UVP Members

Dr. Michael Galchinsky is the Vice Provost and Dean for Undergraduate Affairs at Colorado State University, responsible for developing and reviewing undergraduate programs, general education, academic appeals, and undergraduate policies. Dr. Galchinsky collaborates with colleagues on innovative undergraduate credentials, student success, high-impact practices, academic advising and outreach, Honors, Army ROTC, Air Force ROTC, student learning assessment, and accreditation.

Dr. Galchinsky earned his Ph.D. in English from the University of California, Berkeley, and his B.A. in English from Northwestern University. He was an assistant professor at Millsaps College before spending 26 years at Georgia State University, working with colleagues there to improve student success. From 2022-25, he served as Georgia State’s inaugural Senior Associate Provost for Academic Affairs and its representative to the University System of Georgia’s General Education Council.

In his scholarship, Dr. Galchinsky has investigated human rights and Jewish studies. His books include The Modes of Human Rights Literature: Towards a Culture without Borders (Palgrave, 2016), Jews and Human Rights: Dancing at Three Weddings (Rowman and Littlefield, 2008), and The Origin of the Modern Jewish Woman Writer: Romance and Reform in Victorian England (Wayne State UP, 1994). Since 2009, he has been a Faculty Fellow at the Center for Cultural Sociology, Yale University.

Candis Watts Smith, Ph.D., Professor of Political Science, oversees Duke’s Office of Undergraduate Education. The division delivers on Duke's promise of providing undergraduates a transformative education by providing resources and programs for students across Duke's four undergraduate schools: Trinity College of Arts & Sciences, the Pratt School of Engineering, the Sanford School of Public Policy, and the Nicholas School of the Environment. Dr. Smith was appointed interim vice provost in 2023.

Dr. Smith’s expertise highlights the role that race, racism, and structural inequality play in shaping the American political landscape. She is the author or co-author of several books: Black Mosaic: The Politics of Black Pan-Ethnic Identity (NYU Press, 2014), Stay Woke: A People’s Guide to Making Black Lives Matter (NYU Press, 2019); Racial Stasis: The Millennial Generation and the Stagnation of Racial Attitudes in American Politics (University of Chicago Press, 2020); and The History of Race and Politics in America, 1968-Present (an Audible Original, 2022). In addition to dozens of academic and public-facing articles, Smith has given a TED talk on three myths about racism in America that has been viewed over 2 million times and is a co-host of the Democracy Works podcast.

Smith serves as faculty director of the Mellon Mays Undergraduate Fellowship, on the Interdisciplinary Strategy Council, and on the President’s Athletic Council. She and her family live on East Campus, where she serves as Faculty in Residence for the Southgate residence hall.

Before joining Duke in 2021, she served on the faculties of Williams College, UNC-Chapel Hill, and Penn State in departments of political science, public policy, and African & African American Studies.

As Associate Vice Provost for Undergraduate Affairs, Heather Mugg oversees and leads special initiatives to enable student success. She also guides projects related to student outcomes with the goal of improving the student experience, retention, and four-year graduation rates. Heather partners with all of the undergraduate schools on advising efforts for proactive approaches and best practices. Prior to joining the Office of Undergraduate Affairs, Heather led University Enrollment, with her main responsibilities including overseeing admission, financial aid, registrar, and student systems. She is a first-generation Emory College alumna and has a doctorate in higher education leadership policy from Vanderbilt University and master of science in human resource development from Georgia State University.

As Vice President of Academic Affairs: Student Success Operations and Integrated Planning at Florida International University, Dr. Cram provides strategic oversight across multiple divisions, including Enrollment Management, Analysis and Information Management, Student Success Operations and Strategy, Credentialing Learning, Career and Talent Development, FIU Online, and the Student-Athlete Academic Center. She also serves as Co-Executive Director of the Center for Community Impact and Public Purpose, fostering partnerships that bridge academia with local, national, and international communities.

Dr. Cram provides leadership in aligning divisional goals to the university strategic plan while cultivating partnerships across various units, programs, and external stakeholders. She is committed to intentionally designing a student experience that supports students from admission to career. Dr. Cram has over ten years of experience in developing innovative and effective student success initiatives, using data to improve student outcomes. 

Dr. Cram focuses on developing programs and partnerships designed to ensure learners have the skills they need to be successful. She provides strategic leadership for 21st Century Workforce Initiatives, including the development of industry partnerships and work-learn-earn models to promote career readiness. She also leads FIU’s student success initiatives, focusing on ensuring success for all FIU students.

Dr. Cram actively collaborates with faculty, external networks, and governmental entities to drive institutional impact at local and national levels. She represents FIU at various external associations, such as the Florida Metropolitan Consortium and the Association of Public and Land Grant Universities.

Dr. Cram serves as an affiliated faculty member in the Department of Public Policy and Affairs. She has presented her research at national and international conferences and published in peer-reviewed journals.  She earned her BA in International Affairs and Spanish and her MS in Higher Education from Florida State University. In 2017, she earned her PhD in Public Affairs from FIU. 

Joe O’Shea serves as Associate Provost and Dean of Undergraduate Studies at Florida State University, where he helps lead the university’s award-winning student success initiatives. Joe also serves as a postsecondary education expert for the U.S. Department of Education and co-editor of the Journal of Postsecondary Student Success. A Truman and Rhodes Scholar, he has a master’s degree in comparative social policy and a Ph.D. in education from the University of Oxford. Joe is the author of the book Gap Year: How Delaying College Changes People in Ways the World Needs, published by Johns Hopkins University Press, and Doing College Right: A Guide to Student Success, published by Columbia University’s Teachers College Press.

Keith Renshaw is the Senior Associate Provost for Undergraduate Education. Prior to beginning this role in August 2023, he served as department chair of psychology in the College of Humanities and Social Sciences from 2017–2023. Dr. Renshaw was an active member of George Mason’s Faculty Senate from 2013 to 2023, serving on the Executive Committee for many years and as Faculty Senate Chair from 2016-2019. In 2020, Dr. Renshaw led the formation and launch of the Military, Veterans, & Families Initiative at Mason, an ongoing effort to leverage the many strengths of Mason in service of the military and veteran community. 

As a professor of psychology, Dr. Renshaw specializes in anxiety, stress/trauma, and interpersonal relationships. With over 100 publications, 150 conference presentations, and $3 million in extramural funding, much of his work has focused on the experiences of service members/veterans and their families, with a recent shift in focus on scalable, culturally responsive, evidence-based mental health care.  

Dr. Renshaw has been recognized both at Mason and nationally for his teaching and mentorship, receiving Mason’s Teaching Excellence Award in 2015 and the American Psychological Association's Division of Military Psychology’s Distinguished Mentor Award in 2021. More recently, he was honored by Mason’s Alumni Association as the Faculty Member of the Year for 2023. 

In his role as Vice Provost for Undergraduate Education and Student Success, Steven Girardot has devoted his career to enhancing the transformative potential of higher education and supporting students in realizing its benefits at the Georgia Institute of Technology.

Dr. Girardot has over 20 years of experience in leading undergraduate education. From 2011-2021, he served as the Assistant, Associate, and then Interim Vice Provost for Undergraduate Education at Georgia Tech. In 2022, he was appointed as the Vice Provost (VPUE). Prior to these roles, Dr. Girardot held leadership positions in student affairs, academic success as well as the Center for Teaching and Learning (CTL). In all his roles, Dr. Girardot has found that his strengths are bringing people together to address challenges; creating programs and systems that support their goals; and building collaborations among stakeholders. These strengths will be particularly important as UERU continues to advance the Boyer 2030 recommendations.

Outside of Georgia Tech, he has a track record of experience in national organizations. He currently serves on the Advisory Board for the National Resource Center for the First-Year Experience and Students in Transition. He served as Annual Conference Chair and then President of the North American Association of Summer Sessions (NAASS) from 2017-2021. In 2021, Dr. Girardot received the Distinguished Service Award recognizing his service and leadership. He has been an evaluator for SACSCOC, including several QEPs. In 2009, he worked with Penguin Random House to establish and serve on its higher education advisory board for common reading programs. Finally, he currently works with Rachel Holloway (UVP at Virginia Tech) to re-establish a network of UVPs from the ACC schools.

Although his academic background is in chemistry and public health, the focus of Dr. Girardot's scholarly work has been student success and transition. He regularly presents on topics and serves on panels related to student success and transition. In 2020, he and his co-presenters were recognized for Outstanding Research Presentation at the AACRAO SEM conference. In 2022, he received a Fulbright IEA fellowship for France, and he completed two of Harvard’s leadership development programs in 2013 (MDP) and 2023 (MLE).

Dr. Allison Calhoun-Brown has been appointed as vice president for student engagement and programs at Georgia State University effective July 1.

For the past 11 years, Dr. Calhoun-Brown has served as associate vice president for student success, and more recently, interim vice president for student affairs. She helped lead Georgia State’s pioneering work in deploying predictive analytics to support academic advising and helped to develop the Panther Retention Grant program—initiatives which have benefited tens of thousands of Georgia State students.

In her new role, Dr. Calhoun-Brown will lead a number of the departments formerly under Student Affairs and will continue her oversight of the University Advisement Center and Student Success programs.

An associate professor in the Department of Political Science, Dr. Calhoun-Brown graduated with honors from Oberlin College and earned master’s and doctoral degrees in political science from Emory University.

Gillian Pierce is Assistant Provost for Academic Assessment. She coordinates the University’s learning outcomes efforts, chairs the University Task Force on the Evaluation of Teaching, and provides support to faculty, staff, departments, schools and colleges in developing simple and effective strategies to assess student learning in face-to-face, blended and online programs, and in co-curricular and extra-curricular programs.

Reporting to the Associate Provost for Undergraduate Affairs and in close collaboration with the Associate Provost for Graduate Affairs, she works with school/college administration and staff, with faculty, and with program directors in supporting their efforts to refine student learning outcomes at all levels, using the results of assessment to improve curricula and advance effective pedagogy. She additionally leads the development of learning outcomes for the BU Hub and works with the Center for Teaching & Learning and the Digital Education Incubator to connect assessment with the efforts of those units to advance teaching and learning across multiple modes of instruction.

Prior to joining the Provost’s Office, Gillian served as a faculty member in BU’s College of General Studies, where she was instrumental in developing that college’s innovative learning outcomes assessment process. An accomplished teacher and scholar of French language and literature, she has published three books as well as numerous articles and reviews on French and comparative literature, aesthetics and editorial theory. She has also presented extensively on pedagogical reforms and the integration of electronic portfolios into undergraduate curricula. Gillian is a graduate of Harvard University and earned both her Master’s and Ph.D. in Comparative Literature from the University of Michigan.

Dr. Kenneth Alonzo Anderson, a former middle school teacher, earned a Ph.D. in Curriculum & Instruction, with a minor in Educational Research and Policy Analysis from North Carolina State University in 2005. Anderson has also completed additional statistical training at Northwestern University, Stanford University, and the University of Michigan. Anderson is Associate Provost of Undergraduate Studies and Professor in the School of Education at Howard University. Anderson also served as Senior Research Scientist with the CNA's Institute for Public Research.

Anderson’s primary research interests include using classical statistics, data science, and machine learning algorithms to examine school safety, student success, education finance, and other education policies that aspire to improve schools. Evolving interests include dynamical systems, artificial intelligence, natural language processing, linear algebra for statistical learning, and parametric experimentation for deep learning.

Anderson is noted for his ability to conduct large-scale data analysis, translate results, and provide professional development for practitioners and policymakers. In 2020, Anderson was invited by the National Institute of Justice to serve as a contributor on a report to Congress on school policing. Working through the United States Department of Education’s Regional Education Laboratory (REL) Appalachia, Anderson served as Principal Investigator on a longitudinal, statewide disciplinary data analysis project with the Virginia Department of Education to inform strategies for minimizing suspensions and referrals to law enforcement.

Anderson co-authored a policy brief on school safety and SROs and his research has appeared in journals such as Journal of Teacher Education, Teachers College Record, Middle Grades Review, Journal of Negro Education, and Journal of Computer Science Integration. Anderson also conducted a statewide evaluation of the relationship between increased use of school resource officers and school safety outcomes. Anderson has served as Principal Investigator, Co-Principal Investigator, or Senior Personnel on externally funded projects from organizations such as the U.S. Department of Education, National Science Foundation, and the American Educational Research Association.

Vasti Torres is a professor of Educational Leadership and Policy Studies at the Indiana University School of Education. Previously she was a professor in the Center for the Study of Higher and Postsecondary Education (CSHPE) and Associate Faculty Member in Latino Studies at University of Michigan. She has been the Principal Investigator for several grants including a multi-year grant investigating the choice to stay in college for Latino students as well as a multi-year grant looking at the experiences of working college students. She has worked on several community college initiatives including Achieving the Dream and Rural Community College Initiative. Her professional service includes being Vice President for Division J: Postsecondary Education for the American Educational Research Association (AERA) from 2019 to 2021, in 2007 she became the first Latina president of a national student services association – ACPA, and in 2020 she began her term as the Editor of the Journal of College Student Development. Previously she has served as the Dean of the College of Education at the University of South Florida and Director of the Center for Postsecondary Research (CPR) in the School of Education at Indiana University.

Her awards include the Contribution to Knowledge Award from both ACPA and NASPA. She was also honored as a Diamond Honoree, Senior Scholar, Wise Woman, and the Latino Network John Hernandez Leadership Award by the American College Personnel Association. Other honors include the Professional Achievement Alumni Award from the University of Georgia, Program Associate for the National Center for Policy in Higher Education, Hispanic Scholarship Fund Alumni Hall of Fame in 2014, and in 2008 she received the Indiana University Trustees Teaching Award. In 2011-2012 she served as a Fulbright Specialist in South Africa. Dr. Torres is a graduate of Stetson University and holds a Ph.D. from The University of Georgia.

As the vice provost for undergraduate education and dean of University College, Christina Downey collaborates with academic units across all disciplines to advance student success, improve retention and graduation rates, and reduce equity gaps. She leads the Division of Undergraduate Education and its key units: University College, Honors College, and Institute for Engaged Learning, in delivering high-quality learning experiences and support programs to undergraduate students.

Downey began her role with IU Indianapolis in February 2023. Previously, Downey held academic and administrative appointments at IU Kokomo, where she most recently served as the interim executive vice chancellor for academic affairs and professor of psychology. Her tenure at IU Kokomo included experiences overseeing all academic operations including fiscal operations, fulfilling an integral role in hiring and personnel matters involving faculty, leading all professional undergraduate advising, designing and directing first year experience programs, and focusing on academic compliance and policy including accreditation reporting activities.

A thoughtful, collaborative, and engaged higher education professional, Downey brings a servant-leader approach to successfully navigate complex challenges. She emphasizes empowering colleagues with data, professional development, and enthusiastic colleagueship to implement innovative ideas through informed and constructive dialogue. As a lifelong learner and active scholar, Downey brings the perspective of a social scientist and social justice advocate to day-to-day decision making.

Downey is a graduate of the University of Michigan and Purdue University, where she specialized in clinical psychology. Throughout her career, Downey has authored a number of publications and delivered numerous professional presentations related to student success and psychology. Her research interests span health behavior; eating disturbance and disorder, issues of body image, and perfectionism; multicultural and international issues in mental health and wellness behaviors in relation to positive psychology; and service-learning activities, online learning, and attitudes about diversity in higher education.

Dr. Ann Marie VanDerZanden is Associate Provost for Academic Programs, a Louis Thompson Distinguished Undergraduate Teacher, and Professor of Horticulture at Iowa State University. Her experience promoting excellence in higher education is long established and includes service as national president of the North American College and Teachers of Agriculture, and leadership roles in other professional organizations. She has presented original scholarly work on faculty development, the scholarship of teaching and learning, and student success to several national and international audiences of academic administrators and other higher education professionals.

Associate Provost VanDerZanden provides leadership for centrally coordinating undergraduate academic programs, student academic success, institutional accreditation, online education, international programs, high impact educational practices, and faculty development through the Center for Excellence in Learning and Teaching. She partners with the enrollment management executive team and Student Affairs staff to provide an engaging and enriching pathway for students from admission to graduation.

Dr. VanDerZanden formerly served as Director of the ISU Center for Excellence in Learning and Teaching, where she led the center in meeting its mission to support, promote, and enhance teaching effectiveness and student learning at Iowa State.

As a horticulture faculty member VanDerZanden has taught over 20 different subject matter courses across the breadth of horticulture topics. Her research interests include undergraduate pedagogy and using appropriate technology to enhance the teaching and learning experiences of students and faculty. She is a Fellow of the American Society for Horticulture Science, an award-winning teacher, and co-author of three textbooks.

