Biography
From 2000 to 2021, Richard Ekman served as president of the Council of Independent Colleges, the national organization for the approximately 700 small and mid-sized independent colleges and universities in the US. During his tenure, he was responsible for record increases in CIC's membership and in participation levels in CIC's programs and events by presidents, provosts, and deans, as well unprecedented levels of fundraising. He initiated many new programs, including the creation of the American Academic Leadership Institute, Network for Vocation in Higher Education (NetVUE), the Presidential Vocation and Institutional Mission Program, the Online Course Sharing Consortium, and workshops for department chairs and for library directors. Ekman also established partnerships with such organizations as the Gilder-Lehrman Institute of American History, Harvard's Center for Hellenic Studies, Ithaka S + R, and the Council of American Overseas Research Centers, and he facilitated the merger of the Foundation for Independent Higher Education, which coordinates the state councils for private colleges and universities, into CIC.
Prior to CIC, Ekman served as secretary of the foundation and senior program officer of the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation; vice president for programs of Atlantic Philanthropies; director, Division of Education Programs and subsequently director of research programs, National Endowment for the Humanities; vice president and dean of the college, Hiram College (OH); and associate to the provost, University of Massachusetts–Boston. Earlier, he was associate director and head tutor, Department of Expository Writing, and teaching fellow in social studies, general education, and government, Harvard University.
His current and recent governing and advisory board memberships include: chair, Academic Search; chair, Higher Education Research and Development Institute; vice chair, College-in-3 Exchange; special advisor, Registry for College and University Presidents; Of counsel, Academic Search; chair, Project Pericles; senior advisor, Academic Innovators; emeriti, Retirement Health Solutions; SAGE Scholars; Lilly Family School of Philanthropy, Indiana University; Rackham Advancement Council, University of Michigan; Villa I Tatti; Harvard Board of Overseers Committee to Visit the University Library; American Council on Education; Johns Hopkins University Press; Louisiana State University Press; Yale–New Haven Teachers Institute; National Humanities Alliance; vice chair, Collegiate School (NY); Georgetown Day School (DC); Dictionary of American Regional English.
He earned his A.B. in History and his Ph.D. in History of American Civilization at Harvard University, has been awarded the President's Medal of Hood College, numerous honorary degrees, and the W.E.B DuBois Medal of Harvard University. He is a Fellow of the TIAA Institute.
Ekman is co-author and editor, with Richard Quandt, of Technology and Scholarly Communication (University of California Press) and of opinion pieces in Inside Higher Ed, The Chronicle of Higher Education, Change Magazine, University Business, Carnegie Reporter, The Washington Post, and other publications. At Penn GSE, Ekman currently teaches EDHE 6115, "Leveraging Trends for Institutional Benefit," and he serves on dissertation committees.