President Pulsipher's Focus Areas
There are many areas in higher education that President Pulsipher is particularly passionate about. A few of those areas include:
1
Renewing the Promise of Higher Education
Higher education should move individuals forward in their lives. Pulsipher is passionate about making education affordable and accessible to all, while also ensuring that it creates value for students by aligning to workforce needs.
2
Closing the Digital Divide
The world of learning and work is now online, and it's here to stay. Pulsipher believe that internet access is a necessity, not a luxury, and is committed to a future in which every learner has the digital skills, device access, and connectivity needed to thrive in a technology-enabled future.
3
Student-Centered Design
Traditionally, higher education has been campus-based and centered on the needs and priorities of the institution. Pulsipher believes that the student should be at the center of everything we do and that the future of higher education is personalized to the needs of each individual student.
4
Tech-First Mentality
History and tradition have value, but they shouldn’t constrain our approach to solving the real problems that individuals face in accessing and thriving in higher education. Pulsipher takes a tech-first, solution-oriented, innovation-driven approach in order to build what students need.
5
Advancing Equity
Higher education should be an engine of economic mobility, but too often it has replicated structural inequalities instead of leveling them. Pulsipher is committed to closing equity gaps in access and attainment at WGU and across the system of higher education.
Recent Media from President Pulsipher
Dropping enrollment numbers a concern for colleges, November 2022
Scott Pulsipher on Student Debt, June 2022
Country Continues to Wait for Student Debt Forgiveness Decision, June 2022
Scott Pulsipher on Student Debt, June 2022
The Edge: This Online Giant Is Just Getting Started, May 2022
The Future of Education: Where Is It and What Does It Look Like?, March 2022
A Focus on Value: Five Questions for WGU President Scott Pulsipher, Nov 2021
The Higher Ed Shift: Presidential Series, September 2021
Time to Talk About the Many Ways Higher Education Must Change, August 2021
The Hechinger Report, August 2021
A ‘Skills-Denominated’ Learning and Work Model, August 2021
Watch President Pulsipher's Congressional Testimony
On June 29th, 2021, President Pulsipher testified at the Oversight Subcommittee Hearing on Expanding Access to Higher Education and the Promise It Holds.
Watch the full hearing below or read President Pulsipher's oral testimony here.
Read President Pulsipher's
Forbes Articles
Learn more from President Pulsipher as he discusses topics such as student loan forgiveness, progress in higher education, and bridging the digital divide.
Contact President Pulsipher
President Pulsipher always welcomes feedback, concerns, and comments.
Other Inquiries
For media inquiries, presentation requests, etc., contact Aaron Silverman at aaron.silverman@wgu.edu.
Biography
Scott Pulsipher serves as president of nonprofit Western Governors University (WGU), the nation’s first and largest competency-based university, leading all academic, operational, and organizational functions.
Pulsipher came to WGU in 2016 and blends a personal drive for making a difference in the lives of individuals and families through education and a passion for technology-powered innovation. At WGU, he is driving continuous innovation to improve student outcomes by focusing on rapidly advancing curriculum quality, new faculty models, data-driven learning, and an innovative cost model. In 2020, EdTech Digest named him one of the Top 100 Influencers in EdTech.
Pulsipher chairs the President’s Forum, a collaborative network of nearly 20 college and university presidents committed to the reinvention of higher education. He also serves as a member of Handshake’s Impact Advisory Board, and on the board of the American Council on Education.
Before coming to WGU, Pulsipher had more than 20 years of leadership experience in technology-based, customer-focused businesses, including Amazon, Sterling Commerce (now part of IBM), and two successful startups that traverse retail, supply chain, banking, payments, and manufacturing sectors.
Pulsipher holds a bachelor’s degree in management from Brigham Young University and an MBA from Harvard University.
