Dr. Anne Khademian talks with Josh Wyner, founder and Executive Director of the College Excellence Program at the Aspen Institute, where he also serves as a Vice President. Their discussion focuses on the importance in higher education of building successful pathways for students that guide and support them in their pursuit of their degrees or other credentials, and enable them to ultimately achieve their career goals. For more information about Josh Wyner's work at the Aspen Institute visit www.aspeninstitute.org and for more information about his book "What Excellent Community Colleges Do: Preparing All Students for Success" visit https://www.aspeninstitute.org/publications/excellent-community-colleges-preparing-students-success/.

In this first interview of the AKA Innovation series, Dr. Anne Khademian shares excerpts from her recent on-stage interview with a visionary, renowned higher education leader: Dr. Freeman Hrabowski, longtime president of UMBC (University of Maryland Baltimore County). The discussion was part of a tribute event at the Universities at Shady Grove, as Dr. Hrabowski prepares to retire from his post after 30 extraordinary years of transformative leadership at the university.

In this brief, introductory episode, Dr. Anne Khademian provides an initial explanation of the purpose of AKA Innovation and how and why the name of the podcast came about.