Helen Astin, a psychologist, is professor of higher education and associate director of the Higher Education Research Institute at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). She served as the associate provost of the College of Letters and Science at UCLA from 1983 to 1987, and from 1990 to 1992 as interim director of the UCLA Center for the Study of Women. She has also been director of research and education for the University Research Corporation in Washington, DC. Dr. Astin has been a trustee of Mt. St. Mary’s College, Los Angeles, California, since 1985, and earlier served as a trustee of Hampshire College, Amherst, Massachusetts. Dr. Astin’s research and writings have focused on issues of gender and education, and on leadership. She is the author, with Carole Leland, of Women of Influence, Women of Vision: A Cross-Generational Study of Leaders and Social Change. Dr. Astin earned a Ph.D. in psychology from the University of Maryland, College Park.