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Arthur J. Rothkopf, president of Lafayette College, has been elected to key positions in two national and regional higher-education associations.
He is serving a three-year term as a member of the board of directors of the national Council for Higher Education Accreditation (CHEA) and a one-year term as chair of the board of directors of the Association of Independent Colleges and Universities of Pennsylvania (AICUP). Both terms began July 1.
CHEA, the national policy and coordinating body for self-regulation of colleges and universities, is the largest higher-education institutional membership organization in the nation with 3,100 institutional members. The council is the nexus for discussions among institutions, accreditors, higher education associations, and state and federal governments on all issues of quality assurance and quality review. CHEA conducts a process of recognition of accrediting organizations, provides research and publications on issues of quality review and quality assurance, and represents higher education institutions and accrediting organizations before the federal government on issues relating to quality review.
Rothkopf served as vice chair of AICUP’s board last year. AICUP is the only statewide organization that serves exclusively the interests of private higher education within the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. With more than 80 member institutions it is the nation’s second largest coalition of independent colleges and universities. Headquartered in Harrisburg, Pa., it complements and supports the work of campus leaders by providing a variety of services and programs in government relations, research, fundraising, and public relations. It also provides opportunities for private colleges and universities to join in collaborative activities.
Rothkopf is also a member of the Commission on Governmental Relations of the American Council on Education. His service to the higher-education community at the national level includes his leadership of a groundbreaking effort to ensure greater uniformity in the way colleges and universities report data to organizations that publish rankings and guidebooks. He initiated a dialog among officials of colleges and higher education associations and publishers, resulting in the development and adoption of a new survey instrument called the Common Data Set. This effort to better serve prospective college students and parents who use the guidebooks and rankings received national recognition by the Council for Advancement and Support of Education.
Rothkopf is in his eighth year as Lafayette’s president. Among many other major accomplishments during his presidency he is leading the College’s six-year, $165 million fundraising campaign, called the Lafayette Leadership Campaign. Lafayette has raised more than $158 million with nearly year to go before the campaign’s scheduled conclusion on June 30, 2001. The campaign is the largest fundraising effort in Lafayette’s history and one of the most ambitious campaigns ever undertaken by an undergraduate institution of Lafayette’s size.
Under Rothkopf, Lafayette has achieved sharp gains in admissions selectivity and the quality of incoming classes, making strides toward the goal of being the college of choice for the highest achieving applicants. The quality advancements in both academics and admissions have received significant recognition beyond the campus, in well-respected college guidebooks including The Fiske Guide to Colleges, Barron’s Profiles of American Colleges, Barron’s Guide to the Most Competitive Colleges, and the Princeton Review Guide to the Best 331 Colleges.
Rothkopf has also led Lafayette to a high-water mark in its relationship with the City of Easton, whose citizens founded the College in 1826. This includes the current development of Lafayette’s new Williams Visual Arts Building, a $3.5 million art studio and gallery complex that will benefit both the College and the community, in downtown Easton.
Rothkopf earned his A.B. degree from Lafayette, where he was elected to Phi Beta Kappa, in 1955 and received his law degree from Harvard. He served as a Lafayette trustee from 1978 through 1991. Prior to becoming Lafayette’s president in July 1993, Rothkopf was Deputy Secretary of Transportation in the Bush Administration.
Rothkopf currently is a member of the board of directors of Insurance Services Office, Inc. (a company serving the property and casualty insurance industry); Lehigh Valley Hospital; the Lehigh Valley Economic Development Corp.; and The Pennsylvania Society.