Michelle Asha Cooper
Michelle Asha Cooper, president of the Institute for Higher Education Policy in Washington, D.C., will deliver the 29th annual McBee Lecture at the University of Georgia. Cooper will discuss “A New Hope for a Better Tomorrow: Tackling Postsecondary Challenges Today” at 10 a.m. on Feb. 12 in the UGA Chapel.
Her talk is part of the university’s Signature Lecture Series, which features speakers noted for their broad, multidisciplinary appeal and compelling bodies of work. The lecture is free and open to the public. A reception will immediately follow the lecture in the Peabody Board Room of the Administration Building.
In 2008, Cooper became the second president of IHEP, a nonpartisan global research and policy center. She is a well-respected practitioner, researcher and policy advocate helping to reaffirm the organization’s role of ensuring equal educational opportunities for students.
Considered a “thought leader” in higher education, she is a contributor to media outlets such as C-SPAN, FOX News and NPR as well as The Chronicle of Higher Education, Huffington Post, The Hill, Inside Higher Ed, USA Today and the Washington Post. She is well-versed in higher education access and success with special emphasis on equitable reform of higher education, college affordability and financial-aid policy, institutional accountability, diversity and equity.
“Michelle Cooper is a nationally recognized authority on the status of postsecondary education,” said Libby Morris, director of UGA’s Institute of Higher Education. ”We are pleased that she will deliver the 2018 McBee Lecture honoring one of our state’s most outstanding citizens, Dr. Louise McBee.”
McBee held leadership positions for more than 25 years at the University of Georgia before serving for more than a decade as a champion for higher education in the Georgia General Assembly.
The annual McBee Lecture was launched in 1989 under the auspices of the Institute of Higher Education to bring to campus a distinguished leader in higher education to deliver a public talk. A video archive of lectures from the past several years can be found on the institute’s website (http://ihe.uga.edu/about/archives-mcbee-lectures/).
