TIER leaders from the University of Iowa and the Iowa Board of Regents will visit with their Big Ten colleagues this week to lead a discussion about best practices in operational efficiency.

The Efficiency Conference, organized through the Committee on Institutional Cooperation (CIC), will share innovative approaches, identify best practices to streamline processes, and identify opportunities to increase operational efficiency and drive cost savings.

“By discussing our experience with TIER here at the University of Iowa, we hope to create a collaborative environment where campus leaders from our peer institutions can work together to discuss the challenges facing higher education and how to improve their processes,” says Cheryl Reardon, associate vice president for research and economic development at the UI and member of the TIER Leadership Team.

“We're grateful for Iowa's leadership among their peers. This is a great opportunity to do what we do best in the CIC—rapid learning and prototyping of exemplary practices in the management of research universities," says Barbara McFadden Allen, executive director of the CIC.

The meeting will be held on Thursday, April 7, at the Big Ten Conference Center in Rosemont, Illinois.

As part of the TIER process, the UI has reached out to several peer institutions that have also completed efficiency reviews in order to determine benchmarks for success, including the University of Michigan, the University System of Maryland, and the University of Kansas.

Headquartered in the Midwest, the CIC is a consortium of Big Ten member universities, plus the University of Chicago. For more than half a century, these world-class research institutions have advanced their academic missions, generated unique opportunities for students and faculty, and served the common good by sharing expertise, leveraging campus resources, and collaborating on innovative programs.

For more, visit www.cic.net/home.