Celena Mondie-Milner, Ph.D., is Associate Vice President for Strategy and New Student Support and adjunct professor in Educational Leadership and Policy at The University of Texas at Austin. Her research interests include factors that influence access and success for college students, particularly first-year, first-generation and transfer students.
The Impact of Student Swirling and Transfer Credit Hours on Earning a Bachelor’s Degree
Charlie L. Harris is an Associate Professor of Psychology and a Licensed Clinical Psychologist at Clayton State University. Her research interests include cultural self-schemas, body image perception, health behaviors, and college student adjustment.
Mark F. Daddona is a Professor of Psychology and a Licensed Professional Counselor at Clayton State University, where he also previously served as associate vice president for enrollment management and academic success. His teaching and research interests include college student adjustment, academic success, mental health counseling, emerging adulthood, career development, and crisis response.
Heather Abbott is Registrar at Yale Law School. Prior to Yale Law School, Heather worked at the University of Michigan's Office of the Registrar, was an Associate Registrar at Northeastern University and an Assistant Registrar at Wesleyan University. Heather has been teaching AACRAO’s Registrar 101 online course since 2015 and is currently on the editorial board of College & University. She received the AACRAO Research grant in 2020 for her dissertation research on how student data stewards make decisions about the use and release of student data. She has presented at AACRAO and regional association meetings, and is a member of the National Network of Law School Officers. Heather received a B.A. in English and a Master’s of Arts in Liberal Studies from Wesleyan, and an Ed.D. in Higher Education Administration from Northeastern University.
How Data Stewards Make Decisions to Protect or Disclose Student Information: Toward Consistent Criteria
LeVar Burton's iconic career began with his breakthrough role as Kunta Kinte in Roots (1977). LeVar continued to inspire, educate, and entertain audiences through his award-winning children's television show Reading Rainbow (1983-2009) and as Lt. Commander Geordi La Forge in Star Trek: The Next Generation (1987-1994).
Mr. Burton's tireless dedication to education and charity has resulted in a variety of projects, including the award-winning Skybrary App, his podcast LeVar Burton Reads, the YouTube series This is My Story, two children's books Rhino Who Swallowed a Storm, and A Kids Book About Imagination, and through his advocacy for those suffering from Myeloproliferative Neoplasms (voicesofmpn.com), alongside many other projects and efforts.
We are excited to welcome LeVar Burton, the 2022 94th SCRIPPS NATIONAL SPELLING BEE host, as our closing speaker for AACRAO's 107th Annual Meeting. His commitment to education and steadfast dedication to equity and diversity serve as an inspiration to audiences around the world.
James Kvaal was confirmed by the U.S. Senate as the Under Secretary on September 14, 2021. James Kvaal formerly was president of the Institute for College Access & Success (TICAS), a research and advocacy nonprofit dedicated to affordability and equity in higher education. TICAS is nationally recognized for its research and policy recommendations on student debt.
Kvaal served in the Obama Administration as the deputy domestic policy adviser at the White House and deputy undersecretary at the U.S. Department of Education. He led efforts to cut student loan monthly payments, hold career colleges accountable for excessive debts, and make community colleges tuition-free. He helped organize the White House Summit on College Opportunity, which featured more than 100 college presidents and other leaders committing to actions to help more students graduate from college. He also has served in senior roles in the U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate.
Kvaal taught at the University of Michigan's Ford School of Public Policy, and graduated with honors from Stanford University and Harvard Law School.
Dr. Scott A. Campbell is the Vice President for Partnership Development at CAEL. He brings a well rounded background in academic and student affairs leadership as well as extensive experience in developing complex partnerships in the higher education arena. Scott rejoined CAEL after serving as the Vice President for Education & Adult Learning at Plectica where he spearheaded business development in higher education and corporate learning to help organizations become more effective and get better results through systems thinking, leadership, and mapping.
Prior to Plectica, Scott was the Vice President for Higher Education at the Council for Adult and Experiential Learning (CAEL), where he worked with higher education institutions to help them become more responsive to the unique and changing needs of learners. Campbell worked as the Dean of the School of Graduate and Professional Studies at Edgewood School. He also served as the Executive Director for Partnership Development at Regis University, New Ventures, and as the Director of Student Activities at Regis University.
Campbell completed his B.A. at the University of Oklahoma in 1991. He received his MA in Higher Education Administration from the University of Missouri-Kansas City in 1996. In 2005, he completed his PhD in Higher Education and Student Affairs Leadership at the University of Northern Colorado.
In his prior life, Campbell was drafted by the Montreal Expos. He currently ranks fifth all-time at the University of Oklahoma in career batting average (.384). More recently, Campbell was honored by the State of Wisconsin for his work supporting veterans at Edgewood College and served as a board member of the Wisconsin Veterans Museum Foundation. Campbell lives in Arlington, TX with his wife of 29 years, Yvonne. They are recent empty-nesters.
