Ivan is the Data and Quality Coordinator for The Brooklyn Bridge Alliance for Youth, a nonprofit organization dedicated to creating safe communities and career pathways for young people in the Twin Cities area. A native Californian, he moved to Minnesota years ago to work as an engineer. Since then, he has switched gears and earned a Master’s degree in Social Work, and during the past five years, he’s worked for a non-profit using agricultural business to promote economic development in developing countries. He brings to his work a unique mix of experience in academic research, project management, economic development, and social work.
Sherri Braxton is the inaugural Senior Director for Digital Innovation at Bowdoin College. By way of partnerships across the college, she leads efforts to identify, prioritize, and pursue opportunities for digital innovation in both curricular and co-curricular learning spaces while building on lessons learned from the COVID-19 impacted academic terms. Her work also extends to developing partnerships and collaborative initiatives with peers at other institutions, as well as establishing new consortial relationships to both prepare and position the college for academic transformation on the horizon in higher education.
Belinda joined the OU Executive team and the Division of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion as the Vice President for Diversity and Inclusion and Chief Diversity Officer on January 6, 2020. In her 26-year career in higher education, she served in various leadership roles and responsibilities, starting in Student Affairs, where she worked on retention for at-risk students. She continued her career in Housing and Residential Life, working with the residential student body and teaching as an adjunct professor. Belinda has spent her career focused on social justice issues plaguing faculty, staff, and student success. Her commitment to advancing social justice in higher education brought her to work in academic affairs, student affairs, Greek life, multicultural affairs, and now diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging. She has supported and advocated for a number of student populations to include low-income, first generation, foster care, religious and non-religious, DACA, Temporary Protective Status students, and undocumented students. She also advocated for students in fraternity and sorority organizations, multicultural organizations, students in foster care, and Trio-designated students. She has also facilitated teaching circles to help promote inclusive classroom spaces and serves as a mentor to many. Throughout her career, Belinda has passionately advocated for the voiceless […]
At Iowa State, Heather serves as lead counsel on employment matters including discrimination, harassment and retaliation, affirmative action, performance management, discipline, disability-related accommodations, FMLA, workers’ compensation, policy review, and contract review and development. Before transitioning to higher education, Heather worked as an assistant attorney general at the Colorado Attorney General’s Office and as an associate in private practice at a workers’ compensation insurance defense firm. Heather holds a BA in Psychology and a BSBA in Management with a Human Resources emphasis from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. She also received her JD from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.
Prior to his current position, Dr. Hlavac served as the interim Associate Dean for the School of Arts and Sciences for two years, and before that was Associate Professor and Chair of the Music Department. He received Bachelor of Arts in Music and Bachelor of Science in Music Education degrees from the University of Connecticut, a Master of Music degree from Yale University, and an Ed.D. in Educational Leadership from the University of Hartford. A frequent educational leadership clinician and presenter, Dr. Hlavac has delivered presentations throughout the country. Dr. Hlavac is also an advisory board member for The Department Chair, the premier academic department chair journal. Dr. Hlavac’s research interests focus on the impacts of the organizational mission on the decision-making of educational leaders, the use of organizational and departmental missions to prioritize decision-making, and the utility of mission-based management in the administration of the contemporary university.
