staff recorded notes on every conversation. The
following description and list includes and distills those themes,
recommendations, and comments that were repeated on nearly every campus in
multiple conversations and meetings.
Themes
To
paraphrase President Mark Yudof of the University of Minnesota, there are
two types of situations where the CIC is perceived by the member
universities to be most effective. The first involves convening peer groups
for the purposes of information and best practice sharing; and the second
involves amassing expertise and convening around an initiative for
action.
This theme
was repeated through every site visit and nearly every discussion. One
associate provost told us, for example, that the CIC group meetings are the
only professional meetings she finds relevant to her work. Others echoed
this theme, but also identified specific programs and activities such as the
Traveling Scholars, Academic Leadership Program, Virtual Electronic Library,
Access to Expanded Study Abroad, and Summer Research Opportunities Program
as extremely important activities that simply could not happen through
unilateral action.
Finding the
right balance between supporting discussions and leading action is perhaps
the greatest challenge identified. CIC Chair Lou Anna K. Simon, Provost,
Michigan State University, suggested, for example, that CIC discussion and
action must clearly add value and all efforts should be gauged against that
measure. Further, she advised that perhaps we should begin to focus on
tending “topics” and not necessarily on tending committees and groups.
Others indicated that the CIC is the only forum in which they can share
experiences and best practices, and
suggested that the peer group sharing is the most important service
the consortium provides to the member universities.
And no
matter what the future course of the CIC, successful communication within
and between CIC groups was identified as critically important to our
success. These, then, are the
general themes related to the CIC organization that emerged from our recent
campus visits to the CIC member universities.
In terms of
specific suggestions for the operations and programs, the CIC is advised to
strengthen and improve communications, committee management, and specific
programs such as study abroad, while also focusing on fewer programs and
initiatives. In terms of new initiatives, a chorus of voices recommended the
development of coordinated post-doctoral support for underrepresented
minorities and women; a distance education initiative that leverages and
capitalizes upon the existing “virtual university” programs on the campuses
(in short, that shares available online courses among the institutions); and
addressing access to less commonly taught languages through technology.
Summary of
Recommendations/Observations to Date
Things we are doing
well
·
Can
communicate quickly across groups (though this is also included under
section “things we could improve” and “new initiatives”)
·
Ability to
bring new staff in the universities “up to speed” through peer group
association
·
The CIC
represents one of the best “brands” in higher education (though it was
suggested that we could better manage that brand)
·
Managing
headquarters resources to serve members well
·
Strong,
helpful, dedicated staff
·
Peer group
meetings as opportunities for benchmarking, brainstorming, conferences, and
summits
·
Traveling
Scholar, Access to Expanded Study Abroad, Virtual Electronic Library,
licensing databases, Summer Research Opportunities Program, Academic
Leadership Program, and Departmental Executive Officers Seminar
Things We Could
Improve
·
Deploy new
and more study abroad programs, through Access to Expanded Study Abroad
(AESOP) or another mechanism
·
Implement
more effective methods of sharing and coordinating learning technology
efforts
·
More
licensing and group purchasing
·
More focus
with fewer, stronger strategic initiatives - more attention to managing,
achieving outcomes – less on managing committees and groups
·
Program
management: identify measures of success, consult with groups as
appropriate, start/stop discussions as needed, package the outcomes,
evaluate results, prune projects and activities that no longer meet
needs
·
Infuse
diversity across all programs and projects
·
Focused,
better planned meetings, and use more video/audio conferencing for
meetings
·
Cultivate
strong staff and committee chair leadership skills
·
Enhance
communication between groups, and make contacts with individuals who are not
part of formal groups
·
Integrate
efforts at recruitment and retention of underrepresented minorities across
the CIC, while building a supportive culture and looking at new and
different strategies for recruitment and retention
·
Participate
in higher education policy development at the national and international
level. Share policies across the universities.
·
Better
promotion of the CIC and the CIC programs
·
Improve the
CIC web page, adding features to help groups share information and manage
their own activities
·
Manage data
gathering and sharing more consistently
New Initiatives
Proposed
·
Coordinate
distance education, including: aggregate and deliver access to collective
online degree/course offerings; aggregate and deliver all online continuing
education offerings; deliver comprehensive set of less commonly taught
online language offerings; develop virtual department
·
Conduct
market research on the next generation of students, faculty, staff
·
New
strategies for diversifying faculty, staff, students with special interest
in coordinated post-doc program
·
Retention
and recruitment project for campus IT staff
·
Shared user
support services (in IT and in academic areas)
·
Formal
structure for sharing information across groups
·
Sponsor
training workshops relevant to projects
·
Lobbying
·
Initiate
strong PR efforts for the CIC and the programs
Moving Ahead
In
consultation with the Provosts and other key constituencies, the CIC staff
will use this information to help shape a draft strategic plan for the CIC,
with a sensitivity to the conflicting – and sometimes competing – interests
identified through our campus visits.
CIC Campus Visit Schedule
2000/2001
Sept
26 Michigan State University
October
18 University of Minnesota
October
20 University of Chicago
October
25 Pennsylvania State University
November
1 Northwestern University
November
7 University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
November
14 Purdue University
November
21 Ohio State University
December
1 Indiana University
December
8 University of Iowa
December
13 University of Wisconsin
February
7 University of Illinois-Chicago
April
3 University of Michigan
May
1 Northwestern University
May
2 University of Chicago
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