In this encore interview, Dean Hoke and Dr. Senthil Nathan interviewed Dr. Samantha Alvis, the Senior Advisor for Higher Education at the Center for Education in USAID/Washington. In this role, she provides technical support to field offices to design activities that engage higher education institutions or post-secondary student populations and works to advance higher education programming across sectors within the Agency. 

Prior to joining USAID, Samantha was the Director for International Development and Programs at the Association of Public and Land-grant Universities (APLU), where she oversaw a number of projects and initiatives related to the comprehensive internationalization of APLU member campuses. She taught courses in communications and leadership and led study-abroad trips to Namibia and Costa Rica. 

Samantha completed her undergraduate and master’s degrees in agricultural education at the University of Arizona and her Ph.D. in international agricultural development and agricultural communications from Texas A&M University. Her dissertation research focused on the benefits and challenges of higher education development assistance.