ACTA President Anne D. Neal announced today the hiring of Andrew Gillen as Senior Researcher

WASHINGTON, DC—American Council of Trustees and Alumni President Anne D. Neal announced today the hiring of Andrew Gillen as Senior Researcher.

“We’re excited that Andrew will join us at ACTA,” said Neal. “Dr. Gillen’s expertise in the economics of higher education positions him nicely to advance ACTA’s growing focus on higher education affordability and accountability.” At ACTA, Gillen will spearhead efforts to rethink and reform accreditation, along with former U.S. Senator and president of the University of Colorado system, Hank Brown. He will be undertaking major writing and economic research projects focusing on accreditation, federal financial aid, the rising costs of college, productivity of staff and faculty, graduation rates, and new strategies for higher education cost-effectiveness.

Andrew comes to ACTA from the Center for College Affordability and Productivity where he was Research Director. CCAP director and ACTA friend Richard Vedder has credited Andrew with identifying “what is a commonplace expression: the higher education bubble.”

Gillen received a BBA from Ohio University and a Ph.D. in economics from Florida State University. He is the author of numerous papers and publications including: “The Inmates Running the Asylum? An Analysis of Higher Education Accreditation”; “Introducing Bennett Hypothesis 2.0”; “Smarter Spending: Reforming Federal Financial Aid for Higher Education”; and “A Tuition Bubble? Lessons from the Housing Bubble.”

“Andrew joins ACTA at a time of great importance in higher education when many are questioning both quality and cost,” said Vice President of Policy Michael Poliakoff. “His expertise in higher education finance will be a valuable asset as ACTA continues to support trustees in their fiduciary role of keeping their institutions accountable for academic excellence and cost-effectiveness.”