Senior Vice President Sven de Jong and I attended the Annual Meeting of the Independent College Enterprise (ICE) in Charleston. ICE is a consortium of eight private colleges in West Virginia, Virginia, North Carolina, and Tennessee. By pooling resources to purchase and maintain IT systems, the colleges of the consortium have streamlined administrative processes and increased service levels to students. The consortium has been a forward-thinking model that others throughout the country seek to replicate.
All ICE data reside in a computer center on the campus of the University of Charleston – a founding member of the consortium. ICE has eight full-time staff members dedicated to maintaining the ICE system for all the member colleges, as well as staffing the help desk to support the eight institutions’ users. While the colleges share servers, software licenses and technical personnel, each school has exclusive access to its own financial and academic data.
I am honored to serve a second term as Chair of the ICE Board of Directors. In addition to hearing reports on new programs addressing transformative technology, accountability and outcomes and the student experience, representatives from strategic partner Ellucian (http://www.ellucian.com/) provided an update at the Charleston meeting on the “Ellucian Roadmap” plans for the next five years. We also heard progress reports from Shelley Nason, CEO of ICE, regarding progress toward completion of the consortium’s long-range plan.
Bethany’s participation in ICE is now in its seventh year. It has served as a cost-effective way to bring stronger instructional technology platforms to the College and enhance services to our students and faculty.
