Anthony Lewis Wagner

It would be deeply humbling to receive your support for selection as a student representative to the CIES Board. Current and previous professional and academic experiences have prepared me to serve and represent my peers in this capacity.  I have served as the associate director, as well as other roles, at a higher education membership association, Transform Mid-Atlantic. My time with the organization has included building and strengthening membership engagement across a diverse group of stakeholders, launching new and responsive initiatives, and ensuring that community voice is woven into decision making and strategic priorities. As a doctoral student at NYU, I have worked alongside faculty, practitioners, and peers to plan highly successful conferences and forums, as well as co-envision a communications strategy for outreach with program alumni and partners. 

Our field is facing unprecedented – and in some cases, existential – challenges globally, and especially in the United States. As a student member of the Board and building upon my experience, I will ensure that the next generation of scholars and practitioners is front and center as our society seeks to respond to these challenges. 

Should I be elected, I plan to meet with student scholars in each of the Special Interest Groups to learn about their priorities, concerns, and hopes for the society. I also commit to hosting a monthly student-focused convening throughout the duration of my term, through which students can come together to be in community with each other, learn about updates from the CIES Board, and voice their ideas for how to improve the membership experience. I will use my experiences of working with senior administrators, institutional leaders, and faculty to be an engaged, actively present, and independent voice on the board.

Among other issues, I will advocate that the society consider host cities outside of North America for future CIES conferences, to develop deeper strategic partnerships with other societies and associations, to consider methods to more inclusively expand membership and engagement to institutions and students that are not currently part of the society, and other priorities raised by peers. I am also interested in exploring how we can make participation and engagement more affordable and accessible for a larger number of student members. As a board member, I will represent student voices with the highest degree of professional transparency, candor, and clarity – seeking to create brave spaces for us to be in dialogue with each other about the increasingly complex problems we are individually and collectively facing at this critical juncture for our society and field.