Higher Education at America’s 250th Anniversary

Jonathan Alger is the inaugural America 250 Fellow for the American Association of Colleges & Universities (AAC&U) and American Council on Education (ACE) and leads national initiatives on public and civic purposes of higher education. A nationally recognized thought leader, scholar and speaker in higher education, civic engagement, and law, he is also Adjunct Professor of Education Policy at Brown University. He previously served as president at James Madison University and American University, and in positions as a lawyer for Rutgers, the University of Michigan, American Association of University Professors, and U.S. Department of Education. Alger has chaired the boards of AAC&U, Campus Compact, and the National Association of College and University Attorneys as well as the Association of Governing Boards’ Council of Presidents and ALL IN Campus Democracy Challenge. A member of the American Academy of Arts & Sciences, he received degrees from Swarthmore College and Harvard Law School.

Danielle Allen is the James Bryant Conant University Professor at Harvard University, where she directs the Allen Lab for Democracy Renovation at the Harvard Kennedy School and the Democratic Knowledge Project at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. A political philosopher and democracy advocate, she works on civic education, constitutional democracy, and the renovation of democratic institutions, including the question of how colleges and universities serve the public good. She serves on the Massachusetts Board of Higher Education, is a MacArthur Fellow, and chaired the American Academy of Arts and Sciences Commission on the Practice of Democratic Citizenship, which produced the report Our Common Purpose. Her books include Our Declaration, Cuz, Justice by Means of Democracy, and most recently Radical Duke: How One Aristocrat and the American Revolution Transformed Britain.

Dean David Deming is the Danoff Dean of Harvard College, the Isabelle and Scott Black Professor of Public Policy at the Harvard Kennedy School, and the William Henry Bloomberg Professor in the Harvard Economics Department. From 2021 to 2024, he served as Academic Dean of the Harvard Kennedy School. His research focuses on higher education, skills, technology, AI, and the future of the labor market. He co-leads the Project on Workforce, a cross-Harvard initiative between HKS, HBS, and HGSE on the future of work. He and Ben Weidmann co-founded the Skills Lab, which creates performance-based measures of “soft” skills such as teamwork and decision-making.

As a Principal Investigator—along with Raj Chetty and John Friedman—at the CLIMB Initiative, he works to study and enhance the impact of higher education on social mobility.  

He has received national recognition for his contributions, including the David N. Kershaw Prize in 2018 for distinguished work in public policy and management under the age of 40. In 2022, he won the Sherwin Rosen Prize for his outstanding work in Labor Economics. His writing has appeared in the New York Times, Atlantic and, more recently, on his Substack, Forked Lightning.

Marie Hardin, PhD is the 10th president of Quinnipiac University, where she leads a nationally recognized institution serving approximately 9,400 undergraduate and graduate students across eight professional schools, the College of Arts and Sciences, and 21 Division I athletic teams. She assumed the presidency in July 2025 following a distinguished career at Penn State University, where she served as dean of the Donald P. Bellisario College of Communications and advanced academic excellence, research growth, student success, and philanthropic support.

An award-winning educator and scholar, Hardin’s research and publications focus on media, communication, and society. She has held numerous national leadership roles in journalism and higher education and is widely recognized for advancing innovation, student success, and institutional excellence. As president of Quinnipiac University, she is currently leading the university's strategic vision through a collaborative approach that engages trustees, faculty, staff, students, and alumni in shaping the institution’s future.

Zach Hrynowski is a senior researcher at Gallup, where he is responsible for the research direction of several of the organization’s largest education-related projects, including the Voices of Gen Z study in partnership with the Walton Family Foundation, as well as the State of Higher Education study with Lumina Foundation.  

In this role, Zach advises during survey and research design, analyzes data to surface novel insights, and authors reports that further conversations about education, workforce development, and public perceptions of political and cultural events. He frequently presents Gallup's latest research to media, education leaders, and policymakers, and is a contributor to Gallup News and The Gallup Podcast.  

