Doug Lederman is co-founder of Inside Higher Ed. For 20 years he co-led the news organization's editorial operations, overseeing news content, opinion pieces, career advice, blogs and other features. Doug speaks widely about higher education, including on C-Span and National Public Radio and at meetings and on campuses around the country, and his work has appeared in The New York Times and USA Today, among other publications. Doug was managing editor of The Chronicle of Higher Education from 1999 to 2003. Before that, Doug had worked at The Chronicle since 1986 in a variety of roles, first as an athletics reporter and editor. He has won three National Awards for Education Reporting from the Education Writers Association, including one in 2009 for a series of Inside Higher Ed articles he co-wrote on college rankings. He began his career as a news clerk at The New York Times. He grew up in Shaker Heights, Ohio, and graduated in 1984 from Princeton University. Doug lives with his wife, Kate Scharff, in Bethesda, Md.
Yá’át’ééh! (Navajo Greeting)My name is Winifred Bessie Jumbo and I come from a small community called Two Grey Hills, NM, well known for their Navajo rugs and textiles. My mother is Naakaii Dine’é (Wondering People Clan), my father was Ta’neeszahnii (Tangle People Clan), my material grandfather was Hashtł’ishnii (Mud People Clan), and my paternal grandfather was Táchii’nii (Red Running Into Water People Clan). I began my higher education career at Diné College in 2011. I have grown professionally and personally over 11 years within our institution. I value our purpose as Diné College and enjoy working with our communities, more importantly with our Navajo families. I’m passionate about making sure all students succeed in their higher educational journey, specifically our first-generation college students.I serve as the Director of External Campuses of Diné College. I’m excited for the new opportunity and I hope you join me in creating and developing innovative approaches to expanding and stabilizing our campuses, centers, and microsites to serve our students and communities. I appreciate our institution and its investment in growing our own to advance our professions and experiences. My previous roles at Diné College include Dual Credit Program Director, Recruiter, and Executive Assistant to the Office of the President. I am currently a graduate student at Baylor University pursuing a doctorate in Learning and Organizational Change. I’m an alumna of Northern Arizona University (M.Ed. in Educational Leadership) and Brown University (B.A. in Anthropology and Ethnic Studies). Ahéhee’ t’áá ánółtso! (Thank you)
Elijah Hopkins is a member of the Sisseton Wahpeton Oyate from the Lake Traverse Reservation in South Dakota. He lives with his wife Samantha in Poplar, Montana on the Fort Peck Assiniboine and Sioux Reservation where he raises his eight-year-old daughter, six-year-old son, and four-year-old daughter. For the past ten years, Elijah has worked at Fort Peck Community College as the Vice President for Student Services. His passions include the cultural arts of the Nakoda/Dakota people. Elijah is also a part-time Dakota Language instructor at the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities Campus.
After receiving an AA in Business Administration from Fort Peck Community College, Elijah transferred to the University of Montana-Northern where he received a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration. He later received an MBA from the University of Mary, ND. Elijah is currently a doctoral candidate at the University of Montana for Educational Leadership with a concentration in Higher Education.
Tyler Guenette, Ed.D., worked at the University of Michigan-Dearborn for more than eight years supporting the 100 percent-commuter population through his work in the areas of student success, student life, and student basic needs support. After finishing his doctoral work at Johns Hopkins University, he started a new role as Chief of Staff with the Michigan College Access Network, a statewide nonprofit dedicated to facilitating systems-level change to increase college attainment rates for Michiganders, particularly for low-income students, first-generation college students, and students of color.
Factors Affecting Transfer Commuter Student Persistence: A Literature Review
Transfer Commuter Student Sense of Connectedness and Perceived Support Networks: A Case Study
Barry Pollack is a former federal prosecutor and has practiced law since 1992, primarily in New York and Boston, and at his firm, Pollack Solomon Duffy LLP since 2013. He received a master’s in public health degree from the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor in August 2024, and is enrolled in a Ph.D. program at the University of Kentucky in studies in higher education, with a focus on diversity, equity, and inclusion.
Inclusive Opportunities in Medical School Admissions Can Benefit Medically Underserved Areas
Joe Vainner is Director of Admissions at the University of Michigan-Flint. He has previously served in admissions positions at Eastern Michigan University and Cleveland State University, with additional experience at Sarah Lawrence College and Concordia College (New York). He holds a B.A. in English from Cleveland State University, an M.A. in educational leadership from Eastern Michigan University, and an M.F.A. in creative writing from Sarah Lawrence College.
