About
ADRIANNA KEZAR is the Dean’s Professor of Leadership, Wilbur-Kieffer Professor of Higher Education and Director of the Pullias Center for Higher Education, University of Southern California. She also directs the Delphi Project on the Changing Faculty and Student Success. Kezar holds a Ph.D. and M.A. in higher education administration from the University of Michigan and a B.A. from the University of California, Los Angeles. She joined the faculty at USC in 2003 after serving at The University of Maryland and George Washington University as a faculty member.
Dr. Kezar is a national expert of change and leadership in higher education and her research agenda explores the change process in higher education institutions and the role of leadership in creating change. She has been named in the top 200 educational scholars for the past several years ranking 38th and 42nd. Adrianna’s change and leadership research has been used by government agencies, accreditation bodies, foundations, state systems, consortium, and individual campuses to forward change agendas and initiatives and her leadership research has been used to design leadership development among national associations, consortium of colleges, and campus-based leadership programs. She also regularly consults for campuses and national organizations related to her work on diversity/equity/inclusion, VITAL/contingent faculty, STEM reform, collaboration, and governance. She is an international expert on the changing faculty and she directs the Delphi Project on the Changing faculty and Student Success at USC’s Pullias Center. She is regularly quoted in the media related to her research including: The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, USA Today, The Atlantic, PBS, NPR (national and local stations), Al-Jazerra, Chronicle of Higher Education, Inside Higher Education, among others.
Kezar is well published with 26 books/monographs, more than 100 journal articles, and over a hundred book chapters and reports. Recent books include: Higher education leadership: Challenging tradition and forging possibilities (2024) Johns Hopkins Press; Creating a culture of ecological validation. (2023) Stylus Press. Shared Leadership in higher Education: Responding to a Changing Environment (2021) (Stylus Press); The Gig Academy (2019) (Johns Hopkins Press), Administration for social justice and equity (2019) (Routledge), The Faculty for the 21st century: Moving to a mission-oriented and learner-centered faculty model (2016) (Rutgers Press), How Colleges Change (2013) (Routledge Press), Enhancing Campus Capacity for Leadership (Stanford Press, 2011). She has been cited – over 29,000 times – and her H-index score of 80 is at the level for the most productive scholars in academe with 55 being the average for National Academy of Science members.
She has acquired over $24 million dollars in grant funding and has worked on grant-funded projects exceeding $37 million dollars on a variety of projects to fundamentally improve higher education. She was Principal Investigator for a $6.2 million study — The TSLC Scholars Program: A mixed methods study of a comprehensive college transition and success program for low income students (also known as the Promoting At-promise Student Success or PASS project) — funded by the Susan Thompson Buffett Foundation, one of the largest funded research projects ever awarded in higher education. She currently has two National Science Foundation Studies, one focused on developing a national faculty survey.
She is an AERA Fellow, and has received several national awards including the ASHE Special Merit Award for leading the Pullias Center; AERA Lifetime Research Achievement Award division J, ASHE research award, ASHE leadership award, ACE leadership award, and service award from the National Society for Experiential Learning.
Kezar has participated actively in national/professional service. She is past Vice President for AERA Division J, WASC commissioner, TIAA-CREF Lead Fellow, Haynes Fellow, and served as a member of a consensus panel for the National Academy of Science’s National Research Council Panel. She serves as executive editor for Change Magazine, was section editor for the Higher Education Handbook of Theory and Practice, and edits the Stylus books series on non-tenure track faculty. Formerly she was editor of the ASHE Higher Education report series. She has been on or is currently serving on 12 editorial boards including The Journal of Higher education, The Review of Higher Education, The Journal of College Student Development, and serving as a reviewer for 23 journals in and outside higher education.
Professional service roles also include Board membership for AERA-Division J Council and the Association for the Study of Higher Education’s. Kezar also serves(d) on numerous national higher education boards including for the Gates Foundation, American Association for Higher Education, Association of American Colleges and Universities; National TRIO Clearinghouse. She provides volunteer service for several national organizations including the SEAChange, HERS/Bryn Mawr Summer Institute, Center for the Study of Academic Labor, Accelerating systemic reform in STEM, Project Kaleidoscope, and the Kellogg Forum on Higher Education for the Public Good.
She works regularly with national organizations as an advisor and consultant including higher education associations such as the American Council on Education, American Association of Colleges and Universities, Association of Public and Land Grants Colleges, Association for Governing Boards, League of Innovation, American Association of University Professors; philanthropic organizations such as Gates, Teagle, Spencer, Carnegie, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, and Lumina Foundations; national project such as Achieving the Dream, Accelerating Systemic Reform in STEM Education; and government agencies such as the National Science Foundation, National Institutes for Health, National Institute for the Humanities. This work represents her deep commitment to bring her change and leadership scholarship to policy and practice.
She has been a plenary speaker for hundreds of national conferences a few examples include American Association of Colleges and Universities, CUPA-HR, First Year Experience Conference, Project Kaleidescope, POD, and TIAA-CREF Leadership Forum. She has also been a plenary speaker for state systems including Pennsylvania, Minnesota and Washington and regional organizations like the California Learning Communities Conference.
A more detailed bio is available here.