Melissa Thammavongsa began her career as a development administrator at her alma mater, the University of South Florida in Tampa, Florida. The University of South Florida is a global research university with over 50,000 students across three campuses. Melissa has been the International Alumni Officer at USF since 2017, building the international alumni shop from the ground up. With over 7,000 alumni in 165 different countries, Melissa has created 11 different engagement touch points throughout the alumni life cycle.
As Dean, Eric is responsible for providing leadership, administrative oversight, and coordination of online and digital education. He has held several administrative positions throughout his career in higher education, and has been described as a visionary, inclusive, and collaborative leader. Eric has also received numerous awards and recognition, including the Alfred Noble Robinson Award at Lehigh University in 2010, which is awarded annually to one member of the University in recognition of outstanding performance in the area of service and unusual promise of professional achievement. He is actively involved in several professional organizations, including his role as Chair of the Partnerships Small Grants Committee for Division 2 (Teaching of Psychology) of the American Psychological Association. He is a member of the Editorial Board on the Journal of Instructional Research, as well as a founding member of the San Diego Leadership Alliance. In recent years, Eric has presented at numerous regional, national, and international conferences on the topics of assessment, academic program review, course design, data and decision-making, student retention strategies, and other areas related to teaching and learning. He is also a strong believer in leadership studies, continuing education, and professional development. For example, he has participated in the Management […]
Michelle has more than 25 years of experience in the field of advancement. She has worked in roles as grant writer, frontline fundraiser, and corporate relations officer. In addition she has served as overseen development teams including prospect development for both small and large organizations. She has experience with multiple types of organizations from community based institutions to international associations to higher education. Michelle joined Texas Christian University in 2013 and serves as Senior Director of Prospect Development where she is responsible for directing the relationship management, research, and strategy development for major gift prospects to ensure balanced and productive portfolios. Previously, Michelle served in professional roles at The American Red Cross (Houston, TX), Jabbory Foundation for Cancer Research (Houston, TX), Hospice of the Valley (San Jose, CA), The Tech Museum (San Jose, CA), Industry Initiatives for Science and Math Education (San Jose, CA), and the University of Illinois Foundation (Champaign, IL). Michelle is active with Apra and has presented at their international conference. She served on the North Texas Apra board in 2016/17.
For more than 30 years, Dr. Joyce Weinsheimer has had the opportunity to work in classrooms, learning centers, teaching and learning centers, and faculty development venues in the United States, Canada, and Europe. Driven by a strong interest in student learning and a passion to improve it, she began her career in higher education at the University of Minnesota and then 20 years later moved to Georgia Tech, where she currently serves as the Director of the Center for Teaching and Learning. Joyce provides leadership to the campus community on teaching and learning issues, and she partners with campus units to help faculty and graduate students use evidence-based teaching practices in order to have a positive impact on student learning. Discovering many years ago that teaching is not the top priority of every faculty member, Dr. Weinsheimer became fascinated by the “challenge” of engaging faculty in professional development experiences that have the potential to help them be more effective with students. Making a difference with faculty–especially when it involves shifting mindsets–has become an area of specialty that she enjoys.
Caroline Brettell joined the faculty of Southern Methodist University in 1988 and is currently University Distinguished Professor of Anthropology. From 2012 to 2018 she served as the Founding Director of the Dedman College Interdisciplinary Institute. She chaired the Committee to develop the vision statement for this institute, including formulating ideas for its signature programs. Caroline also worked with the Dean of Dedman College to raise the funds to support the institute and its programs. She has held a number of other administrative roles throughout her career, including Directing the Interdisciplinary Women and Gender Studies Program (1989-1994). She served as Chair of the Department of Anthropology at SMU (1994-2004) and as Dean-ad-Interim of Dedman College of Humanities and Sciences (2006-2008) at SMU. Nationally, Caroline has served as President of the Society for the Anthropology of Europe (1996-1998) and President of the Social Science History Association (2000-2001), an interdisciplinary scholarly community that brings historians and social scientists together. She has a B.A. degree from Yale University and a Ph.D. degree from Brown University. She has spent her career studying immigrant populations in Europe, Canada, and the United States (most recently in the DFW area). In addition to numerous journal articles and book […]
Nathan has over 10 years of experience in Research Development and pre-award Sponsored Research Administration. As Director of UNC’s Office of Research Development, he constantly looks for new ways to support the research mission of the university. Prior to joining UNC in 2016, Nathan led a large and complex proposal support effort at New York University (NYU) within the Office of Sponsored Research. Over the years, Nathan has supported dozens of successful large scale proposal efforts, across a number of federal, state, and private grant-making agencies. He holds an MBA in Finance, Marketing, and Strategy from NYU, and a BA in Chemical Biology and Philosophy from Boston University.
