Prof. William G. Tierney is University Professor Emeritus and founding director of the Pullias Center for Higher Education at the University of Southern California. A past president of the Association for the Study of Higher Education (ASHE) and the American Educational Research Association (AERA). He was awarded the Howard R. Bowen Distinguished Career Award from ASHE, and the Distinguished Research Award from Division J of AERA. Tierney is an elected member of the National Academy of Education, a disciplinary society of 200 individuals recognized for their outstanding scholarship and contributions to education, and a Fellow of AERA. He has served as an academic dean at a Native American community college, a Peace Corps volunteer in Morocco, a scholar-in-residence in Malaysia and a Fulbright Scholar in Central America, Australia and India. He has been a Fellow at the Rockefeller Foundation’s Center in Bellagio, Italy, and a Fernand Braudel Fellow at the European University Institute in Florence, Italy.  His recent books include: Rethinking Education and Poverty; The Impact of Culture on Organizational Decision-making and Higher Education for Democracy: The Role of the University in Civil Society. He earned a master's from Harvard University and a PhD from Stanford University.