As part of the federal Race to the Top, Tennessee was awarded money to develop a state data system that will link Pre-K, K-12, Higher Education, and Workforce development information. The opportunity exists for private higher education to participate in this data sharing. Most of the data elements that will become part of the data system are the same as the data TICUA currently collects from member institutions. By connecting student level data from Pre-K through the workforce, Tennessee will have a better ability to ask questions related to a student's preparation for college or the employment outcomes of students after graduation. At the TICUA Annual Meeting of the Presidents this past February there was a discussion about if and how independent colleges and universities would be involved in the statewide longitudinal data system.

After conversations with the individuals developing this data system, TICUA is satisfied with both the security and control of the data. The data will be de-identified early in the collection process and the institution itself will have total control over the use of the data.

TICUA has scheduled a webinar for Monday, July 23 at 3 pm Eastern (2 pm Central) to continue the conversation. Presidents and their senior staffs are invited to join in this discussion. Details will be available on the TICUA Meetings webpage.

The Administrative Professionals Meeting was held June 15th at Lipscomb University in Nashville. TICUA Vice Presidents Dr. Berty and Dr. Meldrim provided a comprehensive overview of TICUA. Dr. Jim Thomas, Executive Assistant to the President, Lipscomb University, gave a presentation on conflict management and provided strategies, best practices, and resources for approaching conflict situations. The attendees were given the opportunity to participate in peer-led discussions surrounding best practices that are unique to their role as the administrative professionals supporting institution presidents.

After lunch Brent Culberson, Special Assistant to the President, Lipscomb University, provided an overview of the National Association of Presidential Assistants in Higher Education program, Lipscomb University's Graphic Design Social Networker, Jill Hartline, shared best practices on how to stay connected through multiple social networking sites and their relevance in today's ultra-connected world.

Special thanks goes to Lori Ligon of Lipscomb University for hosting the meeting and to Lori and Carina Qualls of Meharry Medical College for planning the meeting.

The TICUA Benefit Consortium (TBC) achieved another milestone in June. After intense review of the Benefit Plan's current and projected financial positions by the TBC Board and its advisors, the Board declared a premium "holiday" for its member schools. The Plan is self-funded (i.e. funded by the contributions or premiums that member institutions and their employees pay in) and has developed a strong reserve fund. After the holiday, the reserve fund will be at a level that can cover current liabilities. Thus, member schools will not be asked to pay into the plan during the holiday period. No lapse in coverage will occur during the premium holiday.

The Consortium achieved this result by focusing on benefit changes that reduced costs to the participants and the Plan, not by "cost-shifting" to participants through increased deductibles or copays. The plan has had no increase in deductibles or copays since 2006 while making numerous benefit enhancements.

Information about the TICUA Benefit Consortium can be found at www.ticua.org/tbc/

The next CHASCo Membership Meeting will be Friday, July 20, at 10 am CDT. This will be a webinar event. Look for more information as the date gets closer.

Membership in CHASCo is free and TICUA member institutions are encouraged to join. If you would like information about joining CHASCo please contact Jason Powell, CHASCo Director at 615-242-6400 ext. 205 or visit the CHASCo website.

The Procurement Committee members (Mike Green-Lipscomb University, Glen Linthicum-Trevecca Nazarene University, Russ Orrison-Southern Adventist University, and Joel Robertson-King College) are pleased to announce the following additions to the TICUA preferred vendors' portfolio. The Committee recommends that you take a few minutes and visit the TICUA Procurement website to more closely examine the various vendor options available to member institutions. The Committee also welcomes recommendations for potential vendors. If you have a recommendation please send contact information to Diane Berty.

Adden Furniture: Adden offers a wide array of furniture types, all of which are made in America. The company also prides itself on being environmentally responsible. From its manufacturing plant in North Carolina, Adden can provide residence hall furniture, lounge seating (fully upholstered and woodframe), everywhere chairs, and anywhere tables.

Millennium Advisory Services: Millennium Advisory Services, a registered investment advisory firm, works closely with institutions - as the retirement plan sponsor - to assist meeting fiduciary obligations to employees. As an independent fiduciary advisor, Millennium works directly with faculty and staff to provide personalized advice regarding the investments in their retirement accounts, including TIAA-CREF. In addition, under this same agreement, Millennium has partnered with Touchstone Retirement Group, LLC to provide solutions to help institutions meet important fiduciary requirements on the plan level. Touchstone provides ongoing advice and guidance with respect to plan compliance and fiduciary responsibilities.

PS Furniture: PS Furniture is an American manufacturer and distributor of commercial portable furniture, specializing in products that excel in portability, stackability, and storability. The product line consists of many varieties of folding tables and portable seating, plus portable dance floors, lecterns, and beverage service stations. PS Furniture's commercial-grade folding tables and folding chairs are designed for convenient portability. This means easy moving, stacking, and storing of your folding tables and folding chairs.

Xiotech Corporation "X-IO": Xiotech is a recognized innovator in the data storage industry. Its award-winning Intelligent Storage systems leverage over two decades of expertise designed to deliver price and performance for enterprise applications. X-IO's patented Intelligent Storage Element (ISE) technology has rebooted storage fundamentals to better align with evolving application demands, including linearly scalable performance and capacity, industry-leading energy savings, and zero-touch reliability. ISE storage systems enable organizations to build systems of interoperable, best-of-breed solutions, and overcome the bottlenecks caused by current-generation storage infrastructure in the face of explosive data growth, increasing levels of virtualization, and ever-increasing application intelligence.

For more information and any of these new or TICUA's other existing vendor relationships, please visit the TICUA procurement webpage.

For the second time in three years, the Belmont University Students in Free Enterprise (SIFE) team won the national championship at the SIFE USA National Exposition. Belmont's SIFE team will now represent the United States at the international SIFE World Cup competition held September 30 - October 2, 2012 in Washington, DC. With the tagline "A head for business, a heart for the world," SIFE is an international non-profit organization that mobilizes students around the world to make a difference in their communities while developing the skills to become socially-responsible business leaders.

TICUA President Claude Pressnell was interviewed for an article in Inside Higher Ed exploring the value of a college degree.