DR. CARRIE B. KISKER is an education research and policy consultant based in Los Angeles, California. She applies a broad-based understanding of critical higher education issues to generate strategic policy and practical solutions. Dr. Kisker’s work centers on community college policy and program development, policy research, and grant-funded projects aimed at improving community college transfer, governance, funding, strategic planning, collaboration, and student success.

Dr. Kisker is also a director of the Center for the Study of Community Colleges, a non-profit research and policy center based in Southern California. The Center’s mission is to improve community college effectiveness and student success by engaging in relevant and applicable research related to community college practice and policy                       (www.centerforcommunitycolleges.org).

Prior to founding Kisker Education Consulting, Dr. Kisker was the managing editor of New Directions for Community Colleges, a quarterly journal focused on community college research and practice. She has taught graduate and undergraduate courses on the history of higher education and on citizenship, leadership, and service, and has edited several books and articles on community colleges. She is co-author, with Arthur M. Cohen, of The Shaping of American Higher Education: Emergence and Growth of the Contemporary System (Jossey-Bass, 2nd ed., 2010).

Dr. Kisker holds a B.A. in psychology and education from Dartmouth College, and an M.A. and Ph.D. in higher education from the University of California, Los Angeles. She lives in Santa Monica with her husband, Sean, and daughter Meredith.

Her Curriculum Vitae may be accessed here.