Major Speakers
Morning Plenary - Keynote Speaker9-10:30AM, Michigan League Ballroom
Dr. James Applegate, Senior Vice President for Program Development, Lumina Foundation
James L. Applegate serves as Senior Vice President for Program Development at the Lumina Foundation. In that role, he leads in development of grant programs supporting achievement of Lumina’s “Big Goal” to dramatically increase educational attainment in the U.S. Prior to coming to Lumina in 2008, he served as Senior Fellow and Vice President for Academic Affairs at the Kentucky Council on Postsecondary Education from 1999 through 2008. As chief academic officer in Kentucky, he coordinated statewide research and teaching initiatives supporting institutional engagement in a public agenda for higher education and growth in Kentucky’s knowledge-based economy. He has played a leading role in state policy efforts to dramatically increase college participation, especially for low income, minority, and first generation students. He currently serves on the American Council on Education’s Advisory Committee for its Center for Policy Research, the ACT’s Education Advisory Board and served on Secretary of Education Margaret Spelling’s steering committee advising on the implementation of the recommendations of the Commission on the Future of Higher Education.
Jim was a Professor of Communication at the University of Kentucky. From 1984 until 1999 he was Chair of that Department. During that period he also served as University Senate Chair.
He was elected President of the National Communication Association, the world’s largest association of communication scholars, and the Southern Communication Association. As a disciplinary leader he focused on creating research and teaching that was more engaged with public needs. He has authored numerous articles, book chapters, and research reports on communication processes recognized by various organizations for their contributions to the discipline. As a consultant, Applegate has conducted over 250 lectures, seminars, and workshops for private, academic and government organizations designed to improve organizational policies and communication practices.
Jim earned his B.A from Georgetown College (KY) as well as an M.A. and Ph.D. from University of Illinois.
Luncheon Plenary - Panel Discussion
12-1:30PM, Michigan League Ballroom
Pathways to College Access and Excellence: Challenges and Opportunities Facing the State of Michigan
Mr. John Austin
Vice-President, Michigan State Board of Education
Non-Resident Senior Fellow, Brookings Institution
Visiting Research Scientist University of Michigan, Institute on Labor, Employment and the Economy
John Austin, 47, is a Nonresident Senior Fellow with the Brookings Institution, as well as a Michigan statewide elected official, re-elected in 2008 to his second-term as Vice-President of the Michigan State Board of Education. Mr. Austin is also a resident scholar at the University of Michigan - Institute for Research on Labor, Employment and the Economy (IRLEE).
Austin currently directs the Great Lakes Economic Initiative for the Brookings Institution, designed to improve the economic vitality of the Great Lakes states. Austin has authored key Brookings reports that have directly shaped the region’s economic development agenda: “The Vital Center: A Federal-State Compact to Renew the Great Lakes Region;” “The Vital Connection: Reclaiming Great Lakes Economic Leadership in the Bi-National Great Lakes Region;” and “Healthy Waters, Strong Economy” (See www.brookings.edu/projects/great-lakes.aspx)
In recent years Mr. Austin has served as Policy Director for Michigan’s Governor-appointed Commission on Higher Education and Economic Growth, and was principal author of the Commission’s influential report. He also was the founding Director of the New Economy Initiative for Southeast Michigan—a $100 million effort by the region’s philanthropies to aid in the area’s economic transformation. In 2002 he co-authored the report Revitalizing Michigan Cities, with Michigan Future, Inc., which led to Governor Granholm’s “Cool Cities” initiative.
Austin received his Masters in Public Administration from Harvard's Kennedy School of Government, and a Bachelors from Swarthmore College in Economics & Political Science, with High Honors and Phi Beta Kappa. Mr. Austin has been married 21 years to his wife Terese. They and their three school-age children reside in Ann Arbor, Michigan.
Ms. Carol Goss
President & CEO, Skillman Foundation
Carol A. Goss is president & CEO of The Skillman Foundation, a private independent foundation whose mission is to improve the lives of children in metropolitan Detroit by strengthening their schools and neighborhoods.
Involved in philanthropy for the past 20 years, Goss joined The Skillman Foundation in March 1998 as a senior program officer. She was named President & CEO of the Foundation in 2004. She has also worked as a program officer at the Stuart Foundation in San Francisco and as program director at the W. K. Kellogg Foundation in Battle Creek, Mich. Goss was named the 2007 James A. Joseph Lecturer by the Association of Black Foundation Executives. Crain’s Detroit Business cited her as one of Southeast Michigan’s Most Influential Women, an honor that the respected weekly bestows every five years to the region’s most dynamic and powerful women.
