Northeastern ‘breaking the mold.’ ACE fellow gets a front-row seat to President Aoun’s visionary leadership Matthew is a fellow with the American Council on Education, a program which allows participants to immerse themselves in the study and practice of leadership by visiting another university. by Cyrus Moulton October 23, 2024 Share this story Copy Link Link Copied! Email Facebook LinkedIn Twitter WhatsApp Reddit Dayna Matthew, American Council on Education fellow at Northeastern Universityl. Photo by Matthew Modoono/Northeastern University Dayna Matthew, dean and professor at The George Washington University Law School, views higher education as “the hope for a pluralist society,” where different groups of people from every walk of life come together to use the world’s most advanced technology – such as artificial intelligence – to solve society’s most pressing problems. And nobody does that better than Northeastern University President Joseph E. Aoun. That is why Matthew is spending this fall shadowing Aoun as a fellow with the American Council on Education. The program allows participants to immerse themselves in the study and practice of leadership by visiting another university to experience its culture, policies and decision-making processes. “Higher education is the only institution in our society that can serve the purpose of both educating people who are able to talk across differences to create opportunities for social mobility, to disseminate knowledge that will solve the world’s biggest problems,” Matthew says, “and teaching people who differ completely from one another to problem-solve together.” She continues, “Joseph Aoun is visionary and committed to that.” ACE fellow Dayna Matthew and President Joseph E. Aoun meet students at Fall Fest. Photo by Matthew Modoono/Northeastern University. Matthew says she was drawn to Northeastern because she wanted to see how a top research university changes the business model for higher education to meet today’s challenges while preserving and promoting the core missions of higher education. She says that she sees Northeastern as “breaking the mold” of higher education through its co-op program, its global campus system and emphasis on combined majors — as well as its transformation into a global research university. “I’m witnessing in the leadership of President Aoun and his senior leadership team, deans and faculty, what I think is the most innovative and impactful combination of pedagogy, research and innovation in the academy,” Matthew says. She says that she also sees parallels between Northeastern and GW. Both schools are research universities in highly competitive urban markets, Matthew explains, both are led by visionary leaders and — particularly at GW Law — there is a focus on experiential education. And both schools have students who share the excitement and enthusiasm for learning with the world as a classroom. “People come to George Washington University in Washington, D.C., because they want to make the world a better place in some way, shape or form,” Matthew says. “They are privileged to convenings that can happen no place else in the world, absolutely no place else in the world from a policy perspective.” Northeastern students, meanwhile, have a global campus system as well as “a front-row seat” to convenings “in the hub of technology, academe and industry” which is also “like no place else in the world,” Matthew says. But there was one day at Northeastern that had no parallel. “I went to convocation — I’ve never had an experience like this,” Matthew says. “This school takes multiculturalism to a whole new level.” So, how would Matthew sum up her experience at Northeastern? “It’s been spectacular,” she says.