Sandy Weaver’s responsibilities include validating and maintaining a comprehensive inventory of all youth activities occurring on Penn State campuses as well as university-sponsored activities off-campus. She also is responsible for ensuring that youth programs and their participants comply with university policies and procedures, particularly those related to the safety and security of non-student minors. Sandy’s previous experiences in education and training, children’s services, and compliance bring a unique and significant skill set to this position. Her work in the guardian ad litem program involved the oversight of a group of trained, independent advocates who promoted the best interests of abused, neglected, and dependent children within a state court system. Experiences in compliance, in children’s mental health services at a statewide level and the continuing medical education system at a national level, included oversight of the development and monitoring of policies and procedures. Additional responsibilities have included working with large corporations and educational institutions in the development and implementation of processes to meet requirements of corporate integrity agreements. When combined, these experiences have created a strong foundation for a long-term commitment to the safety and well-being of children.
Catie oversees the student outreach department and with her staff, advises the three alumni association student organizations, the student alumni association, Georgia Tech Student Foundation, and the Georgia Tech student ambassadors. The essential function of the student outreach department is to guide and work with students, alumni, campus partners, and alumni association colleagues to promote student involvement and lifelong loyalty to Georgia Tech. Her advisement of the alumni association student organization has resulted in multiple awards and recognitions for the student groups over the last four years. This recognition includes the following National CASE ASAP awards: Outstanding Organization – Student Foundation, Outstanding External Program for Expert Jackets (SAA), Outstanding Internal Program for Dinner Jackets (SAA), and Outstanding Internal Program for Mentor Jackets (SAA). The students and the student organizations have also earned seventeen District CASE ASAP awards over the same time period, and Catie won the distinction of Outstanding Advisor in 2014. In the past four years, both the alumni association student organizations and the campus relations staff have been honored at the Institute level at the Up with the White and Gold Awards program. Catie has also been asked to write a chapter for an upcoming CASE publication, Student […]
Scott Heflin is a Senior Program Coordinator and Head VA Certifying Official for Northern Arizona University. He has over 12 years of experience with Veteran Affairs and their Educational Benefits. Scott started his career working with education and helping veterans through the University of Phoenix as their Senior Compliance Auditor. Scott has personally been involved and conducted many state / federal audits throughout the nation. Due to his extensive knowledge in this field Scott has been contacted by multiple institutions within and outside the state of Arizona for guidance and processing procedures.
Deborah Nikkel has over 25 years’ experience in helping organizations transform their business operations through organizational restructuring, business process improvement, and the introduction of new technology. Since 2010, she has served as a Senior Program Manager of the Program Management Office at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF). A key focus area for her since joining UCSF has been the implementation of consolidated administrative functions through shared services in Human Resources. Prior to joining UCSF, Deborah was an independent project manager/change management consultant, analyst and writer for a diverse set of clients including Aerojet, Advanced Micro Devices, UC Office of the President, Bank of America, Bank of California, Chevron, East Bay Municipal Utilities District, BayGroup International, Cayuse, Inc., Prime Computer, Inc., and Syntex Corporation.
Keith Heffner has served in faculty leadership positions since 2008. Keith is Music faculty at Mesa Community College, teaching courses in audio production technologies. He holds a BA in electronic music synthesis, MA in humanities, and is currently pursuing a DMA in music education from Boston U.
Nancy became the first president of The New American Colleges and Universities in 2011. Previously she served as chief executive officer of the Council on Undergraduate Research (CUR) in Washington, D.C. for seven years. As chief executive officer for CUR, an organization of over 600 higher education institutions, Hensel oversaw significant growth as her leadership guided it to a prominent place in higher education. She has been a passionate supporter of undergraduate research throughout her career, including serving as principal (or co-principal) investigator on seven National Science Foundation (NSF) grants and publishing several papers on the topic. Prior to becoming CUR’s chief executive officer, Hensel was the sixth president of the University of Maine at Presque Isle, at which she strongly advocated for the inclusion of undergraduate research in the curriculum. Under her leadership the University Day undergraduate research symposium was established. During her tenure, the university also adopted a theme of adventurous learning which encompassed intellectual, cultural, and outdoor adventures.
Stephen has held his current position since 2009. In this role, Stephen leads a portfolio that includes the Office of Corporate Engagement, Corporate and Professional Education, and the Career Development Center at Worcester Polytechnic Institute. He has been a member of the president’s senior leadership team since 2006. Stephen’s primary focus is on developing, fostering, and managing strategic relationships with industry in a comprehensive manner that spans multiple interests across academic disciplines while also delivering long-term, measurable outcomes.
As manager of educational operations, Bruce is responsible for managing major education projects within the VP Academic portfolio. Working with key stakeholders, Bruce has developed a comprehensive data-driven plan to transform space use at BCIT’s five campuses. Previously, Bruce held the role of manager of institute planning, developing a five-year strategic plan, designing models of engagement and accountability for the plan’s implementation, and creating an integrated framework that included operational, budget and capital planning. Bruce has chaired several Institute committees including the operational planning steering committee, the strategic planning council and the space management working group.
Dr. Anu Vedantham has served as the Director of the Weigle Information Commons at the Penn Libraries since 2007. She came to Penn from the Richard Stockton College of New Jersey where she directed the Southern Regional Institute and Educational Technology Training Center (ETTC) for six years providing professional development for K-12 teachers. At Stockton, she also served as interim associate provost and as director of instructional technology. Her research on global warming has been recognized by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) as a significant contribution to the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize. She served for two years as director of grants and community initiatives at Stafford Township school district. In the mid-90s, she served as program officer at the telecommunications opportunities program at the United States Department of Commerce. She holds a doctorate in higher education management from Penn’s Graduate School of Education, a New Jersey Principal Certificate, a masters in public affairs from the Woodrow Wilson School at Princeton University and her bachelors and masters in electrical engineering and computer science from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).
Dr. Hoyt has a distinguished thirty-year career in higher education. He served as president of Centenary College of New Jersey, as president of the Ohio Foundation of Independent Colleges Inc., as vice president for the University of Akron, and in various leadership positions at Otterbein College and Baldwin Wallace College. During his seven-year presidency at Centenary College, Dr. Hoyt implemented a collaborative strategic planning model that led to unprecedented enrollment growth (1,600-3,300) in the college’s traditional, non-traditional/adult, online, and graduate programs. Centenary utilized an effective branding strategy that established it as the fastest growing college in New Jersey, as a first-choice institution providing “education designed around you,” and as a college known for “student centered learning and unparalleled service.” Centenary was recognized by Intel as one of the top fifty wireless colleges in America for its wireless IBM laptop campus. Under Hoyt’s leadership, Centenary College rewrote its curriculum, established measurable learning outcomes, became a part of the Council of Independent Colleges/Rand Corporation Collegiate Learning Assessment program, completed its decennial Middle States evaluation, became TEAC, IACBE, and BSW accredited and CAEL certified, and improved student retention by 20%.