Prior to joining Gallup in 2019, Zach was the Director of Student Programs at the National Council on U.S.-Arab Relations and received his bachelor’s degree in political science from Northeastern University.

Debra Humphreys serves on the executive team of Lumina Foundation and oversees the foundation's strategic communications work as well as its efforts to increase the number of individuals attaining high-quality Bachelor’s degrees. She came to Lumina in late 2016 after more than 2 decades in various leadership roles at the American Association of Colleges and Universities and, at Lumina, also provides direction and coordination for Lumina's substantive work bringing together its commitments to equity and postsecondary educational quality assuring that higher education credentials are truly valuable and provide a path to opportunity and meaning. She holds a BA from Williams College and an MA and PhD from Rutgers University.

Bobbie Laur is president of Campus Compact, where she leads national efforts to strengthen higher education's civic mission and mobilize colleges, universities, and partners to advance civic learning, community engagement, and democracy. Her work focuses on building coalitions, advancing institutional strategies, and connecting higher education's public purpose to meaningful action and impact. With more than two decades of experience in higher education, Bobbie has worked with institutions across the country to embed civic and community engagement as an essential institutional mission. More recently, she served as a lead architect of the Higher Education Democracy Exchange (HEDEX), a national platform connecting and amplifying democracy-focused work across higher education.

Before joining Campus Compact, Bobbie spent more than 15 years advancing community engagement at Towson University, served as executive director of the Coalition of Urban and Metropolitan Universities, and held administrative roles at San Diego State University.

Long is an economist whose work focuses on improving educational success. Her research has examined the effects of financial aid, developmental education, and interventions designed to support low-income students, including the simplification of the FAFSA. Long is a Research Associate of the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) and has been elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the National Academy of Education. She served as Dean of the Harvard Graduate School of Education (2018-2024), leading the school through a major academic redesign, the COVID pandemic, the creation of its first online degree, and an expansion of financial aid. She currently serves as Board Chair of MDRC and co-Chair of the Commission on Opportunities After High School. She has provided government testimony numerous times and previously served as Chair of the National Board for Education Sciences at the U.S. Department of Education. Long earned her Ph.D. in Economics from Harvard University and her A.B. from Princeton University.

Stephen Moret is CEO of Strada Education Foundation and Board Chair of CredLens. Over his career, he has developed public-private partnerships and higher education and workforce initiatives that have helped tens of thousands of individuals secure better jobs. Previously, Moret served as CEO of the Virginia Economic Development Partnership, where he led Virginia’s successful bid for Amazon’s HQ2 project, worked with university presidents and policymakers to design and implement the $1.1 billion Tech Talent Investment Program, and created the Virginia Office of Education Economics. Earlier roles include secretary of Louisiana Economic Development, CEO of the LSU Foundation, and consultant at McKinsey. Moret created two top-ranked state workforce development programs: LED FastStart and the Virginia Talent Accelerator Program. His work has been featured in The Economist, Forbes, The New York Times, and The Washington Post. He holds an MBA from Harvard and a doctorate in higher education from Penn, with distinction.

Ross A. Mugler is president and CEO of the Association of Governing Boards of Universities and Colleges (AGB), where he advances effective higher education governance and institutional leadership.

A longtime higher education and public service leader, Mugler has served on the Old Dominion University Board of Visitors through appointments by five Virginia governors, making him the longest-serving board member at a single public institution in the Commonwealth. His service includes a term as rector, during which he helped advance the university’s mission, strategy, and financial stewardship.

Mugler also serves on the Virginia Peninsula Community College Education Foundation Board of Directors. From 1992 to 2024, he served as commissioner of the revenue for the City of Hampton, Virginia.

He holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Old Dominion University and has completed executive education through the University of Virginia’s Weldon Cooper Center for Public Service.

