Our Team

Kyle Albert

Associate Research Professor

George Washington University Institute of Public Policy

Kyle Albert is a sociologist who uses both qualitative and quantitative methods to study emerging alternatives to college degrees, such as professional certifications and certificates, and how those credentials contribute to inequality in organizations and labor markets. Kyle co-founded the NCRN in 2018 with Stephen Crawford and leads several other research projects examining the quality and value of non-degree credentials at the GW Institute of Public Policy.

 

Thomas Weko

Research Professor

George Washington University Institute of Public Policy

Thomas Weko is a Research Professor at the George Washington Institute of Public Policy (GWIPP).  Prior to joining GW, he led the higher education policy program in the OECD Education and Skills Directorate.  In that capacity he advised governments in Europe, East Asia, and Latin America about the design and implementation of higher education policy, and he initiated and led the OECD’s work on alternative (nondegree) credentials.  He has served as Research Manager for Higher Education at the American Institutes for Research; Director of the Policy Planning and Studies Service in the US Department of Education; and Associate Commissioner for Postsecondary, Adult, and Career Education at the (US) National Center for Education Statistics. His work in higher education has also included serving as a senior policy analyst for the US Government Accountability Office (GAO) and the Washington State Higher Education Coordinating Board, and as an Atlantic Fellow with the Higher Education Funding Council for England.  His recent work has focused on funding higher education institutions and learners, on assuring the quality of their provision, on the design of academic contracts and careers, the role of higher education systems in providing opportunities for non-degree learning, and the design of data systems for monitoring performance.

 

Michelle Van Noy

Director

Education and Employment Research Center, Rutgers University

Michelle Van Noy is the Director of the Education and Employment Research Center at the School of Management and Labor Relations at Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey. She has more than 20 years of experience conducting research on education and the workforce focused on credentials, community colleges, and connections between higher education and the labor market. She is currently leading studies on technician education and economic development, state noncredit education data, non-degree credential quality, and student decision making about programs and careers.