Motivational Speakers

Bob Duniway knows what a difference college can make. He also knows that attending college doesn't automatically improve the lives of all students, and he is determined to help students receive the greatest possible benefit from their college investment. Bob's experience as a financially needy student who managed to graduate from Yale with honors, then as a graduate student earning a PhD with his dissertation on why students drop out of or stay in high school and college, and currently as director of institutional research at Seattle University, gives him a wealth of knowledge and insight about when college works for students and when it fails. As a higher education leader he works actively to help colleges and universities better serve students. You can find his advice for students in his book: Winning the College Game: How to find, get into, pay for, and thrive in a great college. As a speaker, Bob's greatest strength is an uncommon ability to entertain and inspire an audience while bringing clarity to complex topics. With a breadth and depth of knowledge about college education, student success and university management, Bob is ready, willing, and able to tailor his presentation(s) to your audience and event focus.

When speaking with high school counselors, college admissions officers, parents and prospective college students, Bob delivers a wealth of information and insight wrapped in an inspiring message. In Winning the College Game Bob lays out a plan for moving through the college application process that keeps the ultimate goal in mind. While college choice, application strategy and the financial aid process are critical issues for prospective college students and their families, they are only means to an end. The real end goal is for students to go on to live more successful and satisfying lives after they graduate than they would have lived if they had not gone to college. This is what winning the college game is really about, and Bob shares a clear process for helping students think through each step of the application process in order to come out as real winners.

Speaking with college and university leaders, Bob focuses on what can be done to best serve today's students. In Generation Net he explores the ways in which technology has changed student learning styles, academic skill development, and social development. Based on a solid understanding of the impact of both technology and college, he demonstrates how a college education is now more relevant than ever, and suggests strategies for helping perpetually connected and distracted students develop into deeply engaged adults.

Bob engages with public policy leaders on the question of how well the system of higher education is serving our collective educational needs. Investing in College explores the question of whether college education is a public good worthy of public support. Rather than cheerleading for increased public financing, or taking a stand as a free market zealot, Bob clearly frames the questions of who benefits when a student enrolls in and graduates from college, and how individual and societal returns on investment can be maximized. This framing of the issue provides a powerful new perspective through which audience members will come to better understand what college is for, how it works, and how it can be made to work better.