Goss' professional career also includes nearly 20 years' experience in child welfare, family services and youth development in Detroit and Oakland, Calif. A native Detroiter, Goss has a BA in sociology and an MSW from the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor.
Dr. James Jacobs
President, Macomb Community College
James Jacobs assumed the presidency of Macomb Community College on July 1, 2008. Prior to his appointment, he concurrently served as director for the Center for Workforce Development and Policy at the college, and as the associate director, Community College Research Center (CCRC), Teachers College, Columbia University.
Jacobs has more than 40 years experience at Macomb, joining the college in 1967. He has taught social science, political science and economics. He has specialized in the areas of occupational change and technology, suburban economic development, occupational education, worker retraining and community college workforce development, and is widely published in these areas of expertise.
Jacobs has conducted research, developed programs and consulted on workforce development and community college issues at the national, state and local levels. During his seven years with the CCRC, he was responsible for some of the organization’s fieldwork, including a major study for the National Science Foundation on the ATE Regional Center Program. He is the past president of the National Council for Workforce Education, a national post-secondary organization of occupational education and workforce development specialists, and a member of the Manufacturing Extension Partnership Advisory Board of the National Institute of Standards and Technology and the National Assessment of Career and Technical Education. Jacobs served as part of the research staff and a report writer for the Cherry Commission (Lt. Governor’s Commission on Higher Education & Economic Growth) report, and was a member of the Visioning Task Force for Macomb County, a group convened by the board of commissioners to proactively plan for the future of the county.
Jacobs earned his Ph.D. from Princeton University and has served on a number of community boards, including Peoples State Bank, Macomb Inter-Faith Action Center, United Way and St. John Hospital. He is also a member of the board of directors of the Community College Research Center, New York.
Mr. Chuck Wilbur
Senior Advisor for Education and Communications, Office of the Governor
Chuck Wilbur is Governor Granholm's Senior Advisor for Education and Communication. In this position, he helps develop policy on a range of
issues, from early childhood to higher education. He worked closely
with the Cherry Commission as it developed its series of policy recommendation aimed at doubling the number of college graduates in Michigan. He also works with the Governor's Communications staff, guiding a variety of ways the Administration shares its message with Michigan citizens.
Prior to joining the Granholm Administration in January 2003, Chuck was an aide to United States Senator Carl Levin for ten years, working in Michigan as his State Director and in Washington as his Chief of Staff. Chuck also served as the Senator's Campaign Manager in 1996 and 2002.
Chuck's career trajectory is linked together by life-long interests in education, communication,and politics. Upon earning Bachelor's and Master's degrees from the University of Michigan-Ann Arbor, Chuck worked as a Media Specialist in Westwood Community Schools in Wayne County. He also worked as a community organizer with low income advocacy organizations in Detroit and as a broadcast journalist with Detroit's public radio station WDET. His work experience also includes a short stint as an advisor to a citizen's organization in Moscow during Russia's 2000 election campaign.
Chuck lives in Ann Arbor with his wife Caroline Blaum, a Professor at the University of Michigan Medical School. They have three adult children including Michigan and Georgetown graduates and a member of the class of 2010 at Wittenberg University in Springfield, Ohio.
Ms. Kim Kiely – Panel Moderator
Executive Director, The National College Access Network (NCAN)
Kim Kiely has been with the National College Access Network (NCAN) since 1999 and was appointed Executive Director earlier this year. NCAN's mission is to improve access to and success in postsecondary education for first-generation, underrepresented and low-income students. She serves on the College Goal Sunday Advisory Committee and the External Advisory Committee for the National Council of Higher Education Loan Programs (NCHELP). Ms. Kiely also served as the Interim Executive Director of the Ohio College Access Network during the summer of 2004.
Prior to joining NCAN, she was a Senior Program Associate at Plan for Social Excellence, Inc., a foundation supporting innovative projects in education, and served as its Grants Manager and Scholars Program Manager. Previously, she was as a college admission counselor at Pace University in New York.
She holds a Masters in Public Administration from Pace University and a Bachelors degree in Communications, Law, Economics and Government from The American University (Washington, DC).