Defining and Measuring Student Success: A Higher Education Policy Research Symposium

Joanne Brown is the Manager, Colleges Unit, Postsecondary Accountability Branch with the Postsecondary Education Division of the Ministry of Training, Colleges and Universities. Joanne has been the manager of the Colleges Unit since 2008. Prior to this time she started her career with the Ministry of Citizenship & Immigration, followed by the Ministry of Community & Social Services/Ministry of Children and Youth Services. Joanne’s unit and work focuses primarily on accountability mechanisms in the college sector including oversight for legislation, regulation and binding policy directives as well as overseeing system-wide multi-year accountability agreements and college sector Key Performance Indicators – a file that has proven to be endlessly fascinating as the ministry slowly evolves these tools and creates new tools in response to the public demand for greater accountability and transparency.

Tony Chambers is Associate Professor of Higher Education and Director of the Centre for the Study of Students in Postsecondary Education in the Department of Leadership, Higher and Adult Education at OISE/UT. Professor Chambers joined the University of Toronto in 2005 as the Associate Vice Provost, Students and Assistant Professor after holding various academic and senior administrative positions in the United States, most recently at the University of Michigan where he was associate director of the National Forum on Higher Education for the Public Good and adjunct associate professor in the Center for the Study of Higher and Postsecondary Education. He currently teaches courses on the Student Development, Learning and Success in Postsecondary Education within the Higher Education Program at OISE/UT. Professor Chambers’ research has included topics such as student development and success in higher education, improving the quality of the student experience, student leadership, factors influencing access and success of underrepresented student populations, and the social and public purposes of postsecondary education.

Chris Conway is the Director of Institutional Research and Planning at Queen’s University and previously held similar positions at the University of Victoria and the University of Northern British Columbia. The IRP Office at Queen’s participates in university budget development, accountability and performance measurement, survey management, external reporting and data exchanges, and analyses supporting collective bargaining.  He has undertaken several NSSE-related research projects, including creation of the “NSSE National” data exchange, coordination and assessment of engagement interventions at ten Ontario universities, and statistical analyses of factors affecting engagement (supported by funding from HEQCO). He was recently appointed to the NSSE Advisory Board. Chris is a graduate of Ryerson University (undergraduate) and York University (graduate).

Torben Drewes is a Professor of Economics at Trent University in Peterborough where he has taught since 1980 and chaired the Economics Department from 2001 to 2007.  He received his bachelor’s degree from Lakehead University and his doctorate from Queen’s University at Kingston. His main areas of interest are labour economics and the economics of higher education.  He has published in The Review of Economics and Statistics, Canadian Public Policy, Research in Higher Education and the OECD Education Working Paper Series.  He has also conducted research for Human Resources and Skills Development Canada, Finance Canada, the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples, the Higher Education Quality Council of Ontario, and other federal and provincial agencies.  Professor Drewes served on the Ontario Training and Adjustment Board, the National Advisory Group on Student Financial Assistance, and the Council of Ontario Universities.

Adrienne Galway is the Special Advisor to the President at George Brown College in Toronto. Her role at the college includes strategic planning and government relations. In addition to her work at George Brown, Adrienne has taught a number of courses at the University of Toronto in Political Science and Canadian Studies. Prior to joining George Brown College, Adrienne served as the Senior Policy Advisor to the Minister of Training, Colleges and Universities and as the Education Policy Advisor to the Leader of the Official Opposition, Government of Ontario. Adrienne holds a Ph.D. in Higher Education from the University of Toronto.

Glen A. Jones is the Ontario Research Chair in Postsecondary Education Policy and Measurement and Professor of Higher Education at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education of the University of Toronto. Glen’s research focuses on higher education policy, governance, academic work, and administration. He is a prolific contributor to the Canadian and international literature on higher education and a frequent public speaker and commentator on higher education issues. He was Chair of the Department of Theory and Policy Studies in Education at OISE from 1998-2001 and Associate Dean of OISE from 2003-2011. He received the Research Award from the Canadian Society for the Study of Higher Education in 2001, and their Distinguished Member Award in 2011

Lucia Padure is currently the Research Coordinator at the Ministry of Training, Colleges and Universities (MTCU) with the Research and Planning Branch, Strategic Policy and Programs Division. Previously she acted as a Senior Policy Advisor in the same division in the Strategic Program Initiatives Branch. She received her PhD from the Ontario Institute of Studies in Education at University of Toronto (2009) and her Master of Public Administration from Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University (2003). Lucia’s research interests include higher education policy, differentiation, quality assurance and comparative education.

Ken Sokolyk is a Senior Policy Advisor with the Colleges Unit, Postsecondary Accountability Branch at the Ministry of Training, Colleges, and Universities. College KPI have been a part of his portfolio for a number of years.

Tricia Seifert is an assistant professor in the Higher Education program at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education (OISE).  Tricia earned a bachelor’s degree in Sociology and Political Science with honours from Illinois Wesleyan University, a master’s degree in College Student Services Administration from Oregon State University, and her Ph.D. in Student Affairs Administration and Research from the University of Iowa. In 2010, Tricia was named an Emerging Scholar by the American College Personnel Association. She is currently PI on a Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council-funded project, Supporting Student Success, which examines institutional cultures and organizational structures in Ontario’s postsecondary institutions with regard to supporting student success.

Charles Ungerleider is a Professor Emeritus of Educational Studies at The University of British Columbia and Managing Partner of Directions Evidence and Policy Research Group, LLP. Ungerleider served as Deputy Minister of Education for the province of British Columbia from 1998-2001 and as Director of Research and knowledge Mobilization for the Canadian Council on Learning.

Richard Wiggers, PhD (Georgetown) is the executive director of research and programs at HEQCO. In addition to past positions with the federal government, he has worked for two private sector education organizations. Before arriving at HEQCO in 2009, he worked with the New Brunswick government in the Post-Secondary Affairs Branch and as the Manager of Innovative Learning and Professional Development with the Department of Education. In his role at HEQCO, Richard is responsible for managing more than 60 research projects dealing with Student Services, Teaching and Learning and Learning Outcomes, and he oversees all research projects and policies at HEQCO. He is leading a major research project on Work Integrated Learning that involves 14 Ontario colleges and universities, and he also serves on the Editorial Board of the Canadian Apprenticeship Journal, as an External Associate with the University of Waterloo’s Centre for the Advancement of Co-Operative Education, and as a Faculty Advisor with Humber College’s new Research Analyst Post-Graduate Program.