Jean Hobler is a lawyer in private practice in Sacramento, California. In her 19 years of litigation practice, she has investigated claims and crimes including sexual harassment and discrimination, criminal activity, and workplace harassment and discrimination on college campuses. After eight years with California and international law firms, Jean spent nine years as a federal prosecutor, investigating and prosecuting a wide range of white collar and national security crimes. As Senior Litigation Counsel for the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Sacramento, Jean was responsible for mentoring younger prosecutors in investigating, developing, and trying criminal cases of all types, as well as presenting training to federal, state, and internal banking investigators on investigating and developing cases. Now in solo practice, Jean investigates and reports on a wide range of workplace issues, including on college campuses.
Kathleen Diemer, CFRE, currently serves as Associate Vice President of Advancement Relations at George Mason University. In her role at Mason, she oversees the donor relations, advancement communications, prospect research and management, and information technology and reporting teams. In addition, she played a key role in helping to steer the success of the university’s $500 million Faster Farther campaign. Prior to her work at Mason, Kathleen helped guide the University of Maryland’s central donor relations unit through two comprehensive fundraising campaigns. During her tenure at Maryland, she helped design and implement the university’s Celebration of Scholarships website and Online Endowment Donor Portal, which are widely-recognized as the first applications of their kind. These award-winning projects set industry standards and served as models for donor relations and stewardship programs at other organizations. Kathleen has proudly served as both Secretary-Treasurer and President of the Association of Donor Relations Professionals (ADRP). During her term as President, she helped strengthen association policy related to partnerships and conflict of interest, and also led the association through a strategic visual identity and re-branding process. During her two decades in the field of higher education fundraising she has written or reviewed approximately 2,000 gift agreements.
After spending 25 years in progressive roles within Student Life (DePauw University, Millsaps College and Davis & Elkins College) Dr. Sneed was asked to use the skills and experiences of those years to help Belmont implement its comprehensive SYE program. The direct service component of the SYE has come to be known as the GPS (Growth & Purpose for Students) Program. After the formation of the program in the summer of 2011 and learning from hundreds of Belmont students, David has focused on developing relationships with key campus resource providers and focusing on the developmental issues of “2-3-4 semester” students. Dr. Sneed received his Ed.D. in Higher Education from the University of Memphis and his M.A. in Education and his B.S. in Agriculture Education from Western Kentucky University. He last served as Vice President for Student Life/Dean of Students and Special Counsel to the President of Davis and Elkins College in West Virginia. Prior to his work in West Virginia, he was Dean of Students at Millsaps College in Jackson, Mississippi.
Dr. Leibsohn received her Ph.D. in Psychology in 1989 and has been committed to the mental health and addictions field since then. For the past 30 years, she has been a tenured professor, chair, and program director in the Seattle University Counseling program and in private practice. She recently received the title of Professor Emeritus. Dr. Leibsohn has written two books with accompanying videos (Basic Counseling Responses and Basic Counseling Responses in Groups), and she also consults with organizations to improve personal and professional wellbeing.
At VCU, Jimmie Gahagan facilitates students’ integrative learning and leadership development to support their success and employability. He teaches leadership classes and encourages students’ engagement in high-impact practices such as study abroad, internships, undergraduate research, peer leadership, and service-learning. He has presented and published widely on such topics as the Sophomore-Year Experience, Creating Learning Outcomes, Residential Learning Initiatives, Peer Leadership, the First-Year Experience, and Student Retention. He has a B.A in political science from the University of Richmond and received his M.A. in Higher Education and Student Affairs and Ph.D. in Education Administration both from the University of South Carolina.
