WE BELIEVE

Higher Education Should Prioritize the Wellbeing Of All Students

WE BELIEVE

Higher education Should prioritize the Wellbeing of All Students

Executive Committee

KEITH BUFFINTON

Executive Director, LearningWell Coalition

Keith W. Buffinton is the inaugural Executive Director of the LearningWell Coalition. Prior to his current role, Dr. Buffinton served on the faculty of Bucknell University from 1987 through 2023 and is now Professor of Mechanical Engineering and Dean Emeritus of Engineering.

DANA HUMPHREY

Associate Director & Chief Operating Officer, LearningWell Coalition

Dana Humphrey is the Associate Director of the LearningWell Coalition. She was previously Associate Director at the Mary Christie Institute and has worked on various public health research projects at Northeastern University’s Bouvé College of Health Sciences, John Snow Inc, and Boston Medical Center. She received her MPH from Boston University School of Public Health and her BA in Sociology from The Colorado College.

ANGELA LINDNER

Interim Vice Provost for Undergraduate Affairs, The University of Florida

Dr. Angela Lindner has served as the Interim Vice Provost for Undergraduate Affairs for the University of Florida since September 2024, overseeing the academic experience and student success for undergraduate students. Her portfolio of responsibilities encompasses UF Student Academic Success, various academic programs (UF Quest, UF Honors, Innovation Academy, Center for Undergraduate Research, Office of Academic Support, McNair Scholars, and UF ROTC), and the undergraduate curriculum approval and management processes.

MARJORIE MALPIEDE

Editor-in-Chief, LearningWell Magazine

Marjorie Malpiede is the Editor in Chief of LearningWell magazine. She is the former executive director of the Mary Christie Institute and former editor of the Mary Christie Quarterly. As a journalist and strategist, she has over 30 years of leadership experience in the public, private, and non-profit sectors working with public agencies, campaigns, private companies and non-profit organizations on policy, communications, and government relations. She received her MPA from the McCormack Graduate School of Policy and Global Studies at UMass Boston and her BS from Drew University.

RICHARD K. MILLER

Founding Chair, LearningWell Coalition

Richard K. Miller (F.AAA&S, FREng, M.NAE, F.NAI) is the Founding Chair of the LearningWell Coalition. Dr. Miller served as Founding President of Olin College of Engineering until 2020, and previously served as Dean of Engineering at the University of Iowa and Associate Dean at USC in Los Angeles. He served as Chair of the Board on Higher Education and Workforce of the NASEM, and Chair of the Engineering Advisory Committee of the NSF, among many other advisory roles.

JOHN VOLIN

President, Gustavus Adolphus College

John Volin is President of Gustavus Adolphus College. He previously served as Vice Provost for Academic Affairs at the University of Connecticut. Dr. Volin was a Professor of Natural Resources and the Environment at UConn. He served a decade as department head and conducted research in ecosystems around the world, focusing on invasive species and restoration ecology.

SHARON BREITBART

Director of Finance and Special Projects

Sharon Breitbart is the Director of Finance and Special Projects for the LearningWell Coalition. Prior to her current role, Sharon spent 15 years at Olin College, working much of that time on external academic programs and partnerships, and most recently, as the Director of Trustee Relations in the Office of the President. A former arts administrator, Sharon is a Tufts University alum.

Steering Committee

NICK ANDERSON

Nick Anderson is vice president for higher education partnerships and improvement at the American Council on Education. ACE, which represents all types of colleges, public and private, is the major coordinating body for higher education. He oversees comprehensive efforts to engage colleges and universities on a broad range of issues through direct outreach to their leaders and other stakeholders. He also works on efforts to build coalitions and raise public confidence in higher education. One such initiative is a messaging campaign called #HigherEdBuildsAmerica.

Before joining ACE in January 2024, Anderson covered education for many years for The Washington Post. In that role, he specialized in identifying higher education trends and forging connections with students, parents, faculty, institutional leaders, and federal and state policymakers. He tracked public perceptions of the value of college and pursued stories on topics such as college admissions, affirmative action, and campus sexual assault.
Among his interests are the technological revolution in education, the national and global markets, the endless battle to overcome inequities of opportunity, and the sheer intellectual fun of academic life. His work won an Education Writers Association National Award for Education Reporting in 2016 for beat reporting.
Anderson also held editing roles at The Washington Post, including education editor. In 2007, he participated in coverage of the Virginia Tech shooting. The Post’s reporting on that tragedy won a Pulitzer Prize. Previously, he was a political and congressional writer in the Washington bureau of the Los Angeles Times. He also worked for The Associated Press; The Mercury News in San Jose, California; and the Palo Alto Weekly.

