NCII Core Team

Priya is a consultant in higher education with a focus on community colleges and expertise in student financial stability, guided pathways, student learning outcome assessment, and institutional research. Her work strengthens the ability of colleges to use inquiry and evidence to engage practitioners, inform reform actions, and improve student learning and success. Most recently, she served as the director of professional development and a senior researcher with the Research and Planning Group for California Community Colleges (RP Group), where she created practitioner-focused professional development opportunities and engaged in statewide and national projects focused on community college reform, including the Gates Foundation’s Completion by Design initiative and the Student Support (Re)defined study.

Prior to that, Priya served as the education research assessment analyst at Mt. San Antonio College, where she partnered with faculty, staff, and administrators to develop and assess student learning outcomes and connect these research findings to planning redesign efforts. Additionally, she served as an instructor, teaching math and English in the Adult Diploma Program. Having worked in various capacities within and outside educational institutions for more than a decade, Priya is passionate about engaging and empowering practitioners to redesign approaches that enable greater and more meaningful student success.

Kay is an independent consultant and partner in Mc2 Consultants. She serves as senior advisor to the president and CEO of the American Association of Community Colleges. She was founding director of the Center for Community College Student Engagement at The University of Texas at Austin, serving in that role from 2001 through April 2014. During that time, she also served as a faculty member in the Program in Higher Education Leadership at the university.

A founding partner in the national Achieving the Dream initiative, Kay has led numerous national and state projects focused on student success. She previously served for 10 years as vice president and chief operating officer of the Education Commission of the States. She has been a consultant to education institutions, state higher education systems, state government, and professional associations in 47 states and internationally. In addition, she served for a number of years as a community college faculty member, program director, system administrator, and interim CEO. She earned her Ph.D. in educational administration from the Community College Leadership Program at The University of Texas at Austin.

Gretchen serves as executive director of the American Association of Community Colleges (AACC) Pathways Project, a three-year grant initiative funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation designed to create a national model for scaling guided pathways reforms. Gretchen works alongside seven partner organizations to develop the curriculum and materials for six Pathways Institutes for 30 selected colleges. She also leads a cadre of 12 Pathways coaches and is creating a guided pathways coaching guide, which will be available to the field at the conclusion of the grant in 2018.

Prior to her time at AACC, she was a program director for Jobs for the Future’s (JFF) Postsecondary State Policy team. In that role, she provided technical assistance to states to implement policies that support student completion agendas to ensure that more students enter community college programs and complete credentials with labor market value. Gretchen has more than 17 years of experience in higher education. Before JFF, she spent five years in the Virginia Community College System (VCCS), first as educational policy director and then as assistant vice chancellor for academic and student services. One of the projects she oversaw as vice chancellor was VCCS’ developmental education redesign initiative, which included policy management, professional development programming for faculty, enhancing student support services, and working with high schools to improve Virginia high school students’ college readiness. She also served on the staff of state college boards in Arizona and taught graduate higher education courses in Virginia and Arizona.

Micaela works to support the full range of NCII projects.

As a long-time advocate for student success, Dr. Christopher Baldwin has spent the past
15 years pushing for the adoption of practices and policies that increase the likelihood
that students will complete a postsecondary credential. Prior to launching his consulting
practice in fall 2017, Chris was Associate Vice President at Jobs for the Future, where he
steered the effort to expand the number of state-level intermediaries know as Student
Success Centers. This work followed his 4-year tenure as the founding Executive Director
of the Michigan Center for Student Success as well as a previous stint at JFF leading the
state policy component of Achieving the Dream and his role as Vice President at Owens
Community College in Ohio. Chris’ 15 years of commitment to and observation of
reforms in the field are detailed in his recently published book, The Completion Agenda
in Community Colleges: What It Is, Why It Matters, and Where It’s Going. This book
draws on his dissertation research at the University of Michigan where he earned his
doctorate in Higher Education Administration.

