President’s Speaker Oct. 5: Delta Project’s Jane Wellman
September 27, 2011 •
Jane Wellman, a Berkeley alumna and former UCOP employee who is now executive director of the Delta Project on Postsecondary Education Costs, Productivity and Accountability, will appear at UCOP on Wednesday, Oct. 5, 12 to 1 p.m., in the Franklin Lobby One Conference Room.
As part of the President’s Speaker Series, inaugurated earlier this month, Wellman will speak informally about her work with the Delta Project and the ongoing challenges of maintaining UC’s public mission and academic quality in the face of the state’s budget problems.
The Delta Project is an independent non-profit research and policy organization located in Washington, D.C., founded by Wellman in 2007. Its mission is to make college more affordable by controlling costs — without sacrificing access or educational quality — through better use of data to inform strategic decision-making.
The organization’s most recent report, Trends in College Spending 1999-2009: Where Does the Money Come From? Where Does It Go? What Does It Buy? examines college spending and revenue trends nationwide in the years leading up to and into the current recession. Using the most recent data available, the report identifies several ongoing and new patterns in how institutions get and spend their money.
Wellman has more than 30 years of experience in higher education policy in the United States, at both state and federal levels, working with public, non-profit and for-profit institutions. Her particular expertise is in state fiscal policy, cost analysis, strategic planning, state and federal regulation of higher education, accountability metrics and performance reporting, and quality control including accreditation.
She is also executive director of the National Association of System Heads and on the Board of Directors for the Association of American Colleges and Universities. In addition to research and writing, she consults with national and international organizations including the National Center for Public Policy and Higher Education, the State Higher Education Executive Officers, the Association of Governing Boards, the American Council on Education, the National Governors Association, the U.S. Secretary of Education and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.
Wellman began her career in higher education finance at UCOP and received her B.A. and M.A. degrees from UC Berkeley.
