Blog Posts

Announcing New President and CEO

8/11/2023

Announcing Wallin Education Partners
New President and CEO

Saint Paul, MN – Wallin Education Partners is pleased to announce Dr. Mohamed Sallam as our new President and CEO. With nearly two decades of advancing student outcomes through his leadership, Dr. Sallam will assume the role of President and CEO on September 5, 2023.

Dr. Sallam joined Wallin Education Partners in 2022 as Director of Scholar Programs. His entire career has focused on supporting first-generation students, students of color, and students from low-income backgrounds as they pursue college and career success. As a champion for students, he has held leadership positions at the Higher Education Consortium for Urban Affairs (HECUA) and at Augsburg University. He holds advanced degrees, including a Ph.D. in Organizational Leadership, Policy, and Development from the University of Minnesota.

“Mohamed's deep grounding in Wallin's mission, clear vision for Wallin's future, demonstrated accomplishments, and proven ability to lead significant growth make him an ideal President and CEO to accomplish our strategic goals,” said Mark Christensen, Trustee and Search Committee Chair.

Our CEO search was a months-long process of deep listening to our scholars, staff, donors, and partners. After carefully considering many highly qualified candidates, the Wallin Search Committee believes Dr. Sallam is the right leader for this complex and dynamic era in higher education.

Dr. Mohamed Sallam succeeds Susan Basil King, Ed.D, who has led Wallin Education Partners for ten years. Under Susan’s leadership, Wallin grew from serving 500 scholars to nearly 1,600 attending both four-year and community colleges.

“I am eager for us to build on the legacy of this great organization, in the spirit of collaboration and through our unwavering commitment to students and partners. I believe the future is our scholars, and the future looks bright,” said incoming President and CEO, Dr. Mohamed Sallam.

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Wallin Education Partners provides the financial aid, advising, and access scholars need to rise. Serving high-potential students from low-income backgrounds, Wallin is one of the most effective programs in the country, helping scholars not only get to college but graduate and begin meaningful careers. Students attend 80 colleges nationwide with a six-year graduation rate of 90%. With 6,000 alumni, Wallin Scholars are building more equitable, diverse, and vibrant communities.

Posted on August 11, 2023

Wallin Joins Scholarship America Pilot

8/8/2023

Wallin Education Partners Joins Scholarship America Community-Based Organizations Pilot

Wallin Education Partners is proud to announce our participation in Scholarship America’s Community-Based Organizations (CBO) Pilot Program.

Scholarship America, the nation’s largest scholarship provider, is launching the Community-Based Organizations Pilot Program to bring together private-sector scholarship dollars and wrap-around supports provided by community-based organizations, in order to help students with high financial need pursue and achieve college success. In addition to Wallin, pilot participants include All-In Milwaukee and Detroit Regional Dollars for Scholars.

“Partnering with Scholarship America to effectively serve scholars from low-income backgrounds will have a profound impact on students, their families, and our communities,” says Susan Basil King, Ed.D, President and CEO of Wallin Education Partners.

Scholarship America is working to bring more scholarship dollars to students from historically marginalized communities with high financial need. By partnering with CBOs like Wallin that work directly with these students, they hope to ensure that scholarship funds are getting to those who will benefit from them the most—and our work will help ensure that the scholarship recipients have access to mentoring, networking and other support services as they work toward their degrees.

“Combining Scholarship America’s national reach with the intimate local knowledge of partners like these is a game-changer,” says Scholarship America CEO Mike Nylund. “Not only are we providing 360-degree support to students, we’re also learning how we can evolve the scholarship industry and help our funders and partners deliver the biggest and most equitable impact possible.”

The Community-Based Organizations pilot will be a multi-year effort to match financially needy students in the three partner communities with scholarships and other support. Scholarship America will be measuring student, partner and sponsor outcomes in order to determine how best to expand to more communities. Visit scholarshipamerica.org to learn more.

About Scholarship America
Scholarship America is a nonprofit organization that works to eliminate barriers to educational success so that any student can pursue their dream. Since it was founded in 1958, Scholarship America has distributed $5.1 billion to 3 million students, making it the nation’s largest private scholarship provider.

About Wallin Education Partners
Wallin Education Partners provides the financial aid, advising, and access scholars need to rise. Serving high-potential students from low-income backgrounds, Wallin is one of the most effective programs in the country, helping scholars not only get to college but graduate and begin meaningful careers. Students attend 80 colleges nationwide with a six-year graduation rate of 90%. With 6,000 alumni, Wallin Scholars are building more equitable, diverse, and vibrant communities.

Posted on August 8, 2023

Expanding Career Horizons

6/16/2023

Wallin and UpTurnships Join Forces

We are pleased to share an exciting development for the higher education and career development community in Minnesota. On July 1, 2023, UpTurnships will officially become part of Wallin Education Partners. This strategic initiative will accelerate the reach and impact of both organizations, ensuring that more young people have access to transformative education and career opportunities.

By combining forces, Wallin Education Partners and UpTurnships will offer a comprehensive suite of programs to support students at every stage of their college and career journeys. We are looking forward to all the future brings in this new phase for both organizations as we continue to grow our reach and expand on our unparalleled outcomes.

Wallin Education Partners has long been dedicated to breaking down barriers to higher education and providing comprehensive support to students as they pursue their academic and career goals. “In addition to scholarships and our highly effective wrap-around support, Wallin has significantly increased our college-to-career program. Bringing UpTurnships into Wallin to further enhance scholar support will accelerate the pace at which we can provide life-changing, career experiences for our expanding group of Wallin scholars” stated Susan Basil King, President/CEO of Wallin.

UpTurnships is an equity-minded organization that uplifts and empowers student voices through culturally responsive work readiness training and coaching while working with employers efforts to be culturally inclusive and equitable. UpTurnship’s 360-degree approach ensures a stronger and more sustainable workforce. By joining the Wallin organization, UpTurnships will increase its reach and bring its innovative program to more students at a time when the market needs diverse talent more than ever.

La Tasha Shevlin, Executive Director of UpTurnships, will join the senior team at Wallin and work closely with Geoff Wilson, Senior Director of Strategic Initiatives, to spearhead the integration of the new combined program. Liwanag Ojala, Chief Transformation Officer of American Public Media Group and the board chair of UpTurnships, will join the Wallin board of trustees. “This is an exciting next chapter for both organizations. UpTurnships has served hundreds of scholars in our 10-year history and we are grateful to our donors, volunteers and partners who made our work possible. I look forward to an exciting future for our combined college to career program, to serve even more students.”

Posted on June 16, 2023