As Senior Director of Student Affairs at the Hunt School of Nursing, Araceli’s role is multifaceted and critical to the student experience. She oversees the admissions process, ensuring that each prospective student is well-supported from initial contact through matriculation. Her efforts in recruitment are geared toward attracting a diverse and talented student body, aligning with the Hunt School’s mission to produce exceptional nursing professionals equipped to meet the needs of the community. Additionally, Araceli works closely with admissions team to refine selection criteria and processes that emphasize both academic potential and the commitment to service, which are crucial for future healthcare leaders.
In the realm of student services, Araceli is responsible for a range of activities designed to foster student success and well-being. She leads initiatives in providing students with the resources and guidance necessary to thrive both academically and personally. This includes overseeing mentorship programs, coordinating student events, and facilitating access to support services that address the unique challenges nursing students face. By creating an environment that emphasizes both academic excellence and holistic support, Araceli contributes to the retention and long-term success of students within the program.
Araceli’s leadership extends to organizing essential events such as New Student Orientation, the White Coat Ceremony, and Commencement. These events not only serve as milestones in the students' academic journeys but also reinforce a sense of community and pride within the school. Her coordination of these events ensures that they are meaningful and supportive experiences for students, families, and faculty alike. Through her work, Araceli strengthens the overall student experience, fosters a welcoming and inclusive culture, and contributes to a lasting impact on the lives of nursing students.
Araceli earned her Master’s Degree in Higher Education Administration from Texas Tech University and a Bachelor’s Degree from the University of Texas at El Paso. Her deep commitment to student success and extensive experience makes her an asset to the higher education community. She has positively impacted the lives of many students, empowering them to achieve their academic and career goals.
Linked In
Aimee Vitangcol Regoso has over 20 years of experience in higher education and is currently serving as University Registrar at Andrews University in Berrien Springs, Michigan, a role she has held for over 9 years. For the past 4 years she has also served in the capacity of Assistant Provost for Systems & Operations, where she spearheads strategic initiatives focused on service standards and continuous improvement of policies, processes and systems. She chairs University operations committees in the areas of data governance and student experience. She also serves on the board of directors for the Adventist Accrediting Association, the denominational accrediting authority for all tertiary and graduate educational programs and institutions owned by Seventh-day Adventist church entities.
Ms. Vitangcol Regoso has contributed several articles for AACRAO Connect, covering various topics including data governance, streamlining processes, and hiring best practices.
She earned her Master of Business Administration from Western Michigan University and her Bachelor of Business Administration from Andrews University.
Natalia is the primary point of contact for companies and organizations purchasing exhibit space or paid presentations at AACRAO meetings.
Marisella provides administrative support to the AED, EMD and cross-divisional assistance to the departments within EMD.
Megan is the Registrar at Cornell College in Mount Vernon, Iowa. She has been serving Cornell College for two decades, occupying various positions in student life, career engagement, and the Registrar’s Office. Megan has a history of leading teams, driving and implementing successful change on campus, and keeping students at the forefront of her work. She’s been involved with AACRAO and Upper Midwest ACRAO, and holds a Fellow position with Acadeum to shape the Registrar role in refining course sharing strategies and establishing course approval standards and best practices.
Nicole Engelbert is vice president of product strategy for student systems at Oracle. She is responsible for engaging the industry ecosystem to develop thought leadership and best practice with cloud technology and to use those insights to guide the development of Oracle’s higher education solutions including its Student and Campus Solutions product suites. Prior to Oracle, Nicole served as the Director of Research & Analysis at Ovum where she spent the last decade advising institutions globally on critical areas such as cloud migration, legacy modernization, emerging technologies, and student experience. A sought after presenter on the higher education technology conference circuit, Nicole is also regularly quoted in publications such as the NY Times, University Business, Campus Technology, and the Wall Street Journal. Nicole holds a BA in classics from Union College and an MEd in educational administration & policy analysis from Teachers College, Columbia University.
Raymond Todd Blackwood, Vice President of Product Management for Student Information Systems at Anthology, has spent over 25 years inventing technology solutions that run college campuses. His passion for technology and bringing people together to create efficiencies on college campuses can be heard on a variety of webinars, podcasts, papers, and presentations throughout the world. Raymond holds an MBA in technology management and lives in Boca Raton, FL, with his wife, Cat, daughters Alabama, and Samantha, and dog Cooper.
Zachary Pardos is an Associate Professor of Education at UC Berkeley studying adaptive learning and AI. His early scholarship focused on formative assessment using Knowledge Tracing, the predominant model used for estimating skill mastery in computer tutoring system contexts. His recent work designing Human-AI collaborations to pave pathways to and between systems of higher education has been published in venues such as SIGCHI, NeurIPS, The Internet and Higher Education, and Science. This work has included the development of high-quality AI-assistive tools used by tens of thousands of students, administrators, and faculty to support transfer, articulation, and STEM subject learning at community colleges and universities.
