Robert J. Sternberg is professor of Human Development at Cornell University. Previously he has been president of the University of Wyoming, provost and senior vice president of Oklahoma State University, and dean of Arts and Sciences at Tufts University. Before that, he was IBM Professor of Psychology and Education and professor of Management at Yale University. Sternberg is a former president of the American Psychological Association, Eastern Psychological Association, and Federation of Associations in Behavioral and Brain Sciences. He also was treasurer for the Association of American Colleges and Universities.
Elizabeth Davis has served as president of Furman University since July 1, 2014. She previously served as executive vice president and provost at Baylor University where she also served as interim provost, vice provost for academic and administrative affairs, associate dean for undergraduate business programs and acting chair of the Department of Accounting and Business Law. She holds the PhD from Duke University, and her research interests focus on judgment and decision making within business and accounting contexts.
April C. Mason, PhD, is provost and senior vice president of Kansas State University. Dr. Mason also holds the position of full professor in the Department of Human Nutrition at Kansas State University. Dr. Mason has previously held the position of dean, College of Applied Human Sciences at Colorado State University, and associate dean of Engagement and Discovery for the College of Consumer and Family Sciences at Purdue University. Her research involves determination of trace mineral availability from plant foods important as staple food products throughout the world. Dr. Mason has been involved in raising awareness of food insecurity in the United States and the world through research, public education, and student activities throughout her career.
Robert V. Smith is vice president of Collaborative Brain Trust University Consulting (CBT UC). Before joining CBT, he held academic administrative posts at Texas Tech University, the universities of Arkansas and Connecticut, and Washington State University. Smith is the author or coauthor of more than 330 articles and eight books, including Where You Stand is Where You Sit: An Academic Administrator’s Handbook and The Way of Oz: A Guide to Wisdom, Heart & Courage. He holds master’s and PhD degrees (pharmaceutical chemistry) from the University of Michigan, and a BS (pharmaceutical sciences), cum laude, from St. John’s University (New York).
Jeffrey Scott Vitter is provost and executive vice chancellor and Roy A. Roberts Distinguished Professor at the University of Kansas. He co-led KU’s strategic planning and has overseen the first-ever university-wide KU Core curriculum, expansion in engineering and business, multidisciplinary research initiatives, major growth of technology commercialization and corporate partnerships, and administrative efficiency. He received a BS with highest honors in mathematics in 1977 from the University of Notre Dame; a PhD in computer science in 1980 from Stanford University; and an MBA in 2002 from Duke University. He has over three hundred publications, primarily dealing with algorithmic aspects of big data, and is a fellow of the Guggenheim Society, AAAS, ACM, and IEEE.
Michele Wheatly received her BSc (hons) and PhD from Birmingham University in the UK and undertook postdoctoral training at the University of Calgary, Canada. She ascended the faculty ranks at the University of Florida (1984–1994). She served as chair of Biological Sciences (1994–2002) and then as dean of science and mathematics (2002–2009) at Wright State University. Recently she served as provost and vice president for academic affairs at West Virginia University (2009–2014). Dr. Wheatly is an internationally recognized STEM scholar/educator (more than one hundred refereed articles, two hundred conference proceedings, $25 million in career federal funding), working on temporal and spatial regulation of genes coding for calcium-transporting proteins. Recently, her scholarship has focused on opening the STEM pipeline at all levels (P–20) and more broadly on leadership in higher education.