Angela has been passionately committed to higher education in the liberal arts tradition throughout her career. She began as a faculty member, educating and mentoring students for over 13 years at several institutions including San Diego State University (CA) and the College of St. Benedict/St. John’s University (MN). Her passion for the liberal arts, coupled with her strong commitment to student success and serving as an agent for change in higher education, led her to pursue a second advanced degree in administration, with the long-term goal of transitioning into full-time administrative leadership. After years in the classroom and in hybrid faculty/administrative roles, she was presented with the opportunity to serve her alma mater, Gustavus Adolphus College, in the Office of Admission. During her time in enrollment management, she explored more deeply the highly competitive nature of student recruitment and fortified collaborative efforts between faculty and admission personnel. Armed with a newfound appreciation for the challenges inherent in supporting the mission-central work of the institution, she transitioned to the Office of Alumni and Parent Engagement where she currently serves as director. Angela’s mosaic of experience in higher education inspires her work daily as she critically assesses the status quo, employs data-driven […]
Jessica previously served as the Title IX Coordinator at DePaul University, responsible for providing oversight for all student, staff and faculty sexual misconduct/gender-discrimination complaints while supervising a full-time Title IX Investigator. She oversaw the campus-wide annual training related to Title IX. In her previous role as Assistant Dean of Students and Title IX Deputy Coordinator at Loyola University Chicago, Jessica was responsible for ensuring the timely, impartial, and effective resolution of all complaints of gender-based (Title IX) and bias-motivated discrimination and misconduct involving students. Prior to this Jessica was a Title IX Investigator and Title IX Hearing Board Chair. Jessica holds a BA from John Carroll University and a MA in Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies from the University of Cincinnati where her research focused on sexual assault in higher education. Jessica has developed expertise in gender-based misconduct prevention and response, Title IX, Clery/VAWA, policy writing, student conduct, and alternative dispute resolution including restorative justice. Jessica served as the Chair of the Conflict Resolution Committee (2015) for the Association of Student Conduct Administrators (ASCA) and on the advisory board for the Chicagoland Title IX Consortium.
As UNG’s first chief research officer, Dr. Novobilski is responsible for the support and growth of scholarly activities at UNG that enable faculty, students, and staff to engage with each other, the broader north Georgia community, and beyond. With 20 years of experience in higher education administration, including service as chief research officer to three institutions, Dr. Novobilski has been able to enable research growth, both award and expenditures, by building an infrastructure that supports success within the resources and opportunities available to a predominantly undergraduate research institution. Prior to earning his PhD in Computer Science and Engineering from UT Arlington in 2000, Dr. Novobilski worked in industry as a software engineer. Included in his industry experience is starting a software design and development business that included clients such as Lockheed Martin, IBM, GTE, and ATT. In addition to his administrative responsibilities, Dr. Novobilski maintains an active program in scholarship, recently serving as a Fulbright Specialist in Belize supporting the development of a 2+2 entrepreneurship. An ACE Fellow, Dr. Novobilski continues to engage with current opportunities for growth within higher education and enjoys learning from the hard won experience of others.
Dan joined Purdue’s College of Pharmacy as a major gift officer in May 2016. Similar to others who have entered the advancement world recently, he is a millennial and this was Dan’s first major gifts job. By diligently implementing this 30-60-90 day plan set forth by John Dinkens, Dan was able to help debunk the myth “it takes a year to get your feet on the ground.” In the past three years, Dan has far exceeded all of his development metrics, which resulted in Dan being promoted from Director to Senior Director in November 2018. Dan has traveled on more than 700 donor visits, resulting in booked gifts totaling more than $23,000,000. Quick to credit how the first 90 days laid the foundation for his success, Dan firmly believes having an efficient and effective plan for new hires will lead to success for the new hire, success for the organization, and retention of the employee.
