Brevard, NC, September 18, 2023 –

The John N. Gardner Institute for Excellence in Undergraduate Education (Gardner Institute) is pleased to announce that Dr. Ligia Perez has joined us in the role of Assistant Vice President for Institutional Transformation Assessment. She will be assisting with surveys and our work on Transformation. 

Dr. Ligia Perez has a career spanning over two decades in the higher education space. She has spearheaded and supported data collection and analysis of projects through an equity lens in pursuit of the understanding and actions needed for diverse student success. During her tenure at Florida International University, she collaborated with faculty and students in the College of Medicine with research projects centered around the social determinants of health, a proxy of social justice frameworks. During her time at Texas A&M in College Station, she was responsible for the services related to data collection, analysis, assessment, insight generation, and reporting to stakeholders. As a member of the university’s student success initiative, she contributed to identifying barriers hindering the progress of Latinx students, proposed recommendations to university leaders, yielding tangible results such as enhanced financial aid packages. At West Virginia University she assessed various student retention programs that prompted modifications to pedagogical approaches within the first-year courses and establishment of novel services to meet the unique needs of graduate students. She led the Institutional Research Office at Charles R. Drew University where she planned, designed, implemented, and managed research projects in collaboration with university colleagues. In addition, she established data governance policies and procedures, maintained the office’s databases, worked with university units to identify, and resolve barriers to student continuing enrollment and graduation, and prepared and submitted state and federal mandated reports on behalf of the university.

Perez begins her new position with the Gardner Institute on September 18, 2023.

The John N. Gardner Institute for Excellence in Undergraduate Education is a non-profit organization dedicated to partnering with colleges, universities, philanthropic organizations, educators, and other entities to increase institutional responsibility for improving outcomes associated with teaching, learning, retention, and completion. It is dedicated to advancing higher education’s larger goal of achieving equity and social justice.