Dr. Maya Evans serves as Director of Growth Strategies in the Division of Continuing Studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison where she guides strategic insight and action on the top priorities of the division and the university.  Her efforts are currently focused on development of a new portfolio of online undergraduate degree completion programs and the future state redesign of the noncredit unit.  Her responsibilities are rooted in the university’s north star, the Wisconsin Idea, which articulates that the beneficence of the university should reach every resident of the state.

Previously, Evans served as Executive Director of Research and Planning at Oakton Community College where she supported development and evaluation of the “Persistence Project,” a Caring Campus initiative.  She remains proud of the authentic community forged among students and employees that diminished gaps in course success and persistence for historically underserved students.

As a student at Evanston Township High School,  she co-created a nationally-recognized mentoring program between middle school and high school students of color and was featured on the cover of Education Week in a feature article, “Black Like Us.”

Dr. Evans holds a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from Washington University in Saint Louis where she was a John B. Ervin Scholar and  earned a Master of Arts and Doctor of Philosophy in Political Science from the University of Illinois at Chicago.  In 2018, she was recognized with the “40 Under 40” award by the American Association of Women in Community Colleges, and she successfully completed EAB’s inaugural Rising Higher Education Leaders Fellowship in 2021.