Dr. VanDerZanden joined the Iowa State University faculty in 2003. She is a native of Washington state where her interest in horticulture and crop production started at an early age. She earned her B.S. and Ph.D. from Washington State University and her M.S. from Cornell University.

Janet Simon Schreck is the Senior Associate Vice Provost for Academic Affairs at Johns Hopkins University.  In that role,  Dr. Schreck is responsible for leading and facilitating academic affairs across Johns Hopkins University, including undergraduate education initiatives, regional accreditation, academic compliance, state authorization, institutional assessment and learning assessment, as well as special projects assigned by the provost.  Together with the decanal co-chairs, Dr. Schreck co-led the Second Commission on Undergraduate Education (CUE2) and served as a primary author of the 2020 CUE2 report. Dr. Schreck also led the university in the selection, procurement, and implementation of its first university-wide learning assessment platform and developed the visions for the Johns Hopkins University Comprehensive Learner Record (JHU-CLR). She also served as co-chair and functional lead for the university’s 2023-4 Middle States Commission on Higher Education self-study and reaccreditation effort.  Dr. Schreck is an associate professor in the School of Education where she teaches in the EdD program.  She also served as interim chair for its Advanced Studies in Education department for academic year 2023-4.

A licensed and certified Speech-Language Pathologist with a focus on neurogenic disorders in adults, Dr. Schreck has published multiple articles and delivered numerous national presentations on the topics of cognitive-communication changes associated with typical aging as well as screening, assessment, and treatment of cognitive-communication disorders associated with dementia. Before joining Johns Hopkins University, Dr. Schreck served as a full-time clinical faculty member in the Department of Speech-Language Pathology and Audiology at Loyola University Maryland where she taught a number of undergraduate, graduate, and clinical practicum courses.  She also served as the Executive Director of the Loyola Clinical Centers (LCC), Loyola’s interdisciplinary training clinic where she created an administrative environment that facilitated state-of-the art training for students in four academic disciplines across two schools while simultaneously providing affordable, quality allied health and education services to more than 4,000 clients annually.

Dr. Schreck earned her B.A. and M.S. in Speech-Language Pathology from Loyola University Maryland and Ph.D. in Gerontology from the University of Maryland, Baltimore. Dr. Schreck is a Fellow of the Maryland Speech-Language-Hearing Association and a Distinguished Practitioner and Fellow in the National Academy of Practice.

The associate vice president will be responsible for fostering the integration of academic and career development initiatives to advance student success and post-graduation outcomes.

The associate vice president will be a vital partner in realizing the 10 imperatives that are part of the Next-Gen K-State strategic plan and the four areas of focus for K-State's National Institute of Student Success playbook. Additionally, Watts will directly supervise K-State First, Academic Advising, the Career Center and Academic Success and Student Affairs technology.

Denise Bartell is Associate Provost for Academic Affairs at Kent State University, where she facilitates strategic initiatives related to access, retention, completion, and student success with a focus on improving equity of outcomes for historically underserved students and empowering faculty as key stakeholders in this work. Her scholarship takes a systemic and explicitly relational approach, most recently exploring a reconceptualization of faculty development to utilize principles of high impact learning experiences and authentic engagement to create communities of transformation where members are empowered to transform public higher education as a tool for building a more just and equitable society. Denise earned a B.S. in Human Development & Family Studies from Cornell University, and an M.A. and Ph.D. in Human Development & Family Sciences from the University of Texas at Austin.

Dr. Liz Piatt, Interim Dean for University College, provides leadership and supervision for the McNair Scholars Program and Student Support Services. Dr. Liz was a first-generation college student from a family with limited financial resources, and believes that earning a college degrees had a life-changing effect on her and her family. She spends most of her time ensuring that students who are first in their family to earn a bachelor's degree, have limited financial resources, and are from racial/ethnic groups historically underrepresented in higher education, have a transformative college experience.

Under Dr. Liz's leadership, Kent State was recognized as a First-Gen Forward institution by the National Association of Student Personnel Administrators (NASPA) for our commitment to first-generation college student success.

Dr. John J. Su is vice provost for academic affairs and student success. Su previously served as director of the University Core of Common Studies and interim chair of the Department of English. As a scholar of global Anglophone literatures, he has authored two books and more than 20 articles and reviews.

In 2014, Su received the university’s highest teaching honor, the Robert and Mary Gettel Faculty Award for Teaching Excellence.

Julia M. Spears, Ph.D., is the Assistant Provost of Online Education and Certification. She has oversight for online education, the Design Center, microcredentials and certification. She is the campus coordinator for Quality Matters (QM), State Authorization Network (SAN) and the WV Higher Education Policy Commission Virtual Learning Network (WVVLN). She also serves on the Strategic Enrollment Management committee. As a Certified Practitioner of Human-Centered Design, she will use design thinking strategies to shape the future direction of Marshall’s online programs.

Dr. Spears came to Marshall in 2022 from the University of Pittsburgh where she was the Associate Vice Provost for Academic Innovation. In this role, she was responsible for developing and executing the Personalized Education Initiative in the Office of the Provost which focused on building infrastructure to connect students with the tools, information and resources they need to “forge their own path.” Working with the Office of the Chancellor, she redesigned the Pitt Seed program to strengthen collaboration and innovation across the institution. She also leads a national community of practice of academic advisors for the Association of Undergraduate Education at Research Universities (UERU). From 2015-2017, Dr. Spears served as associate director of the Barger Leadership Institute at the University of Michigan focused on developing leaders through real-world projects. She also launched the Michigan Leadership Collaborative to connect leadership resources and programs. Prior to that, Dr. Spears held the position of associate vice provost for engaged learning at Northern Illinois University, a position she was promoted to after serving as the founding director of the Office of Student Engagement and Experiential Learning. She had broad oversight of undergraduate research, community engagement and learning community programs. She also served as the NSSE campus coordinator. From 2003-2009, Dr. Spears served in various roles at Southern Illinois University Carbondale. She launched the Research Rookies program, directed the McNair Scholars and SUIC Illinois Louise Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation.

Dr. Spears has published in the National Resource Center for the First-Year Experience & Students in Transition, Education Research International, and Learning Communities Research and Practice. Dr. Spears has a PhD in educational administration and higher education from Southern Illinois University; a Master of Public Administration from California State University, Long Beach; and a Bachelor of Arts in sociology and speech communication from the University of Washington.

Kate Weishaar is the Senior Program Coordinator in the Office of Experiential Learning at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), where she manages assessment, communications, systems, and programming to create a more intentional, integrated, and impactful ecosystem of experiential learning opportunities across MIT. She also serves as staff to MIT's Task Force on the Undergraduate Academic Program, which launched in February 2024 and is tasked with reimagining MIT's curriculum, pedagogy, policies, and programs to better support undergraduate learning.

She has worked in MIT’s Office of the Vice Chancellor for Undergraduate and Graduate Education (OVC) since 2018, first in the role of First-Year Experience Coordinator and more recently as Special Projects Coordinator. Across these roles, she has led and supported strategic initiatives in the OVC, including assessing and reimagining first-year advising, reforming grading policies, and facilitating major exploration.

Kate earned her Master of Education degree in education with a focus on higher education administration from Northeastern University and her Bachelor of Science in architecture studies from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

David L. Darmofal SM ’91 PhD ’93 is the vice chancellor for undergraduate and graduate education and the Jerome C. Hunsaker Professor of Aeronautics and Astronautics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

As a faculty member and administrator, Darmofal has been deeply involved in engineering education innovation efforts at MIT, including creating blended learning pedagogies; developing open digital-learning content; designing more flexible degree programs; revamping graduate programs; and creating first-year advising seminars. He has served in many leadership roles in AeroAstro and co-chaired two Institute-wide committees focused on improving personal and professional development and career exploration for students. Darmofal also contributed his expertise in engineering pedagogy to the development of the Schwarzman College of Computing’s Common Ground efforts, to address the need for computing education across many disciplines.

Darmofal has received numerous awards for excellence in teaching and advising. A champion of research-based best practices in teaching and digital learning, he received the School of Engineering Bose Award for Junior Faculty and the Common Ground Award for Excellence in Teaching; has been named an MIT MacVicar Faculty Fellow; and has been recognized twice by the MIT student chapter of the American Institute for Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) for excellence in undergraduate teaching. Darmofal has also garnered recognition for his mentorship from the AIAA student chapter and as a recipient of the Earll M. Murman Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Advising.

His principal research interests include computational methods for partial differential equations, especially fluid dynamics. Darmofal has been an author on approximately 130 technical publications in peer-reviewed journals and conferences. He has also helped lead national initiatives to improve engineering education through both the AIAA and the National Academy of Engineering.

Darmofal received a BS in aerospace engineering in 1989 from the University of Michigan and a PhD in aeronautics and astronautics from MIT in 1993. After completing postdoctoral work at the University of Michigan, he taught at Texas A&M University before joining MIT’s AeroAstro faculty in 1998.

Mark Largent currently serves MSU as the vice provost and dean of Undergraduate Education. He is an historian of science and joined MSU in 2005 as an assistant professor in James Madison College, where he directed the science policy minor and taught for 12 years. In his current role, he helps coordinate the undergraduate experience across MSU’s 16 undergraduate-serving colleges and is a passionate leader for making the university even better at supporting every student to learn, thrive, and graduate.

Professor Largent’s research and teaching focuses on the role of scientists and physicians in American public policy. He has published three books and dozens of articles on the evolution-creation debate, the professionalization of American biology, Darwinism, the history of the American eugenics movement, and recent debates over compulsory vaccination. Prior to his current appointment at MSU, Professor Largent was associate dean and interim dean of Lyman Briggs College, associate dean of Undergraduate Education, and director of learning analytics in the Hub for Innovation in Learning and Technology.

Professor Largent received his Ph.D. in the history of science and technology in 2000 from the University of Minnesota and his master’s degree in African-American history from the University of North Texas in 1995. Before coming to MSU, he taught at the University of Puget Sound and Oregon State University.

Dr. Robin Gore joined Missouri S&T in July 2024 as vice chancellor for student success. Prior to this, she was the vice president for student affairs at Mount Aloysius College in Cresson, Pennsylvania. Gore holds a doctorate in educational leadership from Edgewood College in Madison, Wisconsin, a master’s degree in education and student affairs administration from the University of Wisconsin-LaCrosse, and a bachelor’s degree in biology from the University of Wisconsin-Platteville.

Vice Provost of Undergraduate Education, Success, and Academic Innovation

Montclair State University

Danielle Insalaco-Egan, PhD, serves as the Acting Associate Provost for Undergraduate Education and Dean of University College at Montclair State. She previously served as Assistant Provost for University Advising and Career Services (formerly Assistant Provost for Student Success), as well as the inaugural Associate Dean for University College. Prior to joining Montclair State, Dr. Insalaco-Egan served as Assistant Dean for Student Support at Guttman Community College, where she developed innovations and secured over $2.3 million in funding to expand student success initiatives.

She holds a PhD in English and American Literature from New York University, where she also started her career in higher education administration. She has focused on advising structures, technology-mediated advising and high impact practices for 25 years.

Dr. Kara Turner is Morgan State University’s inaugural Vice President for Enrollment Management and Student Success, appointed on July 1, 2016, and promoted to Senior Vice President in July 2023. She provides strategic leadership to the University’s enrollment management efforts, overseeing seven student services offices: Undergraduate Recruitment, Admissions Operations, Financial Aid, Student Success and Retention, the Center for Academic Success and Achievement, the Registrar, and the Bear Essentials One Stop Student Services Center. Under her leadership, numerous enhancements to student services have been implemented, over $4 million in external grants to support student success have been awarded, and the University has experienced historic increases in enrollment, retention rates, and graduation rates.

Dr. Turner has worked at Morgan since 2002. Before her appointment as Vice President, she held various administrative positions, including Associate Dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Associate Provost at Morgan, and Assistant to the Dean of Liberal Arts and Education and Assistant Professor of History at Virginia State University. Dr. Turner earned her B.A. in Political Science and Africana Studies from Rutgers University and her M.A. and Ph.D. in American History from Duke University. Her research specialty is African American civil rights and educational history. She has authored several publications, including book chapters, peer-reviewed journal articles, book reviews, and encyclopedia entries. She has also given numerous scholarly and public presentations at national conferences, schools, universities, and community venues.

Dr. Turner has extensive experience in Academic Affairs and Enrollment Management and is committed to ensuring that students from all socioeconomic backgrounds and levels of academic preparedness have the opportunity to obtain a college degree.

Dr. Ryan Maltese is the Associate Vice President for the Office of Student Success and Retention at Morgan State University. In this role, he is dedicated to supporting students from admission through graduation, ensuring continuity across the undergraduate lifecycle to enhance retention and graduation rates. He oversees the Center for Academic Success and Achievement, managing academic advising, orientation, summer/transition programs, and alumni mentoring programs. Additionally, Dr. Maltese serves on multiple committees and manages various grant initiatives within the Division of Enrollment Management and Student Success.

Before joining Morgan State University, Dr. Maltese was the primary architect behind the development of Georgia State University’s National Institute for Student Success (NISS). As the Director of Operations and Business Development, he managed client development opportunities, high-touch consulting services, business operations, and a grant portfolio of approximately $35 million. At Georgia State, he also served as a University Innovation Alliance Postdoc Fellow, where he focused on student success programs, College-to-Career initiatives, financial management, and AI-enhanced student support technologies. Furthermore, he held the position of Interim Assistant Vice President for Student Affairs before his tenure at NISS.

Dr. Maltese has over a decade of experience in student affairs at North Carolina A&T State University, where he was the Executive Director for University Events and Student Activities. In this capacity, he oversaw campus programs, student organizations, Greek Life, student government, and leadership development.

A licensed attorney with a background in contracts and business services, Dr. Maltese has been a member of the Georgia Bar for more than 20 years. His diverse academic background and extensive professional experience make him a key figure in enhancing student success and retention at Morgan State University.

As Vice Provost for Undergraduate Education, Mark Siegal works closely with senior leadership to ensure academic excellence throughout the University. He leads collaborative efforts to advance pedagogy and other impactful parts of the student experience, including academic advising and undergraduate research. His office directs the NYU Center for Teaching and Learning and is responsible for managing the development and administration of undergraduate academic curriculum, policies, and procedures. He heads a number of standing committees, including the Undergraduate Program Committee, the Undergraduate Academic Affairs Committee, and meetings of the Undergraduate Deans, and serves on the Senate Academic Affairs Committee. He administers the University Professors and Silver Professors programs and assists with administration of the Faculty Fellows in Residence.

Dr. Siegal has been at NYU since 2005, and has served as Director of Undergraduate Studies for Biology and as Vice Dean of the College of Arts & Science. As Director of Undergraduate Studies, he spearheaded major changes to the introductory Biology curriculum, increased the use of technology to enhance student advising, and led the creation of a unique study-away opportunity for science students at NYU Tel Aviv. As Vice Dean, he directed the College Core Curriculum and was co-investigator on an Association of American Universities STEM Mini-Grant to improve introductory instruction across the lab sciences. He has spoken in numerous settings on innovative teaching and on diversity and inclusion in science and teaching. He was named a National Academies Education Fellow in the Life Sciences; was awarded a National Science Foundation CAREER award for research and teaching; and earned the College of Arts & Science's Golden Dozen teaching award, the Graduate School of Arts & Science's Outstanding Faculty award, and the University's Distinguished Teaching Award.

Dr. Siegal is Professor of Biology in the NYU Center for Genomics and Systems Biology. His research focuses on the evolution of complex traits. He pioneered the use of automated microscopy to understand how similarities and differences between organisms are caused by the combined effects of genetics, environment and random chance. He is the author of over 60 scholarly publications and his research laboratory has been funded by the National Institutes of Health, the National Science Foundation and the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation. He has served frequently on federal panels, including as Chair of the Genetic Variation and Evolution Study Section of the National Institutes of Health from 2021 to 2023.

Dr. Siegal received a Ph.D. in Biology from Harvard University and a Sc.B. in Biology from Brown University.

Doneka Scott is the Vice Chancellor and Dean for the Division of Academic and Student Affairs at NC State University. She leads a division dedicated to preparing students to succeed academically, professionally and personally, to embrace a commitment to lifelong learning, and to become informed, engaged, and productive citizens.

Scott joined NC State in 2021 after serving as the Associate Vice Provost and Associate Dean for Student Success, then as the Vice Provost for Undergraduate Education and Student Success at the University of Oregon. There she was responsible for the overall strategy and execution of undergraduate education and student success efforts on campus. She worked to eliminate institutional barriers that prohibit students from being successful and inhibit them from completing a degree program in a timely manner.

