Michael S. Roth has been President of Wesleyan University in Connecticut since 2007. A professor in history and the humanities since 1983, Roth was the founding director of the Scripps College Humanities Institute in Claremont, Calif., a center for intellectual exchange across disciplines. He developed a reputation as a leader in the arts community through his accomplishments as associate director of the Getty Research Institute in Los Angeles and his success as president of the California College of the Arts in enhancing that institution’s academic quality, national reputation and financial strength. Roth describes his scholarly interests as centered on "how people make sense of the past." He has authored eight books, including The Student: A Short History, and Beyond the University: Why Liberal Education Matters. He continues to teach undergraduate courses, and through Coursera has offered MOOCs, the most recent being “How to Change the World.”