Lynn Pasquerella, Ph.D.

Coalition for the Common Good

Lynn Pasquerella, Ph.D., is one of the country’s most prominent public voices and forceful advocates for the value of liberal education, the importance of access to resources and pathways, and the need for career training for jobs and citizen education for justice.

Pasquerella has served as president of the American Association of Colleges and Universities (AAC&U) since 2016. Her most recent book, What We Value: Public Health, Social Justice, and Educating for Democracy, examines urgent issues — moral distress, access to resources, and the conflict over whose voices and lives are privileged — and argues that liberal education is the best preparation for work, citizenship, and life. Pasquerella’s areas of expertise focus on civic engagement, access, accreditation, strategic planning, and advocacy for equity and inclusion in higher education.

Prior to joining AAC&U, Pasquerella served as the 18th president of Mount Holyoke College and held positions as provost at the University of Hartford and vice provost for academic affairs and dean of the graduate school at the University of Rhode Island, where she taught for more than two decades. She is the host of Northeast Public Radio’s The Academic Minute, a radio segment and podcast featuring a different university-based researcher each day. She also serves as a member of the Editorial Advisory Board for Public Philosophy Journal.

Pasquerella has won many awards and was named one of America’s top 353 women leaders in Diverse: Issues in Higher Education. She earned her doctorate degree in philosophy from Brown University in 1985.