Marianne Boeke, Ph.D.

Dr. Marianne Boeke is president of the National Council for State Authorization Reciprocity Agreements (NC-SARA). Located in Boulder, Colorado, NC-SARA is a private nonprofit organization that, in partnership with the four regional education compacts, coordinates the implementation of SARA nationally. SARA helps expand students’ access to educational opportunities and ensures more efficient, consistent, and effective regulation of distance education programs. NC-SARA supports, facilitates, and serves the regional compacts, regional steering committees, State Portal Entities, and SARA-participating institutions as they carry out the work of SARA.

Prior to serving as NC-SARA’s president, Dr. Boeke was NC-SARA’s vice president for research and state partnerships. She oversaw all aspects of SARA data collection and reporting, supervised other related research projects, and curated the State Authorization Surveys (The Guide). She also provided state and regional compact support and, along with other senior leadership, worked on policy-related issues.

Before joining NC-SARA, Dr. Boeke served as senior associate at the National Center for Higher Education Management Systems (NCHEMS). She worked on a variety of long- and short-term projects in collaboration with the Aspen Institute, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Lumina Foundation for Education, National Science Foundation (NSF), Strada Education Network, and the State Authorization Network (SAN). Her work in state authorization began in 2011 when she co-created the State Higher Education Executive Officers Association (SHEEO) survey on state authorization while working at NCHEMS. Dr. Boeke has also worked at the Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education (WICHE/WCET) and at Western Governors University (WGU) during the inaugural years, and she has held several institutional administration positions in both Washington, D.C., and Colorado.

Dr. Boeke has written about and presented at numerous national, regional, and state conferences on a variety of topics including evaluation, qualitative research, accreditation, post-secondary attainment, technology and costing issues in higher education, competency-based education, state authorization (compliance issues), and federal/state regulations. She holds a Ph.D. from the University of Denver, a master’s degree from The American University, and a bachelor’s degree from San Jose State University.