Insights & Research Hub

CIC received a grant in the amount of $50,000 from the Robin and Sandy Stuart Foundation. The funds will support the continued work of CIC’s Campus Free Expression Project.

CIC is pleased to share a new report on Humanities Research for the Public Good: A CIC Initiative to Connect Colleges and Communities through Student Research and Public Programs (2019–2024).

CIC is pleased to announce the election of six members to the Board of Directors, and two existing directors named to new roles on the Executive Committee of the Board.

A new design will provide more interactive and user-friendly engagement with this valuable member resource, which CIC started offering as standard in CIC membership in 2004. These annual reports provide customized benchmarking of an institution’s performance based on various metrics, such as student enrollment and financial performance.

The $19,980,000 grant, the largest single gift in CIC’s history, builds upon the success of CIC’s development of its Network for Vocation in Undergraduate Education (NetVUE).

CIC’s multiyear Legacies of American Slavery: Reckoning with the Past initiative culminated with a national conference on September 19–21, 2024, in Memphis, Tennessee. Three recorded sessions from the conference are now available for streaming: “The Unsteady Legacies of American Slavery” (featuring Pulitzer–prize winning historian David Blight and New York Times columnist Jamelle Bouie), “The Work […]

The Campus Free Expression Project (CFEP) has moved to CIC to provide this support to academic leaders at its independent colleges and universities. Launched in 2019 at the Bipartisan Policy Center, the CFEP’s central goal is to promote open discourse and provide resources on college campuses to create independent thinkers and engaged citizens.

A grant from Arthur Vining Davis Foundations funds a new professional learning offering to engage campuses in respectful conversations that advance mutual understanding Amid deepening divisions within our nation and communities and an increasingly polarized civic landscape on and off campus, it is more important than ever to prepare students to engage in meaningful, trusting […]

November 1, 2023 A select group of provosts, deans, and faculty in STEM fields convened at Purdue University last month for an executive symposium to debate and discuss the state of academic freedom in higher education and how better to cultivate an open, scholarly environment for mathematics, sciences, and engineering. The symposium, Academic Freedom and […]

The ACE Donna Shavlik Award highlights an individual who has demonstrated a sustained commitment to advancing women in higher education through initiatives enhancing leadership and career development, campus climate, and mentoring.

In November 2023, CIC received a grant of $500,000 from Lilly Endowment Inc. The grant will support an ambitious communications capacity-building project, “Telling the Story of Vocational Exploration in Independent Higher Education,” that highlights CIC’s Network for Vocation in Undergraduate Education (NetVUE) and the network’s growth and positive impact.

Diverse: Issues In Higher Education highlights 40 outstanding women during Women’s History Month.

The Council of Independent Colleges announces that Ellen Peters will be CIC’s director of strategic research and assessment starting in mid-January 2024. Peters is currently the associate provost for institutional research, planning, and student success at the University of Puget Sound in Tacoma, WA. She’s worked in institutional research roles at Puget Sound, which is […]

November 2023 — Washington, DC Academic Search, a leading executive search firm dedicated to higher education, proudly announces the establishment of the Academic Search Fund for Leadership Development through a donation of $1 million to be split equally between the American Association of State Colleges and Universities (AASCU) and the Council of Independent Colleges (CIC). The […]

April 3, 2024 A select group of university presidents and other high-ranking officials from faith-based colleges and institutions gathered to explore how to foster a culture of open inquiry. The executive symposium, “Free Expression & the Faith-Based University,” was co-hosted by Concordia University Irvine, the Center for Civics Education at Concordia University Irvine, and the […]

The Lilly Fellows Program, based at Valparaiso University in Valparaiso, IN, in partnership with Indiana Wesleyan University’s Lumen Research Institute in Marion, IN, announces the establishment of the “Future of the Church-Related University” consultation and that CIC President Marjorie Hass will serve on the advisory board. Over the course of the last decade, the landscape […]

The Council of Independent Colleges is piloting a Corporate Affiliate program to provide members with discounted services and products and, at the same time, encourage companies to invest in the independent higher education sector.

July 2023 – Washington, DC (Updated August 2023) The Council of Independent Colleges has selected 25 member institutions to participate in the inaugural cohort of the Work-Based Learning (WBL) Consortium. The WBL Consortium will provide a national community of practice to support institutions in easing student barriers to internship access and job market preparation, particularly […]

AASCU and CIC today announced this year’s Executive Leadership Academy (ELA) participants. ELA is a yearlong program jointly sponsored by CIC, AASCU, and the American Academic Leadership Institute (AALI).

The WBL Consortium will integrate real-world, employer-designed projects into existing courses at 25 CIC member institutions to equip students with skills, real-world experiences, and professional connections to support their future careers.

CIC announces the election of five new members to its Board of Directors. The election was held during the annual board meeting prior to the start of the 2023 Presidents Institute.

Resources from the 2023 Presidents Institute are now available online.

OFIC and CIC partner to provide transfer pathways to Ohio community colleges and independent universities

CIC and ACUE partner to launch "Belong: An Inclusive Learning Community"

Lilly Endowment Inc. has awarded CIC a multi-million dollar grant to fund continued development of its Network for Vocation in Undergraduate Education (NetVUE)