Dr. Jason E. Lane serves as the President of the National Association of Higher Education Systems (NASH) and as a special advisor to the President of the University of Illinois System. NASH represents and supports leaders at higher education systems and their institutions in their pursuit of collective, measurable goals that will advance prosperity for the nation. NASH’s members represent nearly 500 institutions and more than 5 million students, including nearly three-quarters of all students in public four-year higher education in the country.
Lane is the preeminent thought leader on higher education systems and systems thinking. He is an accomplished leader, widely-read author, and award-winning scholar who has led several national initiatives to improve student success through systemness – the concept that higher education can achieve more together than individual systems or institutions could on their own.
Lane has extensive leadership experience at the campus, system, and national levels. He most recently served as Dean of the College of Education, Health, and Society at Miami University, where he has led several statewide initiatives to improve support for public education. Lane has also served as Vice Provost & Senior Associate Vice Chancellor for The State University of New York system, having led several of the system’s academic, research, and economic development initiatives. While at the University at Albany, SUNY, he served as a full professor, department chair, and dean. He is also director of AGB’s Institute for Leadership and Governance, a professional development program for aspiring college presidents, and chair of the National Center for Higher Education Management Systems (NCHEMS) board of directors.
A Fulbright New Century Scholar, Lane has extensive experience collaborating with higher education systems globally. He has worked and consulted in more than 30 countries, advising both OECD and UNESCO on higher education’s role in supporting economic development and quality of life. He was a member of the board of SUNY Korea and serves on the International Advisory Board for the Swedish Foundation for International Collaboration in Research and Higher Education.
Lane, an Amazon best-selling author, has published more than 100 papers and 14 books focused on the changing role of colleges and universities. His books include Academic Leadership and Governance of Higher Education (Stylus Press, second edition), Multi-National Colleges and Universities: Leadership and Administration of International Branch Campuses (Jossey-Bass), Higher Education Systems 3.0 and Higher Education Systems Redesigned (both from SUNY Press). He is frequently quoted in both main-stream and trade publications, including The New York Times, Washington Post, NPR, and Fox News. He has been the lead on more than $20 million in grant funding, including from the Carnegie Corporation, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, and the US Department of Education.