December 6, 2004
Speaker Biographies
David Dunn is special assistant to the president for domestic policy, having joined the White House Domestic Policy Council in August of 2002. His portfolio of issues includes all areas of education policy, from early childhood through higher education. Before joining the Domestic Policy Council, Mr. Dunn was the associate executive director of the Texas Association of School Boards where he acted as the association’s chief lobbyist. He was also the association expert on school finance and school accountability. Before his work at TASB, he spent fifteen years in education and fiscal policy analysis for the State of Texas. He acted as lead staff for an education policy center that developed the blueprint for Texas’s School Accountability System in the early 1990s.
Frederick M. Hess is director of education policy studies at AEI and executive editor of Education Next. He is known for his scholarship on educational issues, including the politics of school reform, urban education, district governance, accountability, professional licensure, school choice, and the nature of public education. His books include Common Sense School Reform, Revolution at the Margins, Spinning Wheels, Bringing the Social Sciences Alive, Leaving No Child Behind?, School Choice in the Real World, and A Qualified Teacher in Every Classroom?. His work has appeared in scholarly and popular publications, including Education Week, Educational Policy, Social Science Quarterly, Phi Delta Kappan, The Public Interest, Teachers College Record, and Urban Affairs Review. He was a public high school teacher, professor of education and politics at the University of Virginia, and senior fellow at the Progressive Policy Institute before joining AEI.
Nina S. Rees leads the Office of Innovation and Improvement at the U.S. Department of Education, overseeing the administration of approximately twenty-eight grant programs. Working with the Office of Elementary and Secondary Education, Ms. Rees coordinates the implementation of the public school choice and supplemental services provisions of the president’s No Child Left Behind Act. In addition, she oversees the implementation of the D.C. School Choice Incentive Act, the passage of which she led. Before joining the U.S. Department of Education, she was a deputy assistant for domestic policy in the office of Vice President Cheney. Before joining the White House in January 2001, she served as an education adviser to the Bush presidential campaign and helped draft the No Child Left Behind education blueprint for the Bush-Cheney transition team. From 1997 to 2001, she served as the chief education analyst for the Heritage Foundation. She has been a frequent media commentator on education issues. Her articles and views have appeared in various national newspapers and magazines, including the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, and the Washington Post.
Erik Robelen is the lead Washington reporter for Education Week, a national newspaper focused on K-12 education. During his six-year tenure, he has written extensively on federal education policy and politics, including the No Child Left Behind Act, as well as on campaigns for Congress and the White House. Mr. Robelen has also made guest appearances on National Public Radio and NPR affiliates. Before joining Education Week, he was a policy analyst at the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development, a national education group, where he wrote about charter schools, educational technology, school leadership, and other issues. Before that, he covered environmental policy issues at the federal, state, and local levels as a reporter for Inside Washington Publishers.
Roberto Rodriguez is a senior education adviser to U.S. senator Edward M. Kennedy on the Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee. His duties include legislative, policy, budget, and appropriations work on a variety of education issues, including early education and elementary and secondary education. Among those issues, he focuses on the No Child Left Behind Act, Head Start, child care, and the education of special populations. Before working on the Senate Committee, Mr. Rodriguez served as senior education specialist at the National Council for La Raza, where he engaged in applied research and policy analysis of federal and state education reform issues and facilitated the development and evaluation of NCLR’s community based education programs.
Sally L. Stroup was sworn in as assistant secretary for postsecondary education in March 2002. In this capacity, she coordinates department programs relating to financial assistance for eligible students enrolled in higher education institutions and recommends policies to recruit and prepare disadvantaged students to enroll and complete postsecondary education programs. Before joining the Department, she served as the director of industry and government affairs for the Apollo Group Inc./University of Phoenix. From 1993 to 2001, she was a professional staff member for the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Education and the Workforce. As a committee staff member, she played a key legislative role in the reauthorization of the Higher Education Act Amendments of 1998. From 1981 to 1993, Ms. Stroup was with the Pennsylvania Higher Education Assistance Agency, one of the largest, full-service financial aid organizations in the nation. First serving as a staff attorney, she rose to senior staff attorney and then to senior vice president of legal services and chief counsel.
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