The Associated Colleges of the Midwest (ACM) announces a new rotation of leadership on its governing boards. Appointments for chairpersons and executive committee members of the ACM Board of Directors and ACM Advisory Board of Deans follow a planned schedule that provides the consortium of fourteen colleges with smooth transitions in these leadership positions.
Suzanne Rivera, the president of Macalester College, will chair the ACM Board of Directors for the 2024-2025 academic year. President C. Andrew McGadney of Knox College has joined as a member with Presidents Anne Harris of Grinnell College, who is serving as vice chair, and Jenifer Ward of Luther College, who is serving as past chair on the board’s four-person executive committee.
“I look forward to working more closely with my colleagues across the ACM,” Rivera said. “Together, we will continue advancing the academic excellence our colleges are known for and promote the incredible opportunities a liberal arts education provides students.”
The executive committee members, including the chairs of the ACM Board of Directors and ACM Advisory Board of Deans, volunteer in their governance roles to support ACM’s strategic direction and offer operational oversight. The boards are made up of presidents and deans from each of ACM’s fourteen member institutions, and they work with the president of ACM to develop and carry out the consortium’s policies, projects, and major initiatives.
For the upcoming academic year, Michael Schneider, the Vice President for Academic Affairs and Dean of Knox College, will chair the ACM Advisory Board of Deans. Ripon College Vice President and Dean of Faculty John Sisko is the newest member of that board’s executive committee. He will serve alongside Vice Chair Ilene Crawford, Cornell College’s Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs, and Past Chair Mark Willhardt, the Dean of the Faculty and Vice President for Academic Affairs at Monmouth College.
ACM President Lisa Jasinski expressed her gratitude to the outgoing members of the two governing boards. Clarence Wyatt retired as president of Monmouth College at the end of the 2023-2024 academic year. Marci Sortor, the provost and dean of St. Olaf College, completed her term on the Executive Committee of the ACM Advisory Board of Deans.
“We thank President Wyatt and Dean Sortor for their years of hard work and commitment to their respective governing boards to serve the needs of the fourteen of our ACM colleges,” Jasinski said, adding an enthusiastic welcome to President Rivera and Dean Schneider to their new board roles. “I am confident the tradition of positive and constructive collaboration the ACM is built upon will continue under our new board leadership.”
The new chairs of the ACM Board of Directors and ACM Advisory Board of Deans will serve a one-year rotation in their appointed position. Executive committee terms run four years, one of which is spent as board chair.
