ACTA's Must-Reads author bios
David Azerrad
David Azerrad is a program officer at ACTA, overseeing the organization's media outreach. He is currently completing his Ph.D. in politics at the University of Dallas, where he taught Principles of American Government to undergraduates. Previously, he was a foreign correspondent in Malaysia affiliated with The Times of London and edited a number of publications in his native Canada.
Sandra Diaz
Sandra (Czelusniak) Diaz is a program officer at ACTA, focusing on policy. She previously interned with the Center for American Studies at the Heritage Foundation and was a 2007 Publius Fellow with the Claremont Institute. She completed her B.A. in history cum laude at Cornell University in 2007 and her M.A. in American history at Queen's University Belfast in Northern Ireland in 2008.
Heather Lakemacher
Heather Lakemacher is the Jerry L. Martin Fellow in Higher Education Reform at ACTA. She is a graduate of Shimer College, where she also served as a trustee. She is currently participating in the Charles G. Koch Charitable Foundation's Associate Program. Previously, she was the customer service manager for Cedar Roofing Company in Lake Forest, Illinois. Her fellowship honors the outstanding contributions to higher education reform made by Jerry L. Martin, ACTA's founding president and the former chairman of the philosophy department at the University of Colorado at Boulder.
Noah Mamis
Noah Mamis is a program officer at ACTA. He earned a B.A. in classics at Yale University, where he served as speaker of the Yale Political Union, vice chairman of the Independent Party, and an editor of the multilingual magazine Babel Babel. He has been an architectural archaeologist for the Zea Harbour Project in Piraeus, Greece, as well as an intern at the Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium in Brussels.
Charles Mitchell
Charles Mitchell is the program director at ACTA. He graduated summa cum laude with a B.A. in history and economics from Bucknell University and has participated in the Charles G. Koch Charitable Foundation's Associate Program (2007-2008), the Mackinac Center for Public Policy's Leadership Conference (2006), the Claremont Institute's Publius Fellowship Program (2005), and the Collegiate Network's Geostrategic Correspondence Course (2004). He has written in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, the Harrisburg Patriot-News, the Washington Times, and other publications, as well as appearing on The News Hour with Jim Lehrer, MSNBC, C-SPAN, Fox News Channel, and National Public Radio.
Anne D. Neal
Anne D. Neal is the president of ACTA. She graduated Phi Beta Kappa and magna cum laude from Harvard College with an A.B. in American History and Literature and received her J.D. from Harvard Law School, where she served as the first woman editor of the Harvard Journal on Legislation. From 1990 to 1992, she specialized in the First Amendment at the New York City law firm of Rogers & Wells. She has also served as General Counsel of the Office of Administration in the Executive Office of the President, General Counsel and Congressional Liaison of the National Endowment for the Humanities, and editor of the American Bar Association newsletter Communications Lawyer. She regularly speaks on higher education across the country and writes for publications including the Chicago Sun Times, Inside Higher Ed, the Rocky Mountain News. Liberal Education, and academic journals such as The Montana Professor.
Erin
O'Connor
Erin O'Connor writes, researches, and blogs for ACTA. She received her B.A. in English from the University of California, Berkeley, and earned her Ph.D. in English language and literature at the University of Michigan. She has taught English at the University of Michigan and the University of Pennsylvania. Currently a director of communications at the Moving Picture Institute, she has been writing about higher education issues since launching her weblog, Critical Mass, in 2002.
Michael B. Poliakoff
Michael B. Poliakoff is the policy director at ACTA. He received his B.A. magna cum laude from Yale University and went on to study at Oxford University and the University of Michigan, where he earned a Ph.D. in classical studies. He previously served as vice president for academic affairs and research at the University of Colorado and in senior roles at the National Endowment for the Humanities, the National Council on Teacher Quality, the American Academy for Liberal Education, and the Pennsylvania Department of Education. He has taught at Georgetown University, George Washington University, Hillsdale College, the University of Illinois at Chicago, and Wellesley College and is the author of numerous books and journal articles.
Mike Schilling
Mike Schilling is ACTA's office manager. He grew up in Cincinnati and earned a B.A. magna cum laude in International Relations and Chinese at Tufts University. During his career he has been a ballroom dance instructor, a teacher, a law clerk, a children's theater host, and an editor.