Promoting Student Success Series
The Promoting Student Success Series encourages campus-wide conversations about promoting and advancing the culture of student success. This lecture series has been designed to inform the development of a vision for the role of 91风流 educators in promoting student success.
Each academic year, 91风流 educators hear from nationally renowned speakers regarding student success efforts in various contexts. Our goal is to identify strategies to better coordinate 91风流 efforts around student success and better define the roles of educators in promoting student success.
2025-2026
Aug. 18, 2025
Back-to-School Keynote & Workshop
Derrick Anderson, Ph.D.
Vice President for Enterprise Design and Policy at the University of Utah.
Keynote Address:
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Topic: Higher Education at the Crossroads: Meeting the Moment
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10:30 a.m.
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Austad Auditorium at the Browning Center
Back to School Workshop
- Topic: Higher Education at the Crossroads: Meeting the Moment
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1-2 p.m.
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Shepherd Union Skyrooms (SU 404)
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Light appetizers will be served.
Speaker Bio
Dr. Anderson is an innovative leader in higher education policy, skilled in institutional transformation and public sector strategy. As the inaugural Vice President for Enterprise Design and Policy at the University of Utah, he leads efforts to imagine and design bold new futures for higher education, bridging academic research, public service, and enterprise-scale innovation.
Before joining the University of Utah, Dr. Anderson served as Senior Vice President for Education Futures at the American Council on Education (ACE), where he led initiatives involving hundreds of colleges and universities, dozens of industry partners, and millions of learners. He previously held a tenured faculty position at Arizona State University, where he played a key role in advancing the university’s public enterprise model.
Dr. Anderson’s research explores public management, organizational design, governance of emerging technologies, and the future of higher education. He has advised federal agencies, state legislators, foundations, and universities across the U.S. and globally. His work has been supported by major funders, including the Gates Foundation, NSF, Lilly Endowment, and USAID, generating more than $100 million in impact since 2017.
Dr. Anderson holds a Ph.D. in Public Policy and Management from the University of Georgia, as well as a B.S. and an M.P.P. from Arizona State University.
Nov. 5, 2025
Raj Chetty, Ph.D.
William A. Ackman Professor of Economics at Harvard University and the Director of Opportunity Insights
1-2 p.m. Where You’re From Shouldn’t Determine Where You’re Going
- What the data reveals: which industries, firms, and sectors lead to long-term opportunity
- Why some students with talent don’t reach high-paying jobs and what you can do differently (maybe how students with talent don’t reach any job?)
- How to think about ROI, networks, and building a future across sectors like business, education, health, and public service
2:30-4 p.m. Faculty & Staff Keynote and Q &A
- Key findings from Opportunity Insights, mobility trends by geography/major/institution, and implications for higher education
Speaker Bio
Raj Chetty is the William A. Ackman Professor of Economics at Harvard University and the Director of Opportunity Insights, which uses big data to study the science of economic opportunity: how we can give children from all backgrounds better chances of succeeding? Chetty’s work has been widely cited in academia, media outlets, and policy discussions in the United States and beyond.
Chetty received his Ph.D. from Harvard University in 2003 and is one of the youngest tenured professors in Harvard’s history. He has received numerous awards for his research, including a MacArthur “Genius” Fellowship, the John Bates Clark medal, given to the economist under 40 whose work is judged to have made the most significant contribution to the field, and Harvard’s George Ledlie prize, awarded for research that made the most valuable contribution to science, or in any way for the benefit of mankind.