Keith Gehres serves as Registrar for Purdue University West Lafayette. He began in this role in September 2018. Keith provides leadership for a variety of responsibilities within the Office of the Registrar, including: records, registration and graduation; academic and classroom scheduling; academic services; residency and FERPA; academic operational support; and credit evaluation. Prior to joining Purdue, he served as director of outreach and recruitment for Undergraduate Admissions at The Ohio State University and in various other positions within this office for fifteen years.
During his time in Undergraduate Admissions, Keith directed and supported recruitment and yield initiatives focusing on new first year and transfer students, for both domestic and international students. He earned a BA in Integrated Social Studies and a MA in Public Administration, both from Ohio State.
Lee Westberry, Ph.D., serves as an Assistant Professor, Director of Program Development and Enhancement, and Program Coordinator for the Zucker Family School of Education at The Citadel. Dr. Westberry has served the last 21 years in Berkeley County Schools as a high school assistant principal, middle school principal, high school principal, Executive Director of Secondary Programs, and Executive Director of Accountability and Assessment. Higher Education's Role in Preparing School Counselors for College Admissions Counseling
Elayne Vaughn coordinates recruitment and admissions for the Master in Urban and Regional Planning program at the University of Michigan’s Taubman College of Architecture and Urban Planning. Vaughn identifies as a Black first-generation college graduate from Detroit, MI. She earned her bachelor’s degree in communication studies from Grand Valley State University, where she worked in admissions as a student employee. Shortly after, she earned her master’s degree in organizational leadership from the University of Oklahoma. Prior to joining Taubman College, Vaughn began her admissions career at the University of Oklahoma in the admissions and recruitment department.
Review of: Inside Graduate Admissions: Merit, Diversity, and Faculty Gatekeeping
Trista Wdziekonski, a higher education administrator for 22 years, is currently Executive Director of Graduate Enrollment Management at the University of Michigan-Dearborn. She holds a master of arts in higher education from the University of Michigan and has previously worked at the University of Michigan-Ann Arbor, Harvard School of Public Health, and Northwestern University.
Review of: A Problem of Fit: How the Complexity of College Pricing Hurts Students—and Universities
Neil W. Birt is the Assistant Director of Learning Skills and Assessment in the Office of Learning Enhancement and Academic Development (LEAD) at Western University of Health Sciences. Prior to his ten years with WesternU, he spent five years with an online sustainable MBA program at Bainbridge Graduate Institute. His long history in higher education began in Japan where he was an assistant professor for six years after working for ten years at various colleges and corporations there.
Bolstering Graduate Healthcare Student Success Through Emotional Intelligence
Diane VanDyke is the Director of Strategic Communications at Montgomery County Community College, where she has worked in the marketing and communications department since 2010. She earned a bachelor’s degree in English from Ursinus College and is completing a master’s degree in communications and digital media from Southern New Hampshire University.
A Tale of Two Community Colleges: A Dual Enrollment Recruitment Outreach Strategy
Eric Devlin is the Public Relations and Communications Coordinator at Montgomery County Community College. He brings with him more than ten years of experience in journalism and public relations. A graduate of La Salle University, he is currently pursuing a master’s degree in strategic communications from Penn State University.
Stepheni Anderson, Interim Executive Director of Admissions, for HACC, Central Pennsylvania's Community College, is an alumna of HACC. Her passion for helping future students to attend community college, comes from her personal experience. Stepheni graduated from Penn State York Campus in 2008 with an undergraduate degree in business administration and achieved her M.B.A from Walden University in 2015. She has worked in the admissions department at HACC for almost nine years.
Tiffany Webber, Director of High School Programs & Educational Partnerships, for Montgomery County Community College, is a first-generation graduate in her family with 20 years of higher education experience. Tiffany graduated from Temple University with a bachelor’s degree in speech communication. She continued her educational journey earning a master’s degree in organization management and is currently an Ed.D. candidate for Wilmington University’s Doctorate of Education (higher education administration). Born and raised in the very county that she currently services, it is her passion to promote accessible postsecondary education.
