Criteria-Setting Panel:
The selection criteria developed by these experts provided the organizing framework for evaluating the finalists.
E. Jan Kehoe, Ph.D.
E. Jan Kehoe recently stepped down as president of Community
College Leadership Development Initiatives (CCLDI). She served as superintendent–president at Long Beach City College and at Merced College, and was vice-president for instruction at Palomar College. She taught at the community college level in Sociology and at the doctoral level in research and data analysis. She is active in the California Community College system, having served as chair of many bodies: the Legislative committee; Policy committee; Substantive Change Committee; Accrediting Commission of Community and Junior Colleges of the Western Association of Colleges and Schools; and CEO Board of the Community College League of California.
K. Patricia Cross, Ph.D.
K. Patricia Cross is a professor emerita at UC Berkeley’s Graduate School of Education. Her experience in higher education is extensive and she served at many institutions. She was dean of students at Cornell University, and at Educational Testing Service she served distinguished research scientist, senior research psychologist and director of College and University Programs. She worked as a research educator for the Center for Research and Development of Higher Education at UC Berkeley, then joined the Harvard Graduate School of Education as a professor of education and chair of the Department of Administration, Planning and Social Policy. She has written widely on assessment techniques and adult learners, including numerous books and nearly 200 monographs, chapters and articles. She is best known for her book, "Classroom Assessment Techniques." Three of her books, “Accent on Learning,” “Beyond the Open Door,” and “The Junior College Student” won awards. Professor Cross earned a bachelor’s degree in mathematics from Illinois State University, and a master’s in psychology and a doctorate in social psychology from the University of Illinois. Fifteen universities have awarded her honorary degrees.
Rose Asera, Ph.D.
Rose Asera is a senior scholar at the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching where she directs the Strengthening Pre-collegiate Education in Community Colleges (SPECC) project. She is also responsible for describing the effects of the work at the foundation. She was director of research and evaluation at the Charles A. Dana Center at the University of Texas at Austin, and studied high-performing schools serving high poverty populations. From 1992-1994 she lived in Uganda and was a Fulbright Scholar at the Institute of Teacher Education at Kyambogo, and worked with UNICEF on development of health education materials for parents. She has substantial experience in applied qualitative research and evaluation in higher education with a focus on access and equity. Asera has an undergraduate degree from Empire State College, State University of New York, a master’s degree from Antioch University, and a doctorate in education from the University of Colorado.
Estela Mara Bensimon, Ed.D.
Estela Mara Bensimon is a professor of higher education and, with Professor Alicia C. Dowd, Co-directs the Center for Urban Education (CUE) at the USC Rossier School of Education. Her current research is on issues of racial equity in higher education from the perspective of organizational learning and socio-cultural practice theories. She is particularly interested in place-based practitioner-driven inquiry as a means of organizational change in higher education. With the support of The James Irvine Foundation, Lumina Foundation for Education, The Ford Foundation, The Walter S. Johnson Foundation, The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, and the Chancellor’s Office for California Community Colleges, she and her colleagues at CUE design and field-test inquiry tools and methods, such as the Equity Scorecard, to foster equity practices in two- and four-year public and private colleges. Dr. Bensimon’s publications about equity, organizational learning, practitioner inquiry and change include, The Underestimated Significance of Practitioner Knowledge in the Scholarship on Student Success, Doing Research that Makes a Difference, Equality in Fact, Equality in Results: A matter of institutional accountability, Measuring the State of Equity in Public Higher Education, and Closing the Achievement Gap in Higher Education: An Organizational Learning Perspective. Previously Dr. Bensimon conducted research on leadership in higher education and is the author and co-author of several publications on college presidents, department chairs, and administrative teams. Dr. Bensimon has held the highest leadership positions in the Association for the Study of Higher Education (President, 2005-2006) and in the American Education Research Association-Division on Postsecondary Education (Vice-President 1992-1994). She has served on the boards of the American Association for Higher Education and the Association of American Colleges and Universities. Dr. Bensimon was associate dean of the USC Rossier School of Education from 1996-2000 and was a Fulbright Scholar to Mexico in 2002. She earned her doctorate in Higher Education from Teachers College, Columbia University.
Vincent Tinto, Ph.D.
Vincent Tinto is Distinguished University Professor at Syracuse University and chair of the higher education program. He has carried out research and has written extensively on higher education, particularly on student retention and the impact of learning communities on student growth and attainment. He has consulted widely with federal and state agencies, independent research firms, foundations, and with two- and four-year institutions of higher education on a broad range of issues, not the least of which concern the retention and education of students. He serves on the editorial boards of several journals and with various organizations and professional associations concerned with higher education. He chaired the national panel responsible for awarding $5 million to establish the first national center for research on teaching and learning in higher education, and served as associate director of the $6 million National Center on Postsecondary Teaching, Learning, and Assessment, funded by the U.S. Office of Education. He works with the Council for Opportunity in Education, the Pell Institute for the Study of Opportunity in Education, the European Access Network, and the Dutch government to develop programs to promote access to higher education for disadvantaged youth in Europe. As a member of the Pathways to College Network, he is engaged in a national effort to increase access to college. His current research, funded by grants from the Lumina Foundation for Education and The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, focuses on the impact of learning communities on the academic achievements of under-prepared college students in urban two- and four-year colleges. He received a Ph.D. in education and sociology from The University of Chicago.
