Elaine Maimon

Dr. Elaine Maimon is an educator, author, and former university president with a record of promoting transformational reform in higher education.

She began her career as an English professor at private liberal arts colleges, where she orchestrated one of the nation’s first writing-across-the-curriculum programs. This interdisciplinary work eventually led her to the position of Associate Dean of the College at Brown University.

After many years at private institutions, she wanted to ensure that students at public universities could reap the same benefits from educational reform. As Dean of Experimental Programs and tenured Professor of English at Queens College (CUNY), she worked to provide opportunities for high potential/low-income students. She then spent 24 years in chief executive officer positions at Arizona State University West, University of Alaska-Anchorage, and Governors State University.

Elaine Maimon is the author of several books. A Writer’s Resource, now in its sixth edition, teaches effective communication strategies for every situation and discipline. Leading Academic Change: Vision, Strategy, Transformation (2018) sets an agenda for essential reforms necessary for institutions to educate the New Majority (first-generation, students of color, adults, and military veterans).

Now, from the platform of the American Council of Education (ACE), where she served for five years as a Board member, she consults and communicates on educational transformations. Dr. Maimon has shared her vision for higher education in a post-pandemic world in many major publications, including Inside Higher Ed, the Philadelphia Citizen, and Forbes.