In her position, Ms. Hoffman oversees quality, consistency, and rigor of the online programs. To do so, she combines her skills and passion in Instructional Design and teaching, focusing on faculty development and student success. Instructing faculty (full-time and adjunct) how to effectively teach online is her specialty. Ms. Hoffman realizes that keeping online faculty engaged is a key factor in keeping online students engaged. She is driven by the knowledge that not all online/hybrid education is equal, and great effort, collaboration, and creativity are required to produce robust online and hybrid learning and to keep learners engaged. She has also served as adjunct faculty, having taught online and hybrid courses. She possesses an M.A. in English and an M.A. in Education/Instructional Technologies.
In her current role, Laura Jones assumes executive-level responsibility and coordination for all enterprise information and data management initiatives. When Laura began in the CIDO role in 2016, she was tasked with designing, developing, and implementing a comprehensive data governance structure in support of the university’s mission and strategic goals. Three years later, NAU has made significant progress towards accomplishing their initial goals to improve data quality, data collection, data and policy management, and secure access to timely data. Laura works with leadership to further advance data governance initiatives through refined data standards, improved data integrity, and accessible and relevant training for all campus users. Prior to the CIDO role, Laura served as NAU’s Associate Vice President for Planning and Institutional Research, overseeing the team responsible for all aspects of official university reporting and analysis. Laura draws on the broad foundation of experiences she gained through more than 20 years in various positions at NAU in the Registrar’s Office, College of Business, Academic Advising, and on the Oracle PeopleSoft Implementation Team. The current CIDO role provides her with the unique opportunity to advance data governance initiatives while maintaining Institutional Research and Analysis oversight. Laura possesses a Bachelor of Music Degree […]
Tina Gourley is the Director of Volunteer Onboarding and Training in Alumni Affairs at Cornell University and has over 25 years of experience working with volunteers. In her current role, she primarily focuses on creating and implementing an onboarding and training program for all volunteers at Cornell University. Tina is an active leader in the content and implementation of the Cornell Alumni Leadership Conference. Prior to her current role, she was the Senior Associate Director in Class Programs. Tina is a graduate of the State University of New York, Cortland. She began her career at Cornell in the Development Office in 1990 and has served in various roles.
Reggie is responsible for management of the Northern Illinois University Alumni Association, including board relations, financial and staff management, and programmatic success. Reggie started in alumni relations more than ten years ago, initially focused on geographic chapters and affinity groups, before branching out into volunteer management and engagement metrics. Drawing on his business background, he has focused on data-driven decision making, and using analytics to spur continuous improvement of all communications and programs. Reggie has won a CASE Silver Award in the area of Alumni Relations Best Practices for the metrics system created at Lewis University, been published in CASE Currents, and honored by Bradley University with the Burgess Award for intra-departmental collaboration. Before his time at NIU, he was the Director of Alumni Relations at Lewis University in Romeoville, IL. He was Associate Director of Constituent Programs at his alma mater, Bradley University in Peoria, IL. Reggie holds a bachelors in the arts in communication and a masters in business administration, both from Bradley University.
Dr. Scott Sportsman serves as Chief Strategy Officer (CSO) and Senior Director of Research and Analytics in the Enrollment Management and Student Success (EMSS) division at Miami University. As CSO, he assists the Senior Vice President for Enrollment Management and Student Success with developing, communicating, executing, and sustaining division-wide priorities and high-priority initiatives and projects. He is responsible for advancing ongoing and new Student Success Initiatives aimed at removing barriers to graduation, pinpointing students for whom additional support would increase the likelihood of success, and identifying University activities and processes which will increase student success and satisfaction. As Director of Research and Analytics, Dr. Sportsman leads EMSS’s Research and Analytics team to advance research and initiatives which can increase student enrollment, success, and satisfaction. He and his team provide actionable, timely research, reports, and predictive analytics that lead to the recruitment of students who will be successful at Miami, and identify activities and processes that enable matriculating students to thrive throughout the student life cycle. Dr. Sportsman is also responsible for communicating research findings widely that impact student success and satisfaction, and enhance the data analytic skills of divisional personnel. Prior to Miami, Scott was Director of Institutional Research at […]
