Tam is a senior marketing leader at BVK, where she co-leads the agency’s higher education practice, and she serves as President of the Board for Serve Marketing, BVK’s not-for-profit sister agency. She brings more than 25 years of experience working in higher education marketing and strategy, with a deep understanding of the sector’s evolving challenges, opportunities, and public perception.

Tam is a key architect behind College: Proud Sponsor of America at its Best, a national public-service initiative designed to restore trust in higher education by elevating its impact on workforce development, innovation, democratic engagement, and community well-being. Her work focuses on helping institutions articulate their value with clarity, credibility, and relevance—connecting strategy and storytelling to advance higher education’s essential role in America’s future.

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A pioneering social entrepreneur, Rajiv Vinnakota serves as President of the Institute for Citizens & Scholars, leading its mission to cultivate the talent, ideas, and networks that develop lifelong, effective citizens. To that end, he works tirelessly to build relationships with the partners and sponsors without whom Citizens & Scholars could not succeed, while at the same time fostering a strong organizational culture focused on American civic values.

Raj has dedicated his life to initiatives that help American citizens from all walks of life to become productive and engaged members of society. Early in his career, Raj co-founded the SEED Foundation, the nation’s first network of public, college preparatory boarding schools for underserved children. The SEED schools were featured in both television and film, and Raj won multiple awards for his work with SEED, including Harvard University’s Innovation in American Government Award, Fast Company/Monitor Group’s Social Capitalist Award, and Oprah Winfrey’s Use Your Life Award. Raj continues to serve on the Board of Directors for SEED.

Raj currently co-chairs the Civics and Civic Engagement Taskforce for the United States Congress Semiquincentennial Commission celebrating the 250th anniversary of the country’s founding. Raj also cochairs the Civic Learning Pillar of the Partnership for American Democracy, a coalition of American leaders directing resources and attention toward efforts to save U.S. democracy and serves on the advisory committee for Citizen Data.

Raj has been at the forefront of innovative scholarship and research that has played a pivotal role in shaping the civic field. His publication credits include From Civic Education to a Civic Learning Ecosystem, Mapping Civic Measurement, and The Civic Outlook of Young Adults in America. He appears regularly on media outlets such as Associated Press, NPR, The Hill, Chronicle of Higher Education, Philanthropy News Digest, and Nonprofit Quarterly. As an expert on civic learning and Gen Z, he has spoken at Fordham Institute, Results for America, Civic Learning Week, the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library, and as commencement speaker for the University of Chicago Charter School and the University of Pittsburgh.

Raj grew up in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, the child of Indian immigrants who instilled in him the faith that a good education could open doors to great things. He graduated from Princeton University and is a recipient of Princeton’s Woodrow Wilson Award, the university’s highest honor for undergraduate alumni. In addition to being a former trustee and executive committee member for Princeton University, Raj is the former national chair of its annual giving committee. Raj is also the recipient of an honorary doctorate from Rutgers University. He is also board director for two public companies, Enovis Corporation and ESAB. He lives in Maine with his wife, daughter and cat.

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Suzanne Benally (Navajo and Santa Clara Tewa)—Executive Director, Swift Foundation

Suzanne has worked in the higher education and the non-profit sector for 40 years. Committed to social justice, diversity, and equity, she predicates her work on transformational change. Currently serving as the executive director of the Swift Foundation she advocates for transformative practices in philanthropy that address issues of racism, equity, justice, and seeks to influence philanthropic practices in being more inclusive and in right relations with Indigenous Peoples. Formerly, Suzanne served as the Executive Director of Cultural Survival, an international Indigenous rights advocacy organization that advocates for Indigenous Peoples’ rights, self-determination, land, language, culture, and political resilience. Prior to that she held positions as a Special Assistant to the President for Diversity, Associate Vice President for Academic Affairs, and core Environmental Studies faculty member and department chair at Naropa University. Previously she held a long tenure at the Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education working with colleges and universities in the west, and with the American Indian Science and Engineering Society in k-12 and higher education programs.

