Ben Wildavsky

Ben Wildavsky is a veteran higher education writer, speaker, and convener who hosts the Higher Ed Spotlight podcast. His journalism and education policy experience includes leadership roles at Strada Education Network, the College Board, and U.S. News & World Report. He is currently a visiting scholar at the University of Virginia. His latest book, The Career Arts: Making the Most of College, Credentials, and Connections, was published by Princeton University Press in November 2023. He is the award-winning author of The Great Brain Race and coeditor of Reinventing Higher Education and Measuring Success, with bylines in publications including the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, the Atlantic, and the Washington Post. He is a former scholar at the Brookings Institution, the Rockefeller Institute of Government, and the Kauffman Foundation. He has spoken in 16 U.S. states and 10 foreign countries, including events at Google, the World Bank, the OECD in Paris, and the London School of Economics.