Dewayne Matthews is a Fellow of Lumina Foundation, the largest private foundation in the United States focused exclusively on postsecondary education. At the end of 2016, he retired from the Foundation as Vice President for Strategy. In that position, he led development of the Foundation’s goal to increase postsecondary attainment in the US to 60% by 2025 and its first three strategic plans. Among other roles at Lumina, he directed its policy work at the state and federal levels and research on postsecondary success.

Matthews has served in a variety of higher education leadership roles, including Senior Advisor to the President and Vice President of the Education Commission of the States (ECS), Director of Programs and Services for the Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education (WICHE), and Executive Director of the New Mexico Commission on Higher Education. He has been a legislative staff member, faculty member, university trustee in the U.S. and Japan, and team member and co-author of OECD and World Bank higher education reviews in Spain, Chile, and Colombia.

A graduate of the University of New Mexico, Matthews began his career as a first-grade teacher in Taos, New Mexico. He earned a master’s degree in bilingual education at New Mexico Highlands University and a doctorate in educational leadership and policy studies at Arizona State University. Honors received include an honorary doctor of humane letters from Marycrest International University, the Manuel Pacheco Award from the Consortium for North American Higher Education Collaboration (CONAHEC), the Distinguished Alumnus Award from New Mexico Highlands University, and the Frank Abbott Award from the Compact for Faculty Diversity.