Hopeton (Hope) Smalling, Ed.S., is Functional Business Analyst in Retention and Student Success at Syracuse University. Supporting student success initiatives, Dr. Smalling provides expertise to manage people, technology, and business process. He is the key administrator for the student success platform Orange Success and data custodian for related data. Exceptionally adept at leveraging educational business intelligence to optimize operational needs and student success, his professional career reflects more than 20 years of experience in higher education, enhancing teaching and learning effectiveness in and out of the classroom.
Hopeton earned a master’s degree in business administration in enterprise resource planning and administration from Le Moyne College. Additionally, he has earned his sixth-year degree as an educational specialist (Ed.S.) and is a Ph.D. candidate exploring the phenomenon of learning analytics in higher education.
Transforming Student Success: A Strategic Approach at Syracuse University
Kalpana (Kal) Srinivas, Ph.D., is Director of Retention and Student Success at Syracuse University. As part of SU’s larger commitment to creating an inclusive student body, Dr. Srinivas works with all schools, colleges, and divisions to further the ideals of supporting all students with the underpinning concept being that all students receive the individualized services and support necessary for their success through graduation. She assists campus stakeholders in thinking critically, analytically and creatively to meet the needs of a diverse student population, through programs, services and efforts. She supports success of all students by working collaboratively to identify areas of needed change that would increase student success and retention, discovering what causes attrition, developing recommendations, in addition to alternating systems and procedures to increase retention.
Dr. Srinivis provides leadership and strategic direction for designated co-curricular and functional units, as well as across all schools and colleges to expand the University’s visibility and reach, which support student retention and success. The pervasive nature of assessment culture that she creates in the unit helps implement innovative student retention strategies effectively to support student success.
Gala M. Ledezma is a Ph.D. student in the UC Irvine School of Education, specializing in Education Policy. She earned her master’s in public policy from the UC San Diego School of Global Policy and Strategy. Her research interests involve higher education policy and program evaluation, with a specific focus on community colleges and understanding student trajectories.
Predicting Enrollment Melt Among Community College Applicants
Micah Kamrass, Ed.D., practices higher education law, real estate law, and election/campaign finance law. In his higher education law practice, Kamrass serves as general counsel and special counsel to numerous international fraternities and sororities and their affiliated entities. In his real estate practice, Kamrass provides counsel on a wide range of real estate matters to clients ranging from small family-owned businesses to some of the largest companies in the world. In his election/campaign finance law practice, Kamrass provides trusted counsel to many of Cincinnati’s elected officials and other civic leaders.
Kamrass attended The Ohio State University for undergraduate, graduate, and law school. While there, he served as student body president where he represented 40,000 students. Kamrass was also President of the Ohio State University chapter of Alpha Epsilon Pi and served as a member the Alpha Epsilon Pi international Supreme Board of Governors. In addition to his law degree, Kamrass has a doctorate in higher education leadership and policy from Vanderbilt University. He also serves as an adjunct professor of higher education law at Vanderbilt University.
The Impacts of Financial Aid on Student Success at Model College
Meghan Grace, Ed.D., is a researcher, consultant, speaker, and podcast host. As a consultant for Plaid, she oversees research and data strategies and provides project and program management. Her research interests include generational studies with a current focus on Generation Z (born 1995–2010), higher education, student life, and campus and organizational climate. She also serves as a co-lead for the Institute for Generational Research and Education with her research partner, Dr. Corey Seemiller. Dr. Grace completed her undergraduate degree in communication studies with a leadership studies minor at Chapman University, her master’s degree in higher education at the University of Arizona, and her doctorate in higher education leadership and policy at Vanderbilt University. Dr. Grace resides in Nashville, TN.
Jerry Ross currently serves as the Vice President for Enrollment Management at Marshall University and previously served as the chief enrollment officer at California State University, Chico. He has three degrees from the University of Southern Mississippi including Doctor of Education where he wrote a dissertation on the educational life of Frederick Douglass. His primary research interests are leadership, strategic planning, change management in enrollment management, and collaboration with campus partners.
Application of Leadership Challenge Principles to Strategic Enrollment Management: Five Practices of Exemplary Leadership
Heidi L. Bishop, M.Ed., in 2022, earned her M.Ed. from Graduate School of Education, College of Professional Studies at Northeastern University where she specialized in data and learning analytics. Her educational background includes a B.A. in Biology and a B.A. in Education (Pacific Lutheran University) with an emphasis in secondary science education. Through her continued collaboration with Northeastern University, her current research areas include the curriculum design and adult learning methodologies in bioinformatic programs at the undergraduate and graduate levels. Ms. Bishop contributed as co-author to research at the national conference for the American Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers (AACRAO) in March 2023.
Independent from her research, she is employed by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and works in the National Center for HIV/AIDS, Viral Hepatitis, STD, and TB Prevention (NCCHHSTP) in Atlanta, Georgia as a lead health scientist specializing in data informatics. Prior to her graduate work at Northeastern University and her employment with the CDC, she has fifteen years of experience working in corporate learning, environmental health, and data informatics positions in the private and public sectors, to include two Fortune 100 companies, the Department of Energy, and the Department of the Navy. To further pursue her research interests in health science informatics, she is currently enrolled in the Doctor of Health Informatics Program at Rutgers University.
Data-Driven Methodology to Identify Untapped Student Populations for Marketing, Recruitment, or Program Expansion
Dr. Sean Bridgen is the Associate Director for External and Institutional Partnerships at NACADA: The Global Community for Academic Advising and a graduate faculty member in the Department of Special Education, Counseling, and Student Affairs at Kansas State University. Prior to working full time with NACADA, Sean worked on college campuses for over 20 years in various roles in academic advising and registrar’s offices.
