As Vice President of Multimedia & Campus Partnerships, Doug advances ACTA’s messaging and digital media presence for our core audiences focused on issues of academic freedom, excellence, and accountability. He hosts and produces ACTA’s popular podcast, Higher Ed Now; and also leads our student initiatives and alliances with organizations like Braver Angels, BridgeUSA, and Students for Free Expression (where he serves on the Board of Directors). He is the leader of Braver Angels’ College Debates Program, which launched in 2018 and has been expanding ever since, bringing civil discourse and depolarization to student communities across the nation.
As a communications leader, Doug has led teams driving educational opportunities and building communities of support for disadvantaged youth; produced public awareness campaigns, video and digital content to support fundraising, development, public policy efforts, and much more. Previously, he served as National Director of Communications at Learning Ally, an educational nonprofit that has supported millions of students with disabilities like blindness and dyslexia. He also led communications at Orphan Foundation of America, providing a path into college for thousands of youth aging out of the foster care system. In a global corporate setting, he was the International Director of Public Relations and Employee Comms for Heidelberg Digital, a $1billion technology joint venture between Heidelberg and Eastman Kodak. Doug earned his BA in Communications and Film from the University of Rochester. In his spare time, he is a dedicated guitarist and recording musician, as well as a video and audio producer with a passion for story-driven media that unite and inspire people from all walks of life.
In Fall 2022, at ACTA's ATHENA Roundtable in Washington DC, a remarkable morning panel was hosted by Doug Sprei, Higher Ed Now producer and ACTA's Vice President of Campus Partnerships and Multimedia.
I don’t sleep much after chairing a Braver Angels college debate. There’s a surge of excitement that reverberates for hours after I guide the collision of highly charged, diverse viewpoints that students carry into the classroom or auditorium. It defies gravity and buoys me up—which explains why I began writing this essay late at night in my hotel room after leading a debate on the campus of UNC Greensboro this past semester.
Is it education or indoctrination? A credibility gap concerning such basic professional ethics imperils the reputation of colleges and universities and for public institutions could well affect a state legislature’s funding decisions.
Ron DeSantis, Florida’s governor and a potential Republican presidential prospect, says he wants to […]
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