With the Division of Academic and Student Affairs, Scott manages the seamless integration of all aspects of undergraduate education, serves as a key strategic advisor to the provost and works to support the success of the whole student. Working closely with the Chancellor’s Cabinet, college deans, university faculty, and administrative colleagues, she leads all aspects of an innovative and coordinated delivery of student services.

Scott directs staff and resources to maximize impact on the curricular and co-curricular programs of the university, including the programs and services of University College; academic advising; academic enrichment programs; Exploratory Studies; cross-college interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary programs; advising technology; Health and Exercise Studies; Music; undergraduate courses, curricula and academic standards; Arts NC State (NC State LIVE, Crafts Center, Dance Program, Gregg Museum, University Theater, and Ticket Central); academic success programs; business administration, residential programs, and engagement; student development, health, and wellness. In addition to these areas, Scott also oversees the Office of Academic Support Programs for Student Athletes; assessment; development; student ombuds; and marketing and communications for the division.

Alicia Schatteman is currently the Vice Provost for Academic Affairs and a professor in the Department of Public Administration. She received her Ph.D. in public administration from Rutgers University-Newark and a master’s degree in communications management from Syracuse University. She also consults and conducts research in nonprofit strategic planning and performance measurement. Prior to returning to school for her Ph.D., she worked for 10 years in the public and nonprofit sectors as a communications specialist and then as an executive director.

Miriam Gamoran Sherin joined the Office of the Provost in September 2018. She is the Alice Gabrielle Twight Professor of Learning Sciences in the School of Education and Social Policy.

As Associate Provost for Undergraduate Education, Sherin facilitates the enhancement of the undergraduate academic experience through partnerships with the undergraduate schools and Student Affairs. Her office provides resources and opportunities for undergraduates through several undergraduate education units. Sherin also serves in a leadership role for a variety of University initiatives, including the Undergraduate Student Lifecycle. Sherin's priorities are to enrich the educational experiences of Northwestern’s 8,000 undergraduate students through collaborative cross-school and cross-unit undergraduate initiatives. She places a high priority on exploring strategies to promote success on the part of students who are first-generation, low income and/or who may come to Northwestern from under-resourced high schools.

Sherin joined the Northwestern faculty in 1997 and has served in a number of leadership roles during her more than 20 years with the School of Education and Social Policy, including Director of Undergraduate Education and Associate Dean for Teacher Education. Sherin’s research seeks to improve our understanding of how teachers think and learn by examining a broad range of teacher knowledge across a variety of cognitive tasks. Most recently her research has focused on the construct of teacher noticing, looking specifically at teachers’ professional vision — the ability to identify and respond to significant events in the moments of instruction. Sherin also has been at the forefront of efforts to design and study contexts that make use of video in ways that promote teacher learning.

Sherin earned a B.A. and M.A. in Mathematics from the University of Chicago and the University of California, San Diego, respectively. She received her Ph.D. in Science and Mathematics Education from the University of California, Berkeley.

Dr. Chris Francisco serves as Senior Vice Provost in the Division of Academic Affairs at OSU, where he is also a Professor of Mathematics. He has been at OSU since 2007, having previously served as Head of the Department of Mathematics from 2018 to 2021 and as the department’s Associate Head for Lower-Division Instruction from 2012 to 2018. Francisco helped lead OSU’s efforts to reform lower-division mathematics instruction and introduce corequisite support to make college-level mathematics accessible to more students. His research is in commutative algebra, and he is interested in its connections to combinatorics and the use of computer algebra systems.

Francisco’s accolades include being named Outstanding First-Year Student Advocate by the National Resource Center for First-Year Experience and Students in Transition (2018) and receiving the OSU Regents Distinguished Teaching Award (2016), the Mathematical Association of America Oklahoma-Arkansas Section Award for Distinguished College or University Teaching of Mathematics (2016), and the OSU University Service Award (2015).

Assistant Vice President for Academic Success

Old Dominion University 

Interim Vice Provost and Dean for Undergraduate Education

Pennsylvania State University

Associate Vice President and Associate Dean for Undergraduate Education

Pennsylvania State University 

Dr. Rieck joined Penn State’s Office of Undergraduate Education in 2016 from the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire, where he served as the chair of the Department of Music and Theatre Arts and professor of choral music and music education. He holds a Ph.D. in Curriculum and Instruction (Music Education), as well as master's and bachelor's degrees in Music Education, all from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. As associate vice provost and associate dean for Undergraduate Education, Dr. Rieck leads undergraduate research initiatives offered through the Office of Undergraduate Education, including the University’s annual Undergraduate Exhibition and leadership for the Student Engagement Network.

Dr. Rickus is the senior vice provost for teaching and learning at Purdue University. She is a professor of Agricultural and Biological Engineering and a professor in the Weldon School of Biomedical Engineering with expertise in biofunctional materials and biosensors. Prof. Rickus is an alumna of Purdue (BS ABE ’95, BS BCHM ’95) and spent time in industry as an engineer at Kraft Foods before receiving her Ph.D. in Neuroscience and Neuroengineering from UCLA. Her research focuses on engineered biomaterials for the sensing and actuation of living cells and tissues with a particular emphasis on the brain and pancreas. Materials from her lab have wide reaching applications for in vitro cell physiology, in vivo implantable cell and device-based therapeutics. Her lab has collaborated heavily with other researchers to integrate their materials into devices, implants, and 3D culture systems to create integrated platforms for sensing and actuating. With funding from NIH, NSF, USDA, NASA, the Army Research Office and DARPA, her research lab has developed new technologies with an impact on important problems in brain cancer, type 1 diabetes, foodborne illness and space biology.

As a faculty member, Dr. Rickus has also invested significantly in building, growing and strengthening academic programs, classroom teaching and transformational experiences for students. She founded the Purdue international genetically engineered machine (iGEM) undergraduate research team and is a member of the Howard Hughes Science Education Alliance bringing authentic research into the classroom.

Rickus has won numerous awards for her teaching, advising and research, including the American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE) Biomedical Engineering Teaching Award, the Outstanding Advisor in the College of Engineering Award, the Erin Slater Mentoring Achievement Award, and the College of Engineering Research Team Award. In 2016, she was named a University Faculty Scholar and a Diversity Catalyst and was inducted into the Purdue Innovator’s Hall of Fame. Dr. Rickus is a 2019 alumnae of the ELATE (Executive Leadership on Academic Technology and Engineering) program.

In her current role as senior vice provost for teaching and learning, Dr. Rickus provides leadership to the Purdue campus in undergraduate education and student success.

Dr. Servaty-Seib is the senior associate vice provost for teaching and learning at Purdue University. She is a professor of Counseling Psychology in the College of Education with specialization in the field of thanatology (i.e., the study of death and dying) including late adolescent/young adults grief, suicidal ideation, and social support offered to the bereaved. She co-edited Assisting Bereaved College Students, a higher education resource, and We Get It, a book of narratives by grieving college students. Her scholarship has supported the development of college student grief absence policies at Purdue and other U.S. institutions. Dr. Servaty-Seib and her grief and loss research team developed the Perceived Impact of Life Event Scale, a measure that uses the gain/loss framework (i.e., all life events involve both gains and losses) to assess the multidimensional impact of single life events. Her engaged research has been supported by funding from the Department of Health and Human Services, the Lumina Foundation, and the John W. Anderson Foundation. Dr. Servaty-Seib was selected to serve as the lead editor of the most recent edition of the Handbook of Thanatology (2021).

As a teacher, Dr. Servaty-Seib has been active in service-learning as a powerful form of pedagogy receiving department, college, university (i.e., service-learning fellow), and state awards (i.e., Indiana Campus Compact—now Community-Engaged Alliance). She is also a recipient of Association for Death Education and Counseling-Death Educator of the Year award. With counseling and development colleagues, she coordinated the development of the Certificate in Collaborative Leadership, open to all Purdue undergraduates. To become tomorrow’s leaders, students need to be trained in the interpersonal aspects of leadership. The Certificate program uses highly experiential training to take students beyond management skills to team-building, empowerment of others, and identifying and capitalizing on human resources to reach goals. Dr. Servaty-Seib served two terms on the University Senate and was pivotal in the establishment of the Equity, Diversity and Inclusion standing committee.

In her current role as senior associate vice provost of teaching and learning, Dr. Servaty-Seib works most directly with the teaching and learning units focused on student success, academic advising, exploratory studies (i.e., students exploring their best fit major), summer and winter sessions, academic and student success technology platforms, and Purdue’s relationship with the Purdue Polytechnic High Schools. She is also engaged in efforts to expand effective use of data to inform teaching and learning practices and is a primary facilitator of the relationship between teaching and learning and Purdue for Life.

She received her Ph.D. and Master’s degree in counseling psychology from the University of North Texas and completed her undergraduate studies at Concordia College in Moorhead, MN.

As Associate Dean of Undergraduate Education, Dr. Schwindt-Bayer oversees Rice’s distribution system and the general education curriculum more broadly. She works closely with the faculty, students, and other administrative offices around campus to ensure a top-notch core educational experience for all students at Rice. Dr. Schwindt-Bayer also holds the Mary Elizabeth Edwards Chair in Government and Democracy and is a Professor of Political Science. She joined the Rice faculty in 2013. She teaches undergraduate and graduate courses and conducts research on comparative politics, legislatures, representation, Latin America, and gender and politics. She was a U.S. Fulbright Fellow in Colombia in 2003, and in Fall 2008, was a Visiting Fellow at the Kellogg Institute for International Studies at the University of Notre Dame. Dr. Schwindt-Bayer is the author of four books and numerous journal articles. She is a divisional advisor for the School of Social Sciences at Brown College and a proud Brown College faculty associate.

Senior Vice Provost Moehling is responsible for promoting continued excellence in undergraduate education at Rutgers–New Brunswick. She directs the Office of the Chancellor's programs designed to advance student success. She also works closely with the leadership in the schools to encourage curricular and pedagogical innovation and to expand opportunities for experiential learning to prepare students for the world that lies ahead. She is a professor in the Department of Economics in the School of Arts and Sciences.

As the Sr. Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs & Strategic Partnerships, John oversees the offices of academic technology, academic scheduling, Lifelong Learning, Student Retention, and Institutional Effectiveness. Dr. Gunkel leads and coordinates academic advising across the Rutgers-Newark based schools to ensure that advising approach is student-centered, and data driven. John collabo represents the Office of the Chancellor as it relates to academic labor relations, assessment, and academic program development and approvals.

Dr. Lisa Dorsey is the Associate Provost for Undergraduate Education and Associate Professor in the Department of Physical Therapy and Athletic Training in the Doisy College of Health Sciences at Saint Louis University. Previously, she served as the Dean for the Doisy College of Health Sciences, Associate Dean for Academic and Student Affairs and Associate Dean for Graduate Education for the Doisy College of Health Sciences, the Chair for the Department of Physical Therapy and Athletic Training and the Director of the Program in Health Sciences at Saint Louis University.

She oversees and coordinates the development and implementation of undergraduate academic programs, policies and support services. She works closely with the colleges and schools that offer undergraduate programs, leads the University-level Undergraduate Academic Affairs Committee (UAAC), and oversees academic advising, academic support, and other undergraduate-focused programs (Honors, Pre-Law and Pre-Professional Health, INTO-SLU, Interprofessional Education, and academic integrity). She also serves as a liaison for the Office of the Provost and UAAC to shared governance bodies including the University Undergraduate Core Committee (UUCC), the Council of Academic Deans and Directors (CADD), the Student Government Association (SGA), Faculty Senate and the Board of Trustees.

She has completed a number of research and scholarship projects exploring physical therapy intervention for neurological impairment, higher education organizational structure, student success models in physical therapy and women in leadership and the workplace. She is engaged in higher education as an accreditation reviewer for the Higher Learning Commission and has served the profession of physical therapy at the national level as a member of the American Physical Therapy Association Outcomes Strategies Task Force and has served her local community as a member of the Board of Education in the Mehlville School District. She was the recipient of the Saint Louis University Woman of the Year Award in 2016, the Student Development Collaborative Partner Award, the Faculty Commitment to Experiential Learning Leadership & Service Award, and has been a Saint Louis University - YWCA Leader in the Workplace. Dr. Dorsey holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Physical Therapy and a Master's in Business Administration from Saint Louis University, a PhD in Educational Policy and Administration in Higher Education from the University of Minnesota and a Women and Power: Leadership in the New World certificate from the Harvard Kennedy School.

Professor Sheri Kunovich became the Associate Provost for Student Academic Engagement and Success at Southern Methodist University in July 2018. In this position she oversees student scholar programs, student academic success programs, national student awards programs, Engaged Learning, University Advising Center, and the Office of Student Success and Retention.

Dr. Kunovich graduated with a B.S. in Sociology from Texas A & M University. She earned M.A.s in Slavic and East European Studies and Sociology and a Ph.D. in Sociology from the Ohio State University. She joined the Department of Sociology in SMU's Dedman College of Humanities and Sciences in 2004. Professor Kunovich’s courses contribute to SMU majors and minors in Sociology, Markets and Cultures, Women and Gender Studies, International Studies, and Human Rights. She has taught courses at the SMU Taos Campus and served as the Director of the Prague Internship Program. She was previously awarded the Golden Mustang Award (2010), the Margareta Deschner Teaching Award (2013), the Excellence in Mentoring Award (2014), and the Extra Mile Award (2016). She was selected as an Altshuler Distinguished Teaching Professor in 2013. Dr. Kunovich served as Chair of the Sociology Department from 2014-2018. Professor Kunovich’s research within political sociology focuses on women’s representation in national legislatures and democratization in Eastern Europe. Her research within economic sociology focuses on attitudes towards distributive justice and consumption and consumerism. She has published articles in journals, such as the American Journal of Sociology, Annual Review of Sociology, Comparative Politics, Politics & Gender, and Social Forces.

Senior Associate Vice Provost

Stanford University

Cassandra Volpe Horii, Ph.D., serves as the associate vice provost for education and director of the Center for Teaching and Learning at Stanford University. Before joining Stanford in February 2022, Horii served as the assistant vice provost and founding director of the Center for Teaching, Learning, and Outreach at Caltech, where she led efforts to advance and support inclusive, evidence-based teaching across disciplines. She was a founding member of the National Academies Roundtable on Systemic Change in Undergraduate STEM Education from 2018 to 2024, and served as president of the POD Network in Higher Education in 2018-19. Her prior institutional roles have included inaugural dean of the faculty at Curry College in Milton, MA, where she created the Faculty Center, and associate director of the Derek Bok Center for Teaching and Learning at Harvard University.

As a first-generation student in higher education, Horii earned a bachelor's degree in physics from the University of Colorado at Boulder and a doctorate in atmospheric chemistry in the Department of Earth and Planetary Science from Harvard University. She has taught undergraduate and graduate-level courses on university teaching and learning in STEM, atmospheric science, environmental chemistry, expository writing, and sustainability. Her scholarship has addressed topics such as the roles of centers for teaching and learning in institutional change and accreditation, the experiences of faculty with disabilities, inclusive and equity-minded teaching and mentoring, educational spaces and technologies, teaching consultation methods, and projects related to writing and visual rhetoric in higher education.

Rachelle Germana leads the Division of Undergraduate Education as the Senior Associate Provost. She was appointed to that role in January 2024. Germana has served since 2014 in Undergraduate Education at Stony Brook, and has worked professionally in higher education since 2001. 

Julie Hasenwinkel serves as Associate Provost for Academic Programs, supporting teaching, learning and student success. Her portfolio includes oversight of a wide range of University offices and programs in these areas, including the Center for Learning and Student Success, the Center for Teaching and Learning Excellence and Retention and Student Success.

Hasenwinkel, a Laura J. and L. Douglas Meredith Professor of Teaching Excellence, was previously chair of the Department of Biomedical and Chemical Engineering in the College of Engineering and Computer Science (ECS) and a faculty affiliate of the BioInspired Institute. She has served as ECS associate dean for academic and student affairs and senior associate dean.

Her professional and scholarly areas of expertise include faculty development in teaching and learning; engineering education and active learning pedagogies; student success initiatives; orthopedic biomaterials; and biomaterials for nerve regeneration. She holds a Ph.D. in biomedical engineering from Northwestern University, an M.S. in bioengineering from Clemson University and a B.S.E. in biomedical engineering from Duke University.

Dan Berman serves as Vice Provost for undergraduate studies at Temple University. As vice provost for undergraduate studies, Berman provides leadership and support on matters related to undergraduate education. Serving both students and faculty, he leads an office that works to enrich the academic environment for undergraduate students and to further the academic mission of the university.

Berman oversees a wide range of offices and centers, including all university-wide academic advising and support centers, the General Education program, the Career Center, the Honors Program, the Office of Continuing Studies, the Division of University Studies (serving students who have not yet decided on a school/college or major at Temple), ROTC and more.

