Tri-State University President Earl Brooks II, Ph.D. has accepted leadership roles with two organizations. The Independent Colleges of Indiana (ICI) elected Brooks Executive Committee Chair at its spring meeting at Huntington University last week. He will also serve as president of the Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association this year.

Brooks served as ICI Executive Committee vice chair for 2006-2007, and as treasurer for 2005-2006. The ICI develops and enhances the competitive standing of its 31 member independent, nonprofit, regionally-accredited, degree-granting colleges and universities and strives to assure opportunity and choice in higher education for all students.

Its main purposes and activities include assisting member institutions with information, staff expertise and other resources, including the administration of grants for the benefit of member colleges; providing information about independent higher education in Indiana to public and private bodies; representing the interests of the independent college sector to the media, the general public and other audiences; negotiating or providing a variety of services for member institutions in an effort to reduce costs; collecting, analyzing, interpreting, and providing basic information about the member colleges as an aid to institutional planning; and soliciting and receiving gifts from corporations and foundations, which then are distributed among the member institutions.

The Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association (MIAA) is America's oldest collegiate athletic conference. The 2006-07 school year marks the 120th consecutive year of operation for the NCAA Division III affiliated conference.

The MIAA was founded March 24, 1888. From its infancy, the MIAA has conducted full-season championships in multiple sports. Some sports have changed, but the changes have served to develop the MIAA into one of America's finest NCAA Division III conferences, today offering 18 sports for men and women.

Tri-State joins Adrian, Albion, Alma, Calvin, Hope, Kalamazoo, Olivet, Saint Mary’s, and Wisconsin Lutheran as MIAA members. TSU became a conference member in 2004-05 upon its acceptance as a provisional NCAA member, and became a full MIAA member that same year. In fall 2007, TSU will become a full NCAA member.

As ICI Executive Committee Chair, Brooks will preside over the committee and full meetings of the ICI and work closely with its staff on issues important to all independent colleges in Indiana. Efforts will include legislative lobbying on issues impacting private higher education.

As MIAA President, he will chair the president’s meeting, executive committee and Board of Control of the MIAA, working closely with the MIAA commissioner regarding issues, topics, and appeals that develop within the athletic conference over the course of the year.

Brooks feels strongly about TSU taking a leadership role within the organizations and society in which it operates. “For groups to be strong, members must shoulder their share of the workload required for success,” he said. “TSU believes in the success of partnerships, whether in the community in which we live and work or in organizations working for the good of professional members.”