After spending nearly 8 years working with curriculum in a registrar’s office at Brigham Young University - Idaho, Heather was hired by Kuali and in 2021 was named the Community Engagement Coordinator for Kuali Student. Her experience working with Kuali’s SaaS solution for catalog and curriculum management at the university made it a logical decision to come to the SaaS side to introduce Kuali Student to other institutions that might benefit from its software solution.
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Cynthia Grunden has more than 20 years of experience as an enrollment management professional. She is a NASFAA Certified Financial Aid Administrator, serves as a peer reviewer for the Higher Learning Commission, serves as a leadership coach for Blue Icon Advisors, and recently authored a chapter on strategic planning for the third edition of NASFAA’s anthology “You’re the Director: A Guide to Leadership in Student Financial Aid.” Cynthia holds a Doctor of Education degree in Educational Leadership and Organizational Change from Roosevelt University.
Capstone Project: Cynthia completed a literature review that applied Vincent Tinto’s theory of student departure to recent research in student retention.
Review of: Becoming Great Universities
The Financial Aid Office as an Essential Strategic Partner in SEM
LinkedInKeir McIsaac has been working with Memorial University of Newfoundland since 2007, primarily in the area of international student recruitment. He recently took on a new role, managing the Admissions unit within the Office of the Registrar. He lives and works in St. John’s, on Canada’s beautiful Atlantic coast.
2022 SEM-EP Graduate
Capstone Abstract: This capstone research project examined 727 applicants to Memorial University from the WAEC/NECO curricula, providing data-driven recommendations to modify the undergraduate admission requirements and help grow the enrolment of English-speaking West African students at Memorial.
Dr. Melanie V. Tucker is seasoned higher education professional, currently serving Maryville College as the Vice President of Student Affairs & Dean of Students, and as the Chief Diversity Officer. She is a steadfast advocate for access and inclusion, and a passionate champion for individualized student success.
Dr. Tucker’s path to Eastern Tennessee has taken her across the county – from Eastern Washington University where she earned her Bachelor’s Degree in Applied Psychology while working in various mental health settings; to the University of New Orleans where she worked within the community supporting individuals with chronic mental illness transition to independent living while earning her Master’s degree in Counselor Education; to Southeast Missouri State University, where she served as the Director of Learning Assistance Programs & Disability Support Services, and earned her Education Specialist degree in Counseling Education; to Northern Illinois University where she served as the Assistant Vice President for Student Services and earned her Doctor of Education in Adult & Higher Education; and, to Dickinson State University in North Dakota where she served as the Vice President of Student Affairs & Enrollment Management. Prior to her career in higher education, Dr. Tucker worked as a state and nationally credentialed mental health professional serving adolescents and adults within clinics, hospitals, public/private settings, and a state penitentiary.
The first in her family to earn her doctorate, Melanie seeks to give back professionally, as others have done for her. She has become a sought-after guest speaker, touching on topics such as critical hope, humor as an education tool, inclusive design, student success, and women in higher education. Dr. Tucker is a proudly published author with writings covering topics such as threat preparedness on college campuses, crisis management, concerning student behavior, violence prevention, student engagement, leadership transitions, integrating senior leadership and parenthood, and universal design.
Dr. Tucker’s drive to make a difference in the lives of students begins at home, where she is the proud parent of an inquisitive and thoughtful 7-year-old daughter.
Currently the director of the Office of Student Transitions, Adrienne has been a higher education professional at Western Michigan University since 2006. Prior to becoming the director of the department, she served as the Fall Welcome Coordinator and the Adult Learner Program Manager. She is also involved in managing the First-Year Experience seminar, as well as several CliftonStrengths for Students initiatives.
Adrienne's capstone project was a literature review on persistence and retention challenges among transfer students. Postsecondary institutions inherently have inequitable transfer processes that students struggle to navigate. Primarily non-traditional students, transfer students face many hardships that traditional native students do not, leading to abysmally low degree-attainment rates. Universities must examine their transfer processes and advocacy systems to improve and create a more equitable transfer process and to achieve higher levels of transfer student retention and graduation.
Aliyah King is a University of Windsor undergraduate student, majoring in behaviour, cognition, and neuroscience. She is an Outstanding Scholar, research assistant and a member of the Teaching International Students Research Group. Through the Office of Human Rights, Equity, and Accessibility, she also serves as equity initiatives coordinator.
Canadian Enrollment Leaders’ Reflections on the Effectiveness of SEM
Shaimaa Hassanein is a Graduate Enrollment Management and Assessment Senior Manager at the American University in Cairo (AUC), a leading English-language, American-accredited institution of higher education and center of intellectual, social and cultural life of the Arab world. Hassanein is handling performance and monitoring, enrollment management, and assessment of graduate studies at AUC. In this role, she is responsible for developing assessment models and metrics as well as crisis management plans. She also identifies and communicates clear assessment measures for graduate program performance and creates data stories.