A respected teacher and scholar in the area of ancient Greek literature and myth, Berman came to Temple in 2009 after seven years at Penn State, where he earned tenure in 2008. He began the first of two terms serving as director of Temple’s Intellectual Heritage program—which encompasses the two core humanities courses taken by all Temple undergraduates—in 2011. In 2012-13, Berman directed the prestigious Intercollegiate Center for Classical Studies in Rome, serving as the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation Professor-in-Charge. In 2014, he became chair of Temple’s Department of Greek and Roman Classics.

Dr. Timothy P. Scott was appointed Vice Provost for Academic Affairs in Fall 2023. Prior to that, he held numerous leadership positions, including interim provost and executive vice president, associate provost for academic affairs and student success, and associate dean for undergraduate programs in the College of Science.

Dr. Scott joined the faculty of Biology in 1990. He holds a bachelor’s degree in biology and chemistry from Louisiana College, and a master’s in biology and Ph.D. in zoology from Texas A&M University. His original research focused on the American alligator, but he expanded his portfolio to K16 STEM education and student success. Dr. Scott co-directs the Center for Mathematics and Science Education, which has received more than $30 million dollars in funding under his leadership.

Dr. Scott oversees the undergraduate enterprise at the university. During his tenure, Texas A&M has seen unprecedented increases in retention and graduation rates. He has also led course redesign efforts as well as efforts to increase low- and no-cost textbooks on campus. Dr. Scott’s passion is working with undergraduate students. Over the years he has built and directed many different learning communities, including those for first-generation students, pre-service math and science teachers, and transfer students. Dr. Scott serves as the institutional lead for American Talent Initiative and the Posse Program.

Dr. Wilburn utilizes his collaborative leadership style and experience in strategic planning to strengthen partnerships with Student Affairs, Academic Advising, and Student Access and Accommodation, to help TCU experience even higher levels of student achievement for all students. He collaborates with the Dean of Students, academic deans, department chairs, Faculty Senate, Undergraduate Council, and the Provost’s Council to support high-quality, innovative undergraduate programs.

Dr. Wilburn focuses on three strategic initiatives: champion undergraduate student success; support undergraduate education for the future, and support innovative advising platforms and protocols. He also examines the undergraduate student population that TCU aspires to educate and the efficacy of traditional and non-traditional models of education.

Dr. Wilburn’s accomplishments include visionary strategic planning, transparent decision-making, and shared governance. As a teacher and administrator, he has inspired collaboration among faculty, staff, students, and alumni to focus on student retention, signature program development, faculty development, enrollment management, academic standards, and curriculum development, enrichment and management. He monitors the test-optional pilot program to assess its impact on students’ academic performance and success across multiple demographic populations. He updates Academic Affairs on new state and federal Title IX legislation governing the academic rights and entitlements of expectant parents to include post-natal concerns. And he serves as advisor for the Black Student Association and on the organizational leadership team for Brothers Reaching Brothers professional affinity group.

Dr. Wilburn joined TCU as dean of the former School of Interdisciplinary Studies after serving at the University of New Hampshire from 2007 to 2021 as professor of African-American Literature and Milton Studies and Associate Dean for the College of Liberal Arts.  At UNH he was honored with the Faculty Award for Social Justice, Center for Humanities Faculty Fellowship, Leadership Fellow for the AGB Institute for Leadership and Governance in Higher Education, and President’s Commission on the Status of Women Faculty Award. He holds a Ph.D. and M.A. in English from the University of Connecticut, and B.A. in English from the University of the District of Columbia.

Ph.D,. University of Houston
A.M., University of Chicago
B.A., Texas Southern University                                                           

Wrongfully Convicted Persons; Aging Issues; Social Work Advancement; Social Work Education; Research Methods; Social Welfare Policy, Policy Analysis; Children & Families; Quality Assurance & Improvement; Aging Populations; Administration and Community Organization; Field Education Development  

Dr. Aswath is the Provost and Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs. As TXST Provost, Dr. Aswath is helping in the pursuit of our strategic Hopes and Aspirations High vision to become an R1 by 2027, enhancing student success, growing the Round Rock Campus, increasing enrollment, and making TXST an employer of choice. His focus includes examining academic structures, resource allocation, policies, and procedures to ensure the efforts of faculty, staff, and administrators align with the goals of the university and that academic priorities are implemented efficiently.  

In addition to his experience in academic operations, Dr. Aswath is an accomplished scholar. He is a Fellow of American Society of Materials, Fellow of Society of Tribology Lubrication Engineers, and most recently, was elected as Fellow of National Academy of Inventors. He has published over 150 journal papers, graduated 20 Ph.D. students and 35 master’s thesis students, has commercialized several technologies in materials science, and he is included in multiple patent publications and filings. 

Dr. Aswath earned a bachelor of science in physics, chemistry and math from St. Joseph College, Bangalore University, and a bachelor of engineering in metallurgy from the Indian Institute of Science. He earned a master of science in materials science and a doctorate in materials science and engineering at Brown University.

Jorge F. Figueroa, Ph.D., is the Vice Provost for Curriculum and Strategic Initiatives at Texas Woman's University. He provide leadership for curriculum development undergraduate education, core curriculum, transfer agreements, and scheduling. He oversee first year seminar instruction, college readiness testing, university curriculum committee, the university course inventory, compliance with state and university policies for undergraduate education, and faciliates academic partnerships that supports the strategic mission of the university.

Before his appointment as Vice Provost, he was the Associate Dean for Research, Inclusion, and Innovation for the College of Professional Education (COPE) where he oversaw COPE's international education partnerships, the COPE's Emerging Leaders Program,  and all research, inclusion and innovation activity in the college. He is a Professor of Bilingual and ESL Education in the Department of Teacher Education,  Affiliate Faculty to the Department of Literacy and Learning, In addition, he is the advisor for the Bilingual and ESL Education Student Organization (BESO).

With over 20 years of experience in higher education, he had trained pre-service and in-service teachers in the North America, Latin America, and Europe. His research focuses in the intersection between emergent technologies and emergent bilinguals with emphasis on extended realities (XR), gamification and game based learning, second language acquisition, culturally responsive/sustaining teaching, and critical pedagogies.

His research has appeared in Contemporary Educational Technology, Educación XX1, International Journal of Technology and Educational Innovation, Expert Systems, Digital Education Review, European Researcher, International Journal of Environmental and Science Education, among others. He is an inaugural Fellow of the New Leadership Academy at University of Michigan-Ann Arbor, a Fellow at the Executive Leadership Academy at UC-Berkeley, and member of at Universidad de Málaga in Spain. 

As vice provost and dean for undergraduate education, Dr. Norman W. Jones leads the vision for challenging and transformative academic experiences for Ohio State undergraduate students on all our campuses.

Dr. Jones previously served as dean and director of Ohio State’s Mansfield campus, where he raised retention rates for underserved and historically underrepresented students, secured substantial philanthropic support for curricular innovation and student success, and helped create a new degree program at Ohio State to support advanced manufacturing. He also previously served as an associate dean and, prior to that, as the Department of English’s program coordinator for Mansfield. Above all, he is a skilled and passionate relationship-builder who has created partnerships across the state.

Dr. Jones is a professor in the Department of English who earned his PhD from the University of California, Los Angeles, and his BA from Yale University. He is the author of Provincializing the Bible: Faulkner and Postsecular American Literature (2018), The Bible and Literature: The Basics (2016), and Gay and Lesbian Historical Fiction: Sexual Mystery and Post-Secular Narrative (2007). He is also co-editor of The King James Bible after 400 Years: Literary, Linguistic, and Cultural Influences (2010).

As vice provost and dean for undergraduate education, Dr. Jones provides leadership to the Office of Undergraduate Education, which includes Academic Enrichment, Military and Veterans Services (ROTC), Student-Athlete Support Services Office (SASSO), Undergraduate Education, and Transition and Academic Growth. He is proud to serve Ohio State’s exceptionally talented staff who work across these areas to support students and provide them with transformative academic experiences.

Mollye Demosthenidy is a clinical professor in the department of health policy and management. Her academic interests lie in healthcare reform; the role of law and policy in improving healthcare outcomes; and the intersection of law, politics, and healthcare policy. She teaches courses addressing health law and regulation, ethics, and health policy, at both the graduate and undergraduate levels. Prior to joining the faculty at Tulane, she practiced law at two New Orleans firms, focusing on regulatory and transactional issues faced by healthcare providers. She holds a JD and an MHA, both from Tulane University, and a BS from Louisiana State University. Mollye, a nationally recognized expert in healthcare and former associate dean for Strategic Initiatives in the School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine (SPHTM), accepted the appointment as the new dean of Newcomb-Tulane College (NTC), effective July 1, 2023. Her appointment followed an extensive national search that attracted outstanding candidates from across the country. 

Kelly Grant is a senior associate dean in Newcomb-Tulane College and a professor of practice of management communication at the A.B. Freeman School of Business. She began her career at Tulane in 2000 and since 2016, Grant has led Tulane’s initiatives to improve student success, specifically, Tulane’s retention and graduation outcomes. In Newcomb-Tulane College, she oversees College Advising, the Academic Learning and Tutoring Center, Success Coaching, the First-Year Experience team, and the Office of Retention Data. Grant also leads the Wave of Support initiative in support of mental health in partnership with Student Affairs. Grant is a co-chair of the Commission on Race, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusivity, as well as serves on the Administrative Council, the Greek Life Steering Committee, and the executive board of the Management Communication Association. She holds an M.A in English and Rhetoric and is a doctoral candidate in education leadership, policy, and research.

Dr. Malatesta serves as the Dean for Undergraduate Education and the Vice Provost for Academic Innovation and Student Success at the University at Albany. In this role, Dr. Malatesta is responsible for many aspects of the University-wide academic enterprise, including supporting curriculum development, overseeing an innovative and proactive academic support infrastructure, managing academic policy and advancing the strategic initiatives of the University. Dr. Malatesta has a passion for transformative education and a steadfast commitment to fostering an environment of academic excellence and student success as evidenced by her leadership of initiatives that enhance curriculum relevance, foster interdisciplinary collaboration and promote a holistic approach to student development.

She has been instrumental in the development and coordination of a University-wide academic student success model that is grounded in strategic, intentional and data-informed innovations. Dr. Malatesta has implemented critical changes in the undergraduate academic experience, including launching the Academic Recovery Program, transforming academic standing processes and advancing student access to academic pathways through enhanced articulations.

Dr. Malatesta develops critical partnerships within the University, the SUNY system and the broader higher education community to grow and enhance the student experience for all students. She is committed to cultivating cross-divisional partnerships for collaborative efforts that often yield unique and personalized support essential to student success. She champions the use of state-of-the-art technologies and shared platforms that improve communication and connections between students, faculty, advisors and staff, resulting in increased faculty engagement and enhanced student experiences.

Dr. Malatesta joined the University at Albany in 1997 after completing an undergraduate degree in social psychology and criminal behavior at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. She holds master's and doctorate degrees from the UAlbany School of Criminal Justice, where she has also served as an adjunct professor.

Ann Bisantz is the vice provost and dean of undergraduate education. Through oversight of academic policies, curriculum management, student success and retention, Bisantz's leadership enables all UB undergraduate students to achieve academic excellence. 

In this role, Bisantz stewards the strategic vision for the governance and management of UB's 21st-century general education program, the UB Curriculum, as well as the university's retention initiatives. Bisantz also provides visionary leadership support to the University Honors College, Cora P. Maloney Center, undergraduate research, and experiential learning, and student academic support initiatives such as the Center for Excellence in Writing, EAB Navigate platform, Tutoring and Academic Support Services and the Proud to be First initiative. Campus-wide undergraduate advising, student success coaching, and the Exploratory and Pre-Professional Advising Center also fall under Bisantz's purview, which ensures a coordinated approach to student achievement and engagement.

Dean since 2018, Bisantz has led initiatives to address learning gaps and improve pedagogy in key courses; collaborated on student success initiatives, including summer bridge courses and success coach models; overseen the full-scale implementation of the UB Curriculum; implemented efforts to streamline connecting first-year students to majors; and has led undergraduate education units in updating and transforming programming to meet the needs of today's students. Bisantz co-chaired the Curriculum and Pedagogy Committee for the President's Advisory Council on Race, co-chaired the Middles States Higher Education accreditation effort and was the 2022 chair of UB's SEFA Campaign for the Community. Bisantz is a SUNY Distinguished Professor and past chair of UB's Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering, where she led successful undergraduate accreditation efforts, developed new undergraduate and graduate programs, and expanded and diversified the ISE faculty.

Bisantz earned a PhD from the Georgia Institute of Technology and a master's and bachelor's degree from UB. Her research areas are cognitive engineering, human decision-making, human-computer interface design and complex work systems analysis. She received the SUNY Chancellor's Award for Research and Creative Activity in 2015, the Paul M. Fitts Educator Award from the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society in 2017 (where she was also named Fellow in 2013), the HFES WOMAN Mentor award in 2020, and has served on the executive boards of two professional societies. In 2024, she was appointed to the National Academie's Board on Human System Integration. Bisantz joined UB in 1997.

Krista Krause is the assistant vice provost for undergraduate education, overseeing undergraduate policy and curricular developments and providing leadership for the development of strategic undergraduate initiatives. Krause has been in higher education for more than 20 years and at UB since 2008, contributing her expertise in curriculum development, management and assessment, strategic planning, student success and liberal arts education. In 2015, Krause received the SUNY Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Professional Service. She holds a master’s degree in higher education from the University of Michigan and a bachelor’s degree from the University of Rochester.

Gregory (Greg) L. Heileman currently serves as the Vice Provost, Academic Affairs and Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of Arizona, where he is responsible for facilitating collaboration across campus to strategically enhance institutional capacity related to academic administration.  He has served in various administrative capacities in higher education since 2004.  His experience includes work in the areas of faculty development, institutional research, accreditation and academic program review, curriculum management, student success, academic advisement, tutoring, student health \& wellbeing, student conduct, budget and finance, economic development, policy development, information technology and data governance, and strategic planning. 

From 2017-2019, he served as the Associate Provost for Student & Academic Life and Professor of Electrical & Computer Engineering at the University of Kentucky, where he was responsible for providing vision, leadership and strategic direction for campus-wide student success efforts, while also serving as the university’s Chief Student Affairs Officer. From 2011-2017, he served as the Associate Provost for Curriculum and then as the Vice Provost for Teaching, Learning and Innovation at the University of New Mexico (UNM).  During that time, he led campus-wide student academic success initiatives, and worked with key stakeholders on campus, to produce all-time record retention and graduation rates.  

His work as a professor began in 1990 when he joined the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE) at UNM.  He subsequently advanced through the academic ranks to Professor.  He has more than 170 peer reviewed publications in the areas of machine learning and data analytics, information security, and student success in higher education.  His research activities have generated more than $9,000,000 in external funding, and he has served as the advisor for 48 M.S. and Ph.D. students.  From 2005-2011 he served as Associate Chair (Director of Undergraduate Programs), and led the department through two ABET accreditation visits.  In 2011 he became an ABET program evaluator.  In 2009 he was also awarded the IEEE Albuquerque Section Outstanding Educator Award. He was the recipient of ECE’s Lawton-Ellis Award for combined excellence in teaching, research, and student/community involvement in 2001 and again 2009.  He held ECE’s Gardner Zemke Professorship from 2005-08.  He received the School of Engineering's Teaching Excellence award in 1995, and the ECE Department Distinguished Teacher Award in 2000. During 1998 he held a research fellowship at the Universidad Carlos III de Madrid, and in 2005 he held a similar position at the Universidad Politénica de Madrid.

He earned a BA in Biology from Wake Forest University, a MS in Biomedical Engineering and Mathematics from the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill in 1986, and his PhD in Computer Engineering from the University of Central Florida.

Oliver is the Vice Provost for Undergraduate Education (VPUE) at UC Berkeley. As VPUE, he provides leadership on undergraduate education and is responsible for implementation of the campus strategic plan recommendations around Diversity, and Student Experience and Enrollment. Vice Provost O’Reilly oversees several strategic initiatives and academic programs, including Berkeley Changemaker®, Berkeley Discover, Berkeley Connect, the Berkeley Collegium, and the American Cultures Center, as well as major operating units such as the Athletic Study Center, Biology Scholars Program, Student Learning Center, and Research, Teaching, and Learning Services which provides support to faculty development through the Center for Teaching and Learning. He advises on enrollment planning and management, serves as a liaison for academic units to campus administrative offices, and chairs a number of campus committees.

