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Ted Marchese, senior consultant, served 18 years as vice president of the American Association for Higher Education (AAHE) before coming to Academic Search in 2000. While at AAHE he edited Change (higher education’s most-read magazine), the AAHE Bulletin, and directed a foundation-supported project that resulted in his widely praised publication, “The Search Committee Handbook,” 29,000 copies of which have been sold to date. In 1998, a magazine poll listed Marchese among higher education’s 25 most influential leaders.

At Academic Search, Marchese served a two-year term as managing director before moving to full-time search work. In the latter role he has used his extensive networks and communication skills to bring several high-profile searches to happy conclusion. Clients cite his diligence, good sense, and astuteness about search as reasons for their success. Marchese finds that the practice of search becomes a way to advance values or issues he cares about, including trustee effectiveness, diversity in pools, regard for candidates, and search characterized by listening and communication.

Marchese is a New Jersey native with degrees from Rutgers (English), Georgetown (law), and Michigan (Ph.D. in higher education). He worked in Washington, D.C., as a staff aide to U.S. Senator Clifford P. Case (1960-61), on the early Peace Corps staff (1962), and for the American Council on Education’s Commission on Academic Affairs (1963-65).

Marchese spent 14 years at Barat College in Lake Forest, Illinois, as a faculty member and administrator. In the latter role his assignments included planning, institutional research, government relations, accreditation, and grants management. From 1979-82, he was the College’s vice president for administration.

In the mid-80s, Marchese helped create the AAHE Assessment Forum as a center for leadership and thought on the topic, and launched AAHE's annual assessment conference, which attracts 1,900 participants. In the early Nineties, Marchese led AAHE efforts to examine concepts of Continuous Quality Improvement (CQI) for university life; this led in 1996 to AAHE's Summer Academy, an annual five-day, 40-campus event held each July in the Rockies. Over the years, too, he wrote many influential articles and editorials. Among his recent articles are "The New Conversations About Learning: Insights from Neuroscience, Anthropology, Cognitive Science, and Work-Place Studies" (1997) and “Not-So-Distant Competitors: How New Providers Are Remaking the Postsecondary Marketplace” (1998), both at www.aahe.org.

Marchese has consulted or spoken on some 300 campuses and keynoted several dozen conferences, including seven abroad. In 1994-95 and 2000-2001, he was a senior lecturer at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. He served as a trustee of Eckerd College from 1999-2009.