Stephen J. Handel, PhD serves as Chief of Staff and Senior Advisor to the President for ECMC Foundation. In this role , Steve interacts with all members of the Foundation’s leadership team to advance the organization toward its strategic and operational goals. Prior to joining the Foundation, he served as the College Board’s Senior Strategist for Strategic Higher Education Assessment Use and Opportunity and as chief admission officer for the University of California (UC) System, providing leadership on freshman and community college transfer policy and practice for the nine UC undergraduate campuses. Steve is the co-author of books and monographs on higher education, including Beyond Free College: Making Higher Education Work for 21st Century Students with Eileen L. Strempel (Rowman & Littlefield, 2021) and the two-volume series, Transition and Transformation (also with Strempel, 2016, 2018), The Promise of the Transfer Pathway: Opportunity and Challenge for Community College Students Seeking the Baccalaureate Degree (with Ronald Williams, 2012) and the Community College Sourcebook: Strategies for Advising Transfer Students from Experienced Community College Counselors (2009). Steve’s articles and essays have appeared in The Los Angeles Times, The Chronicle of Higher Education, Inside Higher Education, Times Higher Education (UK), Change: The Magazine of Higher Learning, and About Campus. Some titles include Fairness and Fate in Elite College Admissions, Under […]
Eileen Strempel is a higher education public policy expert focused on student access and success and was honored as a Presidential Scholar in the Arts by President Reagan at the White House. With co-author Stephen J. Handel, her latest book is Beyond Free College: Making Higher Education Work for 21st Century Students. Previously, Strempel served as the inaugural dean of The Herb Alpert School of Music and was a Professor at UCLA’s School of Education & Information Studies. Before that, she served as the Senior Vice Provost for Academic Affairs at the University of Cincinnati, served in a variety of roles at Syracuse University, where she was awarded a Kauffman Foundation eProfessorship and an ACE Fellowship, which she served at Colgate University.
Gwen Cash-James serves as Associate Vice Provost for Faculty Affairs at Eastern Washington University. She oversees professional and leadership development for faculty, weaving evidence-based practice with tools chairs and other faculty can use tomorrow. Her through-line is simple: clear structures, humane leadership, and practical habits that help faculty thrive in the workplace. Outside of her work at EWU, Gwen has served for more than 10 years as a peer evaluator for the Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities. Prior to her arrival at EWU, she served as Dean of Arts and Sciences at Spokane Community Colleges and as a tenured English faculty member within Washington’s community colleges. She is a very proud EWU alum.
Dr. Judi Wilson was appointed Dean of the College of Education and Human Development at Augusta University (AU) in July 2019. She has served Augusta University in multiple leadership roles, including Interim Dean, Associate Dean for Initial Certification, Accreditation, and Partnerships, Department Chair of Teacher Education, and Assistant Chair. A dedicated faculty member at AU since 2003, Dr. Wilson brings 35 years of experience as an educator. She is certified to teach grades P–8 and began her career as an elementary school teacher in Athens, Perry, and Cochran, Georgia. She went on to serve as a primary, middle school, and district-level administrator, building a strong foundation in both teaching and leadership. Dr. Wilson is deeply committed to partnerships and collaboration with higher education institutions, public school districts, private schools, government agencies, nonprofits, and local businesses. She earned her Ed.D. in Educational Administration from Georgia Southern University, her Ed.S. in Educational Leadership and M.Ed. in Early Childhood Education from the University of Georgia, and her B.A. in Education from Furman University. Under her leadership as Dean, the College has experienced remarkable growth, with enrollment increasing from 830 students to more than 2,300 students, and research funding expanding to over $7.5 million […]
Ryan Freytag serves as the Director of Alumni and Constituent Engagement at Carnegie Mellon University, where he leads alumni engagement initiatives across central University Advancement and the university’s schools and colleges. He also oversees the development and execution of both virtual and in-person academic programming for alumni. As a neurodivergent individual with profound unilateral hearing loss, Ryan is deeply committed to accessibility and ensures that inclusivity and disability awareness are integral to the programs he designs and delivers.
Elyssa Faison is beginning her second term as academic chair of the OU Department of History. She is a specialist in modern Japanese history. Last year she served as Faculty Fellow for Faculty Affairs for DFCAS. In that role, she oversaw the college tenure and promotion process and launched a new monthly Lunch and Learn program for DFCAS chairs and directors. That continuing series features guest speakers from within the college and around campus who share their expertise about policies, procedures, faculty and student recruitment, leadership, and more. Prior to serving as History Department chair, she served as interim chair of Women’s and Gender studies for a year and a half and oversaw a search for an external WGS Department Chair. She believes that leadership comes from deep engagement with all levels of administration, and with faculty and students.
As Vice Provost, Dr. Ellis is responsible for the aspects of Academic Affairs that impact faculty including overseeing the annual evaluation and tenure and promotion processes, managing chair and director development initiatives, and contributing to faculty hiring policy and practice. In addition, she is the Provost’s office Liaison to Chairs, Directors, and Associate Deans as well as the Faculty Senate. As a researcher, her interests have centered on the creation of meaning within musical works. Much of her work has focused on understanding the hermeneutics of Dmitri Shostakovich’s repertoire through his manipulation of post-Beethovenian semiotic space. Her book, Composing the Modern Subject: Four String Quartets by Dmitri Shostakovich, focuses on his Sixth through Ninth Quartets. In addition, she has published articles on the hermeneutic ramifications of the use of pre-existing music in Classic Hollywood films.
Elizabeth joined Gray DI in June 2018 after spending two years teaching high school math at a New Orleans charter school. Elizabeth is the Product Owner of Gray DI’s Program Economics and Outcomes platform. She has worked with over two dozen clients on projects including Program Portfolio Strategy Workshops, Program Economics, Curricular Efficiency, pricing and location modeling, and custom competitor and program analyses. Internally, she contributes to RFP submissions, leads analyst recruiting, hiring, and onboarding, and designs and develops data dashboards. She graduated with Honors from Georgetown University with bachelor’s degrees in French and Economics.
