2023 Board Governance Institute

Shirley Hoogstra became the seventh president of the CCCU in September 2014. In this role, Hoogstra combines her zeal for the rule of law and her passion for Christian higher education as she promotes the value and purpose of high quality, Christ-centered liberal arts education that shapes students who love the Lord with all their heart, soul, and mind. Prior to the Council for Christian Colleges & Universities, Hoogstra served for 15 years as vice president for student life at her alma mater, Calvin University, and spent more than a decade practicing law as a partner at a firm specializing in litigation in New Haven, Connecticut.

Mosley is the CCCU’s Associate Vice President for Government and Strategic Relations. She graduated from and subsequently worked as the senior human resources partner at Covenant College for over 10 years. She received her MBA from Belhaven University and her J.D. from Emory University. She also worked for Congressman Gary Palmer and the Center for Public Justice before coming to the CCCU.

Shirley Mullen served 15 years as President of Houghton College, Houghton, N.Y., retiring in May 2021. She has spent four decades in the work of faith based liberal arts education. Prior to becoming Houghton’s president, she served at various times as a classroom professor, chief academic officer and residence life director. She is an avid life-long learner with earned doctorates in both history and philosophy, focusing in her studies on the Enlightenment period and its complex impact on the Modern World, on liberal learning, and on our understanding of the human condition.

As President Emerita, she continues to speak, write, and consult, as well as to encourage and develop the next generation of leaders through mentoring and serving on the boards of the Council for Christian Colleges and Universities, Jericho Road Community Health Center, the National Association of Evangelicals, Fuller Seminary, and the First Amendment Partnership.

Dr. Chip Pollard has been the president of John Brown University since July 2004. During his time at JBU, the university has been blessed to receive over $290 million in gifts and to grow its endowment from $50 million to over $165 million. JBU has  been named seven years in a row by the Chronicle of Higher Education to its “High Honor Role” in the “Great Colleges To Work For” survey (2015-2021). Dr. Pollard has published two books, “New World Modernisms” (2005) and “May It Always Be True: Educating Students in Faith” (2011).

Dr. Pollard was elected to the board of the CCCU in 2009 and served as chair of the board from 2013-2018 and as immediate past chair until 2022. He was elected to serve on the Council for Independent Colleges board in 2021. 

He received his undergraduate degree in English from Wheaton College, a law degree from Harvard Law School, a master’s degree in English from Oxford University, and a Ph.D. in English from the University of Virginia.

Dr. Phil Schubert became Abilene Christian University’s 11th president in June 2010. During his tenure, total enrollment surpassed 5,300 for the first time in history, and nearly 44 percent of ACU’s student body is racially and ethnically diverse. ACU’s branch campus, ACU Dallas, enrolls more than 1,700 adult learners in online doctoral, master’s, bachelor’s and certificate programs.

For the third year in a row, ACU is the highest-ranking university in Texas in a U.S. News & World Report benchmark focused on student success. It achieved Top 10 status in three of eight high-impact categories among 1,500 universities in the nation and was the only one in Texas recognized in four of the eight categories.

Dr. Schubert received his BBA from ACU, an MBA from Duke University and an Ed.D. in higher education management from the University of Pennsylvania.

Andrew Westmoreland’s career in higher education spans 43 years, including a combined total of 23 years as president of two institutions, Samford University in Alabama and Ouachita Baptist University in Arkansas. His degrees are in political science and higher education. Westmoreland served as chair of the Board of Trustees for the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools and in 2022 he received the Eileen Tosney Award for Career Leadership in Higher Education, the AAUA’s highest individual recognition. Jeanna, his wife of 42 years, is also a career educator, having served as Chair of the Arkansas State Board of Education.

Craig Wood is an attorney, law professor and college trustee with 38 years of legal experience practicing education law.  Craig was a partner in the international law firm McGuireWoods LLP until his recent retirement, where he served as Chair of the Education Law Team. Craig is an Adjunct Professor at Washington and Lee University Law School, where he teaches “The Law of Higher Education,” and for 30 years was an adjunct professor at the University of Virginia Law School teaching “Trial Advocacy.”  Craig has served as President of the Education Law Association and has been published by the National Association of College and University Attorneys (NACUA).  Craig serves as Chair of the Board of Trustees of Covenant College, a CCCU member, and is an elder at Trinity Presbyterian Church in Charlottesville, Virginia.