Rebecca Gentry serves as the University of Houston’s Associate Vice President, Strategic Initiatives and Leadership Gifts in the Division of Advancement and Alumni. She oversees the leadership/principal gifts program, including presidential engagement strategies, board and volunteer engagement, student philanthropy ambassadors, special projects and strategic planning. She serves as chief startegist for the UH Next Level Campaign, a $1 Billion Centennial effort, and serves on the Division of Advancement and Alumni’s leadership team and Centennial Celebrations Committee. She also manages fundraising and external engagement activity for the Centennial Master Plan and Systemwide Public Art Program. Rebecca joined the University of Houston in 2013 and was selected to participate in President Renu Khator’s inaugural cohort of leaders for the ProPel Leadership Program in 2019. She developed and managed the strategy, launch, celebration – as well as donor and volunteer engagement – for the University’s historic $1.24 Billion “Here, We Go” Campaign (2012-2020), its first in 25 years. Throughout her career, she has held executive advancement and campaign leadership positions in museums (Corcoran Gallery of Art and College of Art + Design), historic homes (George Washington’s Historic Mount Vernon), non-profit organizations and foundations (National YoungArts Foundation) in Washington, DC, Atlanta and Miami. She […]
Gabe Paquette is Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs and Provost at the University of Maine and the University of Maine at Machias. He is also a Professor of History. Dr. Paquette previously served as the Senior Associate Provost at UMaine before assuming his current role as Provost. Before coming to UMaine in 2023, he held research and teaching positions at Cambridge, Harvard, Wesleyan, Johns Hopkins and Oregon. The author of three books, his research focuses on aspects of European, Latin American and International History. Dr. Paquette also enjoys writing for the wider public. Over the years, his essays have appeared in the Chronicle of Higher Education, Times Higher Ed, History Today, the Times Literary Supplement, and Público, among other publications.
Cheryl is the Associate Vice President of Advancement Operations and Campaign Director of a $350 million philanthropic campaign at Worcester Polytechnic Institute in Worcester, MA. She has 22 years of leadership experience in fundraising operations, which includes positions at MIT, Boston Children’s Hospital, and Bentley University. In 2014, Cheryl led the WPI Advancement Information Technology team through the University’s first Salesforce CRM deployment. Today, she is super-focused on campaign success and bringing the best strategies and resources to the amazing WPI University Advancement team. Cheryl is a graduate of the University of Richmond and a current student in the MBA program at WPI.
In addition to her current role, Sam has also been an active member of the Professional Development Committee at CMU since 2019, where she is charged with creating training opportunities for all advisors on the CMU campus. Prior to this role she served as an Academic Advisor in Statistics & Data Science at CMU, as well as in the Health and Kinesiology Department at Texas A&M University. Sam is passionate about creating an environment that is inclusive, as well as providing and developing resources to help those around her advance in their professional or academic lives. Sam holds a Bachelor of Science in Psychology and Family Studies, and a Master of Science in Human and Community Development.
With nearly 17 years’ experience in higher education, Laura’s passion for and commitment to students remains her primary focus. She believes deeply in meeting students where they are and in supporting them fully so that they can get to where they want to be. At CMU English, Laura developed the Major Buddy Program, which connects prospective and newly declared majors with current students in the Department so that they can get an inside perspective on the student experience while meeting peers with similar interests and goals. She also serves as a representative of the CMUSafe Ambassador Program, where she assists the CMU community with emergency preparedness and safety measures. Laura is an active member of the National Academic Advising Association (NACADA), and she holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in English, plus Theatre Arts and a Master of Arts degree in English, both from Duquesne University.
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.
