New Name, Growing Reputation for Higher-Ed Collaboration

An innovative collaboration of our region’s colleges and universities has announced a new name, a dedicated website, and progress on several priorities for making the Gulf Coast a destination for higher education.

The six-institution Cross College Alliance, formerly known as the Consortium of Colleges on the Creative Coast (or C4), aims to transform the regional delivery and impact of higher education. The members have diverse, complementary programs, services, and philosophies. But they share a vision for building a network that expands learning opportunities for their collective 18,000-plus students as well as lifelong learners in the communities that surround them.

The Cross College Alliance comprises:

New College of Florida;
Ringling College of Art and Design;
State College of Florida, Manatee-Sarasota;
University of South Florida, Sarasota Manatee;
The Ringling, which is administered by Florida State University; and 
Eckerd College

A colorful new website at CrossCollegeAlliance.org details the group’s shared objectives and current initiatives designed to meet them. Among the Alliance’s collaborative work are efforts to make more programs and services available to all students across colleges, encourage faculty and staff to promote shared research among institutions, and attract industry to our region to create employment opportunities and help plug the brain drain.

The Cross College Alliance got its start through two leadership retreats funded by Gulf Coast Community Foundation to explore hotw the member institutions could better collaborate and share resources.