Technology Associations

The Consortium of Liberal Arts Colleges (CLAC)

The Consortium of Liberal Arts Colleges (CLAC) is

an organization comprising many of the top liberal arts colleges in the United States, chartered to explore and promote the use of information technology in the service of our liberal arts educational missions. The group evolved from meetings of college presidents in 1985 and 1986 at Oberlin College; a brief history of the Consortium has been compiled. CLAC has focused on the uses of computing and related technologies in the service of the liberal arts mission. Academic computing, administrative computing, library automation, web services, telecommunications, and campus-wide networking all fall within the scope of the Consortium's interest. (http://www.liberalarts.org/about)

CLAC activities include holding an annual conference whose location rotates among the participating colleges, collection and sharing of benchmark data through the EDUCAUSE organization’s core data survey, active list serv discussion of best practices and advice, opportunities for staff exchange, and representation of the interests of liberal-arts institutions on information-technology issues at the national level when appropriate.

Last spring, CLAC board members agreed to grow membership of their consortium and accept applications for new members. With the kind nomination by CLAC member Harvey Mudd College, CMC was accepted as one of four new members. There are currently sixty-six members (http://www.liberalarts.org/members) of the CLAC consortium.

It is hoped that faculty members will become interested in participating in some of the opportunities afforded through this new consortial membership.