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| History and organization of ACM |
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Founded in 1958, ACM is one of the few consortia of colleges in the United States devoted primarily to academic concerns. ACM grew out of a series of meetings held by the presidents of ten colleges, all members of the Midwest Athletic Conference. The consortium brought in Colorado and Macalester Colleges in 1969, Lake Forest College in 1975, and the College of the University of Chicago in 1988. The chief purpose of ACM has always been to enrich the curricula of its member colleges in ways they could not accomplish alone. Off-campus study programs have been an important part of that mission. ACM consortial involvement with international study began in the early 1960s with programs in India, Liberia and Costa Rica. The presidents of the 14 ACM colleges constitute the consortium’s Board of Directors. The Advisory Board of Deans, made up of the institutions’ chief academic officers, oversees the ACM off-campus study programs and faculty development activities. ACM’s ongoing activities are supported financially by the member colleges. The quality of these activities, and of the consortium’s special projects, is reflected in grants awarded to ACM in recent years by the Mellon and Ford Foundations, the Pew Memorial Trust, the Lily Endowment, the U.S. Department of Education and the U.S. Information Agency. Although the ACM colleges collaborate in more substantial ways than the members of most consortia, they retain their institutional autonomy. Unanimity is not required to approve a program, and participation in ACM activities is voluntary. |
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