ROI is pleased to introduce our ROI Strategic Partner, Dr. Gretchen M. Bataille, who brings decades of senior leadership experience to the ROI portfolio in higher education.  

 

Gretchen M. Bataille’s long career in higher education has included a variety of positions from department chair to university president and, most recently, as the Senior Vice President for the American Council on Education, the preeminent membership association for over 1800 colleges and universities. In her various roles, she has taught, mentored, managed

over $15 M in grants, and has consulted in higher education both in the United States and abroad. She has been invited to visit and speak in over twenty countries.

 

Before becoming president of the University of North Texas, a research university with over 36,000 students, Dr. Bataille served as an administrator at Arizona State University (department chair and associate dean), University of California, Santa Barbara (provost), Washington State University (provost) and the University of North Carolina system (senior vice president). Her academic experiences include nearly twenty years as a faculty member at Iowa State University, a one-year appointment as interim chancellor at the University of North Carolina School of the Arts and ten months of consulting at the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York City.

 

Throughout her long career in higher education, Bataille has been a frequent speaker at colleges and universities and for leadership programs and has been in demand for programs specifically targeting women’s leadership. She has consulted at the University of Albany (SUNY), Iowa State University, Utah State University, University of Colorado, Georgia State University, Queens College, Yale University, Scripps College, Cal State San Marcus, CSU Chico, UC Santa Cruz, UC Merced, UC System, CSU System, University of Central Oklahoma, Texas A&M University San Antonio, Virginia Commonwealth University, UT El Paso, UT Permian Basin, and U of Houston Clear Lake as well as working on projects for the Department of State, CIES, the Sloan Foundation, WASC and other government agencies and foundations. She served as the US Senior Academic Advisor for six years for Navitas, a global higher education company located in Australia with academic pathway programs in Australia, UK, US, Canada, Kenya, Sri Lanka, Singapore and Indonesia and is on the Advisory Board for Yellowdig.  In 2014 and 2016 she served as the Presidential Consultant for the TIAA-CREF Higher Education Leadership Conference in New York City, and in 2015 and 2017 she served on the steering committee for the Kellogg/NADOHE Chief Diversity Officer Summit at Northwestern University.

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Dr. Bataille, whose scholarly specialization is American Indian literature, received her bachelor’s and master’s degrees at California Polytechnic State University and her doctorate in English at Drake University. Her publications include reviews, articles, academic papers, and numerous books in her field. She is the co-author of the book, Faculty Career Paths: Multiple Routes to

 

Academic Success and Satisfaction. Managing the Unthinkable: Crises Preparation and Response for Campus Leaders, co-edited with Diana Cordova (Stylus, 2014), provides advice to campus leadership on crises from shootings to natural disasters. She has presented over 200 speeches and has written or edited fifteen books. Bataille has served as a member of the Board of Trustees of The College Board, ACE and Drake University.   She was a member of the Board of Directors for SAGE Publications for twelve years.