Valerie Lundy-Wagner is associate director of the PPIC Higher Education Center and a research fellow at the Public Policy Institute of California. Her research focuses on multiple dimensions of higher education, including postsecondary access and college and career pathways in regional or systemwide contexts; her most recent focus has been on categorical program funding formulas and allocations in the California Community College system. Before joining PPIC, she oversaw the California Community College system’s research team as well as its IT operations and Education Technology portfolio. Previously, she led applied policy research at New York University, the Community College Research Center, Jobs for the Future, and California Competes. She holds a PhD in higher education administration from the University of Pennsylvania, an MA in education from Stanford University, and a BS in civil and environmental engineering from the University of California, Los Angeles.

Olga Rodriguez is director of the PPIC Higher Education Center and a senior fellow at the Public Policy Institute of California, where she holds the Thomas and Marilyn Sutton Chair in Higher Education Policy. As center director, she works with a team of researchers to identify programs and policies to help make the state’s higher education system more successful, equitable, and sustainable. Her own research focuses on college access and success among underserved students. Her recent work has examined statewide reforms to developmental education, English as a second language, dual enrollment, and assessment and placement systems in California’s community colleges. Before joining PPIC, she was a postdoctoral research associate at the Community College Research Center at Teachers College, Columbia University. She holds a BA in economics/mathematics and Spanish from the University of California, Santa Barbara, and an MA and PhD in economics and education from Columbia University.