Brenau University’s Amanda Lammers, vice president for student services, is one of 20 senior college administrators selected by the Council of Independent Colleges to participate in a year-long Presidential Vocation and Institutional Mission program for prospective college and university presidents.
The seminar-based program is designed to help individuals with the potential to serve as university presidents align their personal and professional goals and the missions of institutions that they might lead in the future. The program aims to produce presidencies that are long lasting, highly effective and satisfying to both the individual and the institution.
Participants will engage in two seminars, consultations with experienced facilitators, and a series of readings about the vocation of college presidents and the role of vision and mission in institutional leadership.
Lammers became Brenau’s vice president of Student Services in 2014 and was previously the university’s dean of students and director of student life and leadership. She oversees all activities, facilities and services for the Women’s College residential students, as well as career counseling, retention and wellness programs for all Brenau students. She received her Doctorate in Education from the University of Alabama, a master’s degree in education from Clemson University and a bachelor’s degree in psychology from what is today the University of North Georgia. She was nominated by Brenau President Ed Schrader to participate in the CIC program.
“I became interested in the program because I aspire to be a college president one day,” said Lammers. “I realized this was within the realm of possibility as I pursued my doctorate in higher education administration. I’m so passionate about what I do that I want to make certain my values align with the role of president.”
This approach to the preparation of new presidents has proven highly successful in the period that the program has been operating. Since 2005, 53 program participants (33 percent) have been named to college presidencies—a very high rate of advancement among leadership development programs.
“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.’”
The Presidential Vocation and Institutional Mission program is in its ninth year being offered by the CIC, which is an association of 770 nonprofit independent colleges and universities, including Brenau, state-based councils of independent colleges, and other higher education affiliates that works to support college and university leadership, advance institutional excellence and enhance public understanding of independent higher education’s contributions to society. It conducts the largest annual conferences of college and university presidents and of chief academic officers in the United States.
