Bruce Cole and Michael Poliakoff

Senior Fellow, EPPC; Vice President, ACTA

Bruce Cole is a Senior Fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center. His areas of expertise include the teaching of American history and civics, and private and federal cultural policy. Mr. Cole, the former Chairman of the National Endowment for the Humanities, is the author of fourteen books and numerous articles. Under Mr. Cole’s leadership (from 2001 to 2009), the NEH launched key initiatives, including We the People, a program designed to encourage the teaching, study and understanding of American history and culture, and the Picturing America project, which uses great American art to teach our nation’s history and culture in 80,000 schools and public libraries nationwide. He also created the NEH’s Digital Humanities Initiative and Office, which made the NEH a national leader in this new frontier of humanities access and knowledge. Under his tenure—the longest in NEH history—the NEH developed partnerships with several foreign countries, including Mexico and China. Mr. Cole managed a budget of $150 million and a staff of 170 and was responsible for awards totaling over $800 million dollars.<br /> <br /> Michael Poliakoff is Vice President of Policy at the American Council of Trustees and Alumni. He has taught classical studies at Wellesley College, Georgetown University, George Washington University, and Hillsdale College, where he served as founding chair of the Classics Department. His research was supported by the Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst, the Alexander von Humboldt Stiftung, the National Endowment for <br /> the Humanities, and the Center for Hellenic Studies. Past administrative appointments <br /> include service as Pennsylvania Deputy Secretary of Education, National Endowment <br /> for the Humanities Director of Education Programs , and University of Colorado Vice <br /> President for Academic Affairs. He graduated from Yale University magna cum laude. As a Rhodes Scholar at Corpus Christi College, Oxford, he studied literae humaniores and earned an Hon. BA Class I. His Ph.D. is from University of Michigan in Classical Studies. Dr. Poliakoff has published extensively on ancient history and literature, as well as contemporary issues of education policy.