IHEP

Experts

On its staff, IHEP has a number of experts who are knowledgeable about a variety of higher education policy related issues. These experts have spent many years in their respective fields, and are the principle professional and acaemic arms of IHEP.

Michelle Asha Cooper, Ph.D., President

AREAS OF EXPERTISE

  • Higher education access and success–domestic and international
  • Federal and state higher education trends and policies
  • Tuition and financial aid
  • Higher education financing options
  • Global higher education trends and policy strategies
  • College readiness and preparation
  • Diversity

Alisa Federico Cunningham, Vice President of Research and Programs

AREAS OF EXPERTISE

  • Benefits of higher education
  • Private financing, including loans and scholarships
  • Trends in higher education
  • Tuition, financial aid issues
  • Financing higher education, especially relating to disadvantaged groups
  • Tribal colleges and universities, including investing in Native Americans
  • Using higher education data (national databases) in policymaking
  • Prices and net prices and trends

Lorelle L. Espinosa, Ph.D., Director of Policy and Strategic Initiatives

AREAS OF EXPERTISE

  • Higher education access and success
  • Undergraduate and graduate student diversity
  • Underrepresented minorities, women, and women of color in STEM fields
  • College admissions
  • Federal education policy
  • Alignment between secondary and postsecondary education

Clifford Adelman, Ph.D., Senior Associate

AREAS OF EXPERTISE

  • Access and success
  • Degree completion rates
  • Standardized testing and assessment
  • Student mobility and transfer patterns
  • The role of community colleges
  • Secondary/postsecondary transitions and curricular alignment
  • International issues on participation, attainment, and degree qualifications
  • Course-taking, curriculum, and majors

Ann Coles, Ed.D., Senior Associate

AREAS OF EXPERTISE

  • Higher education access and success–domestic and international
  • Federal and state higher education trends and policies
  • School-to-college transition
  • Access and persistence programs
  • International higher education
  • Financial aid policy

 

Gregory Kienzl, Ph.D., Director of Research and Evaluation

AREAS OF EXPERTISE

  • Economics of higher education
  • Community colleges
  • Access and completion
  • Financial aid
  • Science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM)
  • Educational pathways

Lacey H. Leegwater, Director of Programs and Planning

AREAS OF EXPERTISE

  • Student engagement in learning
  • Campus practices and procedures
  • Data-informed decision-making and institutional change
  • Intra- and inter-campus collaboration and solution management

Thomas D. Parker, Ed.D., Senior Associate

AREAS OF EXPERTISE

  • Higher education finance
  • Higher education access
  • Domestic and international
  • History of higher education
  • Trends in international higher education

Patti McGill Peterson, Ph.D., Senior Associate

AREAS OF EXPERTISE

  • International higher education
  • Internationalization of U.S. higher education
  • College and university administration
  • Governance
  • Academic program development

Ronald A. Phipps, Ed.D., Senior Associate

AREAS OF EXPERTISE

  • Financing higher education
  • Statewide governance
  • Distance learning and technology

Brian Sponsler, Research Analyst

AREAS OF EXPERTISE

  • Politics of higher education policymaking
  • State-policy adoption and outcomes
  • Inter-state spread of policy ideas

Thomas R. Wolanin, Ph.D., Senior Associate

AREAS OF EXPERTISE

  • Federal higher education policy, with a focus on student financial aid programs and accountability systems
  • Higher education equity issues among historically disadvantaged students, such as low-income, disabled, and foster youth
  • Higher education policies in post-Soviet countries including Kyrgyzstan, Georgia and Poland
  • Higher education policies in South Africa, Tanzania and Mozambique

© Institute for Higher Education Policy 1993-2010