Episode 81- The Impact of Mentorship

Lou Albert is a Professor of Practice in the Division of Educational Leadership and Innovation at Arizona State University’s Mary Lou Fulton Teachers College. 

Prior to his appointment at ASU, Lou served as President of the West Campus of Pima County Community College in Tucson, Arizona from 2003 until his retirement in 2015.  He is a former academic Vice Chancellor of the San Jose/Evergreen Community College District (1998-2003); and former Vice President of the American Association for Higher Education (1982-98), a not-for-profit membership association where John Gardner served as a member of its Board of Trustees.  At AAHE, Lou was responsible for organizing the annual National Conference on Higher Education, and for special initiatives that focused on school/college partnerships, service-learning and civic engagement, and instructional technology.

Lou was also a faculty member and senior administrator at Essex Community College, now a part of the Community College of Baltimore County.  Lou’s board service includes the National Board of Campus Compact, a consortium of nearly 1,200 college and university presidents committed to advancing the civic mission of higher education. 

He also served for six years as Chair of the Board of Trustees for the International Partnership for Service-Learning.  In Tucson, he is a past Board Chair for the United Way of Tucson and Southern Arizona. 

Lou earned his Master of Science in Zoology and Ph.D. in Higher Education from the University of Maryland-College Park. He holds a B.S. in Biology from Loyola College (now University) of Maryland.   In 2001, he was awarded the Doctor of Humane Letters (Honoris Causa) from Cuttington University in the West African nation of Liberia.


Isis Artze-Vega, Ed.D. serves as college provost and vice president for academic affairs at Valencia College in Central Florida, a Hispanic-Serving Institution that serves about 70,000 students annually and has long been regarded as one of the nation’s best community colleges. She provides strategic leadership for the areas of curriculum, assessment, faculty development, distance learning, career and workforce education, and partnerships for educational equity. Prior to joining Valencia, Isis served as assistant vice president for teaching and learning at Florida International University (FIU), leading such efforts as a gateway course project, a hybrid course initiative, and the comprehensive redesign of teaching evaluation. Prior to joining FIU, she taught English composition and enrollment management at the University of Miami. Most importantly, she is the proud wife of visual artist Sinuhe Vega; the proud mami of Kamilah, 16, and Delilah, 14; and forever indebted to extraordinary parents, Mayra and Elias. Her work is fueled by a commitment to equity and justice, implemented through love and service.