Lynn Priddy, PhD

Dr. Lynn Priddy’s career in higher education spans more than 35 years, holding positions of faculty, director of research and assessment, provost and chief academic officer, executive vice president of strategic planning and advancement, executive advisor to the board, strategic advisor to the president, vice president of accreditation services and president and CEO.

Today, Dr. Priddy is the President of Claremont Lincoln University (CLU), a non-profit graduate institution known for its distinctive focus on ethical, mindful leadership committed to positive social change and for its immersive high-quality online programs designed for working adults. At CLU she champions innovative partnerships, including the university’s collaboration with the globally recognized Lincoln Institute of Land Policy. Before assuming the presidency, Dr. Priddy served the university as board member, interim vice president of academic affairs and strategic advisor to the president.

From 2013 to 2020, she served as Provost and Chief Academic Officer and then Executive Advisor and Provost Emeritus for National American University (NAU), a comprehensive institution offering professional and technical programs from diplomas through doctoral degrees. As Provost, she oversaw all aspects of the educational and student success enterprise, as well as institutional effectiveness, planning and accreditation. During her tenure she led multiple formal teach outs, an acquisition, unique mergers, and large-scale transfers.

From 1999 to 2013, Dr. Priddy served the Higher Learning Commission, the largest United States regional accreditor, the last five as Vice President for Accreditation Services. While there, she co-led the development of alternative accrediting processes, redefined and led the systems for institutional change and decision-making, and served as the creator and founding director of the Commission’s Academies for Assessment of Student learning and Student Persistence and Completion. During her tenure, she was responsible for the accreditation processes, including the decision process, the peer corps and peer review, education and training, eligibility and initial accreditation and substantive change. In her 14-year tenure at the Commission, Dr. Priddy played a pivotal leadership role in the conceptualization of the Commission’s new accrediting process, pathways, the development of more than 1,600 member Peer Review Corps, the establishment of accreditation quality improvement process, the alternative accrediting process based on continuous quality improvement principles and the founding of the academies.

Dr. Priddy began her higher education career at Nicolet College (community and technical college), serving there from 1986 – 1999 as Vice President for Institutional Effectiveness, Evaluation, and Planning; Director of Research, Assessment, and Development; and English/Composition Faculty. She is a summa cum laude graduate of the State University of New York at Geneseo with a Bachelor of Arts in English, a summa cum laude graduate of the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities with an Master of Arts in English; and a summa cum laude graduate of Capella University with a Doctor of Philosophy in Higher Education, research and evaluation.

Dr. Priddy currently serves on several boards in the United States and abroad. Known as an innovator, inspirational leader, and gamechanger, Dr. Priddy has focused since the 1990’s on high-quality, deeply engaged online and immersive learning as a means for access, affordability, and equity. She is a frequent national and international speaker and large-group facilitator and has consulted extensively in higher education strategy, change, and quality assurance and improvement both in the U.S. and abroad.