LINDA DAGRADI

Currently, I serve as the Senior Enrollment Consultant with Higher Ed Strategies LLC. Prior to my current position I served as the American International College Vice President for Enrollment Management. I have been a FA Services director and/or associate VP at four independent colleges, Elms College, Springfield College (MA), Smith College and American International College. I also worked as a regional educational manager for the College Board. I have many years working in and around public education, as a high school guidance director, training consultant, teacher, alternative school counselor, PTO president, school centered decision-making team member and school volunteer. I have been teaching for UCLA Extension since 2006.

Along my professional path, I have been involved in structuring and delivering many professional development programs related to enrollment management, financial aid and presentation skills. Professionally active, I have served as a College Board trustee, chair of the College Board's Financial Aid Standards and Services Advisory Committee and in various regional leadership capacities including stints on the advisory boards of the MA Office of Student Financial Assistance and the MA Educational Financing Authority. Previously, I served in the MA School Counselors Association as chair of the program planning conference committee.

My educational background includes degrees in history, counseling and educational research. My doctoral work focused on educational research with particular attention to organizational change.

I live in beautiful western Massachusetts with my husband Ritch and our dog CC. Our daughter graduated from Quinnipiac University.

My personal interests include teaching and playing Tai Chi, walking, listening to music, following sports (Go Red Sox! Go Patriots! Go Celtics! Go Bruins!), reading and cooking. I am committed to the ideals of equity and access to higher education. That sounds lofty but, as a nation, we face some serious challenges to access based on rising costs, increasingly needy students, and public policy that does not adequately prioritize funding for higher education.