SMU President Gerald R. Turner has joined the board of directors of the National Association of Independent Colleges and Universities.
 

Joining seven other new members of the NAICU board on Feb. 3, Turner represents Region VI—which includes Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi, Oklahoma, Tennessee and Texas.
 

Turner is also on the boards of other organizations, such as the United Way of Dallas, the Methodist Hospital Foundation, the Salvation Army of Dallas and three publicly traded companies.
 

“It’s a privilege for me to serve on the NAICU board and to represent Region VI,” Turner said in a press release. “With the complex issues facing higher education today, it is essential that we take the lead in exploring solutions and speaking with a unified voice.”
 

The NAICU represents private non-profit colleges and universities on policy issues with the federal government, according to a press release.
 

Members of the NAICU include liberal arts colleges, major research universities, church- and Hispanic serving institutions, single-sex colleges, art institutions, two-year colleges and schools of law, medicine, business, engineering and other professions.

The board sets the organization’s agenda on federal higher education policy. It also encourages support of NAICU priorities and initiatives and oversees the association’s financial administration.

“President Turner was selected by his peers because of his expertise in the field, proven leadership and commitment to America’s college students,” NAICU President David L. Warren said in a press release.

Since 1976, NAICU has reflected “the diversity of private, nonprofit higher education in the United States,” according to the release. It has more than 1,000 member institutions and associations—these institutions enroll nine of every 10 students attending private institutions in this country.