Suzanne serves a co-chair of the University Board of Trustees at Naropa University and recently served as a co-chair of the International Funders for Indigenous Peoples. She was a cohort member of the Rothko Chapel’s Spirituality and Social Justice initiative to further understanding about the relationship between spirituality and social justice. Suzanne has been a consultant, advisor to higher education initiatives and philanthropic organizations, which have included among others the Association for American Colleges and Universities National Commitments Panel, Ford Foundations Higher Education and Diversity Initiative, and the James Irving Campus Diversity Initiative.

Deeply committed to social, environmental and climate justice, her passion and interests center on relationships and interconnectedness between land, spirituality, culture, and people as reflected in narratives and stories past and present. Mostly importantly she engages work that draws on hope now and for future generations to come. Suzanne lives in Santa Fe, New Mexico.

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Aleksondra Hultquist is an Associate Professor of Critical Thinking and First-Year Studies at Stockton University. Her teaching focus is in Critical Thinking, and a variety of General Studies courses, including Poetry & Mathematics, The Passions, and Adaptations. Her work focuses on the literature and culture of the long eighteenth-century, especially women writers and the passions. She has edited a special issue for Eighteenth Century: Theory and Interpretation called “Emotion in the Eighteenth Century” (2017), and co-edited (with Elizabeth Mathews) New Perspectives on Delarivier Manley and Eighteenth-Century Literature (Routledge, 2017) as well as A Spy on Eliza Haywood, co-edited with Chris Mounsey (Routledge 2022). She has published many articles, including “Amorous Constitutions: Bodies and the Affect of Amatory Seduction in Eliza Haywood’s Lasselia” in Restoration (2020) and "Passionate Educations: John Locke, Aphra Behn, and Jane Austen” in English Literature (2018). Her current projects include her manuscript The Amatory Mode: Amatory Fiction’s Passionate Legacy and editing vol. 6 (Love-Letters between a Nobleman and his Sister) of the Works of Aphra Behn by Cambridge University Press (2027). She is the president of The Aphra Behn Society and a founding editor of ABO: Interactive Journal for Women in the Arts, 1660-1830. She is an Honorary Researcher for the Australian Research Council’s Center of Excellence for the History of Emotion and was a Research Fellow at the Institute of Advanced Studies at Loughborough University in 2023.

I also like quilting, paddleboarding, and cooking. I love the beach—not a pina colada fan, though. Also, being an academic is my third career. And I can shuck clams, though I was better at it in college.

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Antonio Merlo, PhD, became Drexel University’s 16th president on July 1, 2025. An accomplished higher education leader, scholar and professor, Merlo joined Drexel after serving since 2019 as the Anne and Joel Ehrenkranz Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Science at New York University. In this role, Merlo worked meticulously and strategically to expand the limits of NYU Arts & Science, overseeing the completion of a new, innovative home for the college, NYU’s founding school; establishing new centers and an office of research; growing research and fundraising dollars; and hiring 120 tenure-line faculty.

Originally from Italy, Merlo, a first-generation college graduate, attended Bocconi University earning a Laurea summa cum laude in economics and social sciences. He received his doctorate in economics from NYU, where he earned the Dean’s Outstanding Dissertation Award.

Merlo’s areas of scholarly interest include political economy, policy analysis, public economics, bargaining theory and applications, and empirical microeconomics. His research interests include the economics of crime, voting, the career decisions of politicians, the formation and dissolution of coalition governments, the industrial organization of the political sector, household bargaining, and the study of the residential housing market. He has published numerous articles in the leading economics journals, including the American Economic Review, Econometrica, the Journal of Political Economy, and the Review of Economic Studies. In 2018, he authored an innovative political economy textbook for undergraduates, Political Economy and Policy Analysis (Routledge). His numerous awards and honors include being elected a Fellow of the Econometric Society; the Pareto Lecture in Economics and Social Sciences; being a Peden Senior Fellow at Trinity College, Cambridge; and the Christian R. and Mary F. Lindback Foundation Award for Distinguished Teaching. In addition, he has been the recipient of the Coach of the Year Award for the Collegiate Water Polo Association in 2013 (Men’s Mid-Atlantic Division), 2017 (Women’s Texas Division), and 2018 (Men’s Texas Division).

