Elizabeth Dearborn Hughes
Co-Founder of Davis College & Akilah Institute
Elizabeth Dearborn Hughes is the CEO and co-founder of Davis College, a global network of universities that prepares young leaders to solve the world’s most pressing challenges.
Davis is a unique hybrid of a liberal arts education with applied and technical curricula. Davis combines competency-based academic programs with a customized, data-driven learning model to actualize practical experience and equip students with the tools needed to thrive in their chosen careers.
Hughes has spent more than a decade working in higher education in East Africa and co-founded the Akilah Institute, the only college for women in Rwanda.
Forbes Magazine named Hughes one of the world’s most influential female social entrepreneurs, and Newsweek recognized her as one of 125 Women of Impact. Hughes is a graduate of Vanderbilt University.
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