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    Sara Gast

    Deputy Executive Director, Carnegie Classifications
    American Council on Education
    Washington, District of Columbia, United States

    Sara Gast is the deputy executive director for the Carnegie Classifications. She joined ACE in May 2022, and prior to that served as the chief of staff and executive director of strategic communications at the National Institute for Excellence in Teaching, a K-12 nonprofit that works to ensure every student is taught by an effective educator.

    Prior to joining NIET, Sara worked at the Tennessee Department of Education and served as the director of communications for Commissioner Candice McQueen under Governor Bill Haslam. In that position, she led a variety of public-facing initiatives as well as served as the primary spokesperson for the agency. Before returning to Tennessee, Sara worked for Education Secretary Arne Duncan at the U.S. Department of Education. During her time at ED, she helped to oversee a number of rollouts and key policy announcements from the Obama White House, including new regulations on for-profit colleges, additional programs and policies to make college more affordable, and key preK-12 reform efforts.

    Sara graduated from Vanderbilt University with a degree in English and sociology.

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