What Excellent Community Colleges Do

Joshua S. Wyner is the founder and executive director of the Aspen Institute College Excellence Program, which aims to strengthen practice, policy, and leadership to substantially improve college student success. Among the initiatives Wyner established are the Aspen Prize for Community College Excellence, which recognizes schools that achieve outstanding student outcomes, and the New College Leadership Project, which seeks to align the recruitment, hiring, and professional development of college presidents with student success goals.

Before starting the Aspen program in 2011, Wyner spent the previous sixteen years working to improve educational outcomes and urban policy as a leader of nonprofit organizations, including the Jack Kent Cooke Foundation and DC Appleseed. He spent his early career as an organizer and policy analyst with Citizen Action, as a program evaluator at the U.S. Government Accountability Office, and as an environmental attorney. He lives with his wife and sons in Washington, DC.