University of the Ozarks Provost Dr. Travis Feezell is one of 20 senior college administrators selected by the Council of Independent Colleges (CIC) to participate in a year-long Presidential Vocation and Institutional Mission program for prospective college and university presidents.
Feezell selected for national program that prepares leaders
The seminar-based program is designed to help individuals with the potential to serve as college and university presidents to clarify the alignment between their personal and professional goals and the missions of institutions that they might lead in the future. With a wave of retirements of university presidents on the horizon, it is especially important that individuals who become new presidents are well suited to the culture of the institution. The program aims to produce presidencies that are long lasting, highly effective, and satisfying to both the individual and the institution.
Participants, including Feezell, will engage in two seminars, participate in consultations with experienced mentors, and undertake a series of readings about the vocation of college presidents and the role of vision and mission in institutional leadership.
"The alignment of personal vocation and institutional mission emphasized in this program addresses a common pitfall of presidencies," said CIC President Richard Ekman. "The program aims to help participants achieve great things for their institutions and to avoid being ‘the right person in the wrong place.’"
Feezell has served as provost at U of O since June of 2014. He came to Ozarks after serving as chair of the Department of Sport and Motorsports Management at Belmont Abbey College in Belmont, N.C. He holds an Ed.D. in education and has more than 20 years of experience in higher education as an academic administrator, faculty member, athletic director and baseball coach.
This approach to the preparation of new presidents has proven itself highly successful in the short period that the program has been operating. Since 2005, 38 program participants (32 percent) have been named to college presidencies?a very high rate of advancement among leadership development programs.
The program is directed by Frederik Ohles, Nebraska Wesleyan University president and CIC senior advisor. For more information about the Presidential Vocation and Institutional Mission program, which is funded by the Lilly Endowment, visit www.cic.edu/VocationMission.
The Council of Independent Colleges is an association of 765 nonprofit independent colleges and universities and higher education affiliates and organizations that has worked since 1956 to support college and university leadership, advance institutional excellence, and enhance public understanding of private higher education’s contributions to society. For more information, visit www.cic.edu.
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