Lynn Pasquerella was appointed president of the American Association of Colleges and Universities in 2016, after serving as the eighteenth president of Mount Holyoke College. She has held positions as Provost at the University of Hartford and Vice Provost for Academic Affairs and Dean of the Graduate School at the University of Rhode Island, where she taught for more than two decades. A philosopher whose work has combined teaching and scholarship with local and global engagement, Pasquerella has written extensively on medical ethics, metaphysics, public policy, and the philosophy of law. Her most recent book, What We Value: Public Health, Social Justice, and Educating for Democracy, examines the role of higher education in addressing some of the most pressing contemporary issues at the intersection of ethics, law, and public policy. Pasquerella is a past president of the Phi Beta Kappa Society (2018-2021) and the host of Northeast Public Radio’s The Academic Minute.

Carlo Salerno is a distinguished expert in research and strategic marketing. With a PhD in Higher Education/Economics, he is a catalyst for company growth, delivering market and consumer insights. Carlo's work accelerates content marketing, empowers sales teams, and drives product enhancements, resulting in higher solution adoption. His career has left an indelible mark at The Burning Glass Institute, CampusLogic, and Strada Education Network, where he influenced corporate and marketing growth. Carlo's consultancy spans government, private sector, and higher education institutions, including notable names like the U.S. Department of Education and American Council on Education. His ability to inform strategies, shape policy, and offer guidance on federal law is unparalleled. From roles like Head of Platform Growth at Pave.com to Director at ESM, Carlo exemplifies innovation and problem-solving in the higher education and student finance arena. His commitment to excellence and diverse experiences makes him a sought-after expert, propelling businesses and organizations to greater success.

Andrew Seligsohn has spent decades connecting research to action in pursuit of the common good. He has served as president of Public Agenda since 2021, sharpening Public Agenda’s focus on bringing high-quality, actionable research to people and organizations working to strengthen our democracy. Seligsohn led the development of Public Agenda’s Democracy Renewal Project and has spearheaded a body of work aimed at reinvigorating higher education as a pathway to economic mobility. Seligsohn previously served as president of Campus Compact, a national organization advancing the public purposes of higher education; Associate Chancellor for Civic Engagement and Strategic Planning at Rutgers University–Camden; Director of Civic Engagement Learning in the Pace Center at Princeton University; and as a faculty member in the Department of Political Science at Hartwick College. He holds a PhD in political science from the University of Minnesota and a BA in modern intellectual history from Williams College.

Andrew Seligsohn has spent decades connecting research to action in pursuit of the common good. He has served as president of Public Agenda since 2021, sharpening Public Agenda’s focus on bringing high-quality, actionable research to people and organizations working to strengthen our democracy. Seligsohn led the development of Public Agenda’s Democracy Renewal Project and has spearheaded a body of work aimed at reinvigorating higher education as a pathway to economic mobility. Seligsohn previously served as president of Campus Compact, a national organization advancing the public purposes of higher education; Associate Chancellor for Civic Engagement and Strategic Planning at Rutgers University–Camden; Director of Civic Engagement Learning in the Pace Center at Princeton University; and as a faculty member in the Department of Political Science at Hartwick College. He holds a PhD in political science from the University of Minnesota and a BA in modern intellectual history from Williams College.

Dr. Marlene Tromp is president of the University of Vermont, with a mission of helping students change their lives to change the world, advancing and supporting the incredible work of our faculty and staff, and bringing new opportunity and energy to Vermont and its people. She worked with the community to create Green, Gold, and Bold, UVM’s new strategic plan, which has fueled efforts to grow the university’s engagement and impact.  She has launched an effort to help the university tell its unique and compelling story in new ways and to grow the pathways by which students discover us.

Liz Vogel is executive director of New Pluralists, a cross-ideological funder collaborative that supports organizations bringing people together across lines of difference to address our nation’s most pressing problems. Vogel comes to the work of pluralism from the field of civic education, bringing more than 20 years of experience leading philanthropic strategy, fundraising and operations. Before joining New Pluralists in 2023, she served as the Southern California executive director of Facing History and Ourselves, a national organization that challenges teachers and students to stand up to bigotry and hate. She also worked as an independent philanthropic advisor, supporting ultra-high-net-worth families, donor communities, and nonprofit organizations to increase giving toward a range of social issues. In her spare time, Vogel is training to serve as an end-of-life doula.