When: 10–11 a.m.
Where: Weber Music Hall
Join us for a dynamic panel discussion about the future of higher education, featuring Rebecca Cunningham, president of the University of Minnesota; Lande Ajose, managing director of the Waverly Street Foundation; and Jillian Kinzie, associate director of the National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE), the Center for Postsecondary Research, and the Indiana University School of Education. Charles Nies, chancellor of the University of Minnesota Duluth, will moderate this conversation.
Together, these distinguished leaders will explore pressing challenges and emerging trends shaping the future of higher education. Through thoughtful dialogue and shared insights, the panel aims to deepen understanding and inspire innovative thinking about how universities can thrive in an increasingly uncertain landscape.
Meet the panel:
Rebecca Cunningham, MD
President, University of Minnesota
As President, Dr. Cunningham is working closely with the U of M community and Minnesotans broadly to design and implement a bold new vision that effectively positions the five campuses for continuous success.
President Cunningham is focused on prioritizing an accessible, world-class education for students and advancing the University’s powerful mission to enhance the health, safety and prosperity of people across the state, nation and world.
President Cunningham maintains a faculty appointment in the School of Public Health’s Division of Epidemiology & Community Health.
Before joining the University of Minnesota, Dr. Cunningham served as the Vice President for Research and Innovation at the University of Michigan, where she was responsible for expanding its annual research portfolio to a record $2 billion. At Michigan, Dr. Cunningham led a university-wide strategy that bolstered discovery and impact, accelerated knowledge translation, supported entrepreneurial activity, expanded statewide economic development, advanced undergraduate student success, and strengthened diversity, equity, and inclusion.
President Cunningham was elected in 2019 to the National Academy of Medicine. In 2023, Crain’s Detroit Business named her a “Notable Leader in Higher Education.” And in 2024, Twin Cities Business recognized President Cunningham as a member of its TCB 100 cohort, which recognizes people in and around the Minnesota business community who are likely to make news and drive change in the year ahead.
She holds a bachelor’s degree from Fairfield University and a medical doctorate from Jefferson Medical College. President Cunningham completed her residency in emergency medicine at the University of Michigan.
Lande Ajose, PhD
Managing Director, Waverly Street Foundation
Lande Ajose is the managing director at the Waverley Street Foundation, a start-up philanthropic effort that invests at the intersection of climate solutions and community priorities. Previously, she was vice president and Walter and Esther Hewlett Chair in Understanding California’s Future and a senior fellow at the Public Policy Institute of California.
Her career has focused on improving the lives of Californians by working in state government, private philanthropy, and research institutions. Her research interests include addressing issues of inequality through education and employment. She formerly served as senior policy advisor for higher education for the Office of Governor Gavin Newsom. Before joining the Newsom administration, she was executive director of California Competes, chaired the California Student Aid Commission, and served on the governance bodies of the Institute for Higher Education Policy, the Institute for College Access and Success, and the Western Association of Schools and Colleges. She currently sits on the PPIC Higher Education Center Advisory Council and on the Board of Trustees at Occidental College. She holds a PhD in urban and regional studies from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Jillian Kinzie, PhD
Associate Director, National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE), Center for Postsecondary Research, Indiana University School of Education.
Jillian conducts research and leads project activities on effective use of student engagement data to improve educational quality, and serves as senior scholar with the National Institute for Learning Outcomes Assessment (NILOA) project. She is co-author of Transforming Academic Culture & Curriculum: Integrating and Scaffolding Research Throughout Undergraduate Education (2024), Radical Reimagining for Student Success (2023), Delivering on the Promise of High-Impact Practices: Research and Models for Achieving Equity, Fidelity, Impact and Scale (2022), Assessment in Student Affairs (2016), Using Evidence of Student Learning to Improve Higher Education (2015), Student Success in College (2005/2010), and One Size Does Not Fit All: Traditional and Innovative Models of Student Affairs Practice (2008/2014).
She is co-editor of New Directions in Higher Education, is on the editorial board of Innovative Higher Education and the Journal of Postsecondary Student Success and serves on the board of the Gardner Institute for Excellence in Undergraduate Education. She is a peer reviewer for several accreditors and regularly consults with colleges and universities about assessment, effective educational practice, inclusive excellence, high-impact practices, and support for student success.
Her scholarly interests include the assessment of student engagement, how colleges use data to improve, student and academic affairs partnerships and the impact of programs and practices to support student success, as well as first-year student development, teaching and learning in college, access and equity, and women in underrepresented fields. She has published on these topics and translated this scholarship at hundreds of institutions and higher education member organizations to increase the use of assessment results to inform improvements in undergraduate education and to enhance conditions for student success. She served as PI on the Lumina Foundation funded “Assessing Quality and Equity in HIPs”; a Strada Foundation study, “Learning about Undergraduates’ Preparation for Work and Careers” an assessment of college students’ career and workforce preparation, and an NSF supported project studying the implementation of scaffolded research-rich curriculum in STEM fields.
She was awarded the NASPA George D. Kuh Outstanding Contribution to Research in 2024 and received the Robert J. Menges Honored Presentation by the Professional Organizational Development (POD) Network in 2005 and 2011. Kinzie earned her PhD from Indiana University in higher education with a minor in women’s studies. Prior to this, she served on the faculty of Indiana University and coordinated the master’s program in higher education and student affairs. She also worked in academic and student affairs at Miami University and Case Western Reserve University.
Charles Nies, PhD
Chancellor, University of Minnesota Duluth
Charles Nies, PhD, is the 10th chancellor of the University of Minnesota Duluth. Nies brings over 25 years of experience in higher education, most recently serving as vice chancellor for student affairs at the University of California, Merced. One of 10 campuses in the University of California system, UC Merced was formed in 2005 and became the youngest university in the nation to earn the Carnegie R2 designation—the second highest classification for American research universities. Nies joined UC Merced in 2006 as its first associate vice chancellor and dean of students, a role in which he oversaw the development and growth of student life programs on campus.
Prior to his work at UC Merced, he served as an assistant dean of an interdisciplinary school at Miami University in Ohio and a program director for a minor in leadership studies at Washington State University. As an instructor, he taught undergraduate and graduate courses in leadership theory, organizational theory and student development.
Nies holds two degrees from Washington State University—a doctorate in education administration and leadership and a master’s in counseling psychology. He received his bachelor’s degree in psychology from the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul, Minnesota.