Selena Grace

Selena M. Grace, PhD, NWCCU President. She previously served as Executive Vice President for NWCCU and provided strategic counsel on internal affairs and engagement with external state and federal regulatory agencies such as C-RAC, NACIQI, and state/federal legislators. She provided support to a portfolio of institutions with a focus on supporting the Tribal Colleges and federally recognized Minority Serving Institutions. Her work included building internal capacity, strategic planning, supporting substantive changes processes and procedures, supporting peer evaluator capacity, and updates and revisions to handbooks. Previously she served as Vice Provost for Academic Strategy & Institutional Effectiveness at Idaho State University. Dr. Grace brings significant experience leading transformational change in education policy and practices, as well as bringing diverse constituents together. She was a member of the inaugural cohort of the WICHE Western Academic Leadership Academy, and her previous experience includes Chief Academic Officer at the Idaho State Board of Education where she was the primary author and manager of the Complete College Idaho Plan. Dr. Grace has supported NWCCU as an Evaluator, Evaluation Team Chair, and Accreditation Liaison Officer, and has deep knowledge of accreditation and higher education regulations.

Dr. Grace is a first-generation college graduate. She has a B.A. in English with a writing emphasis and a minor in Native American Studies from Boise State University, an M.F.A. in creative writing, non-fiction from George Mason University, and a Ph.D. in public policy and administration from Boise State University. Her research focused on representation of American Indian teachers in public K-12 education and how that impacted access and performance of American Indian students.