Hassanein created the AUC graduate strategic enrollment management plan and oversees its implementation. Moreover, she consults higher administration on the best practices to manage student enrollment, retention, and satisfaction. She also develops models for the successful graduate student study journeys and initiates the integration of new skills and principles such as: lifelong learning, design thinking, Artificial Intelligence (AI), and data literacy.
To enhance graduate program assessment, Hassanein continuously enriches her talent and learning experience through: attending and delivering workshops, consultancy services, and training in Egypt and abroad as well as presenting at conferences worldwide and sharing experience and knowledge through her published articles.
Hassanein holds a bachelor’s degree in Accounting from the Faculty of Commerce–English section, Ain Shams University, Egypt. She is an alumna of the master’s degree in applied linguistics at the American University in Cairo. She also holds a data visualization nanodegree from Udacity.
Reimagining Higher-Ed in the New Era: Upskilling Competencies toward Enhancing Enrollment Management
A Practical Framework for a Data-Driven Graduate Enrollment Management Plan
Tara Hornor, Ph.D., currently serves as Associate Professor and Coordinator of Higher Education Leadership Programs in the Zucker Family School of Education at The Citadel. She has more than 20 years of higher education leadership experience and previously served as Associate Provost for Planning, Assessment, and Evaluation and Dean of Enrollment Management at The Citadel. Dr. Hornor holds a Ph.D. in Higher Education Administration from the University of Arizona and master’s degrees in school counseling, instructional design, and human resource management.
Factors Influencing Student Veterans’ College Choices Higher Education's Role in Preparing School Counselors for College Admissions Counseling
Joshua LaFave is the Director of Graduate Business Programs in the David D. Reh School of Business at Clarkson University and holds an M.B.A. He has been in graduate enrollment management for sixteen years and has collaborated on the creation of the first formal model for graduate enrollment management. LaFave oversees the entire student lifecycle of graduate students in business programs for both residential and online students.
The Evolution of Graduate Enrollment Management
Christopher Connor is the Assistant Dean and Chief Enrollment Officer, School of Engineering and Applied Sciences at the University at Buffalo, The State University of New York (SUNY). With more than 20 years of experience in higher education, Connor’s experience includes serving in leadership roles in undergraduate and graduate education both from an institutional and academic unit perspective. In his current role, he focuses strategically on all aspects of the student lifecycle. During his tenure in the UB School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, graduate enrollment has risen 47 percent to the highest in school history, which includes a 28 percent increase in international enrollment and a 155 percent increase in domestic enrollment levels. Connor was recently awarded the 2019 Chancellor’s Award for Professional Service by the State University of New York (SUNY) system, and the operations under his direction were awarded the 2020 IELTS USA Best Practices Award in International Enrollment Management.
Ariana Balayan is the Assistant Dean of Admissions and Recruiting at UMass Chan Medical School. She holds an Ed.D. in Higher Education Leadership from Nova Southeastern University and has collaborated to develop the first formal model for graduate enrollment management.
A Study of the Factors and Conditions Associated With Graduate Enrollment Management Practitioners’ Participation in Professional Development
Dr. Tom Green brings 35 years of higher education experience to his role at Salesforce, including executive leadership roles in enrollment at seven universities and at AACRAO, where he directed AACRAO Consulting, was editor-in-chief of the SEM Quarterly research journal, and guided professional development content for all areas of SEM for its global membership. Dr. Green has authored numerous articles and led hundreds of workshops on SEM. He is a frequent speaker and presenter at higher education conferences in North America, Europe and the Middle East.
Dr. Green holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of Iowa, a masters degree from the American Conservatory of Music, where he began his higher education career as an instructor, and a Ph.D. in Higher Education Leadership, Management and Policy from Seton Hall University. Dr. Green teaches a course in SEM in the graduate school of education at Drexel University.
Taylor’s higher education career began almost 15 years ago and has continued in various Enrollment Management capacities. She has served the state of Georgia at public and private institutions, as well as the state’s University System. One third of her career was dedicated to Financial Aid, the next to Transfer Admissions, and now to the system’s eCampus department as Curriculum Analyst.
Capstone Abstract - "Why Adults Should be and are Becoming a Prominent Piece of the SEM Puzzle"
With the state of higher education’s changing landscape including the vast number of adults with some college, but no degree and declining high school graduation numbers coupled with the national economic shift and labor workforce shortage, it is more important than ever that enrollment managers focus on encouraging and supporting adults to return to college. Strategic enrollment management is the channel through which institutions can combat that changing dynamic. This paper aims to outline why and how adults became the primary college population, why it is more important than ever for institutions to shift their focus to that population, what barriers they face, how strategic enrollment management is an important part of serving that group, and one state’s online department’s efforts to serve them.
C&U Article:
Why Adults Should Be and are Becoming a Prominent Piece of the SEM Puzzle