About ICF

People having a meeting
Discussion at the 2015 Institute on College Futures.

The business model and governance structures of private liberal arts colleges are under increasing pressure.

In coming years, costs are projected to continue rising, but increases in the two principal sources of revenue for colleges — endowment growth and net revenues from tuition — have already begun to sag considerably and forecasters say they are unlikely to keep up. College leaders are confronted by a need to alter these trends and to weigh the choices that this involves.

Colleges face this challenge at a time when students and parents express increasing concern about rising tuition costs and student loan debt. Shifting demographics, competition for students, and rising tuition discounting also make it more difficult to balance revenues with costs for facilities, personnel, athletics, equipment, and programs.

ICF Goals

The annual Institute on College Futures (ICF) seminars give participants a “big picture” view of strategic challenges facing the liberal arts college sector and provide a framework and language to share their understanding with other faculty.

Since 2013, ICF has sponsored a series of annual, consortium-wide seminars. The program targets faculty who serve on institutional budget, advisory, or strategic planning committees. These seminars build faculty involvement and expertise through presentations and case-based learning, stressing decision making and trade-offs.

Faculty who participate in the seminars are encouraged to give presentations on their own campuses in order to multiply the learning from the institute and bring more members of the college communities into the conversation about college finances and shared governance.

To support and expand the program’s professional development initiatives, the ICF organizers have produced a set of videos of seminar presentations, an online resource site, and the ICF Online mini-course to make the materials created for the seminars available to more faculty and staff at ACM colleges and other colleges and universities.

ICF Steering Committees

The Steering Committees oversee the development of Institute on College Futures events and schedule.

ICF: Shared Governance Steering Committee (seminar in 2018)

  • Teresa Amott, President, Knox College
  • Michael Latham, Vice President for Academic Affairs and Dean of the College, Grinnell College
  • Ed Wingenbach, Vice President for Academic Affairs and Dean of the Faculty, Ripon College
  • Sandi Wong, Dean of the College and Dean of the Faculty, Colorado College

ICF: College Finances Steering Committee (seminars in 2013-2017)

  • Gary Muir, Director of the Center for Innovation in the Liberal Arts & Associate Professor of Psychology and Neuroscience, St. Olaf College
  • Michael Orr, Krebs Provost & Dean of the Faculty, Lake Forest College
  • Jill Tiefenthaler, President, Colorado College
  • David Wheaton, Chief Financial Officer, Macalester College

For more information about the Institute on College Futures, contact:

  • ACM Vice President for Strategic Initiatives, Brian Williams (312.561.5922)
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