Building Community Pathways to the College Promise

Dr. Martha Kanter leads the College Promise Campaign, designed to increase college access, affordability, and completion in America’s community colleges and universities. She is also a Senior Fellow at New York University’s Steinhardt Institute for Higher Education Policy. She specializes in policy efforts to implement evidence-based interventions, financing models, and behavioral incentives to raise America’s high school and college graduation rates. From 2009-2013, Dr. Kanter served President Obama as the U.S. Under Secretary of Education, overseeing all federal postsecondary statutory, regulatory, and administrative policies and programs for the U.S. Department of Education. She lead the successful implementation of the Direct Student Loan program, resulting in a 50-percent increase in college enrollment for Pell grant recipients, growing from 6 to more than 9 million students. From 1993-2009, she was president and chancellor of the Foothill-De Anza Community College District. Her education career began teaching economically disadvantaged students in a church basement.

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