Alison Kadlec specializes in building cultures and climates for innovation in higher education and workforce development. She has worked with dozens of colleges and universities across the country to support the capacity of institutional leaders and faculty at every level to effectively engage members of their communities as constructive partners in the hard work of change on behalf of student success. Alison and her team also work with the U.S. Department of Education, state policymakers and system leaders in more than half the states in the U.S. to help improve the quality of policy development and implementation around higher education and workforce issues. Before launching Sova, Alison was Senior Vice President at Public Agenda, a visiting professor in the political science department at Macalester College and an adjunct professor in the political science departments at the University of Minnesota, Baruch College and Hunter College. Alison is the author of a book on the democratic theory of John Dewey, Dewey’s Critical Pragmatism. She is also the author or co-author of a number of articles on subjects related to stakeholder engagement and public deliberation both within and outside of higher education including: “Putting it All Together: Strengthening Pathways Between Comprehensives and Community Colleges”; “Deliberative Democracy and the Problem of Power”; “Changing the Conversation About Productivity”; and “Play and Public Life.” She holds a Ph.D. in political science from the University of Minnesota and BAs from Michigan State University in Political Theory, Constitutional Democracy and English Literature.

Paul Markham is a strategic organizer focused on building and sustaining cultures for innovation and change. Prior to launching Sova, Paul served as Vice President for Organizational Strategy at Public Agenda and Vice President for Strategic Partnerships & Development at Achieving the Dream, Inc. Paul also served as Senior Program Officer at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation where he led the Foundation’s work focused on Developmental Education redesign and the creation of Pathways for student success. As a faculty member, he served as Associate Professor of Education at the University of Washington Bothell (UWB) and Assistant Professor of Interdisciplinary Studies at Western Kentucky University (WKU), both broad access universities committed to the success of all students who seek a postsecondary education. In the private business sector, Paul has led a number of implementation and improvement efforts as both a Process Engineer and Quality Assurance Manager. Paul’s academic background includes a Bachelor of Science degree in Mechanical Engineering Technology from Western Kentucky University. He also completed a Master of Arts in Social Ethics from Asbury Theological Seminary, a Ph.D. in Social and Moral Development from Durham University (UK), and post-doctoral studies in Sociology from Western Kentucky University.

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As an independent consultant, Kelley focuses on making evidence useful for community college practitioners and promoting success for all students. For 15 years, Kelly has worked directly with community colleges and secondary schools to develop, deliver, and improve innovative career technical education (CTE) programs and student success initiatives. She now serves as a researcher with an interest in dissemination designed to support practitioner action. She partners regularly with the Research and Planning Group for California Community Colleges and individual California community colleges, providing qualitative research and evaluation, project management, communications, and facilitation services. She is currently leading projects focused on pathway development, CTE bridge programs, and student support and has directed efforts related to contextualized teaching and learning and transfer.

Dr. Amir Law currently serves as an Academic Dean in the California Community College system and has also served as a dean on the Student Services side house in the CCC system. He holds an MBA in Entrepreneurial Business, an MA in Athletic Coaching and Administration, and a Doctorate in Educational Leadership with a specialty in Community Colleges.  Over the course of his career, he has served as faculty in business; led the academic areas of Business, Health, Work Experience, Kinesiology, Mass Communications, and Performing Arts; and led the student services areas of financial aid, admissions, equity, first year experience, second experience, veterans’ services, international student programs, outreach, housing, and athletics.  His areas of expertise include outreach and recruitment; noncognitive characteristics as they relate to student success; learning communities; and curriculum development and assessment.

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Greg has more than 20 years of experience in higher education research and has managed research activities in both the university and community college settings. Prior to joining the California Community College System, Greg was the director of a policy research institute at Case Western Reserve University. Currently he serves as the senior dean of research and planning at the Contra Costa Community College District and president of the Research and Planning Group of California. Recently he has also served on a statewide task force examining California economic and workforce development policy. He currently serves as an advisor to the Public Policy Institute of California and sits on the Board of California’s Centers of Excellence. Greg has worked on several national educational reform projects including Completion by Design (Gates Foundation), Achieving the Dream (Lumina Foundation), and The Aspen Institute’s College Excellence Program.