Breakfast and Roundtable Discussions

November 3, 2025 JW Grand Ballroom 6

Breakfast is provided for all Institute participants.

Building a Culture of Effective, Data-Informed Academic Program Management: Leadership, Data, and Process

Many institutions want to develop a culture of effective, data-informed program management, but it can be difficult. What are the right metrics to consider? How can we build trust that the data is accurate, and widely understood? And how can we harness that data for collaborative—and effective—management of our academic programs, curricula, and personnel? The session facilitators share best practices based on their work with dozens of private colleges and universities, and invite participants to share what has worked well at their institutions.

Seth Houston, Founder and CEO, UQ Solutions
John Woell, Senior Affiliate Consultant, UQ Solutions; Principal, Manitou Passage Consultancy

Building an Integrated Understanding of Students to Support Persistence

The realities of students’ lives and needs are changing at a rapid pace. Obstacles to persistence range from financial stress and variations in academic preparation and confidence to barriers to institutional engagement and belonging and negative student and family perceptions of the value of college. How are CIC institutions addressing these complex issues and ensuring effective communication across divisions, so all departments are aligned in their efforts to facilitate student success? What tools and resources have been helpful? Join a conversation about strategies to build an integrated, campuswide understanding of student needs and to train faculty and staff to encourage student persistence in the face of obstacles.

Karen Soul, Vice President for Academic Affairs and Provost, Centenary College of Louisiana

Career Readiness: A Campuswide Imperative

To embed career readiness into the student experience, CIC institutions must activate cross-campus collaboration and leadership. This roundtable will explore the role of chief academic officers and their teams for collaborative engagement with campus stakeholders to advance this work. Participants from institutions with established practices will share what has worked well (and what hasn’t), offering insights into collaborative efforts, successful models, and evolving strategies to help institutions ensure that students are career-ready when they graduate.

Ryan A. Neal, Provost, Anderson University (SC)

Creative Collaborations to Enhance Students’ Educational Experiences What innovative partnerships are CIC colleges and universities forming both on campuses and with local communities to enrich their students’ experiences? The chief academic officer of Bethany Lutheran College will share insights into his institution’s creative collaborations for performing arts students, which have emphasized the importance of service as a key component of success. Participants are encouraged to share unique partnerships from their own campuses and to engage in brainstorming new opportunities together.

Jason Lowrey, Vice President for Academic Affairs, Bethany Lutheran College (MN)

Do Residential Students Want Online Courses?

According to a survey from Rize Education, 95 percent of students want to take at least one course online each semester, but these survey respondents are already enrolled in an online course. To understand how these results generalize to a broader pool of prospective and current college students, Rize is conducting a survey of 1,500 students with CollegePulse. Does the average small college student want to mix and match modalities? Why would they choose one modality over the other? How would they build their ideal learning experience? This discussion will provide participants with a sneak peek of research results that will be published this fall and will ask participants to share their own experiences on campus.

Dylan Fogarty, Vice President of Partner Success, Rize Education
Karen Friedlen, Vice President for Academic Affairs, Mount Mary University (WI)
Ella Wurth, Head of New Business, Rize Education

Generational Differences in How Faculty and Staff Approach Work

How do generational differences impact the ways in which faculty and staff members identify with the workplace? What might these differences mean for the evolution of the higher education workplace and for faculty and staff professional development? What can different generations learn from one other about institutional mission, engagement, work-life harmony, shared governance, and more? Participants will share their perspectives on these questions and discuss how, as institutional leaders, they can encourage this learning.

Liz Perry-Sizemore, Vice President for Academic Affairs and Dean of the College, Maryville College (TN)

Getting It All Done: Do Integrated Systems Really Simplify the Demands on Student Affairs?

Join CIC’s Corporate Affiliate Partner, Student Ally, for a discussion about the ever-increasing demands placed on Student Affairs professionals and how independent colleges collaborated in the development of a fully-integrated student affairs platform to streamline training, reporting, case management, compliance, mental health support and more.  Share your thoughts on the evolving challenges facing our industry and how you’d like to see CIC’s technology partners step up to support you in facing them.

Alex A. Romano, Esq., Chief Executive Officer, Student Ally
Anthony Cesaro, Chief Operating Officer, Student Ally

Innovative Cross-Campus Collaboration in Summer Advising and Orientation Programs

How are CIC colleges and universities leveraging cross-divisional partnerships to welcome first-year students and foster their sense of belonging to the campus community? What are the best practices for designing, implementing, and assessing summer advising and orientation programs? Participants will share successful strategies from their institutions and provide feedback to those developing new programs.

Sarah Kirk, Provost and Dean of Faculty, Hobart and William Smith College (NY)

Mission Critical: Presidents’ Perspectives on How Universities Serve Society in Turbulent Times 

Drawing from interviews with 15 college presidents from private, liberal arts colleges and universities, this discussion will explore how higher education leaders are thinking about roles and societal impact during this period of unprecedented challenges and profound change. As we consider how best to serve students, how do we affirm what universities are “good for” and what they are “good at,” while also taking into account environmental, social, and governance considerations and, importantly, institutional responses to the changing political and economic landscape.

Kyle Farmby, Former President, Guildford College (NC)
Anne Ollen, Managing Director, Product and Operations, TIAA

Promoting LGBTQIA+ Student Belonging

What are CIC colleges and universities doing to promote LGBTQIA+ students’ belonging on their campuses? Participants will discuss successful programs and best practices for supporting LGBTQIA+ students inside and outside the classroom and seek advice about their campus challenges. 

Beth Concepción, Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs, Linfield University (OR)
Jeff Mackay, Vice President for Student Affairs and Dean of Students, Linfield University (OR)

Structuring Non-Tenure Line Faculty Positions for Student Success

As full-time, non-tenure line positions become an increasing part of the faculty workforce in higher education, how are CIC colleges and universities ensuring quality teaching, mission alignment, and effectiveness in promoting student success? Regent University’s chief academic officer will share the multi-year contract model his institution designed and implemented as an analogue to the traditional tenure process. Participants are invited to ask questions and to discuss other strategies that are being used or considered to evaluate and recognize the contributions of faculty who serve in non-tenure line roles to student success.

William Hathaway, Provost, Regent University (VA)

The Intersection of Student WellBeing and Success

Campus leaders consistently list student wellness, particularly mental health, as a top concern in national surveys. How are CIC colleges and universities promoting student wellbeing and success in the overall context of institutional mission, purpose, and outcomes? What types of programs, policies, and positions are being prioritized on CIC campuses? Otterbein University’s chief student affairs officer will discuss how his institution is organizing around this topic and what can be learned from national wellbeing initiatives. Participants will have the opportunity to share their own campus initiatives, seek advice on overcoming obstacles, and reflect on national trends.

Bill Fox, Vice President for Student Affairs, Otterbein University (OH)