Gordon Davies served as the Director of the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia from 1977 until 1997, and as President of the Kentucky Council on Postsecondary Education from 1998 until 2002. He has taught at Yale University, Richard Stockton State College, and the Teachers College of Columbia University. He was a founding dean of Richard Stockton State College in New Jersey. Born in New York City, he is a Navy veteran and worked for several years in computer sales for the IBM Corporation. His earned degrees are from Yale University in English (BA) and the Philosophy of Religion (MA, PhD).

He currently serves as a senior adviser to a Lumina Foundation project, Making Opportunities Affordable, and to the Miller Center of Public Affairs at the University of Virginia. From 2002 through 2006, he directed a project to improve state higher education policy making. Funding for the project was provided by The Pew Charitable Trusts. In 2007, he served on a panel appointed by Virginia Governor Tim Kaine to investigate shootings at Virginia Tech that left 33 people dead and 17 wounded on April 16, 2007.

Blog Entries by Gordon Davies

Higher Education Should Maximize Service, Not Status

Posted June 10, 2009 | 11:32 AM (EST)


We're at the end of another academic year. Lots of commencement speakers are giving graduates advice (ho-hum) in this difficult time. But it's the institutions themselves who need advice: Wake up! The place of higher education in the social fabric has changed, and so have your responsibilities.

Here's the new...

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Higher Education Can't Be a Discretionary Expenditure

1 Comments | Posted April 28, 2009 | 01:12 PM (EST)


The fiscal crisis changes things for everyone in the U.S. - including higher education, which is my area of work. I've seen it firsthand. For the past few months, I've been working with education leaders in 11 states on a project called, Making Opportunity Affordable, funded by the Lumina...

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