SideBar: Optimism in Action Welcomes Kathleen deLaski, CEO of the Education Design Lab

Reimagining Higher Education towards the future of Work

MONTEREY, CA, UNITED STATES, December 15, 2025 /EINPresswire.com/ -- SideBar: Optimism in Action podcast, sponsored by KAZU/NPR 90.3 and Monterey College of Law, welcomes Kathleen deLaski, considered to be at the forefront of designing higher education for the 21st century. She founded Education Design Lab to help colleges begin the journey to reimagine higher education toward the future of work and she manages the deLaski Family Foundation, a 25-year grant maker in education reform. In her book, Who Needs College Anymore: Imagining a Future Where Degrees Won’t Matter, Kathleen describes a multiple educational pathways through the learners lifecycle to help lthem find success.

The Education Design Lab has helped more than 1,200 colleges, organizations, and economic regions design shorter, more affordable pathways for learners to achieve their economic goals.

Stepping down after a decade as CEO of the Lab, Kathleen currently serves as board chair. She spends time as a senior advisor to the Project on Workforce at Harvard University and teaches human-centered design and higher ed reform as an adjunct professor in the Honors College at George Mason University, where she also served as an appointee to the Board of Visitors. Kathleen has long played a dual role as a philanthropist, managing the deLaski Family Foundation, which has been a 25-year grant maker in education reform, well-being, sustainable agriculture, and the arts.

In a previous career, Kathleen spent 20 years as a TV and then a digital journalist, including time as ABC News White House correspondent, followed by a political appointment as the first female Pentagon spokesperson. She has been named to Washingtonian Magazine’s list of top policy influencers each year from 2022-2025.

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Special Announcement: KAZU 90.3 radio and SideBarMedia are excited to announce a new collaboration that adds the SideBar: Optimism in Action podcast to KAZU’s digital programming on the station's website (www.kazu.org/sidebar). KAZU is the NPR affiliate station for Monterey, Salinas, and Santa Cruz. The SideBar: Optimism in Action podcast - sponsored by Monterey College of Law, a long-standing nonprofit sponsor of KAZU 90.3 radio - has become the first non-newscast, locally produced podcast featured on the KAZU website and mobile application.

SideBar: Optimism in Action is cohosted by former law deans Mitch Winick and Jackie Gardina, produced by David Eakin, a local theatre composer, media consultant, and podcast producer, and promoted by Dena Dowsett, social media specialist. “The podcast features nonprofit leaders, advocates, and community members who represent extraordinary work that is improving the humanitarian, public policy, and charitable needs of our local, national, and global communities,” explained Winick. “Our focus this season is on the amazing individuals who are pursuing positive change during challenging times,” said Gardina.

New episodes of SideBar: Optimism in Action are published on the first and third Tuesdays of each month at www.kazu.org/sidebar. To learn more about law dean cohosts Jackie Gardina and Mitch Winick, read our blog, and to preview and listen to more than 70 previous episodes, go to SideBarMedia at www.sidebarmedia.org.

Mitchel Winick
SideBar Media
+ +1 831-241-8999
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