BRECKENRIDGE, Colo.Six presidents and board leaders from CCCU institutions met at the Governance Institute in Breckenridge, Colo., July 14-17, 2010. The institute was designed to provide time and space for the institutions leaders to develop an action plan, learn best practices, discuss and solve problems, get updates on new legal and regulatory issues and to discuss the board-president relationship and responsibilities.
"With a new board chair in the role since July 1, the CCCU Governance Institute provided a great opportunity for he and I, and our spouses, to think together about how our board functions and to begin setting priorities for the future, says Loren Swartzendruber, president of Eastern Mennonite University (VA). We were pleased to note that in many ways our board has been following best practices, but we came away with several new ideas to implement. As is always the case when institutional representatives are together over a period of time, we realized that some of our challenges are not ours alone but are shared by others who are engaged in our common mission of Christian higher education."
Workshops included:
-Keeping the Main Thing the Main Thing: The Boards and Presidents Roles and Responsibilities in Keeping the Institution Christ-centered
-Board Member Roles and Relationships
-Creating an Effective Relationship between the Board Chair and the President
-Creating an Effective Relationship between the President and the Board (and Board members)
The Role of Presidential Spouses with Boards
Presidential compensation and performance evaluations
-Board Development
-Top Ten Issues Facing our Member Institutions
-Presidential Vision Casting relating to the Board
-Presidential Leadership for Institutional Strategic Planning Governing Board Responsibilities
-Board Member Fundraising Responsibilities
-Risk Management
-Characteristics of Effective Boards
Interspersed between these and other workshops were scheduled times for Campus Team Meetings, during which the board chairs and presidents could discuss the topics presented at the Institute and then plan specific governance-based actions they planned to take on returning to their campuses.
The extended time for President and Chair to discuss clearly-presented ideas about governance was highly useful, says Bill Edgar, chair of the Geneva College Board of Trustees. I expect our participation in the Governance Institute to benefit Geneva College for years to come. Many colleges, I believe, would benefit from having their President and Board Chair attend the Institute.
Facilitators for the event were CCCU President Paul Corts and CCCU Government Relations and Executive Programs Director Shapri LoMaglio. Participants also heard presentations from the president and board chair of LeTourneau University on a case study of the LeTourneau University Strategic Visioning and Planning Process, and from the president of John Brown University and a JBU board member about a case study on understanding the private college enrolment-driven financial model.
The Council for Christian Colleges & Universities is a higher education association of 184 intentionally Christ-centered institutions around the world. There are now 109 member campuses in North America and all are fully-accredited, comprehensive colleges and universities with curricula rooted in the arts and sciences. In addition, 75 affiliate campuses from 24 countries are part of the CCCU. The Councils mission is to advance the cause of Christ-centered higher education and to help its institutions transform lives by faithfully relating scholarship and service to biblical truth.