Michael Sparrow, Ed.D., is currently an Associate Professor of Educational Leadership in New Jersey City University’s Community College Leadership Ed.D. program. His research interests include student onboarding and acclimation, student success initiatives, SEM, and equity in educational access and outcomes. Prior to joining the faculty at NJCU, Dr. Sparrow worked for more than a decade in administration in both student and academic affairs, and he most recently served as the dean of enrollment management and retention at Northampton Community College.
Supporting Adult Students with Improved Community College Enrollment Practices
Jennifer DeHaemers is Vice President of Student Recruitment and Retention at Central Michigan University. She has worked in higher education for more than 35 years, holding positions in domestic and international admissions and enrollment management at a community college and three public four-year institutions in Missouri, Illinois, and Michigan. An Interview with Jeff Selingo
David R. Johnson is an Associate Professor of Higher Education in the Department of Educational Policy Studies at Georgia State University. His research agenda examines how universities are shaped by changes in their institutional environments, especially as it relates to capitalism, religion and politics. His most recent work appears in Educational Researcher, Harvard Educational Review, and Innovative Higher Education. Departure from College: The Role of the Social Network of Students
Leah Adinolfi is the Dean of Student Engagement and Director of Assessment in the Division of Student Life & Enrollment at East Tennessee State University (ETSU). She also serves as Adjunct Faculty in the Departments of Counseling and Human Services and Educational Leadership & Policy Analysis with ETSU’s Clemmer College. Dr. Adinolfi has more than 20 years of experience in higher education and non-profit organizations managing projects, developing resources and mobilizing young people and community volunteers. Since earning her Doctorate in Educational Leadership & Policy at Vanderbilt University in 2020, her research has continued to explore factors influencing college student persistence and success, with particular focus on the effects of relationships with faculty, staff and peers for diverse student populations and campus environments.
Departure from College: The Role of the Social Network of Students
A native of the Dominican Republic, Angela Batista grew up in Brooklyn, New York. A first-generation college student and professional, she is an experienced and successful educator and leader and the former vice president of student affairs and institutional diversity and inclusion at Champlain College. Batista has worked in K–12 and higher education institutions across the United States and held senior level positions at Oregon State University, the University of Southern Indiana, and Mills College. She also worked at the University of Vermont and Lynn University, is a former marriage and family therapist, and an experienced high school teacher, counselor, and administrator. Batista founded Batista Consulting Services (BCS) in September 2020, during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. BCS is an international executive coaching, speaking, and consulting firm providing expertise and customized resources and services to individuals, teams, and organizations in higher education and in the private and non-profit sectors.
Dr. Robin Holmes-Sullivan is the 26th President of Lewis & Clark College, the first woman and person of color to serve in that role in the institution’s 155-year history. She began her tenure as president in July 2022 after serving as the college’s vice president for student life and dean of students for three years. During her time as vice president and dean of students, Holmes-Sullivan demonstrated a commitment to creative leadership, secured funding for an improved student experience and developed a comprehensive plan for the division of student life. Holmes-Sullivan came to Lewis & Clark from the University of California, where she served as vice president for student affairs with responsibilities across the 10-campus, 200,000-student system. Prior to that, she spent 25 years at the University of Oregon, ultimately serving as vice president of student life, a position she held for nine years. Holmes-Sullivan has also maintained a private clinical psychology and consulting practice for more than two decades.
Dr. Sumun L. Pendakur (Sumi) believes that we have infinite capability to imagine and enact a more just, equitable, and compassionate world. Pendakur is a scholar-practitioner, an activist-educator, a skilled facilitator, and a mom. With nearly 20 years in the field of higher education and a decade as a DEI speaker and trainer, Pendakur's work and research focuses on helping campuses, corporations, non-profits, and other organizations build capacity for social justice and racial equity by empowering individuals at all levels to be transformational agents of change in their spheres of influence. Most recently, Pendakur was the Chief Learning Officer and Director of the USC Equity Institutes at the USC Race and Equity Center, dedicated to advancing racial justice in higher education and other sectors. Prior to that position, Pendakur held roles as the assistant vice president for diversity and inclusion at Harvey Mudd College, serving on the President’s Cabinet and directing the Office of Institutional Diversity, and as the director for USC Asian Pacific American student services.