The board of trustees of Strayer University, a for-profit educational institution based in Washington, D.C. has chosen Andrea Backman as the university’s seventeenth president. She has been serving as acting president since November 2020. Earlier, she was chief employability officer for Strategic Education Inc., the university’s parent firm.
Strayer University enrolls 50,773 students at its 65 campuses in the United States.
“I am proud to serve as the president of a university that is accessible to anyone who wants to advance their education and their career, and I will continue to find innovative ways to support our students in their pursuit of economic mobility,” Dr. Backman said. “I also recognize the importance of this role in a post-pandemic world in which many working adults who left the workforce are pursuing education to change or advance their careers. It is imperative that Strayer support their educational and career success.”
Earlier in her career, Dr. Backman was the chief academic officer at Rasmussen College in Minneapolis, director of new program development and academic approvals at the School of Continuing and Professional Studies at the University of Virginia, and senior vice provost for faculty affairs at Strayer University.
A graduate of Pennsylvania State University, Dr. Backman holds a master’s degree from DePaul University in Chicago and a doctorate in higher education from the University of Virginia.