Building Knowledge to Address Challenges Facing Liberal Arts Colleges
How can liberal arts colleges create sustainable strategies to navigate the current economic climate and plan for the future? With their role in institutional governance, how can faculty effectively participate in this effort?
Through the Institute on College Futures (ICF), the ACM colleges worked together to create a model of professional development to engage faculty in addressing financial and other strategic challenges their colleges face.
Tap into ICF Resources
ICF seminars provided opportunities and tools for faculty to develop a deeper understanding of college finances and to apply that knowledge to sound planning and budgeting on their campuses. Online resources are still available, including an ICF Online as described below.
Seminars for ACM faculty
At annual two-day ICF seminars in Chicago in 2013 through 2017, a total of 250 faculty from ACM colleges engaged with the fundamentals of college finances, from the big picture of higher education economics to the details of college budgets.
Shared governance was the focus of the 2018 ICF seminar, held July 13-14 in Chicago. Sessions addressed external and internal pressures that complicate strategic decision making; locus of authority; necessary pre-requisites to effective shared governance and enabling a flexible approach for issues and crises that require agile decision making.
Learn more about ICF seminars »
Videos highlight core concepts
Learn about the core issues and concepts in the ICF curriculum on college finances by watching four short videos featuring the expert ACM college administrators who presented at the ICF seminars.
Free ICF resources
The ICF Online resource site hosts videos, presentations, and articles from the ICF college finance seminars, plus an interactive exploration of college budgeting and online discussion about topics raised by ICF.
A new online course extends ICF’s reach
Check out ICF Online, a mini-course based on the content of the in-person ICF college finance seminars that brings an interactive approach to online learning. Available to faculty and staff at any college or university. Take the course any time at your own pace!
Generous Support Makes ICF Possible
The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation awarded a $250,000 grant to the ACM in 2012 to launch the Institute on College Futures (ICF) and support the in-person ICF seminars.
Funding from The Teagle Foundation supported the creation of the ICF videos and development of the ICF Online mini-course.
More information about ICF
- Contact: ACM Vice President for Strategic Initiatives, Brian Williams (312.561.5922)
