APLU Staff Profile, Assistant Vice President for Data & Policy Analysis Bao Le

Name: Bao Le
Department: Data Policy & Analysis
Title: Assistant Vice President
Date you joined APLU: January 10, 2022

What education or work experience had the greatest impact on you? I volunteered to teach English in Mozambique for 2 years and learned so much about how to build relationships with students, my colleagues, and my community in a completely different environment. It taught me a lot about my own capabilities and what not to do when attempting to change behaviors in a different culture.

What motivates you to work in higher education? I believe that education is one of many levers that can be used to lift people and societies out of poverty. In the U.S., higher education is critical for closing racial and socioeconomic gaps, and I want to leverage my data skills and knowledge to help institutions do this.

What current APLU project or initiative are you most excited about? Working with my APLU colleagues to advocate for the College Transparency Act, which would allow for improved access to student level data. The wealth of information that result from such an effort would enable institutional leaders, policy makers, and decision makers in all sectors to enhance policies and programs that can help more students succeed.

What is one thing on your bucket list? I’m a huge hiker, so I would like to hike multiple sections of the Appalachian Trail, which goes from Maine to Georgia and takes a very long time to complete. I can never take that much time away from work, so I would love to divide the trail into multiple manageable sections to complete over time.

What’s the last book you read? The Midnight Library, which is a book about a woman being able to experience multiple versions of her life via different books in a library. I’m not sure how I feel about it because I don’t know too much about the multi-verse or parallel universes.

What was the last concert you attended? It was a fabulous musical using Britney Spears songs called Once Upon a Time One More Time.