Dr. John N. Gardner is an educator, university professor and administrator, non-profit organization chief executive officer, author, editor, public speaker, consultant, change agent, student retention specialist, first-year, sophomore, transfer, and senior year students’ advocate, and initiator and scholar of the American first-year and senior-year reform movements. He serves as Chair and Chief Executive Officer of the Gardner Institute. The Institute was founded by John and his wife, Betsy O. Barefoot, in October 1999 as the Policy Center on the First Year of College. The Policy Center was launched by an initial grant from The Pew Charitable Trusts, and has been subsequently funded by additional grants from Pew, The Atlantic Philanthropies, Lumina Foundation for Education, the Winthrop Rockefeller Foundation, and USA Funds.

In 2007 the Policy Center underwent a legal and name change to the John N. Gardner Institute for Excellence in Undergraduate Education and an expansion of its mission to focus more broadly on excellence in undergraduate education, as a fully autonomous 501(c)(3) non-profit entity. Since its inception in 1999, the Institute has received over $8,000,000 in support from its philanthropic partners, most recently again from Lumina Foundation, and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and the Kresge Foundation.

For more see https://www.jngi.org/full-bio-gardner

Material presented can be found at Workshop Material