Recap: Restoring Public Trust in Higher Education

As the president of one of the world’s great public universities, Ana Mari Cauce is leading the University of Washington in advancing its mission in four key areas: providing a leading-edge student experience, conducting research and scholarship that has a global impact, upholding the UW’s dedication to its public mission and infusing the entire university with a commitment to innovation.

A member of the UW faculty since 1986, Cauce became interim president in March 2015, having previously served as provost and executive vice president, and the UW Board of Regents selected her to become the UW’s 33rd president at a special meeting Oct. 13, 2015.

Throughout her career, Cauce has championed access to higher education, including through the Husky Promise, which provides full tuition to eligible Washington students who otherwise could not attend college. As part of her strong belief in ensuring access to higher education for all, just one month into her role as interim president she engaged students in an honest discussion about race and equity, launching an effort to create a more just and diverse community.

The UW also views innovation as an imperative, and as part of that in June 2015 Cauce announced the launch of the Global Innovation Exchange. A partnership between the UW and Tsinghua University, with foundational support from Microsoft, GIX will educate the next generation of innovators through a project-based, globally focused curriculum available nowhere else.

Raised in Miami after emigrating with her family from Cuba, Cauce earned a B.A. in English and psychology from the University of Miami and a Ph.D. in psychology, with a concentration in child clinical and community psychology, from Yale University.

During the course of her career at the UW, Cauce has been appointed to various leadership positions, including director of the UW Honors Program, chair of American Ethnic Studies, chair of Psychology, executive vice provost and dean of the College of Arts and Sciences. In 2011 Cauce was named provost and executive vice president, responsible for overseeing the education, research and service missions of the university’s schools, colleges and other academic units.

For her teaching, scholarship and advocacy, Cauce has received numerous awards, including the Dalmas Taylor Distinguished Contribution Award, the Luis Fernando Esteban Public Service Award, the James M. Jones Lifetime Achievement Award of the American Psychological Association, the Grace Hopper Exemplary Leadership Award and the Distinguished Contribution Award from the Society for Community Research and Action. In 1999 she was awarded the Distinguished Teaching Award, the highest honor the University of Washington gives to faculty members for their work with students in and outside the classroom.

Cauce is a professor of Psychology and American Ethnic Studies, with secondary appointments in the Department of Gender, Women and Sexuality Studies and the College of Education. She maintains an active research program, focusing on adolescent development, with a special emphasis on at-risk youth. She is also a strong advocate for women and underrepresented minorities to pursue careers in science, technology, engineering and mathematics. Cauce remains active in the classroom and continues to teach and mentor undergraduate and graduate students.

Eduardo M. Peñalver became the President of Seattle University on July 1, 2021. From 2014 until 2021, he served as the Dean of Cornell Law School. His legal scholarship focuses on property and land use, as well as law and religion. His work explores the way in which the law mediates the interests of individuals and communities.

His writing on property has appeared in numerous leading law journals. His book, “Property Outlaws” (co-authored with Sonia Katyal), published by Yale University Press in February 2010, explores the vital role of disobedience within the evolution of property law. His most recent book, “An Introduction to Property Theory” (co-authored with Gregory Alexander), was published by Cambridge University Press in 2011.

Professor Peñalver received his B.A. from Cornell University and his J.D. from Yale Law School. Between college and law school, he studied philosophy and theology as a Rhodes Scholar at Oriel College, Oxford. Upon completing law school, he clerked for Judge Guido Calabresi of the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, and at the Supreme Court for Justice John Paul Stevens.

Professor Peñalver previously served as the John P. Wilson Professor of Law at the University of Chicago Law School (2012-2014) and taught at Cornell Law School (2006-2012) and at Fordham Law School (2003-2006). He has also been a visiting professor at Harvard Law School and Yale Law School.

State Representative Debra Entenman is a former non-traditional student who is passionate about education for people of all ages and stages of life. That passion stems from her own experiences, as well as her family’s experiences, in pursuing higher education. As the daughter of a Seattle teacher, Rep. Entenman believes in helping people reach their goals by advocating for programs that lift families out of hopelessness and enable them to succeed. She benefited from that type of advocacy as an inaugural member of the Seattle/King County Head Start program, where she began her love of education.

Rep. Entenman went back to school after her own children were ready to enter college. At Highline Community College and Seattle University, she studied political science and went on to serve as District Director for Congressman Adam Smith. She was appointed to the Board of Trustees at Renton Technical College in 2015.

She currently lives in Kent with her husband.

Initially appointed, Alex Ybarra was later elected in 2019 as the state representative for the 13th District, which includes Lincoln and Kittitas counties and parts of Grant and Yakima counties.

Alex’s legislative priorities include protecting taxpayers, amply funding schools, creating more family-wage jobs, finding solutions to water issues and supporting agriculture. He is a powerful advocate for economic growth and wants to see more doors of opportunity opened to the residents of the communities he serves.

Alex is the ranking member on the House Education Committee, and also serves on the House Civil Rights and Judiciary, and Health Care and Wellness committees. Although deeply committed to civil debate and willing to work across the aisle, he remains true to his conservative roots.

Alex graduated from Central Washington University with a Bachelor of Science in mathematics and also holds an MBA from the University of Phoenix. He spent 14 years working for the Rocket Research Company as an engineer for military and aerospace products,16 years working for Grant County Public Utility District in various leadership and analyst roles and is currently employed by the Center for Sustainable Infrastructure.

Alex has worked on several legislative task forces and state commissions, including his 2016 appointment by the governor to the state Commission on Hispanic Affairs. Active in his community, Alex is the former director for the Quincy School Board and also served as the vice president for the Washington State School Directors Association.

Alex is a lifelong resident of Quincy. His daughter, Micaela, is a recent graduate of BYU in Utah.

Brian Flahaven is vice president, strategic partnerships, at CASE. He also directs CASE’s government relations activities and tracks federal and state legislative and regulatory issues of concern to CASE members, as well as overseeing CASE’s public college and university foundation programs.

Prior to joining CASE, Brian was the manager of government relations and public policy at the Council on Foundations. He also served as the first Public Policy and Philanthropy Fellow at the Council of Michigan Foundations and worked for former Illinois Lieutenant Governor Corinne Wood.

Brian received his bachelor’s degree in political science, economics and history at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and his Master of Public Policy from the Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy at the University of Michigan.

In 2016, Brian earned the designation of Certified Association Executive from the American Society of Association Executives. From 2011 to 2016, Brian served as an elected Advisory Neighborhood Commissioner representing the southeastern Capitol Hill neighborhood in Washington DC.