Howard Gardner is the John H. and Elisabeth A. Hobbs Professor of Cognition and Education at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. He serves as senior director of Harvard Project Zero, a 50-year inquiry into learning in and through the arts. He also is co-founder and director of the Good Project, a group of initiatives that promotes excellence, engagement, and ethics in education to prepare students to become good workers and good citizens who contribute to the overall well-being of society. Gardner also developed the theory of multiple intelligences, which he presented in Frames of Mind: The Theory of Multiple Intelligences (1983) and for which the Mensa Foundation recently honored him with its Lifetime Achievement Award. His books include Truth, Beauty, and Goodness Reframed (2012), Leading Minds: An Anatomy of Leadership (2011), Good Work: Theory and Practice (2010), Changing Minds: The Art and Science of Changing Our Own and Other People’s Minds (2006), The Development and Education of the Mind (1994), and most recently, with Katie Davis, The App Generation: How Today’s Youth Navigate Identity, Intimacy, and Imagination in a Digital World (2013). Gardner is the recipient of the MacArthur Prize Fellowship, the Guggenheim Memorial Fellowship, the University of Louisville Grawemeyer Award in Education, the Prince of Asturias Award for Social Sciences, and the Brock International Prize in Education, and he has received honorary degrees from 31 colleges and universities. He serves on the boards of the Museum of Modern Art in New York and the American Philosophical Society. Gardner earned his AB from Harvard College and his PhD in social psychology from Harvard University; he also studied at the London School of Economics.

​Jonathan Haidt is the Thomas Cooley Professor of Ethical Leadership at New York University’s Stern School of Business. In addition, he chairs the board of the Heterodox Academy, which he co-founded. From 1995 to 2011, Haidt was a faculty member in the department of psychology at the University of Virginia, where he won three teaching awards, and he served for one year as the Laurance S. Rockefeller Visiting Professor for Distinguished Teaching at Princeton University. He is the co-developer of Moral Foundations Theory and of the research site YourMorals.org. Haidt’s research examines the intuitive foundations of morality, moral emotions, and how morality varies across cultures. He is the author of the New York Times bestseller The Righteous Mind: Why Good People Are Divided by Politics and Religion (2012) and The Happiness Hypothesis: Finding Modern Truth in Ancient Wisdom (2006). His third book, written with Greg Lukianoff, The Coddling of the American Mind: How Good Intentions and Bad Ideas Are Setting Up a Generation for Failure (2018), was just released. Haidt earned his BA in philosophy from Yale University and his MA and PhD in psychology from the University of Pennsylvania. He completed a postdoctoral fellowship in cultural psychology at the University of Chicago.

​Esther Brimmer is executive director and CEO of NAFSA: Association of International Educators. She previously was the J. B. and Maurice C. Shapiro Professor at George Washington University’s Elliott School of International Affairs. Brimmer served in the U.S. Department of State three times. Earlier in her career, she was deputy director and director of research at the Center for Transatlantic Relations at the Johns Hopkins University Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies. Brimmer has been a consultant at McLarty Associates and McKinsey & Company. She also has been an adjunct senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, where she is a life member. Brimmer has published numerous articles and edited eight books on transatlantic relations. Currently, she is a member of the Department of Defense National Security Education Board and the executive board of the Atlantic Council. She earned her bachelor’s degree from Pomona College and her doctorate and master’s degrees in international relations from the University of Oxford.

​Roger N. Casey has served as president of McDaniel College in Westminster, Maryland, with a campus in Budapest, Hungary, since 2010. His major initiatives include the creation of the Center for Experience and Opportunity, a single office comprehensively supporting experiential learning; Global Fellows, a program allowing students to internationalize any major; Encompass Distinction, a multidisciplinary entrepreneurship curriculum; and Educator’s Legacy, a guaranteed scholarship for children of K–12 or community college employees. During his tenure, McDaniel College was named to the President’s Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll and commended by the New America Foundation for supporting low-income students. Casey previously served as provost and vice president for academic affairs at Rollins College and as associate dean at Birmingham-Southern College. He has taught media and cultural studies, drama, and leadership. His current scholarship addresses generational issues in higher education. He earned distinguished teaching awards from Birmingham-Southern College and Florida State University. Casey chairs the board of trustees of the Maryland Independent College and University Association, is a member of the board of the National Association of Independent Colleges and Universities, is vice chair of the Centennial Athletic Conference, and has served on the steering committee for CIC’s Project on the Future of Independent Higher Education. A Phi Beta Kappan and first-generation college graduate, Casey earned a BA from Furman University and an MA and PhD in English from Florida State University.

