"What is Higher Education Worth and is it Fair to All Concerned?"

In this presentation, Dr. Valerie Martin Conley (UCCS) and Dr. Randy Stiles (The Higher Learning Commission) will provide a high-level overview of a recently released and important, two-year study regarding the value of higher education in the United States and its impact on economic mobility. 

This past May, the Postsecondary Value Commission completed their work and published a report titled "Equitable Value: Promoting Economic Mobility and Social Justice Through Postsecondary Education."  See PVC-Final-Report-FINAL.pdf (postsecondaryvalue.org).  Many people contributed research, but the authors came from the Institute for Higher Education Policy and Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation staff.

CLICK HERE for a 4-page handout from Drs. Martin and Stiles.

At its core, this work is about how higher education can do a better job of being "fair to all concerned" - and so seems to me to be quite relevant for our Rotary audience.  And September is "Education Month" on the Rotary International calendar.  So the timing of this presentation is perfect!

SPEAKER BIOGRAPHIES & BACKGROUND:

Randy Stiles, PhD, has had a long career in higher education as a student and then a professor of aeronautical engineering, an administrator, and now, a consultant working for the Higher Learning Commission (HLC) based in Chicago. Retiring from the Air Force Academy faculty after 30 years of service, he served for another 20 years as a member of the senior staff at both Colorado College and Grinnell College in Iowa. A Fellow of the American Council on Education, he now chairs accreditation visits and serves as a mentor for HLC’s Student Success Academy.  

Valerie Martin Conley, PhD, is dean of the College of Education and professor of leadership, research, and foundations at the University of Colorado Colorado Springs.  She has written extensively about faculty careers, retirement, and benefits.  Her book, The Faculty Factor: Reassessing the American Academy in a Turbulent Era, was published by The Johns Hopkins University Press in 2016.  Before joining UCCS, Dr. Conley served as professor and chair of the department of Counseling and Higher Education, director of the Center for Higher Education, and as program coordinator for the Higher Education and Student Affairs program in The Gladys W. and David H. Patton College of Education at Ohio University.  She holds among her most notable accomplishments being named the Ohio University Outstanding Graduate Faculty Member—an award given by graduate students to recognize an individual professor who has made a difference in their lives.