Contributor
Jamie P. Merisotis, President and CEO, Lumina Foundation for Education
Biography provided by participant
Jamie P. Merisotis is president and chief executive officer of Lumina Foundation for Education, one of the nation's 45 largest private foundations. Under his leadership, Lumina employs a strategic, outcomes-based approach in pursuing its mission of expanding college access and success, particularly among low-income, minority and other historically underrepresented populations.
Before joining Lumina in January 2008, Merisotis founded and served 15 years as president of the Washington, D.C.-based Institute for Higher Education Policy, one of the world's premier education research and policy centers. He previously served as executive director of the National Commission on Responsibilities for Financing Postsecondary Education, a bipartisan commission appointed by the U.S. president and congressional leaders. Merisotis also helped create the Corporation for National and Community Service (AmeriCorps), and has served on numerous national and international boards of directors, including Scholarship America, the European Access Network in London, and Bates College in Maine.
Recent Responses
October 6, 2009 10:54 AM
To increase higher education attainment to the national goal of 60 percent, educators and policymakers need to know what’s happening to every student at each stage along the educational journey. They must be able to pinpoint trouble spots, isolate gaps in learning and achievement and identify specific populations of students who need extra help. They also need high-quality data that can follow highly mobile student populations from P-12 schools through both community colleges and four-year institutions into the workforce. They need information provided by linked data systems to determine where and why students drop out and to determine how they move (or fail…
Read moreSeptember 14, 2009 07:57 AM
At Lumina Foundation for Education, this is the question that dominates our thinking and drives nearly all of our actions. In fact, as an organization committed to an ambitious and specific college-completion goal (60 percent attainment of high-quality degrees and credentials among the American population by the year 2025), one might say we are obsessed with this question. And it is a complex one — far too complex to be fully addressed in a blog post. (So please, don’t ask me to “tweet” the answer!) Still, there are some unalterable truths that can be summarized here, two basic steps that…
Read moreAugust 26, 2009 12:03 PM
Senator Kennedy’s legacy in education is unparalleled. With more than four decades in a leadership role in the United States Senate, his impact has been far reaching – from the Head Start program to graduate education. He was a strong supporter of access to higher education for the poor and underserved populations and, at the same time, he was always challenging higher education. He understood far better and more clearly than many others that the benefits of higher education are broad, that both the individual and society benefit enormously from investment in higher education. He could see that those outcomes…
Read moreAugust 25, 2009 04:11 PM
Students must develop academic, financial and social skills and capacities to ensure their success in education beyond high school. Each is critically important, but combined there is much more benefit than simply addressing these skills and capacities independently. Put more plainly, if we only emphasize the academic skills of students in preparing for college, we will have missed an important chance to deal with the complex realities and barriers facing today’s students. In striving to achieve a big goal for the nation of increasing the percentage of Americans with high-quality degrees and credentials to 60 percent by 2025, Lumina Foundation…
Read moreJuly 15, 2009 11:07 AM
Our nation’s colleges and universities certainly do have a responsibility to help ensure that graduates are well prepared for the workforce – particularly in these difficult economic times. But that responsibility isn’t theirs alone. First of all, students have a responsibility to properly prepare themselves for college-level work. Also, policymakers at the state and federal levels must do their part by helping create the proper conditions for students to succeed and for postsecondary institutions to properly serve them. The most effective way to hasten the economic recovery and ensure our nation’s long-term stability is to makethe development of human capital…
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This Education Blog is funded by support provided, in part, by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation for the purpose of creating an educational forum for sharing research, ideas and opinions regarding issues related to college readiness and college completion. The Blog may not be used to post partisan political statements supporting or opposing candidates for public office. All statements and materials posted on the Blog, including any statements regarding specific legislation, reflect the views of the individual contributors and do not reflect the views of National Journal or the Bill& Melinda Gates Foundation. National Journal and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation take no positions regarding any legislation discussed in the Blog. National Journal reserves the right to monitor material placed on this site and to remove any posting they may deem inappropriate.
