Dr. Russell Lowery-Hart, Chancellor, Austin Community College District (ACC)

Dr. Russell Lowery-Hart, Chancellor of Austin Community College (ACC) joins host Prof. Judyth Sachs for an insightful, practical conversation on overcoming bureaucracy to put students back at the center of higher education. They discuss: Building systems for students: Dr. Lowery-Hart assumed student dropouts were driven by pedagogical gaps. Listening to students revealed the real hurdles occurred outside the classroom. Frontline empowerment: In a complex system that defaults to telling stakeholders “no”, ACC intentionally redesigned its operations to enable frontline staff to fix broken processes without needing multi-layered approvals. Scaling human interaction, not automation: ACC is embracing AI to provide a more responsive, personalized learning environment that enhances proactive outreach and human connection the moment a student begins to struggle.