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Lieutenant Governor Joseph Garcia is the executive director of the Colorado Department of Higher Education. Before his appointment by Governor John Hickenlooper in January 2011, Garcia was president of Colorado State University-Pueblo and energized the campus by considering nontraditional solutions to longstanding issues. In this interview at NCSL's 2013 Spring Forum, Garcia provided an overview of the state's plan to connect their sectors in meaningful ways to enable better communication and use data to ensure students are moving through the education pipeline successfully. He sat down with NCSL staff to discuss these initatives and how state legislators are supporting this work.

Hank Brown—former Colorado legislator, U.S. congressman, U.S. senator and president of two universities—spoke during NCSL's 2013 Spring Forum about the changing world of higher education. NCSL interviewed him about the role higher education plays in a democracy, its effect on economic competitiveness, what the future holds, and how state legislators can best balance the needs of students, state budgets and institutions.

Demographics expert James H. Johnson Jr., Ph.D., from the University of North Carolina Kenan-Flagler Business School, was interviewed by NCSL after his general session speech on "The Silver Tsunami" at NCSL's 2013 Spring Forum in Denver. He describes the effects of America's aging population on society and the economy, the role of immigrants and a future filled with "senior playgrounds."