SHEEO welcomes McGuire and Castrejón as State Policy Interns

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The State Higher Education Executive Officers Association (SHEEO) is pleased to welcome Adalberto “Beto” Castrejón and Lauren McGuire as State Policy Interns this summer.

Over the next few months, Beto will support SHEEO’s Examining Funding Models for Unintentional Disparities project, including synthesizing curated equitable funding research for state policymakers and highlighting actionable steps SHEEO agencies can take toward analyzing existing higher education funding structures. Lauren will support SHEEO’s Strong Foundations project, where she will analyze the 2025 survey results and share the findings through reports and dashboard developments. Lauren will also support the rural focus of this project by conducting focus groups and analyzing the findings to share with research and data professionals at SHEEO agencies. 

Lauren is a doctoral candidate at North Carolina State University studying educational leadership, policy, and human development. Her research interests include labor organizing in higher education, state policy diffusion and collaboration, civic education, and college access.

Lauren earned her bachelor’s degree in urban and regional planning from Michigan State University, where she learned the value of research-practice partnerships. She also holds a Master of Public Policy from Vanderbilt University’s Peabody College of Education and Human Development. While at Vanderbilt, she leveraged her data analysis skills to improve academic affairs policies and procedures, in addition to gaining valuable research administration experience.

Beto is currently a doctoral student in the educational policy studies program at UW-Madison, where he is also an Interdisciplinary Training Program in Education Sciences (ITP) Fellow and Education Graduate Research Scholar (Ed-GRS) in the School of Education. He holds a B.A. in business marketing from the University of Northern Iowa and an M.A. in Higher Education and Student Affairs, along with a graduate certificate in Institutional Research and Effectiveness from the University of Iowa.

Beto seeks to promote equity in college preparation, access, and success using quantitative research methods to evaluate policies and programs aimed at enhancing equitable outcomes for historically underserved communities. His research interests have been formed from his identity as a first-generation Mexican American, his professional work in college admissions, and in supporting college student success.

Learn more about the SHEEO team at https://sheeo.org/about/sheeo-staff/.

SHEEO seeks Associate Vice President to strengthen workforce connection

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About the position:

SHEEO is looking for an Associate Vice President to lead policy analysis, research, and project management on initiatives that strengthen the connection between higher education, workforce needs, and state economic development. Your work will focus on key higher education policy areas, including postsecondary attainment, student success, and workforce development, ensuring that state postsecondary agencies are responsive to labor market demands and contribute to state economic vitality. This position will report to the Senior Vice President and Chief of Staff. The Associate Vice President will collaborate with state agencies, policymakers, and institutional leaders to develop strategies that align education pathways with workforce opportunities, improve student career outcomes, and support state economic development objectives. Key responsibilities include managing projects that advance workforce-aligned higher education policies, conducting research and policy analysis on postsecondary education and labor market trends, developing publications, presentations, and learning experiences to inform stakeholders, collaborating with partners and funders, contributing to annual conference planning, and providing support to our members across the country.  

The successful candidate will have expertise in higher education policy, workforce development, and economic strategy. This role offers an opportunity to contribute to the development of successful education-to-career pathways and strengthen state-level policy responses to workforce needs.    

Primary Duties and Responsibilities:

  • Provide project, grants management, administrative, and logistical support to keep projects on track and ensure deadlines are met.
  • Conduct policy analysis and research on higher education and workforce alignment.
  • Produce reports, papers, and presentations to disseminate analysis and research to key stakeholders. 
  • Represent SHEEO at, and assist in planning and conducting, state, regional, and national meetings.
  • Provide thought leadership and subject matter expertise on the intersections between state and federal higher education, labor, and commerce policies.
  • Build and maintain collaborative relationships with SHEEO member agencies and partner organizations. 
  • Develop new opportunities for funded projects and build and maintain relationships with funders.
  • Respond to information requests from SHEEO members. 
  • Develop and maintain knowledge regarding current activities and future trends in public higher education.

Qualifications, Skills, and Experiences

We’re looking for a combination of the following qualifications, skills, and experiences:

  • A master’s degree in higher education, public policy, economics, workforce development, or a related field.
  • At least seven years of experience in a role with expanding responsibilities in a similar field. 
  • Leadership experience in a policy organization, government agency, higher education system, or nonprofit organization.
  • Experience developing and implementing statewide or national policies related to higher education and workforce alignment.
  • Experience collaborating with state agencies, policymakers, and business leaders. 
  • Demonstrated ability or potential to obtain outside funding for special projects.
  • Knowledge of or experience with SHEEO agencies.
  • Knowledge of or experience with partner agencies, organizations, and foundations.  
  • A passion for advancing educational and economic opportunity.

