Betty Overton-Adkins

Dr. Betty Overton-Adkins has been serving as a Professor of Higher Education in the Center for the Study of Higher Education (CSHPE) at the University of Michigan, one of the oldest and the top ranked program in the US. She also serves as Director of the National Forum on Higher Education for the Public Good, a unit within the Center that links higher education research and practice to policies and programs supporting the public good. Prior to joining the University of Michigan, Overton served in a variety of higher education roles, including Provost and acting president at Spring Arbor University, graduate dean at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock, associate dean and faculty at Fisk University, and faculty at the Salzburg Global Seminar in Austria. Her higher education career encompasses a variety of institutional types—private, public, two-year and four-year, rural and urban, minority serving and majority, liberal arts and research. In addition to her campus experience, for ten years she was the director of higher education programs at the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, overseeing major initiatives on minority serving institutions, institutional transformation, community colleges and other projects.

Overton-Adkins is called on frequently as evaluator and consultant for educational programs. In her consulting work she focuses on strategic planning and institutional development, access and diversity, and leadership development. Overton has been hired as consultant and evaluator by the Lumina Foundation, Wal-Mart, Kellogg Foundation, and a number of institutions. For seven years she served as a board member of the Higher Learning Commission (HLC), the nation’s largest regional accrediting association, and two years as its chair. Overton continues her work with accreditation as a consultant-evaluator for HLC. She served for seven years on Union’s Board of Trustees and is now on the Board of Trustees of Spring Arbor University.

Overton has authored a number of articles, and a new book, Engaged Research, is being released by Stylus Publications in September.

Dr. Overton-Adkins earned bachelor and master’s degrees from Tennessee State University and a Ph.D. from George Peabody College at Vanderbilt University. She has pursued sabbatical research at Harvard University as a visiting professor and completed the Harvard Institute for Education Management (IEM). Awarded leadership fellowships by both the American Council on Education and the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, she has been recognized at both the institutional and national levels for her leadership work on behalf of higher education.

In addition to her work within the United States, she serves as a lecturer at Hope Africa University in Burundi and has lectured in China, South Africa, Austria, and Zimbabwe.