Prior to his current appointment, Walt was a university dean for nine years—seven as the Dean of the College of Social Sciences at San José State University (2015-2022), and two as the founding Dean of the College of Social Sciences & Professional Studies at the University of Wisconsin-Parkside (2013-2015). Prior to joining UW-Parkside, he was on the faculty of the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities for fourteen years, including five years as the Chair of the Department of African American & African Studies (2007-2012). He received his B.S. degree in electrical engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology (1990), and his M.A. and Ph.D. degrees in sociology from Indiana University-Bloomington (1995, 1999). He has received department, college, and university awards for undergraduate teaching. Walt is the author of Speaking the Lower Frequencies: Students and Media Literacy (State University of New York Press, 2005) and Ghostbox: A Memoir (iUniverse, 2007). He has published 29 journal articles and book chapters and has co-edited several books and journals. Walt is deeply invested in higher education leadership mentoring and coaching activities, and in May 2022, he earned a certification as a Hudson life/executive coach. For six years, he served on the Board of Directors for […]
I engage and empower leaders at all stages with wisdom and tools that instill confidence and focus in order for them to achieve quantifiable success throughout the evolving circumstances of their careers, their organizations, and those they lead. Dr. Marie Hansen is a dean, executive coach, leadership consultant and attorney with over 24 years’ experience in higher education. Her career has included work with higher educational faculty, staff and leaders at all levels. She currently supervises over 100 full and part time faculty and professional staff. She has created leadership training for external and internal constituents (corporate training), worked on several grants, and led strategic planning, corporate partner and mentoring programs. She has taught in the disciplines of business, criminal justice, law and organizational behavior. As a coach, she enjoys helping guide individuals aspiring to leadership roles and those with many years of experience as leaders set career goals and achieve quantifiable success in the higher education environment through application of social and emotional intelligence and leadership principles. As a PCC certified coach who focuses on social and emotional intelligence, Marie helps faculty, staff and leaders broaden their self-awareness to augment their own development. As a coach, she listens, supports and encourages growth in all […]
Marlene has been in her position with UC San Diego for 32 years after serving in public accounting for six. She has been involved in two significant campaigns for UC San Diego—in the first raising over $1 billion completed in 2007, and in the second, just completed, raising over $3 billion. Her team oversees the full charitable gift revenue cycle from proposal review, to gift agreement preparation, gift analysis, processing and receipting, gift accounting, investment and endowment management, planned gift management, donor acknowledgement, and ongoing gift and fund stewardship. Her team has analyzed many significant gifts-in-kind for acceptance and understands the unique opportunities and challenges they can provide to our institutions.
With 15 years of fundraising and volunteer management experience, Leitha has built a career on cultivating strong relationships, developing and leading dynamic teams, and establishing foundational programs that result in high performing teams and philanthropic growth. As a development professional with a background in organizational leadership and executive coaching, she enjoys training, inspiring, and cultivating staff, volunteers, executives, and boards in order to bring out the best in people and reach new philanthropic heights. Leitha has experience with all aspects of fundraising including annual funds, events, planned giving, capital projects, comprehensive campaigns, and major and principal gifts within national organizations, private education, and public post-secondary institutions. Her passion is twofold: developing solid fundraising skills within a team (including her own) and making truly rewarding philanthropic matches between donors and the causes they care most about. Most recently, she worked for seven years at the University of Calgary on the Energize Campaign. The institution raised $1.4 billion and Energize was Canada’s third largest post-secondary campaign at the time. She joined the University of Victoria in June 2021 and returned to her beautiful home province of British Columbia. Leitha’s passion for education is realized in her work at the University of Victoria […]
Corrie Fountain is an Associate Provost at Georgia State University. Her responsibilities include faculty recruitment, retention, and support. She creates and facilitates faculty development workshops, seminars, and other trainings for faculty, manages faculty awards, and leads the university’s annual review and promotion and tenure process. Fountain also co-leads the mentoring initiatives for the university and consults with colleges and departments on DEI and faculty belonging. Her academic field of interest is inclusivity and intersectionality within higher education, and she holds an academic appointment as a Professor of Cultural and Behavioral Science. Fountain is currently a Co-PI on an NSF ADVANCE-IMPACT (Intersectionality and Mentoring in the Professoriate for Advancement, Community, and Transformation) grant. Prior to joining GSU, Fountain served as Department Chair of Inclusive Education and Interim Associate Dean for Diversity and Community Engagement at Kennesaw State University. She has a bachelor’s degree in elementary education from Delaware State University, a master’s degree in special education/behavior disorders from West Virginia University and a Ph.D. in educational policy studies with a concentration in research, measurement, and statistics from Georgia State University.