Travel: 

With offices in two locations and members across the country, the Associate Vice President will be required to participate in periodic overnight, out-of-state travel.

Salary and Benefits: 

Salary will be commensurate with the successful candidate’s level of education and experience, with a potential range of $100,00-$120,000. SHEEO is committed to supporting our staff’s physical, emotional, and financial well-being and, therefore, offers a comprehensive benefits package for you and eligible dependents. The benefits include a 10% contribution to employees’ retirement plans, 22 days of annual vacation, and 11 paid holidays in addition to the workdays between December 25 and January 1, and subsidized (i.e., 85% paid) health premiums. SHEEO also offers support for employee cost of attendance at professional meetings and for short-term courses related to an employee’s work responsibilities.  

Application Process:

The application deadline for this position has passed.

SHEEO seeks State Policy Summer Interns

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About the Position

The State Higher Education Executive Officers Association (SHEEO) seeks candidates for two paid internships for the summer of 2025. The ideal candidate will be a motivated, active learner interested in higher education policy, state governance, and policy analysis. This internship is appropriate for students pursuing graduate study or a career in higher education, public policy, public administration, and related fields. 

Interns will provide support on a variety of projects depending on the intern’s skills and interests and SHEEO’s needs. Your work will center on policy areas that may include college attainment, student success, data systems, workforce development, or higher education finance. Interns will work closely with the internship coordinator and their supervisors to develop and work toward achieving professional goals while working alongside a talented SHEEO team and their projects. 

This year, interns will be primarily working on one of the following SHEEO projects: A) Strong Foundations or B) Equity and Adequacy Funding Research. Interns will have the opportunity to work on other projects as workload permits. 

Examples of Duties and Responsibilities:

  • Create and maintain state policy and news inventories. 
  • Curate unique data sources for analysis. 
  • Perform data analysis and discover trends to support publications. 
  • Assist with active survey administration. 
  • Generate and review website content. 
  • Contribute to meeting agenda planning. 
  • Design and build data visualizations. 
  • Draft various publications (e.g., blog posts, social media content, reports). 
  • Complete an independent research project using SHEEO resources. 
  • Attend and assist SHEEO staff with our annual Higher Education Policy Conference. 

Qualifications and Experiences

SHEEO is seeking individuals with a combination of the following backgrounds and qualifications: 

  • Demonstrated interest in, enthusiasm for, and curiosity about state higher education policy or the impacts of federal higher education policy on states. 
  • Recently completed coursework or actively working in higher education, public policy, public administration, or a related field; experience with statistics or research methods is a plus. 
  • A commitment to advancing equity and student success in higher education. 
  • Experience working with large quantitative datasets and/or qualitative data, with knowledge of higher education data preferred. 
  • Proficiency in Microsoft Office Suite. 
  • Excellent written and oral communication skills. 

Goals of the SHEEO State Policy Internship Program

Through its summer internship program, SHEEO hopes to enhance future higher education policy practitioners, analysts, and researchers by: 

  • Including interns in an expansive array of higher education policy topics and projects. 
  • Advancing equity and diversity in state higher education policy discussions. 
  • Increasing the skills and knowledge of those who aim to work within the state higher education policy field. 
  • Providing opportunities to network and meet with current state agency policymakers and other higher education policy partners. 

The internship duration is flexible and will last for approximately 10 to 14 weeks, beginning in late May or early June. Interns may work remotely or on a hybrid schedule in our Boulder, Colorado, or Washington, D.C., office. Interns are invited to visit one of the two offices at the beginning of the internship. Toward the end of the internship period, interns are additionally invited to attend and help host the SHEEO Higher Education Policy Conference in Minneapolis, which will be held from August 11-14, 2025. Interns are considered non-exempt employees and are expected to work a minimum of 30 hours per week, with schedules determined by mutual arrangement. This internship is paid at $23 per hour. 

SHEEO seeks and strongly encourages individuals from historically underrepresented or marginalized groups to apply.

The application deadline for this position has passed.

