Current Winner

David S. Spence, President - Southern Regional Education Board and Developer of California State University Early Assessment Program.

Prior to becoming the President of SREB, David Spence served as the executive vice chancellor and chief academic officer of the California State University since 1998. Dr. Spence has helped California public schools and the California State University System develop a college-readiness assessment courses for high school seniors. This nationally recognized work to improve readiness for college and access to college is closely related to key parts of SREB's current Challenge to Lead Goals for Education, which defines the SREB program agenda. For more information about David Spence and his project, see the May/June issue of Change magazine.

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Previous Winners

2005 - National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE)

George Kuh

Under George Kuh's leadership, NSSE has developed several tools to help colleges and universities use the survey results to improve their services. This has included national roundtables, regional users workshops, an accreditation tool kit, and a new five-year initiative to improve student attainment at minority-serving institutions.

Kuh is Chancellor's Professor of Higher Education at Indiana University, Bloomington, where the NSSE project is housed. At Indiana University, he also served as Associate Dean of the Faculties for the Bloomington campus from 1997 to 2000, Associate Dean for Academic Affairs in the School of Education from 1985 to 1988, and Chairperson of the Department of Educational Leadership and Policy Studies from 1982 to 1984.

He has more than 250 publications and has made several hundred presentations on college student development, assessment strategies for postsecondary institutions, and campus cultures. He received a B.A. from Luther College in 1968, an M.S. from St. Cloud State University in 1971, and a Ph.D. from the University of Iowa in 1975.

2003 - National Learning Communities Project

Barbara Leigh Smith and Jean MacGregor

Barbara Leigh Smith and Jean MacGregor co-direct The Pew Charitable Trusts' National Learning Communities Project--a four-year initiative aimed at strengthening the learning community movement across the country. Learning communities link courses around themes and enroll a common group of students. These initiatives are designed to foster community, coherence, and connections among courses, and to encourage a more sustained intellectual interaction among learners and teachers. Learning communities are now found at more than 500 colleges and universities (public and private, two- and four-year) across the United States and Canada.

Both Smith and MacGregor have written extensively on educational reform, collaborative learning, and learning communities.

Barbara Leigh Smith is a faculty member at The Evergreen State College, where she has also served as Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs from 1999 to 2001. From 1978 to 1994, she served as Academic Dean.

Along with her learning community work, Jean MacGregor's career has involved teaching and community organizing in environmental studies, environmental education, and community development. For her leadership in learning communities, Change magazine named MacGregor one of eleven "agenda setters" among its eighty "past, present and future leaders of higher education" in 1998.

2002 - Technology in the Classroom

Robert Olin

Robert Olin is dean of the College of Arts and Sciences at the University of Alabama. He was recognized for his long-term career commitment to broad-based strategies to improve mathematic education and the use of technology in instruction.

2001 - Assessment

Tim Riordan

Tim Riordan is a professor of Philosophy and Associated Dean for Academic Affairs at Alverno College Institute, Milwaukee, Wisconsin. An expert in his field, he has presented at regional and national conferences on the subject of teaching improvement, assessment in learning, and curriculum development. He has consulted with faculty on these same issues on campuses across the United States, as well as the United Arab Emirates, Mexico, Canada, and the United Kingdom.

Peter Ewell

Peter Ewell is a Senior Associate at the National Center for Higher Education Management Systems (NCHEMS), a research and development center founded to improve the management effectiveness of colleges and universities. Dr. Ewell's work focuses on assessing institutional effectiveness and the outcomes of college, and involves both research and direct consulting with institutions and state systems on collecting and using assessment information in planning, evaluation, and budgeting.

2000 - Collaboration

Susana Navarro

Susana Navarro, executive director of the El Paso Collaborative for Academic Excellence, was recognized for her leadership in bringing together El Paso's education, business, and civic leaders to focus on preparing all students to become educated citizens.

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About Virginia B. Smith

Virginia B. Smith, president emerita of Vassar College, is known as an innovative thinker and leader in higher education.

She was founding director of the Fund for the Improvement of Postsecondary Education (FIPSE), associate director of the Carnegie Commission on Higher Education, and assistant vice president of the University of California system. She holds an MA in economics and a JD from the University of Washington. She has received 11 honorary degrees.

Dr. Smith has served on numerous boards and commissions, including the Educational Testing Service, the American Association of Colleges and Universities, the Western Association of Schools and Colleges' Accrediting Commission for Senior Colleges, the Higher Education Policy Institute, and the Council for Adult and Experiential Learning, which she chaired. She is a founding board member of the National Center for Public Policy and Higher Education, and was senior advisor to the California Higher Education Policy Center.