Nathan D. Grawe is Ada M. Harrison Distinguished Teaching Professor of the Social Sciences at Carleton College in Minnesota, where he has served as a faculty member since 1999. He participated in the leadership of Carleton’s Quantitative Inquiry, Reasoning, and Knowledge (QuIRK) initiative, and he served as associate dean of the college from 2009 to 2012. Grawe is a labor economist with particular interests in how family background—from family income to number of siblings—shapes educational and employment choices and outcomes. His book, Demographics and the Demand for Higher Education, examines how recent demographic shifts are likely to affect demand for higher education and explores how colleges and policy makers may respond to meet institutional and national goals. Grawe has been a featured speaker at CIC’s Institute for Chief Academic Officers and the Diversity, Civility, and the Liberal Arts Institutes. He earned a BA from St. Olaf College and an MA and PhD from the University of Chicago, all in economics.

​Mariët Westermann became vice chancellor and chief executive of New York University Abu Dhabi, where she oversees all academic, administrative, financial, and operational affairs of the university, in August 2019. She joined the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation in 2010 and served as the executive vice president for programs and research from 2016 to July 2019. In that role, she launched initiatives that study and promote the value of the humanities and the liberal arts, encourage graduate education reform, renew preservation of cultural heritage around the world, and support scholars and artists at risk. Earlier, Westermann was the first provost of NYU Abu Dhabi, former director of NYU’s Institute of Fine Arts, and professor of art history. Before joining NYU in 2002, she was associate director of research at the Clark Art Institute. From 1995 to 2001, she was an assistant and associate professor of art history at Rutgers University. Her publications include Rembrandt—Art and Ideas (2000); The Amusements of Jan Steen: Comic Painting in the 17th Century (1997); and A Worldly Art: The Dutch Republic 1585–1718 (1996). Westermann has worked extensively with museums, including serving as curator of Art and Home: Dutch Interiors in the Age of Rembrandt (Denver Art Museum and Newark Museum, 2001). She has been the recipient of fellowships, honors, and grants from the National Endowment for the Humanities, American Philosophical Society, Center for Advanced Study in the Visual Arts, Clark Art Institute, College Art Association, and Metropolitan Museum of Art. Westermann earned her undergraduate degree from Williams College, where she was elected to Phi Beta Kappa. She earned an MA and PhD from NYU’s Institute of Fine Arts.

​Jonathan McBride is managing director and global head of inclusion and diversity at BlackRock, a global investment management corporation based in New York. McBride previously served as director of the Office of Presidential Personnel in the White House, a role he was appointed to in 2013. He joined the administration of Barack Obama as a special assistant to the president and deputy director of presidential personnel in 2009. Prior to serving in the White House, McBride was the chief strategy officer at Universum, a global employer branding company, and served as the company’s most senior consultant to companies and agencies looking to attract and recruit top talent. In 2000, he co-founded Jungle Media Group, which provides magazines, websites, and live events to inform a variety of audiences about career lifestyles and how best to navigate current and future career moves. McBride earned a BA in economics from Connecticut College and an MBA from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.

​James M. Dennis has served for 26 years as the president of McKendree University in Lebanon, Illinois. Dennis has led McKendree to record growth in enrollment, academic programs (including in new master’s and doctoral programs), on-campus residence, campus construction and renovation, and the academic strength of students. The number of faculty and staff members has nearly tripled, and fundraising has increased dramatically. He has promoted initiatives to diversify the campus community and beautify the campus landscape, including the development of the Hettenhausen Center for the Arts. Prior to his service at McKendree, Dennis spent 27 years at the University of Southern California, first as assistant professor in the athletics and recreation department and later as vice president for student affairs. He is a former member of the CIC Board of Directors. Dennis is the president of Leadership Council Southwestern Illinois, a nonprofit economic development corporation. He served on the boards of the Higher Education Consortium of Metropolitan St. Louis, the Associated Colleges of Illinois, and the Federation of Independent Illinois Colleges and Universities, and he is past president of Illinois Campus Compact. Dennis earned a BA from Occidental College and a PhD in management from the University of Southern California; he also attended the Claremont Graduate School Institute on Higher Education. He studied in Germany on a Fulbright Fellowship to examine the German system of higher education.

