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College Excellence Program

Decision Makers

The Aspen Institute is committed to shaping a world-class prize based on student outcomes and informed by the best expertise available from practitioners and researchers. The Aspen Institute is convening three committees of thought leaders and practitioners to administer the Prize process:

Data/Metrics Advisory Panel. Leading researchers and community college practitioners will examine available data and advise the Aspen Institute on measures/metrics, so that community college performance and improvement in performance can be measured fairly and accurately. The Data/Metrics Advisory panel is co-chaired by two expert practitioners with deep experience in measuring community college performance:

  • Dr. Keith Bird, Corporation for a Skilled Workforce
  • Dr. William Trueheart, Achieving the Dream

Finalist Selection Committee. Former community college presidents and faculty, along with respected researchers and policy experts, will review extensive data and applications for each eligible community college to select a set of finalists. Members of the 2012 Finalist Selection Committee include:

  • Dr. George Boggs, President/CEO Emeritus, American Association of Community Colleges
  • Dr. Rob Johnstone, Senior Research Fellow, RP Group of California
  • Dr. Nan Poppe, Executive Director, Completion by Design
  • Deborah Santiago, Vice President for Policy and Research, Excelencia in Education

Prize Jury. A jury of former elected officials and other prominent national business, labor, education and civil rights leaders will review quantitative and qualitative data to select a winner and three runners-up. The Prize Jury is co-chaired by two former governors, one who is also a former Secretary of Education, with deep experience in education and the workforce:

  • The Honorable John Engler, Business Roundtable; former Michigan Governor
  • The Honorable Richard Riley, Nelson Mullins Riley and Scarborough LLP and EducationCounsel LLC; former Secretary of Education; former Governor of South Carolina

Affiliations of Prize Jury, Finalist Selection Committee and Data/Metrics Advisory Panel members listed solely for purposes of identification, and do not reflect organizational endorsement of the Aspen Prize.