Our Staff

Mushtaq Gunja serves as executive director of the Carnegie Classification systems and senior vice president at ACE, where he is in charge of running and reimagining the Carnegie framework. Prior to joining ACE, Mushtaq served as assistant dean in academic affairs at Georgetown University Law Center (DC), where he was in charge of academic policies for the law school, including accreditation, …

Sara Gast is the deputy executive director for the Carnegie Classifications, supporting the redesign and development of the Basic and Social & Economic classifications. She joined ACE in May 2022, and prior to that served as the chief of staff and executive director of strategic communications at the National Institute for Excellence in Teaching, a K-12 nonprofit that works to ensure …

Paul LeMahieu is the senior vice president of the Carnegie Foundation. Previously at Carnegie, he managed the Foundation’s programmatic work and directed the work of the Carnegie Hub, which supports the networks the Foundation convenes to engage problems of education practice in the field. LeMahieu came to Carnegie from the National Writing Project (NWP) at the University of California, Berkeley where …

Marisol Morales is the Executive Director of the Carnegie Elective Classifications, providing conceptual leadership and operational oversight to the elective classifications’ work. This includes the collaborative development of and responsibility for all initiatives, oversight, and facilitation of relevant national and international advisory committees, conceptualizing and implementing extensive data archives as well as developing and enacting a shared vision regarding access to …

Lauren is the Associate Director of the Carnegie Elective Classifications, supporting the operational management of the elective classifications and building new connections through collaboration with national and international partners. Lauren has completed a BA in German from Hendrix College, MA in German Studies from the University of Missouri-Columbia, and an MS in Experiential Education at Minnesota State University, Mankato. Her professional …

John Saltmarsh is Professor of Higher Education in the Department of Leadership in Education in the College of Education and Human Development at the University of Massachusetts, Boston. He has published widely on community-engaged teaching, learning and research, and organizational change in higher education, including, the co-edited book with Mathew Johnson, “The Elective Carnegie Community Engagement Classification: Constructing a Successful Application …

Carla Ortega Santori is the Strategic Initiatives Manager at the Doerr Institute for New Leaders at Rice University, where she manages the Carnegie Elective Classification in Leadership for Public Purpose. Prior to this role, she developed learning and development strategies at a leading healthcare company in Puerto Rico. She has also worked as an Executive Recruiter and volunteered as an AmeriCorps VISTA. …

Victor (Vic) M. H. Borden is Professor of Higher Education and Student Affairs at Indiana University Bloomington. He is the Project Director for IU’s Charting the Future initiative and directed the Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education from 2014 through 2022. Borden’s prior roles also include as Associate Vice President for University Planning, Institutional Research and Accountability at Indiana University …

Daria Ivleva is a doctoral candidate in Higher Education at Indiana University Bloomington. Her research focuses on measuring scientific research activity within higher education institutions and critical analyses of national and international rankings. Ivleva completed a master’s degree in Educational Leadership and Policy Analysis at the University of Missouri-Columbia. Before pursuing graduate degrees, Ivleva worked as an institutional research analyst for …