Lifting Lives and Livelihoods - At Scale
I have focused my career on transforming lives and livelihoods through higher education.
During the past year I have considered how to take my personal mission to scale—how to impact the higher education sector, not just a single university.
I am excited to share that I have accepted a role at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to do just that. Our team will focus on how higher ed can produce more degrees, for more people and with more equity for ALL students.
Specifically, I will manage a process for the Foundation to identify strategic opportunities and challenges for the U.S. higher education sector. I will work with rapidly growing institutions with national/global footprints to increase opportunity and equity for first-generation students, students of color and low-income students.
I also will recommend how the Foundation can support and encourage colleges and universities as they transform their practices to achieve more equitable student success.
My passion—combined with the scale, innovation and impact of the Gates Foundation—makes this the perfect opportunity at the perfect time.
I look forward to continuing the work of transforming higher education to provide more equitable opportunities for students.
Dale Whittaker is a Senior Program Officer in Postsecondary Success at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. A former executive at several of the nation’s largest and fastest-growing public research universities, he now works with other rapidly growing institutions with national and global footprints to help them innovate at scale to provide more degrees for more people with greater equity.