Champions for Access: How Ten Michigan Public Universities United to Assure Admissions
Mia Murphy is Chief Policy Officer of the Michigan Association of State Universities and Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Educational Administration at Michigan State University (MSU). Her research focuses on state governance of public universities and how constitutional autonomy for universities affects higher education policymaking. She earned a B.A. in political science and in history from MSU and an M.A. in international relations from the University of Chicago.
Shane Lewis is the Director of Admissions at Oakland University (OU) in Rochester, Michigan. Prior to his time at OU, he also served in the Office of Admissions at Bowling Green State University in Bowling Green, Ohio. Lewis received his Bachelor of Science in journalism from Bowling Green State University, and his Master of Education in higher education leadership from Oakland University.
Janna L. Oakes, M.A., Ph.D., is Vice President of Institutional Effectiveness at Rocky Vista University. An experienced, versatile higher education practitioner with an in-depth understanding of faculty and student needs, Dr. Oakes has proven expertise in instruction, leadership, team building, fiscal and strategic planning, budget management, personnel supervision, accreditation, federal compliance, and higher education administration. She is a values-oriented educator with 29 years’ experience working with college populations including undergraduate, graduate, and executive-level professional students. Her background includes experience as a faculty member, department chair, dean, executive leader.
Her experience as a Peer Reviewer and Federal Compliance Reviewer for the Higher Learning Commission and as an experienced Accreditation Liaison Officer have informed her success as a higher education consultant in instructional quality, funded research, shared governance, assessment, curriculum development, educational innovation, institutional sustainability, and collaboration. She has a solid track record of excellence in instruction, including curricular review and development, professional training, academic programs, executive leadership programs, student learning assessment, various instructional delivery modes and as a consultant in the areas of leadership development and strategic planning. Her diverse skills, experience, and MBTI® certification offer a well-rounded perspective to daily challenges and difficult decisions.
Dr. Oakes has a proven background in instruction, including curricular review and development, professional training, academic programs, executive leadership programs, student learning assessment, institutional effectiveness assessment, online learning, blended delivery models, and traditional instruction. As an instructor, she consistently earns exemplary student evaluations.
Sarah K. Croucher, Ph.D., is Assistant Vice Provost for Academic Affairs at the University of Connecticut. Croucher drives a number of key policy initiatives on behalf of the provost and provost’s leadership team. She is the institutional Accreditation Liaison Officer and serves as the lead on academic policy and by-law interpretation. Croucher manages the Faculty Consulting Office, manages and coordinates the university accreditation cycle, and supports activities such as faculty development and retention initiatives, assessment of learning outcomes, use of student success data, academic travel, and issues relating to policy revisions and audit and compliance within academic affairs. She is a member of the core leadership team for the Life Transformative Education (LTE) initiative and works on a range of projects in this capacity.
Croucher’s roles prior to UConn span public policy and academia, including several years as executive director of NARAL Pro-Choice Connecticut and eight years as an assistant professor of anthropology, archaeology, and feminist, gender, and sexuality studies at Wesleyan University. She is the author of several books, book chapters, and journal articles; these include Capitalism and Cloves: An Archaeology of Plantation Life on Nineteenth-Century Zanzibar (2015, Springer / Society for Historical Archaeology) and The Alderley Sandhills Project: An Archaeology of Community Life in (Post)-Industrial England (with Eleanor Casella, 2010, Manchester University Press).
Sarah received her BA, MA, and PhD in archaeology from the University of Manchester (UK) and is completing an MPA at UConn.
aci Casazza, M.A., is Northwestern University’s Assistant Provost and University Registrar. Casazza has served in similar roles at decentralized, research-intensive universities for more than 20 years and is an active member of AACRAO and the AAU registrar’s board of directors. Under her leadership, the Northwestern registrars’ offices have become a network of trusted campus partners, developing the deep institutional collaborations necessary to solve student and faculty problems and facilitate change. Casazza earned a B.A. in English as a first-generation, lower-income college student, an experience that inspires her work on college affordability, access, and inclusion beyond the point of admission. She and her teams strive to identify and remove institutional barriers impeding the success of all students, particularly those for whom university life is new or traditionally unwelcoming.
Adamski is the Registrar/Director of Enrollment Services at Macomb Community College. During her 11 years at Macomb, she has also served as both the Director and the Manager of Admissions & Outreach. She has worked in higher education for over nineteen years in Alumni Relations, as well as Admissions and Advising areas at her previous institutions - Adrian College, Davenport University and Siena Heights University. Adamski holds a Bachelor of Arts in Communication from Adrian College and a Master of Science in Communication from Illinois State University.
2024 SEM-EP Graduate
Capstone:
Literature Review on the impact of new student orientation on student persistence and recommendations to improve student persistence