In addition to his role as VPUE, O’Reilly is a distinguished professor and the holder of the Paul R. Gray Distinguished Chair in the Department of Mechanical Engineering. O’Reilly received his BE in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Galway, Ireland, and his MS and PhD degrees in Theoretical and Applied Mechanics from Cornell University. After spending two years as a postdoc at the Institut für Mechanik at ETH Zürich, he joined the faculty in Mechanical Engineering at Berkeley in 1992. His interests span the fields of continuum mechanics and nonlinear dynamics. 

O’Reilly has published more than 100 archival journal articles, written three textbooks, co-authored a recent book on discrete elastic rods, and is a co-inventor on two patents. He has received several teaching awards, including UC Berkeley’s Distinguished Teaching Award in 1999, the Pi Tau Sigma Professor of the Year Award in 2003, and the Tau Beta Pi Outstanding Faculty of the Year Award in 2013. He was chair of the Berkeley Division of the Academic Senate during the 2019-20 academic year, and in 2021 was a recipient of the Berkeley Faculty Service Award. During the 2020-21 academic year, he was Associate Dean for Graduate Education in the Division of Computing, Data Science, and Society.

Michael Bradford joined UC Davis as its vice provost and dean for Undergraduate Education in February 2023.

Bradford served as vice provost for Faculty, Staff and Student Development at the University of Connecticut from 2020-2023. At UConn, he oversaw a similar, student-focused portfolio that included UConn’s Institute for Student Success, Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning, University Advising, Student Athlete Success Program, Honors and Enrichment, Career Development and Veteran Affairs. He also worked closely with the university’s chief diversity officer on diversity, equity, inclusion and justice initiatives and training.  

Prior to his vice provost position, Bradford was UConn’s department head of Dramatic Arts from 2017 to 2020 and director of the university’s Theatre Studies from 2010 to 2016. He joined UConn as an assistant professor of dramatic arts in 2000. Bradford is a military veteran with 10 years of service in the U.S. Navy.

An award-winning director, producer and playwright, Bradford has staged plays across the world, from New York City to the United Kingdom, Romania and Spain. He is a 20-year member of the Dramatists Guild of America and Treasurer of the University Resident Theatre Association board.

Bradford earned a bachelor’s degree in general studies with an emphasis in English literature from the University of Connecticut and a master of fine arts in playwriting from Brooklyn College, the City University of New York.

Professor Dennin earned his A. B. from Princeton University, and his M.A. and Ph.D. (1995) from the University of California, Santa Barbara. He held a postdoctoral position at the University of California, Los Angeles. He is an Alfred P. Sloan Research Fellow and a Research Corporation Cottrell Scholar. He has been a Professor of Physics and Astronomy at UCI since 1997. You can find him on twitter (@DenninMichael), Instagram (@DenninMichael), Facebook (@ProfDenninMichael), and LinkedIn (denninmichael).

Professor Dennin’s main research interest is systems that exhibit emergent properties. These include the behavior of complex fluids, such as foam and sand, as well as the complex dynamics of biological systems. For a more detailed discussion of the research and fun pictures and movies, visit Professor Dennin’s Home Page: http://www.physics.uci.edu/~dennin.

Professor Dennin is well-known for popularizing science for the public. His latest work is The Physics of X: where X is everything except politics – YouTube series. He currently appears regularly on the podcast Fascinating Gadgets, Gizmos, and Gear-based Technology (fgggbt.com), where he and fellow panelist take “your favoriate science fiction and make it a reality.” He has taught many online courses on the nature of science, including team teaching a MOOC based on the television program, The Walking Dead. He has appeared on a number of television programs, including Spider-man Tech, Batman Tech, Star Wars Tech, Ancient Aliens, The UnXplained, and Histories Greatest Mysteries (list of appearances at IMbD). He has a book with Franciscan Media on science and religion titled: Divine Science: Finding Reason at the Heart of Faith that is available at independent bookstores everywhere, online at Franciscan Media dot Org, and of course Amazon.

He has been Vice Provost of Teaching and Learning and Dean, Division of Undergraduate Education at UCI since 2015. In this role, Michael is dedicated to enhancing the undergraduate experience at UC Irvine. He oversees programs that connect students to a wide range of academic programs and services and supports faculty and TAs in their efforts to teach undergraduate courses.

Adriana Galván is the Dean of Undergraduate Education at UCLA. She is also a Professor in the Department of Psychology and Director of the Developmental Neuroscience Laboratory at UCLA. Adriana’s work examines how neurobiological changes impact behavioral development during adolescence—particularly in the areas of decision-making, risk-taking, and emotional health.

As Dean for Undergraduate Education, I'm focused on providing an exceptional educational experience for UC Merced students, and ensuring that they thrive as they accomplish their goals. I have studied college student success for nearly 30 years and am passionate about how students grow and develop while in college as well as how we can provide an environment in which each student reaches their potential and goals.

Louie Rodriguez is Vice Provost and Dean of Undergraduate Education at the University of California, Riverside. Rodríguez is a longtime professor in UCR’s Graduate School of Education and served as the school’s interim dean from 2019 to 2022. He earned his doctorate in education from the Harvard Graduate School of Education in 2005.

Rodríguez is an Inland Empire native who earned his bachelor’s degree from California State University, San Bernardino, and then his master’s and doctorate degrees in Administration, Planning, and Social Policy from Harvard University. As interim dean at the School of Education, he oversaw a $26 million budget, oversaw enrollment growth, and hired 30% of the school’s faculty. He joined UCR in 2017 and, as associate dean, helped launch a new undergraduate education major for the School of Education. He is the author of four books.

Prior to UCR, he was an associate professor in Educational Leadership and Technology and Co-Director of the Doctoral Program in Educational Leadership at California State University, San Bernardino (CSUSB) and was also on the faculty at Florida International University in Miami for three years.

As Dean of Undergraduate Education, Dr. Moore is responsible for providing academic leadership in the development, enhancement, and delivery of undergraduate academic programs, including new interdisciplinary programs across colleges, divisions, schools, and disciplines. The Dean also promotes curriculum innovation and reform and strengthens academic support services for undergraduate students.

Dean Moore has been a member of the faculty since 1992. He received his Ph.D. in 1991 from University of California, Santa Cruz. A highly regarded scholar in theoretical syntax, his work has concentrated on Spanish syntax and the grammatical encoding of semantic arguments. His recent research includes work on Moro - a language spoken in Central Sudan - and varieties of Spanish spoken in the San Diego-Tijuana border region. He has also recently published on aspects of flamenco, including an annotated translation of oral histories. He is a gifted musician, widely known as a flamenco guitarist.

Dr. Moore has a demonstrated history of commitment to undergraduate education, campus service, and contributions to diversity in teaching, research and service, which has served him well as Interim Dean. He provided strong leadership as Chair of the Council of Provosts (COP) during the past two academic years. Prior to his appointment as Provost in 2013, he served as Chair of the Academic Senate Committee on Academic Personnel (CAP), as Chair of the Department of Linguistics, and as a department diversity representative. In addition to teaching core undergraduate courses on syntax, historical linguistics, and Spanish linguistics, he has taught freshman seminars on the structure and history of flamenco. He has also been involved in the Global Seminar Program since its inception, winning a "Partner in International Education" award in 2011.

Dean Moore's leadership record, administrative experience, and deep understanding of undergraduate education will enable him to make a lasting impact on UC San Diego and our students. Please join us in congratulating Dean Moore on his appointment.

Christine Alvarado joined the UC San Diego faculty in 2012. Prior to coming to the Jacobs School of Engineering, she was a tenured associate professor at Harvey Mudd College. She received her undergraduate degree in computer science from Dartmouth College in 1998, graduating summa cum laude. She received her and S.M. and Ph.D. in computer science from MIT in 2000 and 2004, respectively. Her work has been funded by several grants from the National Science Foundation including a CAREER award in 2005. She has won several awards for her teaching and contributions to education including the A. Richard Newton Educator ABIE Award (2013), the UC San Diego Academic Senate Distinguished Teaching Award (2017), the UC San Diego Chancellor’s Associates Faculty Excellence Award for Undergraduate Teaching (2019), the first NCWIT Academic Alliance Joanne McGrath Cohoon Academic Service Award (2022), and in 2018 was named a Distinguished Member of the Association for Computing Machinery for Outstanding Contributions to Computer Science Education.

Carlos Jensen joined UC San Diego and the Executive Vice Chancellor (EVC) team in 2020. He is a champion of experiential learning and has extensive leadership experience in public education, with a strong emphasis on teaching excellence, educational innovation and access, and enhancing the student experience. As AVC-EI, he leads our campus educational innovation efforts, designed to stimulate the development of new academic programs and infrastructures in support of our strategic priorities for diversity and access, the student experience, organizational sustainability, and more. In this capacity, Carlos oversees the Teaching + Learning Commons, which promotes educational excellence through comprehensive services for students and educators.  

Before joining UC San Diego, Dr. Jensen served as Associate Dean of Undergraduate Programs in the College of Engineering at Oregon State University, and an Associate Professor in Computer Science. He holds a Ph.D. in Computer Science from the Georgia Institute of Technology.

I'm the Faculty Director of CITRAL. I am also Professor of Writing Studies and Associate Vice Chancellor of Teaching and Learning at UC Santa Barbara. I've been a writing teacher for more than 30 years, teaching undergraduate courses like first year writing (aka freshman composition) and writing and civic engagement and graduate courses on writing theory, practice, and assessment. Most recently, I've focused on working with faculty learners on studying their disciplines and creating more equitable, inclusive, and just teaching and learning. In all of these roles I work with faculty and students to study structures and practices associated with knowledge-making (like writing!), and to make those practices more accessible. I do all of this because I'm passionate about creating inclusive and equitable structures and activities for learners and teachers. 

My interests in knowledge-making, teaching, and learning are also reflected in my research. The primary audiences for this work are other faculty members in my discipline of writing studies/composition and rhetoric and academic administrators; some of my work also circulates among people interested in teaching and learning across disciplines. I'm author, co-author, or co-editor of 11 books and more than 55 articles and book chapters, including  Naming What We Know: Threshold Concepts of Writing Studies and (Re)Considering What We Know: Learning Thresholds in Writing, Composition, Rhetoric, and Literacy. I regularly consult/conduct talks and workshops for faculty, administrators, and others around the country on issues related to writing, learning, and professional/faculty development.

At UCSB, I've been Director of the UC Santa Barbara Writing Program and co-Interim Co-Dean of the Division of Undergraduate Education in the College of Letters and Science at UCSB. I'm also the past chair of the Conference on College Composition and Communication; a member of the National Council of Teachers of English Executive Committee, and a Past President of the Council of Writing Program Administrators. In these roles I've worked with writing and literacy teachers/faculty pre-K through graduate school on research, policy, pedaogy, and initiatives to support literacy educators and learners around the country and the world. To read more about my professional work, feel free to view the CV attached to this profile.

Professor of Computer Engineering.
Professor of Biomolecular Engineering
Chair of B.S. in Bioengineering
Director of UCSC's Bio-Info-Nano Research and Development Institute at NASA Ames

Faculty Advisor for UCSC chapters of Society of Women Engineers and Tau Beta Pi CA AD, and president of the UCSC Phi Beta Kappa chapter

I received a B.A. in Mathematics and B.S. in Engineering from Swarthmore College and an Sc.M. and Ph.D. in Computer Science from Brown University.

My research interests include computer architecture, parallel processing, parallel programming languages and environments, computer applications in biology.

Key responsibilities are Center for Enhancement of Teaching and Learning, Learning Commons, Institute for Postsecondary Learning Research, New Course an GenEd Reviews, Micro-credentialing

MFA in Choreography, The Ohio State University; BA in Dance, University of Washington, Associate Professor, CU faculty member since 2007. Professor of Dance, Associate Dean for Student Success for the College of Arts & Sciences.

Erika is a dancer who makes dances, films, theatre, stories, and shadow boxes. She likes to hide things in the work so that folks can choose their level of engagement—do a surface read of the work’s formalism, high production values, virtuosic dance moves; or peek up under its skirt where she hides the good stuff, just there under those triple turns and leg kicks. 

Her works for high schools and colleges across the country have been feminist acts of reclamation, ruminations on the benefits of leaving flawed systems: institutions, dance companies, relationships. She is thrilled to share her “failures” with next generation trouble-makers. And to keep learning from those failures and students as they show her her gaps. She is now, more than ever, making from and within these gaps.

Interlochen and “Jail Yard” trained, Erika was taught to believe in pedigree and thought that one had only “made it” if they danced with the Graham Company or Mark Morris. She did some stints in those neighborhoods and found that while the “fancy” helped with subway platform dancer speak (and the further institutionalization of white privilege), she is most herself when building community, dancing in class, and making her own way.

Some stats: The Columbus Movement Movement (cm2), the organization Erika formed in 2004 to support contemporary dance in Columbus, OH, was named one of Dance Magazine’s “Top 25 to Watch” in 2007.  Erika’s choreography has been seen in four countries and in 12 states over the last eight years and her award-winning screendance works continue to screen internationally. She has danced with Buglisi/Foreman dance, The Mark Morris dance Group (as a supplementary dancer), and with folks like Teena Marie Custer, Megan Odom, Anna Sapozhnikov, Sara Hook, Sydney Skybetter, and Michelle Ellsworth. Erika was part of the summer faculty at the Interlochen Arts Camp for 8 years and has been a frequent guest artist at the Interlochen Arts Academy. 

Her dancefilms, “candy dish,” “Paula + Francesca,” “More, “Less,” “Self Defense,” and “Down for the Count,” have screened at festivals such the Sans Souci Dance Cinema Festival, the Starz Denver Film Festival, the Florence GLBT Film Festival in Italy, Beyond the Curve Festival in Paris, FR, and the Façade Film Festival in Plovdiv, Bulgaria.

Randall co-wrote, directed, produced and choreographed the feature dance film, Leading Ladies, which premiered at the Sonoma International Film Festival in 2010, and has played to sold-out audiences at over 65 festivals world-wide, including: New York’s NewFest, Los Angeles’ Outfest, San Francisco’s Frameline, the Palm Springs International Film Festival, the Starz Denver Film Festival, the Cannes Independent Film Festival, and won “Best Feature” at the Palm Beach Women’s Film Festival. Her interest in dance, its relationship to popular culture, and its ability to queer worlds and impact change, is at the heart of all of her research and teaching.

Michael J Chajes, PhD., P.E., is currently Interim Vice Provost for Undergraduate Education and Dean of the Honors College at the University of Delaware (UD) and Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering.

Chajes joined the UD faculty in 1990, and during his nearly 30 years at the university has served as chair of Civil and Environmental Engineering and dean of the College of Engineering. Dr. Chajes teaches classes and conducts research in the areas of structural engineering, structural health monitoring of bridges, and applications of sustainability.

Chajes received his bachelor’s degree in civil engineering at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst and graduated with honors in 1984.  He attended the University of California at Davis (UCD) and received his M.S. in 1987 and his Ph.D. in 1990. While at Davis, Chajes was twice awarded that university’s Outstanding Graduate Student Teaching Award. Chajes is a registered Professional Engineer in Delaware and served on the state’s Professional Engineering Registration Board from 1995–2000.

Chajes has supervised 46 master’s students and eight Ph.D. students while at UD, as well as more than 60 undergraduate research students. He has served as PI or co-PI on more than $5M of research grants, has published more than 100 papers and presented his work through more than 70 talks in the U.S. and abroad. Some of his current research activities include the structural health monitoring of the Indian River Inlet bridge, turning food waste into energy, harvesting energy from long-span bridges, and investigating the potential of distributed rooftop solar power plants.

In 2010, Chajes was named Delaware’s Engineer of the Year and also was awarded a UC Davis College of Engineering Distinguished Engineering Alumni Medal. In 2012 he was a member of UD’s NSF Advance team that was awarded UD’s E. A. Trabant Award for Women’s Equity. In 2016 he was inducted into the Academy of Distinguished Civil and Environmental Engineering Alumni at the University of Massachusetts.

Chajes is a member of the University’s Faculty Athletic Board and also serves on UD’s Sustainability Council. He also serves on the State of Delaware’s Sustainable Energy Utility Board. Chajes is a member of the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) and the American Society of Engineering Education (ASEE).  Within ASCE, he was a member of the Department Heads Council Executive Committee from 2002–2007, serving as the chair of the council from 2005–2007.  He also served as a member of the committee that planned a major national summit on the “Future of the Civil Engineering Profession in 2025” held in 2006 and on the Government Affairs and Educational Activities Committees.  Within ASEE, he was a member of the Dean’s Council and the Public Policy Committee.

Dr. Angela Lindner has served as the Interim Vice Provost for Undergraduate Affairs for the University of Florida since September 2024, overseeing the academic experience and student success for undergraduate students. Her portfolio of responsibilities encompasses UF Student Academic Success, various academic programs (UF Quest, UF Honors, Innovation Academy, Center for Undergraduate Research, Office of Academic Support, McNair Scholars, and UF ROTC), and the undergraduate curriculum approval and management processes.

