The Associated Colleges of the Midwest (ACM) has named Lisa Jasinski, Ph.D., to serve as the organization’s ninth president, chair of the ACM Board of Directors Dr. Jenifer K. Ward of Luther College announced this week.
A thought leader in higher education and an experienced administrator with nearly two decades of work managing complex strategic plan initiatives, Jasinski is the successor to Sonya Malunda as the consortium’s president.
“Dr. Jasinski impressed the Board with her ability to articulate the value of the ACM’s history and present while also engaging us in generative and animated conversation about what we might explore together in the future,” Ward said. “We are excited to see how she will build on the strong legacy of President Malunda, who led with a principled approach to fiscal sustainability and programmatic attention to equity and inclusion efforts that serve the students, faculty, staff and governing boards of our diverse campuses.”
“I want to express my sincere appreciation to the Board, and it is my honor to accept the presidency,” Jasinski said. “ACM is the national exemplar of achieving the full richness of a liberal arts education, and as its president, I look forward to getting to know faculty, staff and students from across ACM institutions to imagine together how to extend this legacy of collaboration and innovation into the future.”
Jasinski will begin Feb. 5, 2024, as the executive leader for the consortium of 14 institutions spanning the Midwest with a collective focus on advancing the narrative of the residential liberal arts college experience as the best preparation for life in a rapidly changing world.
Most recently serving as the Senior Director for Strategic Initiatives for the President’s Office at the University of Texas at San Antonio, Jasinski was charged with the design, tracking and implementation of UTSA’s current ten-year strategic plan, A Vision for UTSA. In May 2023, she also was named one of two fellows for the Society of College and University Planning.
Prior to UTSA, Jasinski was an American Council on Education (ACE) Fellow, hosted by the University of New Mexico, and was the first woman nominated for an ACE Fellowship from Trinity University. She spent a total of 15 years at Trinity, twelve of which at the San Antonio, Texas, university working in the Vice President of Academic Affairs office, rising to the position of Special Assistant to the VPAA and a member of the executive team. She provided operational oversight for special projects, including the university’s strategic plan, Trinity Tomorrow, and was the project manager for a $77 million academic building renovation. She began her time at Trinity in 2007 as the university’s certification, assessment and communication specialist before moving into the VPAA’s division in 2011.
A participant in a wide range of professional conferences from the American Association of Colleges and Universities to SXSWedu, Jasinski’s research focuses on pedagogy, leadership and mentorship. Her book, Stepping Away: Returning to the Faculty After Senior Academic Leadership, has become the focus of considerable attention in both the general media as well higher education policy circles. Her most recent publication related to this work was in The Chronicle of Higher Education in October 2023. Her co-authored book, Faculty as Global Learners: Off-Campus Study at Liberal Arts Colleges, drew heavily on examples from ACM institutions in exploring the pedagogical and transformative elements of faculty-led study abroad programs.
She completed her doctorate in educational leadership and policy from the University of Texas at Austin, while serving as a higher education professional. Jasinski began her academic career by earning her bachelor’s degree magna cum laude at Middlebury College with a double major in the history of art and architecture and political science. She received her master’s in communication arts at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She has also completed the Nonprofit Financial Stewardship Program from the Harvard Kennedy School of Executive Education.
Along her educational path, Jasinski earned several notable graduate fellowships and awards along with co-authoring peer-reviewed articles and conference presentations. She has teaching experience at four institutions, most recently at Trinity. A prolific facilitator of professional development programs in higher education, Jasinski also has considerable experience in grant writing, which will add to ACM’s historical strength in procuring consequential grants to launch its programs.
Her wide-ranging experiences include serving as a Fulbright Specialist to Finland and University of Jyväskylä as a part of the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs and working for the Apollo Theater Foundation as a development associate.
A New Englander by birth, she and her husband, film scholar Patrick Keating, currently reside in San Antonio, Texas.
About the Associated Colleges of the Midwest
The Associated Colleges of the Midwest is an incubator and catalyst for programming that advances the academic and professional success of faculty, students, and staff at its 14 liberal arts member institutions. The member colleges launched the ACM in 1958, building on a long-established tradition of athletic competition dating back to the 1920s. Today, the ACM enriches residential liberal arts education and strengthens its members through initiatives that can be done more effectively in collaboration than by any single college alone. By cultivating partnerships, attracting funding, building communities of practice, and creating a space to experiment and innovate, ACM multiplies the power of its vital member institutions as a force for good in the world.
