APRIL 2021
Leaders in higher education, equity, and philanthropy join CTAC Board of Directors
Dear Friends:
CTAC is pleased to welcome two leaders in higher education, equity, non-profit management, and philanthropy as new members of our Board of Directors.
Susan Faircloth, an enrolled member of the Coharie Tribe, is Professor and Director of the School of Education at Colorado State University. She is also a member of the Race and Intersectional Studies for Education Equity (RISE) Center at Colorado State. Previously, Susan has served in a wide variety of academic appointments, including Professor and Chair of the Department of Educational Leadership at the University of North Carolina Wilmington, Director of the American Indian Leadership Program and the Center for the Study of Leadership in American Indian Education at the Pennsylvania State University, and Director of Policy Analysis and Research at the American Indian Higher Education Consortium. Susan is a member of the editorial board of the Journal of American Indian Education and chair of the technical review panel for the National Indian Education Study conducted by the National Center for Education Statistics, the Office of Indian Education, and the Educational Testing Service. Her research interests include Indigenous education, education of culturally and linguistically diverse students with special education needs, and moral and ethical dimensions of school leadership. She has been published widely in such journals as Journal of Disability Policy Studies and Harvard Educational Review. Susan has a B.A. in History from Appalachian State University and a Ph.D. in Educational Administration from Pennsylvania State University.
Michelle Feist is a Senior Program Officer on the K–12 Education Team at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation where she manages a portfolio of grants focused on increasing the numbers of Black, Latino/a, and low-income students who are on-track to complete high school and succeed in postsecondary. Michelle has over 20 years of experience leading various portfolios of projects supporting secondary school reform, youth engagement, and systemic change initiatives. Previously, she served as Director of the Department of School and Community Services and in other senior level positions at Family Health International (FHI 360). She has developed and managed numerous multi-million dollar federal contracts and grants, leading diverse teams of experts within and across organizations to produce high quality technical assistance products and services. She has also provided programmatic and grantee support to several large education-focused foundations. She has worked with hundreds of schools and districts across the country to implement continuous improvement processes that analyze data and refine school-wide and individual student interventions. Michelle has a B.A. in Government from Wesleyan University and an MPA from Princeton University.  

To see CTAC's full board of directors, please visit our website.

Best Regards,
William J. Slotnik
Founder and Executive Director 
Community Training and Assistance Center (CTAC)