Ithaca College

As part of its efforts to expand communication and collaboration with the entire IC community, the Ithaca College Board of Trustees will be holding two public events while the board is on campus for its regular Winter meeting.

In partnership with the Office of the President, the board will hold a panel discussion on “Higher Education Trends and Critical Issues in the Academy” on Wednesday, Feb. 14, from 4:30–6 p.m. in the Hockett Family Recital Hall in the Whalen Center.

On Thursday, Feb. 15, the board leadership will hold an Open Conversation session reflecting on their just-concluded three-day meeting, from 4–5 p.m. in Klingenstein Lounge, Campus Center.

All students, faculty, and staff are invited to attend both events.

Panel Discussion
Serving on the higher education panel will be Ithaca College President Shirley M. Collado; Tompkins Cortland Community College President Orinthia Montague; Luke Keller, Dana Professor of Physics and Astronomy at Ithaca College; and Jeff Selingo ’95, former editor of The Chronicle of Higher Education and member of the Board of Trustees. Serving as moderator will be politics major Grace Elletson ’19 a member of the first cohort of Ithaca College BOLD Scholars.

Among other critical issues, the panelists will consider the following themes:

• The purpose of higher education and its role in society: Are we preparing students to find good jobs and to be good citizens?
• Demographics and the ever-changing student body
• Pathways to the professoriate
• Ensuring equity and full participation in higher education for students, faculty, and staff
• The importance and power of social capital and networks for students
• The public good vs. the private good

The founding director of the Academy for Innovative Higher Education Leadership and author of the books “College (Un)bound” and “There Is Life After College,” Selingo (pictured above) notes that these kinds of conversations about higher education are needed because a variety of forces—from financial and demographic to technological—are putting pressure on legacy institutions.

“Outsiders, including entrepreneurs, foundations, and policymakers, already are trying to shape what the future looks like,” says Selingo. “So colleges and universities can either sit idly by or join in to determine their own destiny.” 

Open Conversation
The Open Conversation will be led by Board of Trustees Chairman Tom Grape ’80 and Vice Chairman David Lissy ’87, who will share highlights and reflect on the discussions and decisions that took place during the board meeting. They will also use this as an opportunity to hold “office hours”—answering questions and talking with interested members of the campus community in one-on-one conversations. Light refreshments will be available.

The Board of Trustees intends to make these conversations a feature of every future board meeting as well, to help the campus community and the board get to know one another better.

Individuals with disabilities requiring accommodations should contact Theresa Klinger at tklinger@ithaca.edu or 607-274-3836 as soon as possible.