Our Team – Academic Leadership Institute

Our Team

The Academic Leadership Institute was founded by a group of highly experienced academic leaders who recognized a need in higher education to better prepare and connect rising leaders. Read more about our team below.

Earl Lewis, Ph.D.

ALI Co-Founder

Noted social historian, award-winning author, and educational leader, Earl Lewis, is the founding director of the University of Michigan Center for Social Solutions, as well as the Thomas C. Holt Distinguished University Professor of History, Afroamerican and African Studies, and public policy. Lewis is president emeritus of The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation (2013-18), former Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs and provost at Emory University, and former Vice Provost and Dean of the Rackham School of Graduate Studies at the University of Michigan.

Currently

  • Director, Center for Social Solutions, University of Michigan
  • Thomas C. Holt Distinguished University Professor, University of Michigan

Previously

  • President, The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation
  • Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs; Provost, Emory University
  • Vice Provost; Dean, Rackham School of Graduate Studies, University of Michigan

Dwight A. McBride, Ph.D.

ALI Co-Founder

With nearly three decades in higher education, Dwight A. McBride is an experienced leader and accomplished educator and author. Throughout his career, Dr. McBride has encouraged innovation in scholarship and teaching, launched initiatives to build interdisciplinary strength around global challenges, created environments that foster inclusive excellence, and expanded opportunities for experiential learning. Prior to his appointment at Washington University, Dr. McBride was the President at The New School, where he was also a University Professor.  

Currently

  • Executive Director of the Center for the Study of Race, Ethnicity, and Equity (CRE2)
  • Senior Advisor to the Chancellor
  • Gerald Early Distinguished Professor of African American Studies, Washington University in St. Louis 

Previously

  • President and University Professor, The New School
  • Provost and Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs, Emory University
  • Asa Griggs Candler Professor of African American Studies, Distinguished Affiliated Professor of English, Emory University
  • Dean; Associate Provost for Graduate Education; Daniel Hale Williams Professor of African American Studies, English, and Performance Studies, Northwestern University
  • Dean, College of Liberal Arts & Sciences, University of Illinois at Chicago

Dalia F. Petrus

Associate Director

Dalia F. Petrus is a seasoned higher education professional with tenure within the University of Michigan system where she has served for over 2 decades in academic, research, and project management roles. Dalia helped plan the creation the ALI since its inception and currently serves as Associate Director. In this role, Dalia co-leads and manages ALI’s strategic and financial planning,,recruitment, curriculum development and other initiatives.

[email protected]

Elizabeth K. Brasher

Associate Director

Elizabeth K. Brasher is a seasoned professional in higher education, serving in management positions for executive offices at multiple major research institutions. Elizabeth has served as ALI’s planning co-lead since its inception in 2017, leading strategic planning, administration, cohort and faculty recruitment, program development and implementation, and managing special projects and initiatives. 

[email protected]

Charlene Dukes

ALI Advisory Board

Institution

  • President Emeritus, Prince Georges Community College

Carol Henderson

ALI Advisory Board

Institution

  • Professor Emerita of English and Africana Studies at the University of Delaware and principal of ELl365 Consulting.

Jonathan Holloway

ALI Advisory Board

Institution

  • President and CEO, Henry Luce Foundation

Erika James

ALI Advisory Board

Institution

  • Dean, Wharton School of Business, University of Pennsylvania

Félix V. Matos Rodríguez

ALI Advisory Board

Institution

  • Chancellor, City University of New York

Mariko Silver

ALI Advisory Board

Institution

  • President, Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts

Beverly Daniel Tatum

ALI Advisory Board

Institution

  • President Emeritus, Spelman College; Mount Holyoke College

Ben Vinson III

ALI Advisory Board

Institution

  • Presidential Research Professor, Baker Nord Institute for the Humanities at Case Western Reserve University; President Emeritus, Howard University 

Lynn Perry Wooten

ALI Advisory Board

Institution

  • President, Simmons University

Alford Young Jr.

ALI Advisory Board

Institution

  • Associate Director, Center for Social Solutions