CHARLES E. CARPENTER LECTURE & CONFERENCE ENDOWMENT
ABOUT THE LECTURE:
Friday, May 16, 2025, from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m.
OSU Portland Center
555 SW Morrison Street Portland, OR 97204
Established in 2004, the Charles E. Carpenter Lecture and Conference Endowment supports advances in professional development for community college leaders. Held each spring, the Carpenter Lecture features a nationally known speaker on a topic of importance to community colleges. In addition to current students in the Adult and Higher Education doctoral program, attendees include northwest community college leaders and members of the OSU community. The Carpenter Lecture has become a premier professional development event for community college leaders and has significantly advanced Oregon State University’s work in community college leadership.
2025 GUEST SPEAKER: DR. LORENZO DUBOIS BABER
Professor, Education Policy, Organization and Leadership
Executive Director for the Office of Community College Research and Leadership
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Event Date: Friday, May 16, 2025, from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m.
About the Speaker:
Dr. Lorenzo DuBois Baber is Professor of Higher Education in the Department of Education, Organization, Policy and Leadership in the College of Education. He also is the Executive Director for the Office of Community College Research and Leadership at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Dr. Baber's scholarly interest broadly examine equity and social justice in post-secondary education. His research foci include leadership within community college contexts; experiences of minoritized students in post-secondary STEM education; and use of critical theory to inform higher education policies and practices.
Dr. Baber is past president of the Council for the Study of Community Colleges (CSCC), the largest scholarly organization dedicated to research on community colleges. He has also served as a member of the State of Illinois Equity Plan Advisory Committee for the Illinois Community College Board, a member of the Community College Baccalaureate Advisory Committee for the Illinois Community College Trustees Association, and a lead consultant on the Transfer Equity Working Group for the Illinois Deputy Governor for Education.
Dr. Baber holds a Ph.D. in Education Policy Studies (with an emphasis in Higher Education and cognate in Sociology) from Pennsylvania State University. Prior to rejoining faculty at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, he held tenure-line faculty appointments at Loyola University Chicago and Iowa State University. Dr. Baber has professional experience as a mid-level administrator in Undergraduate Admissions, Multicultural Affairs, and Residence Life. He proudly hails from Greensboro, North Carolina.