Sept. 28, 2007
Center Valley, Pa. - In an effort to build upon the academic distinction that has defined the Patriot League since its inception, Patriot League Executive Director Carolyn Schlie Femovich welcomed a distinguished group of individuals to the Lehigh Valley earlier this week. The inaugural Patriot League Chief Academic Officers (CAO) meeting was held in Iacocca Hall on the campus of Lehigh University on Sept. 24 and 25. The two-day meeting was meant to elicit a productive set of discussions, and consider possible collaboration between Patriot League member institutions.
Monday night's discussion focused on Emergency Response Planning on campus, a very pertinent topic based on recent incidents that have occurred on campuses across the country. Tuesday morning served as an opportunity for the CAO's to discuss several topics that were pre-determined by the group. Colgate's Chief Academic Officer, Lyle Roelofs, led a discussion on "The Academic Experience of Athletes on our Campus" to start the morning, while Bucknell CAO Mary DeCredico facilitated a discussion on Undergraduate Research. The final topic of conversation was "Study Abroad and Learning about International Issues," a discussion that was facilitated by Lehigh CAO Mohamed El-Aasser and DeCredico.
The meeting served to be an effective forum for the group of CAO's to share ideas and provide useful feedback on the areas that are of relevance to academics and athletics in the Patriot League. It was meant to develop relationships across the League's institutions, and encourage the participants to use each other as resources in the future. The next meeting between the Patriot League Chief Academic Officers is tentatively scheduled for September of 2008.
The following individuals were in attendance at the meeting. (From Left to Right): Patriot League Executive Director Carolyn Schlie Femovich, Colgate CAO Dr. Lyle Roelofs, Navy CAO Dr. William Miller, Holy Cross CAO Dr. Timothy Austin, Army CAO Col. Patrick Finnegan, Bucknell CAO Dr. Mary DeCredico, American CAO Dr. Ivy Broder, Lehigh CAO Dr. Mohamed El-Aasser, and Lafayette CAO Dr. Wendy Hill.