Dr. Lindner’s academic background centers in the disciplines of chemistry (B.S., College of Charleston), chemical engineering (M.S., Texas A&M University), and environmental engineering (Ph.D., University of Michigan). She began her engineering career focusing on the fields of environmental policy and regulation in Michigan at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and General Motors Corporation. She joined the faculty in the Department of Environmental Engineering Sciences at the University of Florida in 1998 with areas of research focus of environmental microbiology and bioremediation and sustainable engineering.

Dr. Lindner began service to UF administration and undergraduate students in 2008 when she assumed the role of Associate Dean for Undergraduate Student Affairs in the Herbert Wertheim College of Engineering. In 2015, she began service in university-level administration as Associate Provost for Undergraduate Affairs and served in this capacity until January 2024, when she temporarily returned to faculty before taking on her current role in the Provost’s Office.

Dr. Jason Mastrogiovanni is the Interim Associate Provost for Student Success, overseeing campuswide initiatives for improving student success. He oversees academic support and data analysis, the coordination of academic advising, prestigious awards, McNair Scholars, UF Student Support Services, and ROTC. He holds concurrent appointments in the Hamilton Center for Classical and Civic Education as Senior Associate-In/Director for Academic and Student Success and a courtesy faculty appointment with the School of Human Development and Organizational Studies in the College of Education. Previously, he served as the first Assistant Provost for Student Success at the University of Florida. 

Dr. Mastrogiovanni has held previous positions at the University of Tennessee, Stony Brook University, and Texas A&M University in progressively responsible student success related roles. As a first-generation student himself, he is a passionate advocate for supporting students in large complex university environments. His portfolio has included academic advising, prestigious awards, curriculum creation, experiential learning, first-year and transfer experience, student orientation, academic support and intervention, first-generation programs, and student success systems and strategy. 

He has contributed to his field by publishing articles on student success, presenting at various higher education conferences, and through the creation of the Texas Conference on Student Success

He serves on the planning committee for the National Student Success Conference, as the current editor for the Journal of College Orientation, Transition, and Retention and on the editorial board for the Journal of Postsecondary Student Success.

Marisa Anne Pagnattaro, the I.W. Cousins Professor of Business and a Josiah Meigs Distinguished Teaching Professor in the Terry College of Business, was named Vice President for Instruction in 2022. She added the responsibilities of Senior Vice Provost for Academic Planning to her portfolio in 2023. Pagnattaro oversees the University’s enrollment management, student success initiatives, academic affairs, instructional infrastructure as well as student and faculty support services. This includes the offices of admissions, financial aid, registrar, curriculum, academic advising, experiential learning, and online learning. Also included are the Center for Teaching and Learning, the Office for Student Support and Achievement, the First-Year Odyssey Seminar program, and STEM education. Pagnattaro provides academic oversight to UGA’s extended campuses in Washington DC, Griffin, and Gwinnett as well as pre-health and pre-law advising offices.

Prior to being named Vice President for Instruction and Senior Vice Provost for Academic Planning, Pagnattaro served as Vice Provost for Academic Affairs. In this role, she assisted with all matters of academic administration, policy and planning, and acted on behalf of the Provost when he was not available. She chaired the UGA Arts Council and oversaw the Georgia Museum of Art, McBee Institute of Higher Education, and the Performing Arts Center. She also worked closely with the Office of Global Engagement. She jointly oversaw the UGA Griffin campus with the Dean and Director of the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences.

Before that, Pagnattaro was the Associate Dean for Research and Graduate Programs in the Terry College. In this role, she led strategic planning efforts related to research and graduate education, directed the college’s international programs, and chaired its Diversity and Inclusion Advisory Board.

Her scholarship focuses on international trade and business ethics, and she is the author or co-author of more than 30 journal articles and book chapters and numerous shorter works. She is the author of “In Defiance of the Law: From Anne Hutchinson to Toni Morrison,” which explores literary depictions of the American legal system. She is the co-author of three additional books, including a widely used business law textbook. In addition, Pagnattaro served as the editor-in-chief of the American Business Law Journal and was president of the Academy of Legal Studies in Business.

Pagnattaro was a 2016-2017 fellow of the SEC Academic Leadership Development Program and was an inaugural fellow in the University’s Women’s Leadership Development Program. She has been an active member of University Council, serving on its Executive Committee from 2012 to 2015 and on four additional committees from 2008 to 2017. Her additional interdisciplinary committee work includes having served on the Executive Committee of the UGA Teaching Academy and on the Faculty Advisory Board for the Center for Asian Studies in the Franklin College of Arts and Sciences. She earned her bachelor’s degree in English from Colgate University and holds a J.D. from New York Law School and Ph.D. in English from UGA.

William “Bill” Vencill is Associate Vice President of Instruction, where he oversees a range of programs within the Office of Instruction, such as Academic Honesty, Assessment, Domestic Field Study, Office of Online Learning, Washington Semester Program, ROTC programs, and the Gwinnett Campus. He has served in this role since 2017.

Previously, Dr. Vencill served as a faculty member in the Crop & Soil Sciences Department, where he conducted research and instructional programs on pest management issues. He was the Undergraduate Coordinator for 20 years before coming to the Office of Instruction.

Dr. Vencill has served in a number of university-wide roles in faculty governance including chair of the Executive Committee of University Council (2007-2008), University Curriculum (2002-2004, 2006-2008, and from 2012-2016), and chair of the Educational Affairs Committee in 2007.

Dr. Vencill also served in the provost’s office from 2008-2010 as an Academic Leadership Development Program fellow where he chaired the 2010 UGA Strategic Plan.

He is an alumni of the University of Virginia – Wise in Environmental Science and has two graduate degrees from Virginia Tech (M.S. and Ph.D. in Plant Physiology).

Gwen Gorzelsky currently serves as vice provost for academic initiatives at the University of Idaho. Previously, she served as the executive director for The Institute for Teaching and Learning (TILT) at Colorado State University. Her research interests include writing development and instruction, transfer of learning, metacognition, and literacy learning.

Nikos Varelas is the Senior Vice Provost for Academic Programs, Student Success, and Effectiveness and Liberal Arts and Sciences Distinguished Professor of Physics at the University of Illinois Chicago. He works directly with the Provost and Chancellor to provide academic leadership to the university in multiple areas, including undergraduate and graduate education, academic advising, student success programming and research, academic programs, assessment, undergraduate student research, accreditation, summer programs, and transfer pathways.

Prior to his current role, Dr. Varelas has served as Vice Provost for Academic Programs and Effectiveness (2022-2024) and Vice Provost for Undergraduate Affairs and Academic Programs (2016-2022) where he initiated and advanced an array of innovative campus wide student success programs, contributing to significant improvements in student achievement and success. Dr. Varelas also serves as the Higher Learning Commission Accreditation Liaison Officer for UIC and led the campus efforts for the recent 10-year comprehensive accreditation review. Before his Vice Provost positions, Dr. Varelas served as Associate Dean for Student Academic Affairs in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences.

Dr. Varelas’ research is in the field of high-energy particle physics exploring the fundamental constituents of the universe and their interactions. He was a member of the team of scientists who discovered the Higgs boson at the Large Hadron Collider at CERN, Switzerland in 2012. He has held several leadership positions in his field and his publication record exceeds 1,800 peer-reviewed journal articles. He is a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and a University of Illinois Scholar. Dr. Varelas earned his Ph.D. in Physics from the University of Rochester.

Kevin E. Jackson is the Vice Provost for Undergraduate Education and Professor of Accountancy and PwC faculty fellow. Dr. Jackson was recognized for showing a real passion for students and being driven to provide them a meaningful, personal experience at the University of Illinois and for bringing that passion for student well-being to everything he does. The Leadership in Diversity Award honors someone who demonstrates exceptional dedication to and success in promoting diversity and inclusion via research, hiring practices, courses, programs, and events.

Jackson holds a Ph.D. in accounting from the University of Texas at Austin. Prior to being named Vice Provost, Jackson served as Associate Dean of Undergraduate Affairs in the Gies College of Business. As Associate Dean, he created the Access and Multicultural Engagement unit that has led the college in programming designed to foster multicultural community.

In addition, Dr. Jackson introduced a course designed to equip students to engage in civil discourse around controversial topics. He has received numerous awards and honors including the PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP Faculty Fellowship, the Lester H. McKeever Jr. Outstanding Leader in Advancing Diversity Award from the Illinois CPA Society, and in 2021 was named among the Top 50 Undergraduate Business Professors in the nation by Poets&Quants.

Jackson has shown a real passion for our students and felt driven to provide them a meaningful, personal experience at the University of Illinois. He brings that passion for student well-being to everything he does. Jackson’s commitment to diversity and inclusion extends to his research. One of his papers, “Deploying ‘connectors’: A control to manage employee turnover intentions?”, examines how to tap into outgoing positive people in the workplace (connectors) to make others feel less isolated because of gender, race, ethnicity, or other distinguishing characteristics.

Dr. Tanya Uden-Holman was appointed Associate Provost for Undergraduate Education (APUE) and Dean of the University College at the University of Iowa (UI) in June 2018.  She is a clinical professor in the College of Public Health, Department of Health Management and Policy with a secondary appointment in the College of Nursing. Prior to her appointment in the Office of the Provost, Dr. Uden-Holman served as Associate Dean for Academic Affairs in the UI College of Public Health for 14 years. 

In her role as APUE and Dean of the University College, Dr. Uden-Holman’s has a diverse portfolio that includes the Academic Advising Center, Pomerantz Career Center, Center for Teaching, Office of Assessment, Orientation Services, Academic Support and Retention, Honors Program, Distance and Online Education, and ROTC.  Dr. Uden-Holman currently leads the Excellence in Teaching and Learning/Student Success Strategic Plan Action and Resource Committee for the UI and plays a leadership role in multiple initiatives focused on student success. In all her activities, Dr. Uden-Holman is committed to creating an environment where every student can be successful.

Professor Warren (Ph.D. and M.A. Stanford; B.A. Yale) is a scholar of United States history. Warren's publications include The Quest for Citizenship: African American and Native American Education in Kansas, 1880–1935and “Recasting Mary McLeod Bethune’s Legacy: Permanence in the U.S. Capitol and Memorializing the Present,” Pacific Historical Review (Summer 2024).  She is co-editor of Transforming the University of Kansas:  A History, 1965-2015 and co-editor of Unequal Sisters:  A Revolutionary Reader in U.S. Women’s History, 5th edition.  Her scholarship has been supported by the Spencer Foundation/National Academy for Education, the Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation, American Philosophical Society, and the Roosevelt Institute.  Professor Warren was the Danish Distinguished Chair in American Studies at the University of Southern Denmark through the Fulbright Foundation and currently serves the University of Kansas as the Vice Provost for Undergraduate Education.

Kirsten Turner serves as the University of Kentucky's Vice President for Student Success and chief student affairs officer. A leader with a long tenure at the University of Kentucky, she transitioned to her current position after serving in multiple associate provost roles and as an architect of the institution's strategies to improve retention and graduation rates. Prior to joining the provost's office, Turner served in various leadership roles in UK's College of Arts and Sciences. 

As a member of President Capilouto’s leadership team, Turner is committed to a student-first philosophy. Her portfolio includes areas that span the full range of student experience: from recruitment to graduation and beyond.  

Turner earned her Ph.D. at the University of Virginia, in the Center for the Study of Higher Education. Her research interests focus on the public and private benefits of higher education and the American professoriate.

Dr. T. Scott Marzilli is the Associate Provost for Student Success and Innovation at the University of Maine and the University of Maine at Machias, where he leads transformative efforts that place student success at the heart of institutional strategy. With over two decades of experience in higher education leadership, Dr. Marzilli has spearheaded data-driven initiatives that have closed performance gaps, improved retention rates, and reimagined advising, tutoring, degree completion and other student success related programs. His leadership of high-impact programs such as Research Learning Experiences (RLEs), Pathways to Careers, and Finish Strong has empowered thousands of students—especially those from non-traditional backgrounds—to persist, thrive, and graduate. A collaborative leader, he has built cross-campus partnerships to implement innovative tools such as AI chatbots, early alert systems, and personalized academic coaching.

At every step, Dr. Marzilli’s work is rooted in a deep love for students and a belief in their potential. Whether designing a success program for first-generation students, helping a student return to college after decades away, or mentoring faculty to better engage their classrooms, his guiding principle is simple: every student deserves the opportunity to succeed. His enthusiasm for student growth is matched by his relentless drive to remove barriers and create systems that adapt to students—not the other way around. For Dr. Marzilli, helping students succeed is not just part of his job, it is his guiding star! 

Interim Dean and Vice Provost for Undergraduate Academic Affairs

University of Maryland-Baltimore County

Manfred H. M. van Dulmen is serving as UMBC’s Provost. The Provost and Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs maintain our community’s academic integrity by providing broad oversight of all instruction and research programs to ensure their quality and advancement.

Dr. van Dulmen comes to UMBC from Kent State University in Ohio, where he served as Senior Associate Provost and Dean of the Graduate College. He started at Kent State as a faculty member in the Department of Psychological Sciences in 2004, and since then, has served in numerous academic leadership positions at Kent State, including Interim Department Chair and Associate Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences. He led Kent State through the COVID-19 pandemic and developed strategies for enhancing graduate education and supporting student mental health. He also led strategic planning in Academic Affairs, helped to enhance and promote research strength across all disciplines, and led efforts resulting in new collaborative degree programs in data science and cybersecurity, as well as in innovative micro-credential programs at Kent State.

Dr. van Dulmen is an award-winning scholar with a Ph.D. in family social science from the University of Minnesota. He has published over 100 articles and book chapters, and edited or co-edited three books. He also founded and served as editor-in-chief of the Sage Publications journal Emerging Adulthood. His research interests include adolescent and young adult relationships and experiences, externalizing behavior problems and aggression, and measurement and methodology.

The Associate Provost and Dean for Undergraduate Studies aims to ensure that students have superb educational experiences at the University of Maryland and that they can achieve academic excellence.

The work of his office facilitates students’ curricular and co-curricular activities, research undertakings, and global engagement. It also promotes increased access to higher education and degree completion. These priorities enhance student success, enrich the campus community, and contribute to the university’s national reputation.

Dean Cohen supervises the General Education program, learning outcomes assessment, living-learning programs, and campus advising policies. His office supports the retention, graduation, and instructional needs of all undergraduate students.

Dean Cohen oversees the Honors College, College Park Scholars, Letters and Sciences, Academic Achievement Programs, Orientation, Asian American Studies, Federal Fellows, Global Fellows in Washington, DC, Southern Management Leadership Program, Incentive Awards, Carillon Communities, Individual Studies, Air Force ROTC, Army ROTC, Naval ROTC, National Scholarships Office, First Year Book, Student Success Office, Pre-Transfer Advising and Pre-College Programs.

William A. Cohen was appointed Associate Provost and Dean for Undergraduate Studies in August 2015. Dean Cohen has been a faculty member since 1993. He chaired the English department from 2012 to 2015 and previously served as director of undergraduate studies and as associate chair of English. His scholarship and teaching focus on the literature and culture of the Victorian period; the history of sexuality, the body, and the senses; and literary theory and the novel. He has published numerous books and scholarly articles on these topics, including Embodied: Victorian Literature and the Senses (2009). His research covers authors such as Charles Dickens, Charlotte Brontë, George Eliot, and Anthony Trollope. His work has been supported by the Mellon Foundation, the Camargo Foundation, the National Endowment for the Humanities, and the William Andrews Clark and Huntington libraries. He has lectured widely at universities and as a conference keynote speaker internationally. He holds a B.A. from Swarthmore College and a Ph.D. from the University of California, Berkeley.

Farshid Hajir serves as Senior Vice Provost and Dean of Undergraduate Education at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. He received his undergraduate degree with high honors from Princeton in 1988 and his PhD at MIT in 1993, both in Mathematics. Following appointments as Olga and John Taussky-Todd Instructor at Caltech, and as a National Science Foundation Postdoctoral Fellow at UCLA, he held an assistant professorship at the California State University, San Marcos. Following a one-year appointment as Visiting Assistant Professor at UNC Chapel Hill, Hajir joined the Department of Mathematics and Statistics at UMass Amherst in 2002 as Assistant Professor. He was promoted to Associate Professor with tenure and Professor in 2006 and 2012, respectively.

Hajir’s academic expertise in algebraic number theory encompasses the study of units and class group of number fields, extensions of global fields with restricted ramification, the arithmetic of elliptic curves, and special values of L-functions. His other interests include coding theory, and the history of mathematics. He has taught a large variety of undergraduate courses at all levels, including Calculus, Linear Algebra, Mathematics for Elementary School Teachers, Abstract Algebra, as well as graduate courses on Algebra and Algebraic Number Theory.

