Staff
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Anne D. Neal, President
One of the founders of ACTA in 1995, Ms. Neal became president in 2003. She has authored or co-authored numerous ACTA studies, contributed a chapter to the book Reforming the Politically Correct University (AEI Press, 2009), and convened a number of higher education conferences under the auspices of the Philanthropy Roundtable. She regularly gives lectures and expert testimony, with past venues including the U.S. Senate, the University of Montana, the American Enterprise Institute, the University ofNotre Dame, the Foreign Policy Association, the Association of American Colleges and Universities, Montana State University, the Council for Higher Education Accreditation, the National Association of Scholars, and the U.S. Secretary of Education’s Commission on the Future of Higher Education.Before joining ACTA, she served as a First Amendment and communications lawyer with a number of firms, as General Counsel of the Office of Administration in the Executive Office of the President, as General Counsel and Congressional Liaison of the National Endowment for the Humanities, and as editor of the American Bar Association newsletter Communications Lawyer. She graduated Phi Beta Kappa and magna cum laude from Harvard College with an A.B. in American history and literature and received her J.D. from Harvard Law School, where she served as the first woman editor of the Harvard Journal on Legislation. She serves on the boards of many cultural and civic organizations, including the All Hallows Guild, Washington National Cathedral, the Washington Founders’ Committee for Historic Mount Vernon, the Alexander Hamilton Institute for the Study of Western Civilization, and the U.S. Capitol Historical Society.
Lauri Kempson, Vice President
Ms. Kempson joined ACTA in 2000 and oversees all administrative aspects of its day-to-day operations. Prior to joining ACTA, she owned a desktop publishing company in Los Angeles. In addition, she served on the governing boards of Ivanhoe Elementary School and All Children Great and Small, as well as worked with local government and community organizations on issues of neighborhood safety and outreach. She has also written technical manuals for Merrill Lynch in New York City. She has a B.F.A. in Theatre with a concentration in English from Stephens College.
Michael B. Poliakoff, Policy Director
Dr. Poliakoff became part of the ACTA team in March 2010. He oversees ACTA’s programming and publications and works directly with our constituents on behalf of higher education reform. He previously served as vice president for academic affairs and research at the University of Colorado and in senior roles at the National Endowment for the Humanities, the National Council on Teacher Quality, the American Academy for Liberal Education, and the Pennsylvania Department of Education.
| He has taught at Georgetown University, George Washington University, Hillsdale College, the University ofIllinois at Chicago, and Wellesley College. He received his B.A. magna cum laude from Yale University and went on to study at Oxford University, as a Rhodes Scholar, and the University of Michigan, where he earned a Ph.D. in classical studies. He has been a junior fellow at the Center for Hellenic Studies, and his research has been supported by the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Deutscher Akademischer Austausch Dienst, and the Alexander Von Humboldt Siftung. He is the author of numerous books and journal articles in classical studies and education policy and has received the American Philological Association’s Excellence in Teaching Award and the Pennsylvania Department of Education’s Distinguished Service to Education Award. |
Erin O'Connor, Research Fellow
Erin O'Connor writes, researches, and blogs for ACTA. She received her B.A. in English from the University of California, Berkeley, and earned her Ph.D. in English language and literature at the University of Michigan. She has taught English at the University of Michigan and the University of Pennsylvania. Currently a director of communications at the Moving Picture Institute, she has been writing about higher education issues since launching her weblog, Critical Mass, in 2002.
Maurice Black, Research Fellow
Maurice Black contributes writing and research to ACTA. He received his B.A. in English and economics from the National University of Ireland, Maynooth, and his Ph.D. in English from the University of Pennsylvania. He taught English at Penn, and taught literature, philosophy, and creative writing electives at a private school in Massachusetts. A director of communications at the Moving Picture Institute, he has worked with the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education and other nonprofit educational foundations.