Colorado and Kunkle promoted to Senior Policy Analysts at SHEEO

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The State Higher Education Executive Officers Association (SHEEO) announces the promotion of Jessica Colorado and Kelsey Kunkle to the position of Senior Policy Analyst. Both Colorado and Kunkle have previously served SHEEO as policy analysts.

Jessica Colorado joined SHEEO in 2021. Colorado assists in a variety of policy areas, including research and data, finance, and student success projects. Colorado primarily oversees the development, administration, and analysis of SHEEO’s Strong Foundations survey of state postsecondary data systems to highlight the value of student unit record systems and promote the use of the survey data for increased advocacy for data collaborations across state agencies and nationally among peers. Colorado also contributes to the development of technical assistance and professional development materials for state practitioners attending SHEEO’s Community of Practice convenings. In addition to Strong Foundations, Colorado also supports the SHEEO Tuition and Fee survey administration.

Kelsey Kunkle also joined SHEEO in 2021, first starting as a state policy intern. Kunkle currently leads the State Higher Education Finance (SHEF) project, which examines the trends, context, and consequences of state higher education funding decisions using detailed data on state and local funding, tuition revenue, and enrollment, with interactive data visualization materials. In her role, Kunkle also supports several other finance and policy projects at SHEEO, including Examining Funding Models for Unintended Disparities and Communities of Practice for Supporting Student Borrowers.

Learn more about our team at https://sheeo.org/about/sheeo-staff/.

SHEEO welcomes Brenna Mathews as new Administrative Coordinator

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The State Higher Education Executive Officers Association (SHEEO) welcomed Brenna Mathews as its new Administrative Coordinator.

In her role, Mathews will support SHEEO staff in events, communications, and clerical duties on a variety of SHEEO projects. 

Prior to joining SHEEO, Mathews served as the graduate assistant for the Louise McBee Institute of Higher Education’s administrative staff and worked with special programs. Mathews’ experience includes coordinating the Governor’s Teaching Fellows, an outreach program hosted by the McBee Institute to train faculty from across the state of Georgia, and across disciplines, to improve pedagogical techniques. 

Mathews found her passion for higher education during her time in undergraduate education when she served as an admissions ambassador and orientation leader. She holds a bachelor’s degree from Western Kentucky University in political science and Arabic language and culture, and a Master of Education from the University of Georgia.

Learn more about our team at https://sheeo.org/about/sheeo-staff/.

Sean Baser joins SHEEO as senior policy analyst

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The State Higher Education Executive Officers Association (SHEEO) welcomed Sean Baser this week as a new senior policy analyst. In his new role, Baser will provide support on a variety of projects and initiatives, including efforts to improve noncredit postsecondary education opportunities and state authorization, as well as the development and analysis of SHEEO’s membership report and Strong Foundations survey of postsecondary data systems.

Prior to joining SHEEO, Baser served as a graduate research assistant and research associate with the Board of Regents of the University System of Georgia. In this role, he provided quantitative and qualitative expertise by collecting and reporting data, conducting advanced statistical analysis, synthesizing academic literature and policy trends, and developing visualizations and dashboards to improve decision-making on a wide range of higher education topics (namely, strategic enrollment management).

Baser’s research interests lie at the nexus of education politics, policy, and governance. His recent work has focused on state authorization, interest groups, dual enrollment, community college governance, state-level changes to tenure policies, and the role of political nonprofits and “dark money” in education.

Baser earned an associate degree in business administration from Tulsa Community College in 2014, dual bachelor’s degrees in political science and management information systems from Oklahoma State University in 2015, and a master’s in education in higher education from the University of Houston in 2016. He is currently a Ph.D. student in the Louise McBee Institute of Higher Education at the University of Georgia.

Learn more about our team at sheeo.org/about/sheeo-staff/.

About SHEEO

The State Higher Education Executive Officers Association (SHEEO) serves the executives of statewide governing, policy, and coordinating boards of postsecondary education and their staffs. Founded in 1954, SHEEO promotes an environment that values higher education and its role in ensuring the equitable education of all Americans, regardless of race/ethnicity, gender, or socioeconomic factors. Together with its members, SHEEO aims to achieve this vision by equipping state higher education executive officers and their staffs with the tools to effectively advance the value of higher education, promoting public policies and academic practices that enable all Americans to achieve success in the 21st century, and serving as an advocate for state higher education leadership. For more information, visit sheeo.org. 

SHEEO welcomes Kristine and Pearson as state policy interns

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The State Higher Education Executive Officers Association (SHEEO) welcomes Kristine Jan Cruz Espinoza and Pearson Brown as state policy interns. 

