Margarita Benítez, Senior Associate, Excelencia in Education

Margarita Benítez's lifelong involvement with higher education began at the University of Puerto Rico (UPR). At UPR, she was a professor of Humanities, as well as President of UPR's Cayey Campus (1985-1994), and Acting President of the Humacao Campus (1989-1990). She held various senior positions at the Office of Postsecondary Education in the U.S. Dept. of Education from 1998 to 2003.

In recent years, Margarita Benítez has worked closely with the Institute for Higher Education Policy and the National Articulation and Transfer Network, as well as with Excelencia in Education, an organization focused on research and policy around Latino student success in higher education.

Dr. Benítez holds degrees from Vassar College (B.A.), Middlebury College (M.A.) and Columbia University (Ph.D).

C. Peter Magrath, Interim President, Binghamton University-SUNY

Dr. C. Peter Magrath is a graduate of the University of New Hampshire with a bachelor's degree in political science, and from Cornell University with a Ph.D. in political science.

Magrath's extensive higher education administration experience includes serving as president of Binghamton University from 1972-1974, and as president of the four-campus University of Minnesota for 10 years. Magrath also served as president of the University of Missouri System from 1985-1992, before assuming the presidency of the National Association of State Universities and Land-grant Colleges (NASULGC), now the Association of Public and Land-grant Universities (APLU).

APLU established the C. Peter Magrath Community Engagement Award in his honor, funded by the Kellogg Foundation, to recognize the outreach and engagement partnership efforts of four-year public universities.

Robert Rydell, Professor of History and Director, Humanities Institute, MSU

Robert Rydell has recently been named Michael P. Malone Professor of History. He is also the director of the MSU Humanities Institute. He is beginning his 30th year of teaching at MSU and teaches classes in History, American Studies and Museum Studies. In addition to co-authoring In the People's Interest with Jeff Safford and Pierce Mullen, he is the author of many books and articles about world's fairs. He is guest curator for Designing Tomorrow: America's World's Fairs of the Great Depression, an exhibition opening this fall at the National Building Museum in Washington, D.C.

Rydell earned a B.A. in history and political science at UC Berkeley, and a M.A. and Ph.D. in history at UCLA.