Andrew Gillen

Andrew Gillen is a research fellow at the Cato Institute’s Center for Educational Freedom. His research focuses on the economics of higher education, with an emphasis on federal and state policies related to financial aid, regulation, accreditation, financing, transparency, and accountability. Before joining Cato, he spent over a decade at nonprofit and philanthropic organizations researching and trying to improve higher education. He served in research roles for the Texas Public Policy Foundation, the American Institutes for Research, Education Sector, the American Council of Trustees and Alumni, and the Center for College Affordability and Productivity. He was also a program officer for the Charles G. Koch Foundation and served on the U.S. Department of Education’s Advisory Committee on Student Financial Assistance. He earned a Bachelor of Business Administration degree from Ohio University and a Ph.D. in economics from Florida State University.

David Randall

David Randall is Director of Research at the National Association of Scholars and Executive Director of the Civics Alliance. He has published higher education policy reports, model K-12 academic content standards, European intellectual history, and young adult fantasy.

Ian Oxnevad

Dr. Ian Oxnevad is the NAS Senior Fellow for Foreign Affairs and Security Studies, where he covers issues of foreign influence, extremism, corruption, and anti-Semitism in higher education. 

J. Scott Turner

J Scott Turner is Director of Science Programs at the National Association of Scholars and Emeritus Professor at the SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry. He is the author of three books about physiology and evolution: The Extended Organism. The Physiology of Animal-Built Structures (2000, Harvard University Press), The Tinkerer’s Accomplice. How Design Emerges from Life Itself (2007, Harvard University Press), and Purpose and Desire. What Makes Something “Alive” and Why Darwinism Fails to Explain It (2017, HarperOne). Follow him on X @macrotermiteman.

Jared Gould

Jared Gould is the managing editor of Minding the Campus. In addition to editing and publishing all the content featured on the site, he writes on a wide range of higher education issues—including medical schools, campus culture, university finance, foreign students, and the education-to-workforce pipeline. He has also written on Catholic theology, healthcare, and broader political topics, with work appearing in American Postliberal, the Federalist, American Thinker, Speech First, Campus Reform, and the Adult Congenital Heart Association.

Lilla Nóra Kiss

Lilla Nóra Kiss, Ph.D., is a Senior Fellow for Academic Integrity and International Affairs at the National Association of Scholars. Her work bridges technology, education, and foreign policy, with a particular focus on national security. She holds a Ph.D. in Law and Social Sciences and has taught and conducted research at institutions across Europe and the United States. In her spare time, she enjoys traveling, motorbike rides, and good conversations.

Liza Libes

Liza Libes is an educator and essayist. Her writing frequently explores the value of the humanities, the dangers of campus ideological conformity, and the importance of beauty and tradition in intellectual life. When she is not writing for Minding the Campus, Liza runs a college consulting startup that informs many of her observations on the current state of education. Liza’s writing has also appeared in her fast-growing Substack newsletter Pens and Poison, the Boston Globe, Persuasion, the American Spectator, and RealClearBooks. 

Nathaniel Urban

Nathaniel Urban is the development associate at the National Association of Scholars. He graduated from the Ashbrook Scholar Program at Ashland University with a degree in public relations and minor studies in political theory and theology. He writes about the liberal arts, general education requirements, traditional conservatism, and gender ideology in American education. 

Peter Wood

Peter Wood is president of the National Association of Scholars and author of Diversity: The Invention of a Concept; A Bee in the Mouth: Anger in American Now; 1620: A Critical Response to the 1619 Project. He is a former professor of anthropology and college provost who focuses on the ways contemporary American education imperils our civilization.

Rob Jenkins

Rob Jenkins is an associate professor of English at Georgia State University – Perimeter College and a Higher Education Fellow at Campus Reform. He is the author or co-author of eight books, including The 9 Virtues of Exceptional Leaders, Think Better, Write Better, Jennifer’s Monster, and his latest, Shooting After Practice. He has also written hundreds of essays for national outlets such as Minding the Campus, Campus Reform, the James G. Martin Center for Academic Renewal, the Brownstone Journal, and the Chronicle of Higher Education. Recent topics include “diversity, equity, and inclusion,” free speech, religious liberty, and the influence of artificial intelligence on higher education.

Richard Vedder

Richard Vedder is a Distinguished Professor of Economics Emeritus at Ohio University, a Senior Fellow at the Independent Institute, and a Board Member of the National Association Of Scholars. His latest book is Let Colleges Fail: The Power Of Creative Destruction In Higher Education.

Scott Gerber

Scott Douglas Gerber received his Ph.D. and J.D. from the University of Virginia and his B.A. from the College of William and Mary. He has published six academic books, five novels, and more than 250 articles, book reviews, op-eds, and sundry pieces. He has received multiple awards for his teaching, publishing, and service. He is the Declaration of Independence Center Scholar at the University of Mississippi’s Declaration of Independence Center for the Study of American Freedom and a Fellow at the National Association of Scholars.

Wenyuan Wu

Wenyuan Wu holds a Ph.D. in International Studies from the University of Miami and is the Executive Director of Californians for Equal Rights Foundation. She previously served in the same capacity for the historic No on 16 Campaign. She chairs the Georgia Advisory Committee to the United States Commission on Civil Rights. Dr. Wu has been interviewed by The Wall Street Journal, Fox News, National Review, NBC News, ABC News, NPR, Quartz, EdSource, The College Fix, and others. She sits on the board of Parents Defending Education Action and advises both Color Us United and Parents Defending Education. Along with Dr. Lance Izumi and McKenzie Richards of the Pacific Research Institute, Dr. Wu coauthored The Great Parent Revolt: How Parents and Grassroots Leaders Are Fighting Critical Race Theory in America’s Schools (2022).