President Philomena V. Mantella said Hodas, who began his duties in
June, brings a breadth of experience to a role focused on innovative
approaches to education and will make an immediate impact.
"Steven is a visionary with a proven track record of building
startup organizations, as well as new systems for public education,”
Mantella said. “He is focused on understanding and elevating the
unique and evolving needs of both learners and institutions, which is
synergistic with GVSU’s values and mission."
Most recently, Hodas served as senior fellow at the University of
Washington’s Center for Reinventing Public Education, where he focused
on pandemic-related innovations to dismantle silos among the K-12,
college and career sectors.
“For years, stress fractures have been growing in our legacy models
of K-12 and higher education. The pandemic exacerbated them, but it
also created openings and examples for promising ways to better serve
students, families and communities," Hodas said. "As
'customers' of the K-12 system’s students, 'suppliers' of its teachers
and administrators, and multi-faceted providers of talent,
universities can have a uniquely catalytic role in society’s evolution.”
“The GV NextEd Accelerator will leverage that role, and it’s exciting
to be part of a breakout university that is not just providing real
solutions for learners today but will also be creating next-generation
exemplars for K-12 and higher ed institutions around the country.”
The first major initiative of GV NextEd Accelerator is GVSU’s
organizing and convening of REP4 (Rapid Education Prototyping for Change,
Learners, Community, Equity), a national alliance of six
colleges and universities that includes learners as lead designers for
their future learning.
The other five founding institutions are Amarillo College, Boise
State University, Fort Valley State University, San José State
University and Shippensburg University. In total, the founders serve
more than 100,000 students.
The GV NextEd Accelerator will also bring under one roof several initiatives:
- K-12Connect, GVSU’s rapidly growing service that provides online
tutoring and teacher support help to K-12 students
- A digital expressway to GVSU for K-12 students, teachers and
families, which provides K-12 students and schools with access to
GVSU’s digital resources, faculty, and dual enrollment courses
- The GV Startup Accelerator, which selects inspiring concepts and
supports faculty, staff, students and community members in
launchingproducts and services to improve education
