Kay McClenney

Kay McClenney is Director of the Community College Survey of Student Engagement and an adjunct faculty member in the Community College Leadership Program at The University of Texas at Austin. She also directs the Ford Foundation’s coordinating team for the national Community College Bridges to Opportunity Initiative and the MetLife Foundation’s national student retention project. She is Senior Associate with The Pew Forum on Undergraduate Learning and a Distinguished Senior Fellow at the Education Commission of the States (ECS), where she served as Vice President and chief operating officer from 1990 to 2000.

Dr. McClenney has served as a consultant to education institutions, state higher education systems, state government, and professional associations in 48 states and internationally.  In addition, she served for nine years as a community college faculty member, system administrator, and interim CEO.

She is a Distinguished Graduate of the Community College Leadership Program at the University of Texas at Austin, where she earned her Ph.D. She holds an M.A. in Psychology from Texas Christian University and a B.A. from Trinity University.

A frequent keynote speaker, Dr. McClenney has authored numerous publications on education issues, strategic planning, accountability, and assessment. She currently serves on the national advisory boards for the National Survey of Student Engagement at Indiana University, the College and Careers Transition Initiative funded by the U.S. Department of Education, and the Community College Leadership Academy at Arizona State University.  Kay has served as a member of the board of directors of the American Association of Community Colleges (AACC) and the executive board of the American Association of Women in Community Colleges (AAWCC).  In 2002, she received the PBS O’Banion Prize for contributions to teaching and learning in America.