Louis Soares - Higher Education Today

Louis Soares serves as ACE’s chief learning and innovation officer. In this role, he incubates and scales ACE’s executive leadership networks, as well as catalyzes research and innovation initiatives across the Council. Working with colleagues, Soares integrates the work of ACE’s leadership, research, and innovation teams to develop programs and services to advance the success of senior leaders, diversify the executive talent pipeline, and facilitate partnerships to enhance institutional performance.

With more than 20 years of experience in postsecondary education policy and practice, Soares is an accomplished policy analyst and thought leader on emerging trends in higher education. While at ACE he published two landmark papers, “Post-Traditional Learners and the Transformation of Higher Education” and “Evolving Higher Education Business Models,” that advanced the public dialogue on adult student needs and the acceptance of innovative education delivery models.

Soares has developed and successfully implemented innovative education/training programs for and, in collaboration with, college, university and employer partners for frontline workers, business executives and higher education administrators. These innovative projects garnered support from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Lumina Foundation, Russell Sage Foundation, TIAA Institute, ACT, Verizon Foundation, Fleet Bank, CVS, Bank of America, U.S. Department of Education, and U.S. Department of Labor. He also was appointed by Secretary of Education Arne Duncan to serve on the National Board of the Fund for the Improvement of Postsecondary Education in 2011-14.

Soares holds a master’s in public administration from Harvard University (MA) and a bachelor’s in business economics from Brown University (RI).

@LouisSoares

Posts

Mental Health and Post-traditional Learners

Post-traditional learners are often expected to adjust their own lives and schedules to campus life and services, including in the area of mental health. But it is equally important that campus services and culture are adjusted to better serve this growing group of students and their unique needs.

Transforming Professional Learning and Building a New Higher Education Community

ACE believes that the power to sustain and renew American higher education lies in the creativity, commitment, and expertise of the thousands of leaders that work every day to educate students on the nation’s college campuses. Philip Rogers and Louis Soares discuss the Council’s efforts to develop affordable, scalable, professional learning opportunities to make institutions and leaders more effective.

The Hard Work of Innovative Presidents and Teams

A group of 15 current and former higher education leaders met recently to discuss ACE’s American College President Study. Their conclusion: Innovative leadership is more about responding effectively to challenges than it is about predicting the future or having the newest idea.

“Learning by Doing” Through Apprenticeships and Flexible Completion Pathways

A competitive workforce and an innovative economy have always depended on a mix of formal postsecondary education and “learning by doing” in the workplace. What does that mix look like in 2018?

Fulfilling Lifelong Dreams: College Promise Programs for Adult Learners

Louis Soares and Morgan Taylor present a case for expanding Promise Programs—which help students complete their degree—to the adult student population.

Serving Post-traditional Learners

What do we know about post-traditional learners, and how can we better help them earn the higher education credentials they need to succeed? Jonathan Gagliardi and Louis Soares on the results of a new ACE report, The Post-traditional Learners Manifesto Revisited.

How to Navigate the Credentialing Maze

The stunning increase in the number and variety of credentials available in this country—college degrees, educational certificates, industry credentials, licensures, and most recently micro-credentials, such as digital badges—seems like a positive thing. However, the complex and fragmented nature of the credentialing marketplace is having the opposite effect—mass confusion.

Now What? Some Insights From OECD’s Adult Skills Survey

We’re not learning only in the classroom anymore—and maybe we never were. A new Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development report shows that throughout the world, the workplace is a critical learning environment. The question is, what does that mean for educational policy and adult learners?