ASHLEY FINLEY

Dr. Ashley Finley is the Vice President of Research and Senior Advisor to the President for the American Association of Colleges and Universities (AAC&U). She was previously the senior director of assessment and research at AAC&U and also national evaluator for the Bringing Theory to Practice Project. Most recently she served as the associate vice president for academic affairs & founding dean of the Dominican Experience at Dominican University of California, where she implemented a comprehensive framework for student learning and success centered around high-impact practices, including holistic advising and ePortfolios.

LARRY GALIZIO

Larry Galizio has served as the President & CEO of the Community College League of California since 2015. Dr. Galizio earned his undergraduate degree from UC Berkeley, a Masters from San Francisco State, and his doctorate from the School of Urban & Public Affairs at Portland State University. Prior to becoming League CEO, Dr. Galizio served 5 years as President of Clatsop Community College in Astoria, Oregon. Before that, Dr. Galizio was the Director for Strategic Planning in the Chancellor’s Office for the Oregon University System, as well as Director of Speech & Debate and Full-Time faculty member at Portland Community College for 16 years. Dr. Galizio is co-author of the textbook: Elements of Parliamentary Debate: A Guide to Public Argument, and of the first comprehensive and contemporary history of California Community Colleges: A College for All Californians: A History of the California Community Colleges. In 2004, Dr. Galizio was elected to the Oregon Legislative Assembly where he served 3 terms – including stints as Chair of the Ways & Means Education Committee responsible for all of the public education budgets in the State.

DOMENICO GRASSO
Domenico Grasso (PhD ‘87) is the president of the University of Michigan. President Grasso was the sixth chancellor at the University of Michigan-Dearborn, beginning in 2018. He also served as professor of public policy and administration and professor of sustainable engineering at UM-Dearborn. During his tenure, the university transitioned to a need-based financial aid model, increased its four-year graduation rate by 16% and, in tripling external research funding, achieved R2 status. Before joining UM-Dearborn, he served as provost of the University of Delaware. Previously he was vice president for research and dean of the Graduate College at the University of Vermont and earlier dean of the College of Engineering and Mathematical Sciences at UVM. Prior to joining UVM, he was Rosemary Bradford Hewlett Professor and founding director of the Picker Engineering Program at Smith College, the first engineering program at a women’s college and one of the few in a liberal arts college in the United States; and professor and head of the Department in Civil and Environmental Engineering at the University of Connecticut. He holds engineering degrees from Worcester Polytechnic Institute (B.Sc.), Purdue University (M.S.) and the University of Michigan (Ph.D.).
ARCHIE HOLMES

Archie Holmes, Jr. is a professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at The University of Texas at Austin. Dr. Holmes also serves as the Executive Vice Chancellor of Academic Affairs for The University of Texas System.

TOM KATSOULEAS

A leading plasma scientist and engineer with deep academic roots in teaching and research, became UConn president in 2019. He has a special interest in ensuring the quality of the student experience through diversity, respect and responsibility, and recruiting highly talented and representative faculty.

ZOE RAGOUZEOS

Zoe Ragouzeos, Ph.D., LCSW is the Vice President for Student Mental Health and Wellbeing at New York University. Dr. Ragouzeos serves as the principal student mental health and wellbeing officer at NYU and is charged with galvanizing and directing both the clinical  and wellbeing (prevention) initiatives across the university, forging a vibrant campus-wide culture of wellbeing and flourishing and concretizing wellbeing and flourishing as one of the University’s core values.

Dr. Ragouzeos is a clinical social worker licensed in New York State and received her Ph.D. in Social Work from New York University. She has facilitated national and international conversations with varied stakeholders on campus-wide holistic wellbeing, the state of college student mental health and the faculty role in student wellbeing.