Dr. Adrienne Lyles serves as Executive Director for Equal Opportunity and Title IX Coordinator at the University of Cincinnati and manages UC’s comprehensive response to concerns related to discrimination and harassment as well as equal opportunity planning. Dr. Lyles completed her undergraduate degrees in Philosophy and English at Iowa State University. She earned her M.A. and Ph.D. in Philosophy from the University of Colorado at Boulder; her areas of specialization include feminist philosophy, existentialism, and intersectionality. Dr. Lyles earned her J.D. from Notre Dame Law School and is licensed to practice law in Indiana. Prior to arriving at UC, Dr. Lyles was Associate Director of Equal Opportunity, Senior Deputy Title IX Coordinator, and Associate Teaching Professor of Philosophy and Religious Studies at Iowa State University. At Iowa State, Dr. Lyles was responsible for policy, procedure, and processes related to non-discrimination as well as affirmative action planning. Dr. Lyles has taught philosophy at the University of San Diego and Saint Mary’s College (Indiana), served as department head of an interdisciplinary social justice education program, and was attorney/owner of a law firm in South Bend, Indiana. You can find Dr. Lyles’ article, “Title IX Investigations: The Importance of Training Investigators in Evidence-Based Approaches […]
Prior to joining McMurry, Matt served for four years as the Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences at Siena Heights University in Adrian, Michigan. He began his career as a faculty member in the Department of Biology at LIU Post in Brookville, New York, ultimately serving as Department Head and Graduate Program Director for 10 years prior to moving to Savannah, Georgia to serve as Department Head of Biology at Armstrong State University. Matt is passionate about student success and the issues that affect institutional stability. He has played key roles in establishing new undergraduate and graduate programs, building student success initiatives aimed at improving retention and graduation rates, and supporting faculty and students in their research and grant writing endeavors. He has also spearheaded several key external partnerships. As a scientist, Matt likes to dive into the data when seeking to understand the full breadth and depth of an issue, and he enjoys sharing analyses and interpretations with various stakeholders to empower them to make good decisions.
Brian spent 7 years as assistant and associate professor at Manchester College (now University) in Indiana, and for the last 18 years has served in a variety of roles at Central College in Iowa. Besides serving as a tenured Professor of Economics, he has served as chairs for multiple departments, including economics, accounting, and management, as well as exercise science, philosophy and religion. He spent five years as a founding member of the class deans at Central, serving as a supplemental advisor for students, and as an advising resource for faculty members. For the last five years, Brian served as Associate Dean for Curriculum and Faculty Development, and most recently, as Senior Associate Academic Dean. In this position, Brian focused on faculty professional development, accreditation, curriculum advancement, and assessment as learning. He has just begun an appointment as Vice President for Academic Affairs at LaGrange College in Georgia, in which his focus will include curriculum development, retention, and faculty professional development. Brian has published in multiple economics education journals and edited several volumes, including the International Review of Economics Education, and has presented on many topics to a wide array of audiences and on broadcast media. He currently serves as […]
Barb has served within higher ed in a variety of roles. As a Biology professor, she was dedicated to the use of active learning and effective pedagogies to support student learning. She held several leadership positions as Chair of both the Faculty Handbook Committee and the Natural Science program, which was revamped under her leadership, and where she was also a leader in the reimagination of their general education program. Most recently, Barb has served as the Academic Dean at the College of Saint Benedict and Saint John’s University (CSB/SJU). In this role, she oversaw their 37 majors and 40 minors and worked with over 250 faculty to support the academic student experience. She supported and led in the development of several new interdisciplinary programs that support the liberal arts as well as three new nursing graduate programs at CSB. She also oversaw CSB/SJU’s academic offices and programs. In her time as Academic Dean, Barb restructured these academic offices and programs to increase awareness, access, and use of these opportunities. For example, she has led in the creation of CSB/SJU’s new Experience Hub, which encompasses the Center for Global Education, Experience and Professional Development (the office that supports career development, […]
Jodi has served in several roles at Alverno for the past 16 years including Executive Director of Academic Excellence and Women’s Leadership, History Department Chair, and Interim Director of Alverno’s Assessment and Outreach Center. In her current role, she leads a wide variety of academic programs and faculty in graduate psychology, business, education, and music liturgy—as well as undergraduate programs in education, business, and communication. Jodi also recently retired from 18 years with the Advanced Placement World History program, where she served in a number of leadership positions including Chief Reader, leading thousands of educators through the scoring of 320,000 AP World History exams annually. Jodi is passionate about women’s leadership, shared governance, and assessment as learning, and she appreciates the small, Franciscan, liberal arts heritage of this midwestern women’s college. Alverno is known for its innovative abilities-based curriculum, creative faculty, and dynamic assessment model, and you can read more about this tradition in her “Valuing in Decision-Making Ability: Teaching, Learning, and Assessment Across the Curriculum and Campus Culture at Alverno College” in The Journal of College and Character (2011). Alverno is proud to be recognized as Wisconsin’s first federally designated Hispanic Service Institution and one of the state’s most […]
