October 2021
Higher Education at the Crossroads: An Education Debt Come Due
Originally presented on Wednesday, October 6, 2021
Dr. Wil Del Pilar | Vice President of Higher Education Policy and Practice, The Education Trust
Presentation - Higher Education at the Crossroads: An Education Debt Come Due - View Now.
Dr. Wil Del Pilar addresses social mobility topics and provides insight into his work at the Education Trust. Currently, Dr. Del Pilar works to advance Ed Trust's higher education advocacy agenda by developing and implementing strategies to leverage research, policy, and practice to improve access, affordability, completion, and post-enrollment success for low-income students and students of color. Dr. Del Pilar's work in higher education has shaped his research interest which focuses on postsecondary access, retention, and policy. This is a critical discussion especially during the COVID-19 pandemic and the impending economic recovery. It is increasingly urgent to focus on the needs of our students and how we can continue to enhance their upward social mobility.
Student Success Strategies and Culturally Sustaining Practices
Originally presented on Wednesday, January 27, 2021
Dr. Amber Garrison Duncan | Strategy Director at Lumina Foundation
Amber Garrison Duncan, Ph.D., is a strategy director at Lumina Foundation, an independent, private foundation in Indianapolis that is committed to making opportunities for learning beyond high school available to all. In that role, she leads a portfolio of work that supports the creation of a system in which student success and credential attainment are scaled up significantly, particularly in community colleges.
This work allows Garrison Duncan to draw on her 15 years of experience as a campus-based professional, designing co-curricular learning experiences and leading assessment. Prior to joining Lumina in 2013, she served as director of student affairs assessment and research at the University of Oregon; director of family programs and commencement at the University of Oregon; a first-year experience instructor at Florida State University; an intake and investigations coordinator at the University of Michigan; and as assistant director of housing and Greek life at Hope College.
Garrison Duncan has researched and written on general education, assessment, innovation in student affairs, Latinas in higher education, and women in leadership. She is co-editor of the book Leading Assessment for Student Success: Ten Tenets That Change Culture and Practice in Student Affairs, published in 2015.
She holds a bachelor's degree from Texas Woman's University, a master's degree from Texas A&M University and a doctorate from the University of Oregon.
Social Mobility & Supporting Students: A Culture of Care during COVID-19
Originally presented on Wednesday, June 3, 2020 02:00
Dr. Russell Lowery-Hart | President of Amarillo College
Lowery-Hart served the previous four years as Amarillo College's vice president of academic affairs. In becoming president, he succeeded Dr. Paul Matney, who retired in the summer of 2014.
Lowery-Hart joined the AC administration in 2010 following a dozen years as a member of the faculty and administration at West Texas A&M University, an alma mater where he had risen to associate provost for academic affairs.
A product of Slaton, Texas, Lowery-Hart completed his bachelor's degree in speech communication at WTAMU in 1991. He went on to obtain a master's degree in communication studies in 1993 from Texas Tech University and a doctoral degree in gender and diversity in communication in 1996 at Ohio University.
He returned to WTAMU professionally in 1998 and worked his way up from assistant professor of speech communication to director of forensics, executive director of first-year experience, associate vice president for academic affairs and, finally, associate provost in 2007. Three years later he emerged from a national search as the best candidate to mastermind academic programs at Amarillo College.
In just four years as vice president of academic affairs at AC, Lowery-Hart spearheaded or helped facilitate a number of important initiatives that led to his being named the 2014 recipient of the National Academic Leader of the Year Award by the National Council of Instructional Administrators.