2019 Student Success Summit

Monday, October 28th

Johanna Duncan-Poitier
Senior Vice Chancellor for Community Colleges and the Education Pipeline
SUNY System Administration

Johanna Duncan-Poitier is the Senior Vice Chancellor for Community Colleges and the Education Pipeline for the State University of New York (SUNY). She provides system oversight and coordination for SUNY’s 30 community colleges that educate more than a quarter of a million students with an annual operating budget of $2.1 billion. In her dual role, she also provides leadership to strengthen STEM education, teacher preparation, and connections between SUNY’s 64 campuses and New York State’s Pre K–12 schools and business leaders to improve college readiness, completion rates, and prepare a highly-qualified workforce.

Austin Ostro
President, SUNY Student Assembly and Trustee, SUNY Board of Trustees
University at Albany

Austin Ostro serves as the 2019-20 President of the SUNY Student Assembly (SUNYSA) and Trustee on the SUNY Board of Trustees. Austin is entering his second year as a graduate student at Rockefeller College of Public Affairs & Policy at the University at Albany. He is pursuing his Master’s in Public Administration (MPA). Throughout his journey in the Student Assembly, Austin has proven his dedication, talent, passion, and perseverance. As President, Austin is committed to continuing the efforts of past leaders to expand the impact of Student Assembly advocacy; promote diversity, equity, and inclusion; build organizational capacity; and fight for students on the system, local, state and federal levels.

Tuesday, October 29th

Keynote Speaker
Michelle Asha Cooper
President, Institute for Higher Education Policy (IHEP)

Michelle Asha Cooper is the president of the Institute for Higher Education Policy, one of the nation’s most effective voices in championing access and success for all students in postsecondary education. Cooper is recognized as a fierce advocate for equity and social justice in higher education. She is well-versed in many higher education access and success issues, including equitable reform of higher education, college affordability and financial aid policy, and data quality and transparency. Prior to joining IHEP, Cooper held various leadership positions at the Advisory Committee on Student Financial Assistance at the U.S. Department of Education, Association of American Colleges and Universities, Council for Independent Colleges, and King’s College.

Tod Laursen
Provost and Senior Vice Chancellor
SUNY System Administration

Tod A. Laursen is the Senior Vice Chancellor and Provost of the State University of New York (SUNY), a post he assumed in September of 2018. Dr. Laursen joined SUNY from Khalifa University (KU) in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, where he was the founding president and served as its leader since 2010. In February of 2017, KU as it exists today was formed by the merger of three Abu Dhabi higher education institutions: Khalifa University of Science, Technology and Research (KUSTAR), the Masdar Institute, and the Petroleum Institute. Dr. Laursen had served as the president of KUSTAR for the first seven years of his tenure in Abu Dhabi, and was named leader of the merged institution subsequently.