Founder and principal of Couturier Consulting LLC and a principal at Sova, conducts research and works at the intersections of policy and institutional practice to ensure equitable recognition of learning and career outcomes, particularly for Black, Latinx, Indigenous and Asian Pacific Islander Desi American students and learners from low-income backgrounds.
Lara has worked with community colleges and open access four-year institutions for over two decades. Lara brings a keen understanding of the power of policy and advocacy for transformation, as well as the hard work needed on the ground to advance institutional change. Over the course of her career, Lara has been deeply engaged in both policy and implementation work for some of the most promising areas of reform, including guided pathways, developmental education redesign, and transfer.
Lara’s focus is on working to achieve equity, particularly for historically and persistently racially minoritized and marginalized populations. Lara continuously seeks to build her equity skills through a variety of strategies including pursuing training and professional development; intentionally working on projects with mentors who can challenge and stretch skills; serving on councils and committees focused on race, power and privilege; and maintaining a robust schedule of reading, attending learning sessions, and engaging in self-reflection.
The majority of Lara’s portfolio seeks to enhance transfer, credit mobility and recognition of learning as a key lever for equity. Key roles include facilitating or leading:
Her previous work experience has included serving as a principal at HCM Strategists; a director at Jobs for the Future; and the interim principal investigator for the Futures Project at Brown University. In those roles, Couturier has fundraised for and managed multi-million dollar portfolios, supervised teams of staff and served on organizational leadership teams. Lara holds a certificate in equity coaching from the National Equity Project; a certificate in Mindful Outdoor Leadership from Kripalu; a Ph.D. in history from Brown University; a master’s degree from the Harvard Graduate School of Education, and a bachelor’s degree from the University of Richmond.
Request Dr. Alfred Mueller as a speaker
For the last ten years, Dr. Alfred Mueller has served as Dean of Arts and Sciences at Neumann University, overseeing the university’s core curriculum. As a self-professed “retention evangelist,” Dr. Mueller worked with the Biology program to increase freshman-to-sophomore retention by 25.8% in three years and to earn recognition as a Howard Hughes SEA-PHAGES program. He helped draft a $2.1 million Title III grant, which funded the creation of a University Writing Center and a team of academic coaches to aid in student persistence. In 2018, Dr. Mueller led a team of faculty and staff to the AAC&U’s Institute for High-Impact Practices and Student Success, which resulted in a reinvigorated Communication and Digital Media major that emphasized experiential learning. He worked with his campus Registrar and the Vice President for Academic Affairs to develop “Maymester” and “Winterim” terms and coordinated with the Academic Advising Center to develop a “Drive for 30” program to help first-year students reach Satisfactory Academic Progress. He also initiated partnerships with the Delaware County Municipal Police Academy, Wilkes University’s Nesbitt School of Pharmacy, Drexel University’s College of Engineering, and high schools throughout Neumann’s service area.
Dr. Mueller’s passion is undergraduate education. He served for over 11 years at Penn State Mont Alto, which offered the first two years of instruction to students in over 120 majors before they transferred to State College. At Neumann, Dr. Mueller oversaw the university’s First-Year Experience program, Honors program, Writing Across the Curriculum program, and summer bridging programs. He also served as Quality Matters Coordinator for the campus, helping 75% of the full-time faculty and 34% of the part-time faculty earn national certification to teach online. Neumann’s online course in Developmental Psychology was selected by Quality Matters as a training course for Peer and Master Reviewers, one of only six courses nationwide to earn that distinction.
He also served as Executive Director of the Eastern Communication Association. In that role, he initiated changes necessitated by the passage of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, including changing the way the organization filed 990’s and creating policies that governed everything from document retention and destruction to whistleblowing.
Dr. Mueller received his M.A. and Ph.D. in Communication Studies from the University of Iowa and three Bachelor of Arts degrees in Communication, History, and Philosophy from Wilkes University in Wilkes-Barre, PA. He authored two books; published 20 peer-reviewed articles and book chapters; presented over 50 refereed papers at regional and national conferences; and served as co-editor of an international journal. Dr. Mueller is certified as a Master Reviewer and Program Reviewer for Quality Matters, a national non-profit organization that promotes quality assurance in online education, and is currently pursuing certification in Agile project management.
He is nationally known for his workshop, Achieving Work-Life Equilibrium, which he has conducted for the Council of Colleges of Arts and Sciences and the American Council of Academic Deans. For 30 years, he has trained enrollment management teams and aspiring executives to Deliver More Effective Presentations with Less Fear. And he offers custom keynotes and master classes on mindset changes that develop Leadership with Kick among emerging leaders and helps your enrollment management team and your academic affairs team EMBRACE (Enrollment Management Building Relationships with Academic Colleagues Experience) one another.