Prior to becoming Dean, John served as Department Chair and Professor of Social Work at Benedict College and as an Associate Professor of Social Work at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock. His current research interests explore: the relationship between racism and adverse childhood experiences among African Americans, diversity, equity, access, and inclusion issues within social work, and faculty mentoring. Notably, in 2017, John was selected as the Arkansas Social Worker of the Year by the Arkansas Chapter of the National Association of Social Workers. AI BLOG by Dr. John Miller: https://www.academicimpressions.com/blog/falling-up/
Dr. Jacquelyn “Jackie” Buckrop has over three decades in higher education, serving in faculty and administrative roles, sometimes at the same time. She currently serves as the Special Assistant for Academic Operations in the Office of the Provost and Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs and Teaching Professor of Communication Studies at Ball State University. Jackie oversees the organizational activities and procedures of the office, and serves as the liaison to Student Affairs, Human Resources, Employee Relations, and other areas across campus. Jackie has extensive experience with all stages of the faculty life cycle from recruitment and hiring, through professional development, promotion and tenure, to retirement—as well as with helping Deans and Department Chairs begin the process all over again. Jackie has served as the director of the university-required core course in public communication, navigating two changes to the university’s core curriculum. She also served a decade as the Associate Dean for the College of Communication, Information, and Media, where she oversaw curriculum development, policy creation, and student retention efforts. She was the inaugural Director for the Center for Media Design and responsible for the oversight of a $20 million grant. With degrees in Rhetoric and Public Communication, Jackie has […]
A veteran in higher education, President Rider has served in various roles at Etown, from faculty member to department chair, Registrar, and Associate Academic Dean. Prior to her appointment as President, she served as Provost and Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs at Elizabethtown College where she led the restructuring of academic programs, organized 19 academic departments into six Schools, played an integral role in establishing a new five-year program in Physician Assistant (PA) Studies, supported the launch of an RN to BSN program for licensed nurses, and expanded the College’s renowned Occupational Therapy (OT) program to include doctoral degrees. As President, she is overseeing the institution’s five-year community Strategic Plan that prioritizes dynamic academic programming as well as diversity, equity, and belonging, financial sustainability, and strategic partnerships to continue to elevate the College. President Rider is a graduate of Gettysburg College and has master’s and doctoral degrees in psychology from Vanderbilt University. She also completed Harvard’s Institute for Educational Management.
Dr. Renay M. Scott currently serves as the Vice President of Student Success at New Mexico State University. She began her career at New Mexico State University in 2014, as the 9th president the of Doña Ana Community College, an NMSU branch campus. She moved to the Las Cruces campus in 2018, and from her role in the Division of Student Success has also served as senior womens’ administrator for Athletics plus interim provost and graduate dean. Dr. Scott previously held administrative positions in two-year and four-year, public and private institutions including serving as provost, vice provost and dean. She served as department chair and associate department chair at Central Michigan University where she attained the rank of professor in teacher education. Dr. Scott’s leadership blends service, teaching and coaching. As a servant, she ensures the success of others by communicating expectations, supporting individuals through utilization of their strengths, and developing collaborative, risk-taking spaces to allow for innovation. As a teacher, Dr. Scott supports her team’s development through assessment, feedback, and guidance, leading to reflection to support person growth in leadership, management, decision making, and conflict management. As a coach, Dr. Scott believes in establishing an aspirational vision and supporting […]