Merlo joins Drexel as the University embarks on Academic Transformation, a blueprint for reimagining the institution’s future through the integration of programs and schools, redesign of curriculum and transition to a semester calendar — offering an improved academic experience and value proposition for students. Since his presidential appointment, he has emphasized his commitment to the initiative and his strong belief that it is giving Drexel an advantage, especially when combined with the University’s long-established differentiators, including experiential education.

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Carin Silkaitis is Dean of the School of Arts and Sciences and a Professor of Humanities. Carin has also served UAS in a number of Interim positions, including Provost (AY25), Dean of Research & Sponsored Programs (AY25), Dean of Graduate Studies (AY25), and Dean of Career Education (AY24). Carin hails from Chicago, where she served the faculty and students at Columbia College Chicago as the Allen and Lynn Turner Chair of the Theatre Department, a Professor of Theatre, and a Faculty Fellow serving on the College's Antiracism Transformation Team. At Columbia, Carin managed a substantial budget and led a large faculty, overseeing a significant number of productions annually. Her leadership was instrumental in revamping recruitment strategies, and significantly enhancing student retention during the challenging times of the COVID-19 pandemic. Carin also served as Department Chair of both Art and Theatre at North Central College in Naperville, Illinois for 7 years, and served as a faculty member at this institution for a total of 17 years. While at North Central College, Carin tackled the roles of: Head of Acting, Theatre Program Coordinator, Title IX Investigator, and Lead Trainer/Educator for Green Dot - a bystander training technique that eradicates power-based personal violence. Carinʼs tenure at North Central College exemplified her capability to lead and innovate. She guided a complete overhaul of the theatre curriculum and led the department through significant growth and development (including major fundraising efforts). Carin's dedication to relationship building and community partnerships is evident in her active involvement in numerous boards and councils, including the Juneau Arts and Humanities Council where she served as President. Her commitment to antiracism and inclusivity is further exemplified in her work with the Chancellor’s Advisory Committee on Belonging, Empowerment, Access, Representation & Safety (BEARS) at UAS. A proven leader, Carin's strategic vision, combined with her extensive experience in academia and the arts, makes her an ideal leader during this time of nearly constant change in the academy. Carin's commitment to enhancing the academic landscape through innovative and inclusive practices promises to contribute significantly to the necessary conversations happening in her community and around our nation.

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Dr. Evan Faulkenbury is the University Historian for the University of South Carolina. He holds a Ph.D. in History from UNC Chapel Hill, and before joining USC in 2024, he taught U.S. and public history for eight years at SUNY Cortland. As the University Historian, Dr. Faulkenbury records oral history interviews with people who shaped USC, co-produces the podcast Remembering the Days, leads historical tours of campus, teaches the occasional history class, and collaborates with various departments and offices around campus. He is working on two books about USC’s history—one is a general history of Carolina, and the other is a close look at the 1998-1999 Gamecock football seasons.

Marcella David is a higher education leader, most recently serving as Senior Vice President and Provost at Columbia College Chicago, a liberal arts college with a creative arts focus. Prior to that, she served as Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs at Florida A&M University (FAMU), and in various collegiate and university leadership roles at The University of Iowa, including as its chief diversity officer from 2004-2009. As an academic administrator, David has focused on providing students with meaningful access that not only encourages students from different backgrounds to attend college, but provides support that promotes success. Other key priorities she holds include building a vibrant campus community and supporting the development and vitality of the faculty and staff to promote curiosity, inquiry and educational excellence for all.

David holds a B.S. in Computer and Systems Engineering from RPI (1986) and a J.D. from The University of Michigan Law School (1989), and was a Ford Foundation Fellow in International Law at Harvard Law School (1991). She served as a professor of law at The University of Iowa College of Law (1995-2014) and FAMU (2015-2018), and her visiting appointments include The University of Chicago Law School, University of Pennsylvania Law School, and Florida State University College of Law.