Douglas L. Robertson (Ph.D., Maxwell School, Syracuse University, 1978) is Tenured Full Professor of Higher Education in the Department of Educational Policy Studies, School of Education and Human Development, College of Arts, Sciences, and Education, at Florida International University, a public metropolitan research university in Miami with highest research activity (R1) and engaged Carnegie designations (2021 enrollment, 74,678). From 2008 to 2016, Dr. Robertson was the University Dean of Undergraduate Education. From 2011 to 2015, Dr. Robertson served as university lead for the Graduation Success Initiative (GSI), a complex set of institution-wide, student success interventions that improved the six-year graduation rate by 16 points in its four years of existence and that in November, 2013, won the Most Visible Progress (MVP) Award from the Association of Public and Land-Grant Universities (APLU). Since 2009, Dr. Robertson has been the Principal Investigator or CoPrincipal Investigator of six student success grants totaling over $4.6 million. From 2014 to 2016, he was FIU’s Founding Operational Lead for the innovative Florida Consortium of Metropolitan Research Universities, in partnership with the University of Central Florida (Orlando) and the University of South Florida (Tampa Bay).
Dr. Robertson has been actively involved in significant innovations in American higher education for 46 years, including both undergraduate and graduate education, and has over 32 years of experience as an academic administrator (12 years private, 20 years public). He has chaired academic departments, co-directed a liberal arts division, administered doctoral and masters programs, been a university dean, and served for 18 years (1999-2016) on the executive staff of nine university Chief Academic Officers.