Hajir’s administrative duties in the Department of Mathematics and Statistics began when he was appointed Undergraduate Program Director in 2006, a position he held for five years. He then served as Associate Chair and Chair. From 2017 to 2022, Hajir served as Senior Vice Provost for Academic Affairs, during which time he administered periodic program reviews, new degree program proposals, and a number of other projects, including interim appointments as Interim Director of University Without Walls (2020) and Interim Department Chair for Psychological and Brain Sciences (2021-2022). In his current role as Senior Vice Provost and Dean of Undergraduate Education, he oversees a number of units including the Offices of Student Success, Registrar, Career and Professional Development, Community Engagement & Service Learning, and the Learning Resource Center.

Dr. Maria Galli Stampino holds a Laurea degree in modern foreign languages from the Catholic University of Milan, an MA in American Studies from the University of Kansas, and a PhD in Italian and Comparative Literature from Stanford University.

She joined UM in 1996 as an Assistant Professor, was promoted to Associate with tenure in 2003 and to Professor in 2013. She took a one-year leave of absence to serve as Vice President and Dean of Academic Affairs at the American University of Rome. She returned to serve as senior associate dean of faculty affairs and diversity in the College of Arts and Sciences. In 2020, Maria was named Dean of Undergraduate Affairs. Her scholarship focuses on Early Modern theater and performance and on women writers in Italy. She speaks four languages: Italian, English, French, and Spanish, plus reading knowledge of Latin. She loves teaching both language and culture courses, in Italian and in English, on campus and abroad.

Angela Dillard, vice provost for undergraduate education, plays a pivotal role in overseeing and advancing continuous enhancements in the university’s educational mission for a diverse community of over 32,000 undergraduate students. In collaboration with schools and colleges dedicated to undergraduate education, Vice Provost Dillard orchestrates strategic initiatives that enrich the academic experience.

At the leading edge of her responsibilities is the coordination among those at the forefront of undergraduate education, including faculty, advisors, data analysts, administrators, professional staff members – and students themselves – in order to promote academic success.  Incorporating cutting-edge research and new technologies, her office explores and seeks to implement a range of collaborative innovations and initiatives, which span a spectrum of support services, more centralized resources, and best practices culled from our own institution and from others. 

The Vice Provost also takes the lead in the Higher Learning Commission central accreditation process, championing excellence and compliance in academic standards for the university. Additionally, she leads the Office of the Vice Provost for Undergraduate Education which collaborates with units across schools and colleges, Student Life, and Academic Innovation to promote the holistic well-being of students, demonstrating a commitment to fostering a supportive and nurturing learning environment. The Office also supports the work of the Advising Council at the University of Michigan as well as the UmichVotes Coalition and the Year of Democracy, Civic Empowerment, and Global Engagement.

I am a data scientist. My research teams use the sensibilities of scientists to explore and draw inferences about the world from large data sets of many kinds.

We have a long heritage of work in astrophysics. For the last 20 years, we have used survey data to publish papers on many topics: ultra-high energy cosmic rays, variable stars of many kinds, galaxy masses and morphologies, galaxy filaments, groups, and clusters, quasars, meteors, gravitational lensing, gamma-ray bursts, x-ray astronomy, and cosmology. Our main data sources have been the Sloan Digital Sky Survey, the Robotic Optical Transient Search Experiment, and the Dark Energy Survey.

In recent years we have branched out, turning most of our attention to Learning Analytics: using data to understand and improve teaching and learning. We are exploring grading patterns and performance disparities both at Michigan and across the CIC, developing a variety of data driven student support tools like E²Coach through the Digital Innovation Greenhouse, an innovation space for exploring the personalization of education, and launching the NSF funded REBUILD project. REBUILD is an interdisciplinary collaboration, fostering the creation of intergenerational research teams including undergrads, grad students, postdocs, and faculty who will apply a scientific, evidence-based approach to teaching and learning in physics, chemistry, astronomy, biology and math.

We are always seeking new collaborators and encourage any undergraduates, graduate students, postdocs, or faculty members whose interests overlap with ours to get in touch.

Raj Singh is Professor of Finance and Vice Provost and Dean of Undergraduate Education at the University of Minnesota. He has been a member of the faculty at the University of Minnesota since 1999. From 2015-2021 he served as the Associate Dean for Undergraduate Education at the Carlson School of Management. Before that he served for four years as the chair of the department of finance at the Carlson School of Management. He received a BS (Mechanical Engineering) from Kurukshetra University in 1985, an MBA in Information Systems from Baruch College at the City University of New York in 1989, an MS in Finance from Carnegie Mellon University in 1991, and a PhD in Finance also from Carnegie Mellon University in 1995. He has held previous appointments at Washington University at St. Louis (1994-1997), University of Michigan (1997-1999) and Arizona State University (2008-2009). He has published in all the top-tier journals in finance. Some of the topics he has published his research on are mergers and acquisitions, agency theory, market microstructure, initial public offerings, auction models, and municipal bonds. He has presented his research at major conferences in finance and at many prominent universities like MIT, Duke, Yale, Michigan, Michigan State, Washington, Utah, Maryland, Virginia, University of Arizona, Arizona State, Ohio State, American, Claremont, and Hong Kong University of Science and Technology. 

He has taught introductory as well as advanced courses at both the graduate and undergraduate levels. Although most of his teaching is focused on corporate finance, he has also taught courses in international finance, blockchain technologies and cryptocurrencies.

Dr. Ammeter’s leadership responsibilities in the Division of Outreach include regional campuses, summer school, online education, college and pre-college special programs, and professional development and lifelong learning. He also serves as the Dean for the General Studies program, which includes the bachelor of General Studies and the bachelor of University Studies degree programs and, as an Associate Provost, assists the Provost in a variety of academic matters. Dr. Ammeter holds a joint appointment as an Associate Professor of Management and Management Information Systems in the School of Business Administration. He received his Ph.D. in Organization Science from The University of Texas at Austin.

Jim Spain serves as an advocate for teaching and learning at the University of Missouri. He works with the undergraduate programs at Mizzou to support all aspects of student success.

Spain serves on the Provost’s Staff and chairs the Undergraduate Deans’ Council in addition to overseeing the Committee on Undergraduate Education (CUE) and MU’s General Education curriculum.

Spain became Mizzou’s Vice Provost for Undergraduate Studies in August 2007 after seven years as assistant dean for academic programs for MU’s College of Agriculture, Food and Natural Resources (CAFNR). He came to MU in 1990 as an assistant professor and state extension dairy scientist. Spain became an associate professor in 1996 and continued with University Extension through 1999. He became a professor of animal science in 2008 and continues to serve as a faculty member in CAFNR, as well as a faculty advisor for students in animal science.

Spain has received a multitude of awards, including MU’s prestigious Kemper Teaching Fellowship in 2001 and the Excellence in Advising Award at Mizzou in 2000. In 2024, he received the Michael C. Holen Pacesetter Award from NACADA. In 2002, he was presented the Governor’s Award for Excellence in Teaching in Higher Education and in 2007 he earned the Golden Apple Award for Excellence in Teaching.

Spain’s research topics have included Interaction of Nutrients in Diet of Lactating Dairy Cattle, Effect of Nutrition and Environment on Animal Health, and Production and Interaction of Nutritional Status and Reproductive Performance. He has published numerous journal articles, abstracts and book chapters and served as the Principal Investigator on several grants and gifts.

Spain graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in animal science from North Carolina State in 1984. He earned both a master’s in dairy science (1987) and a Doctor of Philosophy in animal science (1989) from Virginia Tech.

Amy Goodburn is Senior Associate Vice Chancellor and Dean of Undergraduate Education and Professor of English at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln (UNL) where she leads units in advising and career development, teaching and learning, and student retention and transition. Passionate about UNL’s land-grant mission to support access and equity, in 2017 she created First Generation Nebraska, a campus initiative to support first generation scholars. Goodburn has served as a board member and president for UERU, a board member for UNIZIN, and a peer reviewer for the Higher Learning Commission. She was UNL’s institutional lead for the APLU Powered by Publics initiative from 2018-2023 and has led UNL’s First Scholars participation since 2018. From 2001-2013, Goodburn co-coordinated UNL’s Peer Review of Teaching Project, a faculty development program to document and assess student learning which won the 2006 TIAA-CREFF Hesburgh award. Her publications include Inquiry into the College Classroom: A Model for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learningand Making Teaching and Learning Visible: Peer Review and Course Portfolios. She earned a bachelor’s degree in English and Political Science from Miami University and two Masters’ degrees in English Education and English and a Ph.D. in Composition and Rhetoric from The Ohio State University.

David Shintani is the Vice Provost for Undergraduate Education at the University of Nevada, Reno. He previously served as the Associate Dean for Academic Affairs in the College of Agriculture, Biotechnology and Natural Resources at the University of Nevada, Reno where he is a faculty member in the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology. David earned his B.S degree in Genetics from the University of California, Davis and his Ph.D. in Botany and Plant Pathology from Michigan State University. In addition to the WCSD Education Alliance Board, David also serves on  Washoe County School District Career and Technical Education (CTE) Advisory Technical Skills Committee.

Pamela Cheek, vice provost for student success, is a professor of French in UNM’s Department of Languages, Cultures and Literatures. She joined UNM in 1996 as a faculty member, and in 2018, she joined the Office of Academic Affairs as associate provost for student success. In 2024 was promoted to her current position, where she oversees the assistant vice provost for academic success.

She is responsible for various aspects of academic and student success, including academic advising, course development, and academic program assessment. Cheek works alongside the provost and senior leadership in the schools and colleges on strategic and implementation of a variety of initiatives

Cheek grew up in three different places in three different countries — San Diego, Aix-en-Provence in France and Montreal in Canada — and was attracted to UNM for the “opportunity to work with students for whom college could make a real difference” as well as the beauty of New Mexico's wilderness.

She said what keeps her motivated the most about her position is the “chance to connect people with resources and opportunities.”

Cheek earned a bachelor’s degree in literature from Harvard and Radcliffe Colleges, then a Ph.D. in comparative literature from Stanford University.

Ian F. McNeely is Professor of History and Senior Associate Dean for Undergraduate Education in the College of Arts and Sciences at UNC Chapel Hill. The office he leads serves all 21,000 Carolina undergraduates and encompasses curriculum, general education, advising, honors, undergraduate research, summer school, assessment, and a student success center that offers coaching in writing and learning plus a set of cohort-based programs for first-generation, transfer, and underrepresented students.

McNeely's fourth book, The University Unfettered: Public Higher Education in an Age of Disruption, appeared in 2025 with Columbia University Press. It is a study of the American public research university between the Great Recession and COVID-19. He is also the author of Reinventing Knowledge: From Alexandria to the Internet, with Lisa Wolverton, as well as two prior books on nineteenth-century German liberalism. He received a Ph.D. from the University of Michigan and an A.B. from Harvard University, both in history.

From 2000 and 2024, McNeely taught at the University of Oregon, where he served as the inaugural associate dean for undergraduate education and founding executive director of the Schnitzer School of Global Studies and Languages.

Petty joined the University in 2005 as a clinical assistant professor before moving to a tenure track position in 2007 and, eventually, professor in 2016. In 2016, she began as associate dean for the college, where she was responsible for teacher preparation and all undergraduate programs in the Cato College of Education. She served as interim dean of the Cato College of Education from January 2020 until January 2022. During that time, she led the college through its Council for the Accreditation of Educator Preparation accreditation, the opening of Niner University Elementary, development of its new strategic plan, restructuring of its research office, a budget reversion and the COVID-19 pandemic.

Petty’s research interests include online teaching and learning and teacher preparation. She currently serves as principal investigator on a $1.8 million U.S. Department of Education Teacher Quality Partnership grant that seeks to diversify the teacher pipeline in high-need schools. Prior to her time at Charlotte, she was a visiting assistant professor in the Department of Mathematics at Guilford College and taught high school mathematics in Randolph County.

Petty earned a bachelor’s degree in mathematics and a master’s degree in educational computing technologies and supervision from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro and an Ed.D. in curriculum and instruction from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Associate Vice Provost for Education and Academic Planning

University of Pennsylvania

Lara Lomicka Anderson (PhD, Penn State) is Professor of French and Applied Linguistics at the University of South Carolina where she served as the Graduate Director and Director of Teacher Education.  She currently serves as the Faculty Principal of Preston Residential College and teaches undergraduate and graduate courses in French and in language education. She is the Past President of CALICO,  NFMLTA and AAUSC. She has published in numerous journals (The French Review, Computer Assisted Language Learning, MLA’s Profession, ADFL Bulletin, Journal of Interactive Online Learning, Language Learning & Technology, CALICO Journal, Foreign Language Annals, The Journal of Technology and Teacher Education, Contemporary Issues of Technology and Teacher Education, and System) and has edited 2 books: Teaching with Technology (Heinle/Cengage 2004) and The Next Generation: Social Networking and Online Collaboration in Foreign Language Learning (2009 published by CALICO). She also served as software review editor for the CALICO Journal, and the Technology Commission Co-Chair for AATF. She was honored (ACTFL, November 2008) with the Award for Excellence in Foreign Language Instruction Using Technology for her work in technology and in 2011 she was recognized as a Chevalier dans l'ordre des palmes academiques.    

Allison Crume was appointed Dean of Undergraduate Studies, Associate Vice President for Student Success at the University of South Florida in August 2020. She is responsible for coordinating the development and delivery of a high-quality undergraduate student experience across all campuses. Dr. Crume serves as the principal administrator of undergraduate academic programs and support services.

Prior to joining the University of South Florida, Dr. Crume served in multiple administrative roles including Interim Vice President for Student Affairs and Associate Vice President for Student Affairs at Florida State University. She also worked for the Board of Governors, State University System of Florida in academic and student affairs. Dr. Crume started her career in education as a high school history teacher in Roberta, Georgia.

Dr. Crume completed her Ph.D. in Higher Education Administration at Florida State University. Her additional degrees are a M.A.T. in Broad Field Social Science and a B.S. in History from Georgia College & State University. She serves as affiliate faculty in the University of South Florida College of Education’s Higher Education and Student Affairs department. Her research interests include student success, women in higher education, accessibility, and campus governance.

Andrew McConnell Stott serves as Vice Provost for Academic Programs and Dean of the Graduate School. Charged with advancing academic excellence and supporting academic achievement across USC’s more than 800 programs, his areas of responsibility include curriculum development and innovation, advising, diversity and inclusion programs, experiential learning, honors, fellowships, and awards, and helping all USC students attain their academic goals, from first year to PhD.

A professor in the English department specializing in British popular culture from the sixteenth to nineteenth centuries, Stott is the author of four books, including What Blest Genius? The Jubilee that Made Shakespeare (2019), which won the Marfield Prize, the National Award for Arts Writing, and The Pantomime Life of Joseph Grimaldi: Laughter, Madness and the Story of Britain’s Greatest Comedian (2009), which won the Royal Society of Literature Jerwood Award for Non-Fiction, the Theater Library Association’s George Freedley Award, and the Sheridan Morley Prize for Biography. He has been a fellow of the British Academy, the American Council on Education, and the New York Public Library’s Cullman Center for Scholars and Writers.

Originally from the UK, Stott has a PhD in English Literature from Cardiff University. Prior to entering the Provost’s office, he served as USC Dornsife College Dean of Undergraduate Education and Academic Affairs where he founded the Center for Applied Learning and Life Beyond College, led the development of the “Dornsife Idea,” a strategic plan to develop a twenty-first century experience in the liberal arts, and worked to strengthen policies governing academic affairs.

Beth Avery Foster is an expert in public health and crisis communications. Her research focuses on developing communication strategies that support disadvantaged populations during health crises and campaigns. She also serves as the Director of the Tombras School of Advertising and Public Relations.

Andrew Hippisley’s background is in Russian Language and Literature where he has a BA (hons) and MA from the University of London. His PhD is in computational linguistics from the University of Surrey where he taught in the Department of Computing.  He moved to the University of Kentucky in 2007 where he served as inaugural Chair of the Department of Linguistics and the University Senate President. He has published extensively in linguistics where he has five books and multiple articles. He was made a Fellow of the Linguistic Society of America in 2018. Hippisley was selected as an American Council on Education Fellow in 2016, the nation’s marquee leadership program for rising academic administrators. In July 2018 he began serving as dean of Wichita State’s Fairmount College of Liberal Arts and Sciences where he oversees some twenty departments and schools.  He is a strong advocate of the power of a liberal arts and sciences education, and believes passionately in creating opportunity for all for life-long learning. One of his goals is to expand experiential learning for liberal arts students, through internships, undergraduate research and study abroad.

