Biography

Nicole Allen is the Director of Open Education at SPARC, a global coalition working to make open the default in research and education. A decade and a half ago, Nicole was an undergraduate student frustrated with the cost of textbooks. Today, she is an internationally recognized policy expert, community organizer, and advocate for open education, educational technology, and higher education reform. Motivated by the belief that everyone, everywhere should be able to participate in shaping human knowledge, Nicole’s work includes advancing effective open policies, supporting open education programming for SPARC’s network, and empowering emerging leaders in the open education movement. Her current areas of focus include antitrust issues with the academic publishing industry, the risks of increased data analytics use in higher education, and strengths-based leadership development. Current projects include organizing the Open Education Conference, SPARC's Open Education Leadership Program, and InclusiveAccess.org.