New America’s Amy Laitinen on Higher Ed Advocacy, Policy, and the Most Important Constituent

Our guest today is passionate about education. That, of course, could be said of any of us working in institutions across the country. Amy Laitinen doesn’t exercise her passion for education in the classroom, however. She fights for quality and transparency in Washington as director for higher education at New America.

Today on the show, Amy joins us to share her perspective on policy in higher ed, and the role of policy in fostering innovation and quality. There’s a gap, to be sure, and today we’ll discuss the complex competing factors that impact our ability to close it in our administrative conversations.

**About Amy Laitinen**

Amy Laitinen serves as director for higher education at [New America](http://www.newamerica.org/). She’s served as a policy advisor on higher education at both the U.S. Department of Education and the White House. She was named by the Chronicle of Higher Education as one top ten innovators of 2013 for her work on federal policy and competency-based education. Today, her efforts are focused on crafting federal policies to increase quality and transparency in higher education.

**Links & Notes**

- [Shifts in Higher Education](https://teibelinc.squarespace.com/s/Shifts-In-HE-1.pdf)