Dr. Ashley Purgason is a Maverick through and through, having received her BS and MS from UTA. Dr. Purgason is a toxicologist by training and received her Ph.D. from the University of Texas Medical Branch. She is also a former member of the UTA Women's basketball team. She leads a unit of professional staff in a variety of activities designed to meet student academic needs from registration to graduation.

Hillary Procknow earned her Ph.D. in curriculum and instruction from Louisiana State University, where she focused on the philosophy of education. She also holds a master’s degree in architectural studies and an undergraduate degree in psychology, both from The University of Texas at Austin. Hillary teaches integrated reading and writing courses and specially paired non-course-based options that help students succeed in their history and writing courses. Her research interests include disparities in developmental education, continental philosophy and critical pedagogy, visual literacy, and non-cognitive factors related to student success.

Interim Dean of Undergraduate Education

University of Texas at Dallas

Dr. Toni L. Blum, Ph.D., Vice Provost for Curriculum Effectiveness and Improvement, manages learning outcomes assessment, University accreditation, and the curriculum unit at UTEP. In her role, she works closely with faculty and staff in reviewing assessment and evaluation data regarding the effectiveness of their academic and co-curricular programs, to provide consultative advice regarding the implementation of changes in response to that data.

Dr. Blum completed her doctoral degree in psychology from Ohio State University. Her research focused on  and improving metacognitive skills in undergraduate students. She worked as a Department Chair, Associate Dean, and a University Assessment Coordinator before joining UTEP in 2013 as the Assistant Provost for Accreditation and Assessment. She presents frequently at national conferences, both about the management of accreditation processes and about the use of assessment in continuous improvement.

Edward Taylor is vice provost and dean of Undergraduate Academic Affairs at the University of Washington where he oversees educational opportunities that advance and deepen the undergraduate experience. Programs in Undergraduate Academic Affairs (UAA) work in concert with one another to:

• Create and support academic opportunities that have a lasting impact in undergraduates’ futures;
• Provide leadership to create a supportive University ecosystem for undergraduate learning and success;
• Advocate for undergraduate education in shaping University policy; and
• Serve as a local catalyst and national leader for innovation in undergraduate education.

Dr. Taylor is a professor in the UW’s College of Education, which he joined in 1995. His research and teaching center on comparative education in the U.S. and South Africa, moral dimensions of education and integrative education, and leadership in education and social justice. He has written, taught and presented extensively on these topics. He co-edited Foundations of Critical Race Theory in Education, and his co-authored books include Transformative Conversations: A Guide to Mentoring Communities Among Colleagues in Higher Education and Inside the Undergraduate Teaching Experience: The University of Washington’s Growth in Faculty Teaching Study. Dr. Taylor has also authored multiple journal articles.

Dr. Taylor co-chaired, with Vice President for Minority Affairs & Diversity and University Diversity Officer Rickey Hall, the tri-campus Race & Equity Initiative.

Taylor earned his Ph.D. in educational leadership and policy studies at the University of Washington. He earned a master’s degree in psychology and bachelors’ degrees in sociology and in psychology at Gonzaga University.

Active in the community, Taylor is a founding board member of Rainier Scholars, a scholastic preparation program for high-achieving children of color; serves on the board of the Seattle Foundation; is a trustee of Gonzaga University; is on the Seattle mayor’s Education Summit Advisory Group; and also serves on the boards of College Spark Washington and the Rwanda Girls Initiative. Nationally, Taylor is a member of the faculty of the Academy for Contemplative and Ethical Leadership, which is part of the Mind and Life Institute. Internationally, he has worked with South African township schools and school leaders to help form a coalition of schools to serve children living in township communities. In 2014, Taylor received the Distinguished Graduate Award from the College of Education.

As senior vice provost for academic affairs, John Zumbrunnen works closely with the provost on special projects and strategic initiatives.

As vice provost for teaching and learning, Zumbrunnen works in collaboration with deans and other academic leaders across campus to provide leadership, coordination and administrative support for UW–Madison’s teaching and learning mission as part of the Office of the Provost.

The vice provost for teaching and learning oversees the Division for Teaching and Learning, which includes the Center for Teaching, Learning and Mentoring; Indigenous Education and Our Shared Future; the Morgridge Center for Public Service; the Office of Academic and Career Success; the Rebecca M. Blank Center for Campus History; Student Learning Assessment; and the Wisconsin Institute for Science Education and Community Engagement (WISCIENCE).

The vice provost for teaching and learning also works in partnership with the vice provost for information technology on matters related to data and technology in teaching and learning, and serves as the lead representative for the Office of the Provost for the annual Teaching and Learning Symposium; the Undergraduate Symposium; the General Education Committee and the University Honors Committee.

Dr. Michelle L. Hilaire serves as Vice Provost for Undergraduate Education (VP-UG) and as a clinical professor in the School of Pharmacy. As the VP-UG, she provides strategic leadership to enhance undergraduate programs, oversees student policies and academic success initiatives, and ensures timely degree completion through collaboration with deans and advisors. The role includes administering the University Studies Program, managing course offerings to optimize efficiency, fostering partnerships with community colleges, and supporting ROTC programs. Additionally, the VP-UG leads assessment and accreditation efforts and works closely with faculty and administrative leaders to develop policies and improve undergraduate education.

Michelle previously served as the Interim Dean of the College of Health Sciences at the University of Wyoming, bringing over two decades of experience in higher education leadership, clinical practice, and student engagement. Throughout her tenure, Dr. Hilaire has held progressive leadership positions, including Senior Associate Dean of the College of Health Sciences and Associate Dean of Academic Affairs in the School of Pharmacy. Her career has been defined by a commitment to student success, academic excellence, and interdisciplinary collaboration. Dr. Hilaire’s leadership extends beyond administrative functions; she continues to engage directly with students by teaching a Freshman Year Experience course and sponsoring a Living Learning Community. These initiatives reflect her dedication to fostering inclusive and supportive environments that promote student growth both inside and outside the classroom.

Michelle holds a Doctor of Pharmacy degree from Duquesne University (2002) and maintains board certifications in pharmacotherapy and ambulatory care. She is a Fellow of the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists and the American College of Clinical Pharmacy, demonstrating her continued leadership and impact in the field of health sciences education. Her vision for undergraduate education at the University of Wyoming focuses on promoting interdisciplinary learning, expanding access to academic support services, and strengthening partnerships with community colleges to enhance transfer pathways.

Interim Vice President for Student Success

Utah State University

Harrison Kleiner is an Associate Vice Provost for General Education and Associate Professor of Philosophy at Utah State University. He grew up in Colorado, studied politics and philosophy at Cornell College, followed by an M.A. (Boston College) and a Ph.D. (Purdue) in philosophy.

Harrison teaches and writes on issues in perennial philosophy, theology, political thought, liberal education, and the great books. He is deeply involved in general education, leading institutional efforts in curricular and assessment reform in the first-year experience and general education. He chairs or serves on several state higher education system committees and consults nationally with faculty on general education, assessment, and excellence in teaching.

In his free time he can be found reading Tolkien or a fairy tale or otherwise skiing or hiking in the mountains. He lives happily in North Logan with his wife (a USU psychologist), 4 daughters, and his loyal dog.

Tiffiny Tung (she, her, hers) is the vice provost for undergraduate education and Gertrude Conaway professor of social and natural sciences and professor of anthropology. Her portfolio includes undergraduate education, including the promotion and support of research by undergraduates and the faculty who advise them, oversight of the academic programming and faculty heads in the residential college system, and oversight of the campus units that offer experiential learning opportunities at Vanderbilt and in diverse global settings.

She was the Chair of the Department of Anthropology, Associate Provost for Doctoral Education, and the Chair of the Faculty Council in the College of A&S. She has received the Graduate Mentoring Award from the College of A&S, the Mentoring Award from the Margaret Cuninggim Women’s Center, the Chancellor’s Cup for excellence in student learning outside the classroom, and the Madison Saratt and Jeffrey Nordhaus teaching awards. Tung is an anthropological bioarchaeologist who explores how society structured health outcomes for populations in the past. In particular, she examines how past instances of state power, imperialism, and colonialism impacted (and continue to impact) people and their communities. She is also the Director of the Bioarchaeology and Stable Isotope Research Lab, where numerous undergraduate and Ph.D. students have conducted research. She is the author of the book Violence, Ritual, and the Wari Empire (University Press of Florida, 2012) and has authored or co-authored approximately 60 peer reviewed articles in journals and edited volumes.

Kathy Friedman is currently Associate Professor and Vice-Chair in the Department of Biological Sciences, having previously served for many years as the Director of Graduate Studies in Biological Sciences. Her research interests involve DNA replication and DNA repair in a yeast model system and she is a member of the Genome Maintenance group in the Vanderbilt Ingram Cancer Center. Kathy is available to meet predoctoral students and postdoctoral fellows.

Allison Schachter is Professor of English, Jewish Studies, and Russian and East European Studies. She works on nineteenth and twentieth century modern Jewish culture in comparative perspectives. Her research interests include diaspora, transnational and world literary cultures, gender studies, and minority cultures. Her first book, Diasporic Modernisms: Hebrew and Yiddish Literatures in the Twentieth Century (Oxford 2012) traced the shared diasporic histories of Hebrew and Yiddish modernism. Her second book Women Writing Jewish Modernity, 1919-1939 (Northwestern 2022)  revises the history of Hebrew and Yiddish modernism by foregrounding women’s voices. She is currently working on a new project  on mid-century women intellectuals, which examines how African American and Jewish women writers theorized the postwar moment from feminist and leftist perspectives. She is an avid translator of Yiddish literature. Together with Jordan Finkin she translated  From the Jewish Provinces: The Selected Stories of Fradl Shtok (Northwestern 2021), which was awarded the 2022 MLA Fenia and Yaakov Leviant Memorial Prize in Yiddish Studies.

Andrew T. Arroyo is associate professor of Educational Leadership and interim senior vice provost for academic affairs in the Office of the Provost.

Dr. Arroyo is a scholar-practitioner with a record of success in and outside higher education. He has substantial central academic affairs experience in two provost's offices. Additionally, he served as department chair for three required university courses enrolling 2,000 students in over 50 sections, provided oversight of over 50 faculty liaisons and instructors.

While on faculty at a public historically Black university (HBCU) for 11 years, Dr. Arroyo reached the rank of associate professor with tenure. He has secured over $3,000,000 in grant funding, largely focused on career pathways initiatives for historically marginalized populations. Andrew has also published dozens of books and articles in the area of minority-serving institutions (MSIs).

Prior to entering higher education, Andrew and his family spent over a decade living and working in distressed communities with the goal of partnering with residents for personal and collective revitalization.

Rachel Holloway leads strategies, programs, and resources that support the undergraduate educational experience at Virginia Tech. She works closely with college deans, associate deans, and other vice provosts to coordinate strategic initiatives to advance Virginia Tech’s undergraduate education profile, including current discussion on VT-shaped learning and curricular development surrounding Destination Areas.

Holloway directly oversees areas that enhance the overall undergraduate experience such as academic advising, undergraduate education programs and efforts, undergraduate academic integrity, student success programs, and student athletes. 

Holloway has served on the faculty at Virginia Tech since 1989. She has progressed through academic administrative and leadership roles, having served as undergraduate program coordinator, assistant department head, and head of the Department of Communication. Prior to her current position, Holloway served as associate dean for undergraduate academic affairs in the College of Liberal Arts and Human Sciences.

Bill Davis joined the Office of the Provost in 2021 and serves as vice provost for academic engagement and student achievement. He was previously the associate dean for undergraduate education in the College of Veterinary Medicine, a role he served in for nine years, and he is an associate professor of biochemistry/biophysics in the School of Molecular Biosciences. Davis is also co-director of the College of Veterinary Medicine’s B.S. to Ph.D. Fast Track Program in the School of Molecular Biosciences. He joined the WSU faculty in 2001 and has earned numerous awards for his teaching, faculty service, and academic advising throughout his career.

Davis earned his Ph.D. at Northwestern in Chemistry and was the Alexander von Humboldt Postdoctoral Fellow at Technical University of Munich from 1999-2001. He has given numerous invited presentations and workshops on student learning and student success in recent years. Most recently, Davis presented to the College for Life Science Education at Ohio State a seminar titled: “Prosociality – How Structured Cooperative Learning Environments Benefit All Students and Narrow Achievement Gaps.”

Jen is the vice provost for educational initiatives and professor of earth and planetary sciences.   Her administrative duties include enhancing equity in undergraduates’ academic opportunities, experiences and outcomes; deepening student research experiences; assessing educational programs; and fostering innovation in educational programs and practices. As a faculty member, Jennifer’s research focuses on understanding the role the environment has played in human societies in the archaeological past, particularly where water resource availability was a critical issue.

Dr. Laurie Lauzon Clabo serves as Provost and Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs at Wayne State University. As Chief Academic Officer, the university’s second-ranking executive officer, Provost Clabo oversees the academic mission of WSU, including the academic schools and colleges and all matters related to the instructional mission of the university, student performance and retention, and academic personnel policies and decisions.

Provost Clabo has a strong background in academic leadership, including more than 14 years of experience as a successful dean. She most recently served as dean of WSU’s College of Nursing and is a nationally recognized expert in nursing and interprofessional education.

Provost Clabo is an alumna of the Robert Wood Johnson Executive Nurse Fellows Program and the Wharton Executive Leadership Program and has served in a variety of leadership roles in professional organizations. She is a member of several editorial boards and a frequent national speaker on issues related to workforce development, interprofessional education, and competency-based education. She is a fellow of the American Academy of Nursing.

Her leadership of two transformative national policy initiatives spearheaded a bold agenda for the national-level redesign of Advanced Practice Registered Nurse (APRN) education.

Her leadership of a working group of 26 national nursing organizations led to the establishment of the first national common competencies for APRNs, impacting the education and practice of the approximately 250,000 advanced practice nurses in the United States and the first common taxonomy for competency-based education accessible to nurses, interprofessional partners, regulators and the public.

During her time as dean, WSU’s College of Nursing grew in national prominence. Dr. Clabo’s accomplishments include significant growth in philanthropy, solid growth in research funding and graduate enrollment, and an extraordinary rise in national rankings that now place the college’s graduate programs among the top 50 in the country and the undergraduate program in the top 5% nationally. Dr. Clabo also led the opening of the new Campus Health Center, considered state-of-the-art in its field, and the Taylor Street Primary Care Clinic, a patient-centered, nurse-managed primary care practice serving the residents of Virginia Park.

Dr. Clabo previously served as interim provost, leading the university’s successful response to the COVID-19 pandemic. She also spearheaded the integration of student-facing health services on campus under a single umbrella, including the adoption of a single point of contact for mental health services, the expansion of clinical services provided by Counseling and Psychological Services (CAPS) — including 24/7 after hours services provided for all WSU students — and the establishment of the Office for Sexual Violence Prevention and Education (OSVPE).

Provost Clabo received her baccalaureate degree in nursing from the University of Windsor, her master’s in nursing administration from Dalhousie University in Halifax Nova Scotia and her Ph.D. in nursing from the University of Rhode Island.

David A. Yalof is the Vice Provost for Academic Affairs at William & Mary. In this role he serves as the chief advisor to the Provost and provides leadership and oversight of academic programs, curriculum, program planning and compliance. The vice provost for academic affairs collaborates with university executive leadership, academic school leadership and the Faculty Assembly to advance institutional objectives, including those identified in the university’s Vision 2026 strategic plan.  

David’s career reflects considerable experience in academic planning, curriculum and assessment, in addition to his standing as a noted scholar in constitutional law, presidential politics and American government.

Before joining William & Mary in 2023, David was Department Head and Professor of Political Science at the University of Connecticut, a position he held for a decade. Prior to that, he served as Director of Undergraduate Studies in the Political Science Department from 2011-2013 and as Director of Curriculum Development and Assessment in the Office of the Provost from 2005-2007. He was also the Senate Faculty Representative to UConn’s Board of Trustees from 2020-2022. 

David’s first book, “Pursuit of Justices: Presidential Politics and the Selection of Supreme Court Nominees,” won the 1999 Richard E. Neustadt Award as the best book on the presidency from the American Political Science Association. More recently, he authored “Prosecution among Friends: Presidents, Attorneys General, and Executive Branch Wrongdoing.”  He is also coauthor of “The First Amendment and the Media in the Court of Public Opinion,” and “The Future of the First Amendment.”

David received his B.A. (1988) and J.D. (1991) at the University of Virginia. He then practiced law at Jones Day Reavis & Pogue in Washington, D.C., just prior to earning his doctorate at the Johns Hopkins University in 1997.  David also served as an American Council of Education Fellow at Trinity College in Hartford from 2004-2005.