Senior Associate Diane Suitt Gilleland

Washington, D.C., Jan. 12,1998—The Institute for Higher Education Policy is pleased to announce that Diane Suitt Gilleland will join the organization as Senior Associate, effective January 15. In her capacity as Senior Associate, Ms. Gilleland will provide analytic and project management expertise on issues concerning statewide governance and financing of higher education, student preparation, access and equity, and international trends in higher education financing and policy development.

Ms. Gilleland’s distinguished career in higher education includes more than a decade of service at the Arkansas Department of Higher Education. As Director of the Department and chief higher education officer for the State of Arkansas from 1990 to 1997, she oversaw the state’s $1.2 billion system of higher education, which enrolls more than 90,000 students in 32 public four- and two-year institutions. Ms. Gilleland’s many accomplishments include the establishment of the first statewide strategic plan for Arkansas higher education, the design of one of the nation’s first performance-based funding policies for the allocation of state funds, the implementation of an innovative academic cost accounting system, and the development of statewide educational reforms that have led to a reduction in remedial education rates.

In her previous work in higher education, Ms. Gilleland served as Associate Director for Finance for the Arkansas Department of Higher Education, and held leadership positions at the University of Arkansas at Monticello and Southern Illinois University, Carbondale. She recently completed a one-year assignment as Senior Fellow at the American Council on Education, and currently serves as a member of the Board of Directors of SLM Holding Corporation (Sallie Mae) and the Commission for Educational Quality of the Southern Region Education Board.