William G. Tierney is University Professor, Wilbur-Kieffer Professor of Higher Education and Director of the Center for Higher Education Policy Analysis at the University of Southern California. His research focuses on increasing access to higher education, improving the performance of postsecondary institutions, and analyzing the quality of for-profit institutions. His Center is currently involved with USC’s Electronic Arts Game Lab in creating an interactive web-enhanced game for teenagers that will enable them to develop successful strategies for applying to college. His most recent books are Urban High School Students and the Challenge of Access and For-profit Colleges and Universities: Their Markets, Regulation, Performance and Place in Higher Education (w/ G. Hentschke and V. Lechuga). He recently chaired a panel for the U.S. Department of Education and the What Works Clearinghouse that resulted in the monograph: Helping Students Navigate the Path to College: What Schools Can Do. He is currently involved in a life history project of low-income first generation high school students en route to college.

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