Donald E. Heller is Provost and Vice President of Academic Affairs at the University of San Francisco. He is responsible for the university’s five schools, libraries, academic affairs, student life, enrollment management, online programs, branch campuses, international relations, and diversity and community outreach.
His academic work is in the areas of educational economics, public policy, and finance, and he has consulted with the federal government and university systems and policymaking organizations in ten states. He has testified in front of Congressional committees, state legislatures, and in federal court cases as an expert witness.
Previously Dr. Heller was Dean of the College of Education at Michigan State, Director of the Center for the Study of Higher Education at Penn State, and assistant professor at the University of Michigan. Before his academic career, he was an information technology manager at MIT.
Dr. Heller has 200 publications, and he has been interviewed by and/or has published opinion columns in media including The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, The Chronicle of Higher Education, NPR, and other media. He is editor or co-editor of six books, including most recently Student Financing of Higher Education: A Comparative Perspective. In 2012 he was appointed to the Board of Trustees of DePaul University.
Dr. Heller earned an Ed.D. in higher education from the Harvard Graduate School of Education, and holds an Ed.M. in administration, planning, and social policy from Harvard and a B.A. in economics and political science from Tufts University.