Darrel Colson, president of Wartburg College, has been elected to the Board of Directors for the National Association of Independent Colleges and Universities (NAICU).

He will represent Region VII, which includes Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota and South Dakota.

With more than 1,000 colleges, universities, and associations as members, NAICU serves as the unified national voice of independent higher education and reflects the diversity of private, nonprofit higher education in the United States. Member institutions include major research universities, church-related colleges, historically black colleges, art and design colleges, traditional liberal arts and science institutions, women’s colleges, two-year colleges, and schools of law, medicine, engineering, business, and other professions.

NAICU board members set the association’s agenda on federal higher education policy, actively encourage support for the association’s priorities and initiatives and oversee the organization’s financial administration. Board members serve three-year terms.