Crutcher elected co-chair of the Council of Independent Colleges Presidential Spouses and Partners Task Force

Betty Neal Crutcher, spouse of the University of Richmond’s president, Ronald A. Crutcher, has been elected co-chair of the Council of Independent Colleges Presidential Spouses and Partners Task Force.

“CIC is committed to helping presidential spouses and partners as they provide support and encouragement to those who lead the nation’s independent colleges and universities,” said Crutcher. “It also provides valuable opportunities for university presidents to discuss the many challenges they share in common and to learn from one another. I am honored to have been asked to serve the organization as co-chair of the Task Force.”

Crutcher, whose term runs through January 2018, consults and leads workshops for organizations and institutions in cross-cultural mentoring. At the University of Richmond, she mentors students, participates in a variety of campus programs and accompanies President Crutcher in the many ways in which he represents the university and interacts with various constituencies.

She serves on the board of the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts. At the Harvard University School of Medicine, she is a co-founder of the Seeds of Hope program, which exposes disadvantaged and minority Boston public high school students to the medical school curriculum and to STEM fields. She also served for 10 years as presidential spouse and senior mentoring consultant at Wheaton College.

“The Council is pleased to have Betty Crutcher as a co-chair of the Task Force,” said CIC senior vice president Kathy Whatley. “CIC continues to implement many programs and services for presidential spouses and partners and needs a strong task force to offer advice and feedback. I am certain that Dr. Crutcher will serve CIC admirably, and I look forward to working with her.”

CIC, an association of 765 nonprofit independent colleges and universities and higher education affiliates and organizations, is the only national higher education association that focuses solely on providing services and a broad range of initiatives directly to independent colleges and universities to help improve the quality of education and strengthen institutional resources.

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