During her internship at SHEEO, Kristine will work on the state higher education finance (SHEF) project, assist with data collection on federal grant funds to Minority-Serving Institutions (MSIs), and help construct an MSI funding project dataset.

Kristine is a Ph.D. student studying higher education and completing a graduate certificate in program evaluation and assessment at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV). Her research interests include race-based higher education policies, currently focusing on Minority-Serving Institutions and racial data classification. Kristine most recently worked as a graduate assistant for a National Science Foundation Improving Undergraduate STEM Education HSI grant-funded professional development program. She also serves on UNLV’s MSI Student Council, which involves undergraduate and graduate students in decision-making around campuswide MSI efforts. Prior to doctoral study, Kristine worked full time as a student affairs officer in the UCLA Asian American Studies Department. Kristine attended Long Beach City College, transferring to the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa, where she earned bachelor’s degrees in biology and anthropology, and a master’s of education in educational administration.

During his time at SHEEO, Pearson will work on the state higher education finance (SHEF) project, modeling a federal free-college program, and assist with the FASFA simplification project. 

Pearson is a Ph.D. student in the Louise McBee Institute of Higher Education at the University of Georgia with research interests in funding sources for higher education and state appropriation processes. Pearson also serves as a graduate assistant for the University System of Georgia’s Division of Research and Policy Analysis. He has recently worked on projects pertaining to gateway course completion, ways course outcomes differ across modalities, and graduates’ earnings. Pearson earned his bachelor’s degree in business administration in professional selling from Baylor University and his master’s of education in college student affairs administration from the University of Georgia. 

Learn more about our team at https://sheeo.org/about/sheeo-staff/.

About SHEEO

The State Higher Education Executive Officers Association (SHEEO) serves the executives of statewide governing, policy, and coordinating boards of postsecondary education and their staffs. Founded in 1954, SHEEO promotes an environment that values higher education and its role in ensuring the equitable education of all Americans, regardless of race/ethnicity, gender, or socioeconomic factors. Together with its members, SHEEO aims to achieve this vision by equipping state higher education executive officers and their staffs with the tools to effectively advance the value of higher education, promoting public policies and academic practices that enable all Americans to achieve success in the 21st century, and serving as an advocate for state higher education leadership. For more information, visit sheeo.org. 

SHEEO Announces Promotion of Klein and Weeden to Position of Associate Vice President

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WASHINGTON, D.C. – The State Higher Education Executive Officers Association (SHEEO) today announces the promotion of Carrie Klein and Dustin Weeden to the position of associate vice president. Both Klein and Weeden have served SHEEO as senior policy analysts.

Klein joined SHEEO’s Washington, D.C. office in May 2021. She leads SHEEO’s Strong Foundations survey and reporting project, through which she advances SHEEO’s efforts to promote effective use of state postsecondary data resources and P20W connections. Building on prior postsecondary institutional experience and analytics research, Dr. Klein develops productive relationships with partner organizations and provides relevant content expertise and technical assistance to state agency research and data policymakers to improve state and student outcomes.

Weeden joined SHEEO in October 2017, working out of SHEEO’s Boulder, Colorado, office. He leads SHEEO’s research and policy analysis related to state authorization and college affordability.Weeden currently leads efforts directed at helping states prepare for implementation of the FAFSA Simplification Act, and spearheads SHEEO’s focus on improving state consumer protection policies. 

“Both of these team members have done excellent work, taking on increased responsibilities and embodying leadership traits that help advance the work of SHEEO among our member organizations,” said Rob Anderson, SHEEO president. “We are excited to recognize their efforts publicly and look forward to seeing their continued growth.”

Learn more about our team at https://sheeo.org/about/sheeo-staff/.

About SHEEO

The State Higher Education Executive Officers Association (SHEEO) serves the executives of statewide governing, policy, and coordinating boards of postsecondary education and their staffs. Founded in 1954, SHEEO promotes an environment that values higher education and its role in ensuring the equitable education of all Americans, regardless of race/ethnicity, gender, or socioeconomic factors. Together with its members, SHEEO aims to achieve this vision by equipping state higher education executive officers and their staffs with the tools to effectively advance the value of higher education, promoting public policies and academic practices that enable all Americans to achieve success in the 21st century, and serving as an advocate for state higher education leadership. For more information, visit sheeo.org.