ACE President Ikenberry Announces Resignation
D r. Stanley O. Ikenberry, president of the American Council on Education, announced late last month that he will be stepping down from the post he has held for four years. “If there ever can be an ideal time for a transition, 2001 may be it,” Ikenberry says in a letter addressed to the association’s board chair, Dr. Michael F. Adams. “We are approaching a November election. There will be a new administration in Washington. Congress will change as well. Reauthorization of the Higher Education Act is not far away. A transition in leadership at ACE in 2001 could be timely.”
Adams, also president of the University of Georgia, says Ikenberry will be missed.
“ACE has made great progress under his leadership. We are more focused, better reflect the views of our members in the public arena and do a better job of bringing together disparate views of the university community.”
Dr. William Harvey, incoming head of ACE’s Office of Minorities in Higher Education, says that he regrets not having more of an opportunity to work with Ikenberry.
“During his tenure, ACE stood its ground behind affirmative action, signing declarations in support of it,” Harvey says. “The fact that those comments came under his signature signifies to me how significant an issue this was for him.”
Adams adds that Ikenberry is leaving ACE in its strongest position in recent memory. Among the accomplishments Adams cited were:
• A successful internal reorganization of the association;
• Leading the higher education community through the development and passage of the Clinton administration’s HOPE Scholarship and Lifetime Learning tax credits;
• Leading a coalition of more than 1,200 colleges and universities in focusing on the college cost controversy; and
• Launching the national College is Possible campaign.
Ikenberry, 65, will step down June 30. He says he plans to return to his faculty position at the University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana to teach, write and consult. Ikenberry succeeded Robert H. Atwell as ACE’s 10th president.
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