Educator, Executive Director (retired), Foundation for a College Education
East Palo Alto, California

Anna Waring has been executive director of Foundation for a College Education (FCE) in East Palo Alto, California since 2007. FCE’s mission is to increase the number of low-income students of color from East Palo Alto and similar communities who graduate from four-year colleges or universities. FCE’s comprehensive approach involves parents as well as students in the college process beginning as early as grade six, continuing with the families until the students graduate from college. The Lumina Foundation and the Educational Policy Institute recognized FCE as a model college access organization in 2007 and 2012 respectively.

In Chicago, Anna served as president of Josephinum Academy, a Catholic school that educates low-income Latina and African-American girls. At DePaul University, Anna was an administrator and a faculty member in the Public Services Graduate Program. Immediately following college she worked for A Better Chance, Inc., a national talent search organization for academically-gifted high school students of color.

Anna has a BA in psychology from Williams College (1978) and received her PhD in education from Stanford University (1995). Currently, she serves on the board of the Center for Excellence in Nonprofits. Formerly, she served on the board of trustees of Crystal Springs Uplands School in Hillsborough, California, and the National Advisory Board of the Haas Center for Public Service at Stanford University. In 2006, she received the Bicentennial Medal from Williams College, the College’s highest honor, for her work in education.