Helen G. Drinan began her tenure as president of Simmons University in Boston, Massachusetts, in 2008. Prior to being named president, she served as chair of the college’s board of trustees. The twin hallmarks of her tenure at Simmons have been fiscal stability and growth and an unwavering institutional focus on developing the career skills of Simmons students. Drinan previously served as senior vice president for human resources at Caritas Christi Health Care, president and CEO of the Society for Human Resource Management, and executive vice president of human resources for BankBoston. Drinan has established herself as a national expert on women’s education as a pathway to developing successful leaders, with her comments and writings appearing in numerous media outlets. She has been recognized for her work on behalf of women’s and girls’ education and leadership with the Silent Spring Rachel Carson Advocacy Award and Woman LEAD: Woman Who Leads in Academia and Inspires Others award, among many others. She served as a member of several organizations dedicated to empowering women, including the advisory council of the Women in Public Service Project, 2020 Women on Boards, and the Massachusetts Women’s Forum. Drinan is a member and vice chair-elect of the Association of Independent Colleges and Universities in Massachusetts and has served as a member of the Mount Holyoke College board of trustees. She earned a BA from Mount Holyoke College and both an MBA and master’s of library and information science from Simmons University.

Billy C. Hawkins became president of Talladega College in Talladega, Alabama, in 2008. During his tenure student enrollment has increased by more than 70 percent, finances have been restructured and stabilized, new buildings have been constructed, and new academic programs have been added, among many other notable achievements. In addition, the college gained reinstatement to the National Association of Independent Athletics (NAIA) and won three national championships in men’s and women’s basketball. Hawkins previously served as president of Texas College, which he also led through an institutional transformation that included regaining regional accreditation and an 82 percent increase in student enrollment early in his tenure. He has served as provost and vice president for academic affairs at Mississippi Valley State University; vice president for academic affairs at Saint Paul’s College (VA); acting dean, associate dean, and assistant dean at Ferris State University; and director of the Educational Opportunity Program at Morrisville State College. Hawkins currently serves on the board of trustees of the Commission on Colleges of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools, the UNCF board of directors, and the NAIA Council of Presidents. He previously served as a member of the CIC Board of Directors. Hawkins recently was appointed to the President’s Board of Advisors on Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs). He is the recipient of the Omega Century Award of Excellence in Education from the National Omega Psi Phi Fraternity, Inc., the National Association of Colored Women’s Clubs, Inc. Achievement Award, and the Texas Alliance of Black School Educators Leadership Award. Hawkins earned a BS degree from Ferris State University, as well as an MA from Central Michigan University and a PhD from Michigan State University—both in education administration. He has completed postdoctoral studies at Harvard University.

Moderator: Steven C. Bahls became the president of Augustana College in Rock Island, Illinois, in 2003. While at Augustana, he has led the college through the development of two strategic plans; seen student enrollment grow by 10 percent and the faculty by 13 percent; expanded academic facilities, academic programs, and athletics offerings; raised more than $152 million; and introduced Augie Choice, a distinctive grant program that supports all students to work with faculty mentors on research projects, pursue international study, or engage in an internship. Prior to joining Augustana, Bahls was dean of the Capital University law school and associate dean and professor at the University of Montana law school. Earlier, he practiced corporate law with the Milwaukee firm of Frisch, Dudek and Slattery. He is a CPA, lawyer, and scholar in the areas of business and agricultural law. His writings about legal issues have been cited in 150 law journals, including the Harvard, Yale, Cornell, and Columbia law reviews, as well as in reported court opinions in seven states. Bahls writes regularly about higher education and is the author of Shared Governance in Times of Change: A Practical Guide for Universities and Colleges (2014) and of chapters in From Shared Governance to Shared Accountability (forthcoming) and Liberal Arts Colleges: Building the Capacity to Thrive (forthcoming). He was a member of President Barack Obama’s White House Summit on Higher Education and currently chairs the board of the Lutheran Educational Conference of North America and the Federation of Independent Illinois Colleges and Universities. He also has served on the boards of directors of the United Way of the Quad Cities, the Quad City Symphony Orchestra Association, and the Quad Cities Cultural Trust. Bahls is a former member of the CIC Board of Directors and served on the steering committee of CIC’s Project on the Future of Independent Higher Education. He earned a BA from the University of Iowa and a JD from Northwestern University.