Mary Dana Hinton began her tenure as the 15th president of the College of Saint Benedict in Saint Joseph, Minnesota, in 2014. Under Hinton’s leadership, the College of Saint Benedict developed a collaborative strategic plan and dynamic vision to guide the college through 2020. In alignment with the strategic plan and her leadership, the college is successfully undertaking a $100 million comprehensive fundraising campaign. She also has led the process to implement a $43 million campus facilities update, enabling Saint Ben’s to provide premier facilities for teaching, learning, and women’s leadership development. Hinton is a member of the CIC Board of Directors. She also serves as chair of the Minnesota Private College Council and is a member of the boards of the Association of American Colleges & Universities, Association of Catholic Colleges and Universities, Interfaith Youth Core, and University Leadership Council. She teaches in the University of Pennsylvania Graduate School of Education doctoral program in higher education management and at the Institute for Administrators in Catholic Higher Education, and she is a faculty member in CIC’s New Presidents Program. Her scholarship focuses on African American religious history as well as on leadership, strategic planning, and inclusion in higher education. Hinton earned a BA in psychology from Williams College, an MA in clinical child psychology from the University of Kansas, and a PhD in religion and religious education from Fordham University.

Lawrence M. Schall has served since 2005 as the president of Oglethorpe University in Atlanta, Georgia. Under his leadership, the university has increased net assets three-fold while reducing total debt in half; doubled net tuition revenue; increased the endowment by 50 percent; expanded enrollment by over 50 percent; established strategic entrepreneurial partnerships; and experienced historic levels of philanthropic giving. In addition, Schall has developed deeper connections between the university and the city of Atlanta. In 2017, he secured a $50 million gift from an alumnus to establish the Hammack School of Business, the largest gift to a liberal arts college to establish a school of business. In 2018, Oglethorpe launched Flagship 50, a merit scholarship program that matches all 50 states’ flagship universities’ tuition for qualified students. Previously, Schall served for 15 years at Swarthmore College, concluding as vice president for administration. Early in his career, he was a trial attorney specializing in civil rights litigation. He serves on the executive committees of the Georgia Independent College Association, Atlanta Regional Council for Higher Education, and Council on International Educational Exchange. Schall earned a bachelor’s degree from Swarthmore College, a JD from the University of Pennsylvania Law School, and an EdD from the University of Pennsylvania, where he also served as director of the executive doctorate program in higher education and adjunct faculty member in the Graduate School of Education.

Moderator: Marjorie Hass began her tenure as the 20th president of Rhodes College in Memphis, Tennessee, in 2017. Under her leadership, Rhodes launched a new master’s degree in urban education, began an inclusive strategic planning process, and has been recognized for its academic rigor and the career success of its graduates. Hass has worked to strengthen the bond between the college and the city of Memphis, securing a transformational gift to the Lynn and Henry Turley Memphis Center that more than doubled the college’s investment in community partnerships. Previously, Hass served for eight years as president of Austin College, where she oversaw considerable growth in the size and strength of the college’s applicant pool as well as increased retention; major improvements in the environmental sustainability of the institution; and strengthening of the college’s financial position. Earlier, Hass was provost of Muhlenberg College, where she spent more than 16 years as a member of the faculty. She began her career as a philosophy professor, publishing in the areas of philosophy of logic, philosophy of language, and feminist philosophy. Hass serves as a board member of the Association of American Colleges & Universities, is former chair of the board of directors of the National Association of Independent Colleges and Universities, and is a former member of the CIC Board of Directors. She earned bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral degrees in philosophy from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.