Steve Downing is currently the Dean of Enrollment Management at Bellevue College, a role he has held since 2022. He has been a part of Bellevue College’s enrollment services team since 2001, serving in various capacities over his 23 years in higher education, with a focus on community college admissions and registration. As Dean, Steve leads strategic initiatives to enhance student access, persistence, and success. He is deeply committed to fostering a student-centered approach and is passionate about leveraging technology to support students throughout their educational journey, ensuring that systems and processes meet their needs effectively.
Steve has been involved at the state and regional level by serving in leadership roles for both PACRAO and WaACRAO. Additionally, Steve is currently a Co-Chair of Volunteers for AACRAO 2025 in Seattle.
Steve holds a Bachelor of Arts in Sociology from the University of California, San Diego, and a Master of Science in Student Affairs and Higher Education from Indiana State University.
Chantel currently serves as the Director of Admissions and Registration/Registrar at Spokane Community College located in Eastern Washington. She has worked in higher education for almost 23 years in student services areas such as Admissions, Registration, Dual Enrollment, Veteran’s Benefits, Testing and Placement, International programs, and TRIO programs, in addition to teaching both ESL and Computer Applications.
Chantel has been a member of AACRAO since 2006 and attended her first Annual Meeting in Seattle in 2011. She is currently one of the Co-Chairs of Volunteers for the 2025 Annual Meeting in Seattle and previously served on AACRAO’s Accessibility Task Force. She is a member of the Women’s Caucus and the Community College Focus Committee.
Kelly Hoyland is the Director for Post-Secondary Education & Workforce Programs at 1EdTech, where she leads initiatives to advance digital learning and credentialing. In this role, she collaborates with members to address the challenges they face in the evolving digital learning landscape, focusing on making life achievements more accessible, personalized, and equitable for all learners across K-12, higher education, and corporate sectors.Kelly brings extensive experience in educational technology leadership, having served in director-level roles in both higher education and K-12 settings. Her passion for equipping learners with the skills needed for success in the workforce is evident throughout her career, from her early experience as a Career and Technical Education (CTE) teacher supervising youth apprenticeships to her role as Director of Learning & Client Technology Services at the University of Wisconsin-Stout, where she oversaw a large student employment program.
Cindy Orna is a former association staffer, turned tech enthusiast. Nearly the entire first decade of her career was spent in marketing and event management for both professional and trade associations. Today, as a Senior Account Executive at Personify, she helps clients leverage our expansion products to tackle big goals like sustainable member engagement and non-dues revenue generation—one of her favorite things to talk about!
Outside of work, you can find Cindy working on home improvement projects or baking sweet treats (likely an Ina Garten recipe) for her friends and family.
Nicole Sakraida has been the Dean of Enrollment Management at Rogue Community College since August 2022, overseeing Admissions & Recruitment, Registrar/Enrollment Services, Financial Aid, TRiO programs, and High School Partnerships. With over 20 years of experience in higher education, she is committed to reducing barriers and building systems that support student success.
Since joining RCC in 2013, Sakraida has been recognized for her innovative contributions, earning individual and team Innovation Awards from RCC. She serves on the Oregon Council for Student Services Administrators (CSSA), the Oregon HSI Consortium, and is a Board Member of the Providence Community Health Foundation. Her leadership has been instrumental in advancing RCC’s progress toward becoming a Hispanic Serving Institution. Previously, Sakraida worked at Gonzaga University in Housing and Residence Life and at La Universidad San Francisco de Quito (USFQ) in Ecuador, where she coordinated the Galapagos Academic Institute for the Arts & Sciences and taught English as a Second Language.
Sakraida holds a bachelor’s degree in Spanish from Seattle University and a master’s degree in education from USFQ. Bilingual in English and Spanish, she spent five years living in Ecuador and Mexico, experiences that shaped her passion for cultural exchange and education.
Capstone: High School Mini SEM Plan
2025 SEM-EP Graduate
Hannah Warner has more than six years of experience in a variety of roles within a Registrar’s Office. She graduated from Adrian College in 2015 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Studio Art, focusing in digital photography. After graduation she worked as a freelance photographer for a local newspaper in southeast Michigan for nearly seven years and wrote several special publication pieces, in addition to her regularly featured artwork.
During her undergraduate program, she was involved in the TRIO Excel program, a federally funded outreach program designed to support disadvantaged students. As an Excel student, she was afforded the opportunity to go on school sponsored educational trips, have access to additional financial assistance and career assessments, and receive academic support specifically designed for students in this program. Once gaining her first employment opportunity as an administrative assistant in the Registrar’s Office at Adrian College in 2017, it became clear that not all students have the same advising experience. Her professional goal became to provide a strong, precise advising experience and to teach students how to advocate for themselves.
Since the completion of her degree, and within her various roles in the Registrar’s Office, her primary focus has been to support students from all backgrounds with a positive attitude. As the registrar at Pennsylvania College of Art & Design since 2022, she has restructured many internal processes, reformatted office documentation, strengthened the office’s student worker employment opportunities, taken full inventory of all student files, written and published college policies, hired and onboarded PCA&D’s new assistant registrar, teamed up with the Provost’s Office to establish new partnerships, and has worked in tandem with the Admissions Office to restructure the transfer credit evaluation process to ensure an equitability and compliance.
Hannah has completed various master’s level courses in Higher Education Leadership at the American College of Education and is currently enrolled in the final class of her certificate program for Data Visualization at Pennsylvania College of Art & Design. During the height of the pandemic, she relocated from Adrian, Michigan, to Lancaster, Pennsylvania, where she currently resides with her dog, Sonoma, and her kingsnake, Persephone.