ANDY SHENNAN

Andy Shennan is Provost Emeritus and Professor of History at Wellesley College. He recently returned to the Wellesley faculty after serving for twenty years as the College’s inaugural provost. A specialist in 20th century European history, he is the author of three books: Rethinking France: Plans for Renewal, 1940-1946 (Oxford University Press, 1989); De Gaulle (Longman, 1993); and The Fall of France, 1940 (Longman, 2000). He is currently a commissioner of the New England Commission of Higher Education and for twelve years served as chair of the Alliance to Advance Liberal Arts Colleges. He holds undergraduate and doctoral degrees from the University of Cambridge, and was a Harkness Fellow at Harvard University.

CLAYTON SPENCER

Clayton Spencer served as the eighth president of Bates College from July 1, 2012 to June 30, 2023. Clayton Spencer served as the eighth president of Bates College from July 1, 2012 to June 30, 2023. Under Spencer’s leadership, the college made significant advances in its academic program, the student experience, and fundraising, creating a program in Digital and Computational Studies, building a transformative science center, and launching major curricular transformation and inclusive pedagogy initiatives in STEM, the humanities, and the social sciences. Over this period, Bates tripled its annual giving, more than doubled its endowment, and completed the largest fundraising campaign in the college’s history. Spencer also spearheaded the creation of Bates’ nationally recognized Purposeful Work program, which mobilizes the core strengths of the liberal arts to prepare students to navigate the evolving worlds of work. Prior to Bates, Spencer spent 15 years at Harvard, from 1998 to 2012 reporting directly to the President and serving as a member of the university’s senior leadership team, her last seven years as Vice President for Policy. From 1993 to 1997, Spencer worked for the late U.S. Senator Edward M. Kennedy as Chief Education Counsel, directing the higher education legislative agenda in the Senate. Clayton currently serves on the Steering Committee of the Coalition for Transformational Education, and on the Boards of the Davis Educational Foundation and the Portland Museum of Art. She was previously a member of the Boards of Williams College, Phillips Exeter Academy, the American Council on Education, and other national higher education organizations. Earlier in her career, Clayton practiced law in Boston at Ropes & Gray and as a federal prosecutor in the U.S. Attorney’s Office. She earned a J.D. from Yale Law School, a B.A. from Williams College, and masters degrees from Oxford and Harvard.

SUKHWANT JHAJ

Trained as a designer, Sukhwant Jhaj uses design thinking to discover new solutions for incremental and disruptive challenges facing higher education. In his role as vice provost at Arizona State University, Jhaj pursues ways to create greater levels of student success for all learners across all degree types. He works to identify new ways the university can improve learning outcomes, and helps ASU set a new standard of quality and accessibility that can be shared with institutions of higher education around the country and the world. In addition to his role in the Office of the University Provost, Jhaj is the dean of University College, an instrumental and significant part of ASU’s efforts to enhance retention, graduation, and overall student achievement. Jhaj is also a professor of practice in The Design School within the Herberger Institute for Design and the Arts.

Jhaj is an active design researcher and has received funding from Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Association for Public and Land Grants Universities and government agencies. He is an expert in design thinking, design of student services, managing change, open innovation and user centered design. He speaks extensively on these topics and has served on several national advisory groups focused on improving student success and institutional transformation.

In his book, “Delivering on the Promise of Democracy: Visual Case Studies in Educational Equity and Transformation,” Jhaj has crafted a new look at how imaginative leadership and a shift in perspective can guide institutions as they work to improve access and success for all students.

Staff

ANNA MILROD

Administrative and Logistics Coordinator

Anna Milrod serves as the Coalition’s Administrative and Logistics Coordinator. In this role, Anna manages calendars for the Executive Director and Associate Director; assists with correspondence, organization, editing, and strategizing for the organization at large; and plans logistics and helps run Coalition-related events. Anna has more than eight years of experience working in the non-profit space as an executive assistant and project and events coordinator. She studied business and Jewish Studies at Emory University and nutrition through The Health Sciences Academy. Throughout her higher-education experience, Anna studied abroad in more than 15 countries.

JACK TUCKER

Strategic Communications Manager

Jack serves as Strategic Communications Manager for the Coalition as well as for LearningWell Magazine. He graduated from Belmont University and previously worked in post-production at marketing agencies in Nashville, TN and New York City.