The Center for the Study of Education Policy’s Dr. James Applegate is being recognized as he has been successful in moving higher education forward in difficult times. The award will be given at the upcoming I-AIR Forum on November 8, 2017.
Dr. Applegate is visiting professor at Illinois State University, and has previous experience as Executive Director for the Illinois Board of Higher Education, VP for Strategic Impact at the Lumina Foundation, VP For Academic Affairs for the state of KY. He is author of several scholarly publications regarding the role of higher education in the 21st century. He has been a featured speaker at recent I-AIR conferences, among more than 40 other scholarly and professional societies.
Through his career he has demonstrated a commitment to higher education and using evidence-informed approaches to improve institutional performance and to advance educational attainment for all students. By directing Lumina’s “Goal 2025,” he focused this commitment to informed educational programming particularly toward helping students from historically marginalized backgrounds.
As chief academic officer in Kentucky, he implemented evidence-informed initiatives that made Kentucky lead the nation in increasing college completion. Dr. Applegate lead development of Illinois’s $2 billion higher education budget supporting almost 400 institutions and 920,000 students. He engaged policy issues at the state and national levels that impact the Illinois higher education system. He articulated and advanced those goals through the “Illinois Public Agenda for College and Career Success.”
