Whatley leaving Berry
Caroline Claffey, Campus Carrier Deputy News Editor
Provost Katherine Whatley was named the Vice President for Annual Programs of the Council of Independent Colleges (CIC) and will begin her position in Washington, D.C. in March.
The CIC is a membership organization that works with over 600 small and medium sized independent and private colleges. It works with university presidents, provosts and department chairs to advance institutional excellence through seminars and workshops.
As Vice President for Annual Programs, Whatley will be in charge of planning and running the annual conference for provosts and the four workshops held for department chairs. She will also be responsible for assisting with operations of the organizations, including the Presidents Institute, the Institute for Chief Academic Officers and the Spouses Program at the Presidents Institute.
Whatley said the CIC’s conference for chief academic officers—which are mainly provosts and deans—is one of her favorites and she has attended every year since she became a provost in 2008.
“It’s a chance to learn about effective practices and to share issues and solutions,” Whatley said. “They bring in high level speakers to talk about student learning and faculty development and all sorts of issues that are important to provosts.”
In addition, the CIC holds four department chairs workshops per year located in different areas of the country. These are meant to help faculty moving into administrative roles figure out how to make that transition smoothly. The CIC also offers faculty seminars, in which faculty can go for a week and do an intensive study in an area they may not be familiar with.
Whatley said she spent this weekend in Washington, D.C. to attend a meeting of the Chief Academic Officers task force in order to begin planning the annual Chief Academic Officers Institute in November.
“We worked on generating a theme for next year’s conference and making suggestions for speakers,” Whatley said. “Once I get up there in March it will be my responsibility to get those plans hammered out and decide on other session topics that are of interest to the Chief Academic Officers.”
Whatley said one of her responsibilities—planning the Spouses Program at the Presidents Institute—is particularly challenging.
“Presidential spouses have been changing in the last 15-20 years,” Whatley said. “They’re not all female anymore; some of the presidents are female so their spouses are male, and there are also some presidents who have partners. So it’s a challenge to try and develop a program that meets the interests of all the presidential spouses.”
Whatley said there have been a variety of different topics presented by the presidential spouses.
“Some of them are about relationships with trustees, about how the college structure works and how the administrative structure works within the college,” Whatley said. “So I think it’s going to be really interesting.”
Whatley said she is looking forward to extending the impact she can have on students and faculty.
“With the CIC I’ll be working with the administration who are working with the faculty who are in turn working with the students, so it’s a broader reach and a chance to reach more people and keep the focus on the students, where it needs to be,” Whatley said.
Kathy Richardson, who has been acting provost since August 2012, said Whatley’s experiences will make her an asset to the CIC.
“Dr. Whatley will bring a deep knowledge of the issues in higher education and a wide range of experience in a variety of faculty and administrative roles to her new role as vice president,” Richardson said. “I know she will offer great leadership at the Council.”