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2025 Benchmarking Conference - Keynote Speakers
June 16-18, 2025
Tuesday, June 17
Meeting Students Where They Dream
Presentation description: Dr. Willis will share her journey through higher education, first as a student parent, and then along the path of faculty and successive academic leadership positions. She will discuss her commitment to student success as the president of now two community colleges. Amongst other strategies, Dr. Willis will demonstrate how data has helped to mobilize the campus to achieve that goal.
Wednesday, June 18
Vice President for Social Justice, Tougaloo College
Former Student Government President, WVU Parkersburg
Austin and Chris: First Generation Times Two!
Chris Gilmer and Austin Grimmett, first-generation college students from different generations, overcame financial hardships and unique challenges in rural Mississippi and West Virginia. Their shared dedication to ensuring access and equity for all students at WVU Parkersburg unites their narratives, offering a message of hope and empowerment for others facing similar struggles.
Thursday, June 19
University of Wyoming Graduate
Positions, People and Ideas: Ongoing Research on Data-informed Decisionmaking
This keynote session features two practitioner-scholars discussing their emerging research and writing and offering implications for practice. A top university administrator will offer his recent research on the position of the Chief Data Officer (CDO), including both its typical functions and the possibilities that position presents to colleges and universities. A university professor and longtime academic administrator will share his emerging research on a working theory of data-informed decisionmaking, drawn from practicing community college administrators who are thinking transformationally and acting in this moment to advance the cause to which we all are dedicated—the success of each and every student!