Sara Custer to Present Opening Plenary at the ACC
Sara Custer, Editor-in-Chief, Inside Higher Ed
The State of Higher Education
Higher education leaders are facing unprecedented pressure as they wade through policy and political changes. Join Sara Custer, Editor-in-Chief of Inside Higher Ed, for an analysis of the current state of higher education, including how the federal policy landscape may change under a second Trump administration, how institutions are responding to the current political divides in the country, what state-level policies are impacting institutions and the financial sustainability of the sector.
Sara Custer was named editor-in-chief of Inside Higher Ed in March 2024. Custer leads Inside Higher Ed’s editorial staff, working with its talented team of editors and reporters to shape its editorial future. She was previously an editor at Times Higher Education (THE) and an accomplished higher education journalist. Custer served since 2020 as editor of THE Campus, a peer resource site for higher education professionals. There, she worked across departments to launch and grow Campus and led its editorial team. Prior to that role, she served as THE’s digital editor, helping to launch THE’s newsletter strategy and overseeing daily, weekly and monthly publications. She previously served as editor and senior reporter at The PIE News, covering the international education industry. Custer grew up in Cushing, Okla., and earned a B.A. in English literature from Loyola University Chicago and an M.A. in international journalism from City, University of London.
Dr. Jillian Kinzie to Lead Plenary on Second Day of Conference
Dr. Jillian Kinzie, Associate Director, NSSE
Data-Informed Practices to Improve Student Success
Declining enrollment has created an even greater need for students to develop a sense of belonging and meaningful engagement in the first year. Join Dr. Jillian Kinzie, NSSE (National Survey of Student Engagement), to explore ways department chairs can support the implementation of proven student engagement practices that directly impact student success. In this interactive session, you will learn about effective approaches, including relationship building and high-impact practices, as well as the “why” behind them.
Jillian Kinzie is Associate Director of the Indiana University Center for Postsecondary Research and the National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE). She 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. Dr. Kinzie has co-authored several books, most recently Transforming Academic Culture and 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) and Using Evidence of Student Learning to Improve Higher Education (2015), and has published in a variety of journals. Jillian's research interests include assessment of college and university quality, first year student development, teaching and learning in college, equity and student success in college, high-impact practices, learning outcomes assessment, and women in underrepresented fields. Jillian earned her PhD from Indiana University in higher education with a minor in women’s studies.
