Elena Quiroz-Livanis

Elena Quiroz-Livanis is the chief of staff and director of academic policy and student success at the Massachusetts Department of Higher Education. Quiroz-Livanis is also a doctoral student in the higher education program at the University of Massachusetts Boston. She has been at the department for six years and oversees the system’s efforts to create a unified system of transfer and transform developmental education.

Under her leadership and with the support of a fantastic team, Quiroz-Livanis worked with faculty and transfer professionals across the three segments of public higher education to develop statewide transfer maps to over 40 majors. Recently, Massachusetts implemented a reverse transfer policy and created a general education foundation to better support community college students interested in earning a baccalaureate degree in STEM.

Quiroz-Livanis has also worked with Massachusetts public higher education institutions to develop a three-pronged approach to transforming developmental education. These efforts seek to increase the number of students completing college-level English and mathematics courses by using multiple measures to assess student readiness, increasing access to corequisite courses, and building multiple mathematics pathways to ensure students complete the mathematics course appropriate for their major.

Most recently, Quiroz-Livanis started working with the commissioner of higher education under the direction of the Board of Higher Education to develop a system-wide strategic framework focused on equity. The framework seeks to significantly raise the enrollment, attainment, and long-term success outcomes of underrepresented student populations, specifically students from minoritized populations.