Request Kevin Windholz as a speaker
Kevin Windholz has spent over 20 years working in the higher education sector. Currently, he serves as the Vice President for Enrollment Management at Oklahoma City University (Oklahoma City), a role he has held since 2012. In this role he has led domestic and international admissions, financial aid, student accounts and University marketing and communications. As a member of the President’s cabinet, he has served on various University planning committees of which tasks have included authoring the University Strategic Enrollment Management (SEM) plan, assisting with development of the University’s master strategic plan, reviewing University academic program offerings and examining University Employee and Board of Trustees organizational structures. Among his proudest achievements in this role has been discount management and developing a system to accurately predict net revenue to be generated from future enrollment. Prior to coming to OCU, Windholz worked in Enrollment Management at Washburn University (Topeka, KS) from 2001 to 2006 and Saint Louis University (St. Louis, MO) from 2006 to 2012. Since 2023, he has served as an affiliate consultant for enrollmentFUEL, in addition to his work at OCU.
Beginning his career as a television news reporter and substitute anchor, Windholz is a naturally trained speaker. He has been a regular presenter at the American Association for Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers (AACRAO) SEM Conferences. He has also been a past presenter at the former Recruitment Plus Users’ conference, the ACT Enrollment Planners’ conference and the Missouri Association for Collegiate Admissions Counselors (MOACAC) conference. Some topics have included, A Paperless Admissions Office, How to Search the Right Students, Lowering Tuition Discount and Maximizing New Student Revenue, How to Manage Enrollment During a University Prioritization Process, and How to Accurately Predict Institutional Net Revenue. Windholz has also served as a facilitator and panelist for Academic Impressions and Campus Living Villages. His work has also been published in the AACRAO Strategic Management Quarterly Journal.
Windholz received his B.A. in Information Networking and Telecommunications from Fort Hays State University (Hays, KS) in 2000 and his Master of Liberal Student (MLS) from Washburn University (Topeka, KS) in 2005.
Request Femi Ogundele as a speaker
In his capacity as Associate Vice Chancellor of Admissions & Enrollment, Femi provides vision, strategy and leadership in the recruitment and evaluation of California's public flagship. For the last decade Femi has been a vocal thought leader in the college access and college admission industry. He is a member of the Chancellor’s Cabinet and oversees the Office of Undergraduate Admission, the Financial Aid Office, the University Registrar, the Visitor’s Center, and the Center for Educational Partnerships which provides college access support in high schools and Community Colleges across the state of California.
His vision and leadership in undergraduate admissions outreach to the state’s underrepresented, undocumented, underserved and first-generation students have resulted in four consecutive years of the most ethnically and geographically diverse classes of students to Berkeley in 3 decades.
Prior to Berkeley, Femi has been successful at building outreach and evaluation processes that have resulted in greater diversity at Stanford University, Cornell University, University of Delaware, and Ithaca College. He sits on national college access boards and has done work to establish higher education pipelines for students, educators and refugees throughout sub-Saharan Africa.
In his role as Associate Vice Chancellor of Enrollment, Femi has been committed to lowering the cost of higher education and closing the graduation gap among diverse communities.With degrees from Mansfield University of Pennsylvania and Ithaca College, Femi remains committed to the scholarship of equity in education as he is also currently pursuing a doctoral degree at UC Berkeley’s Graduate School of Education.
Request Michael Pierick as a speaker
Michael prides his work in solving systematic problems through innovative academic programming aimed at increasing access and reducing barriers. He is driven by constructive dissatisfaction as a foundation and principle of continuously improving upon current designs, models, performance, and abilities. As the Director of Strategic Initiatives at UC Merced Extension, he is responsible for the design, implementation, and execution of rigorous college and career readiness programs for lifelong learners, including teacher credentialing, pre-college dual enrollment pathways, micro-credentialing, and industry-aligned certificates.
Michael is also the Director of the UC Merced Degree Completion Program where he has led the development and implementation of the University of California’s first general degree completion efforts to re-enrolling and graduating students who left a UC campus without completing their degree. Michael earned his Bachelor of Science in Management from UC Merced and Master of Arts in Educational Entrepreneurship from the University of the Pacific Benerd College of Education.
Michael brings nearly a decade of program design, development, and implementation across multiple sectors and program types with foundational experience in Enrollment Management.
List of Topics:
Designing degree completion programming
Creative early college pathways for high school student matriculation
Strategic recruitment and outreach initiatives for stop-outs
Reentry data analysis and policy review
College and career readiness pathways
Enrollment coaching for reentry students
One-stop modeling for reentry students
Certification and credentialing design and implementation
Industry-university collaboration (education and training)
Shifting culture to persistence and retention
Understanding and defining stop-out students
Joseph Drasin, D.M. is an accomplished practitioner and educator in the areas of change management, process improvement, and technology leadership. Currently, he is the Assistant Vice President of Service Strategy at the University of Maryland’s Division of Information Technology and serves as a member of the faculty. Dr. Drasin’s expertise has been developed over an impressive 25-year career in organizational development, change management, process engineering, enterprise system implementation, and technology leadership. He has consulted with many public and private organizations where he works to identify shared objectives and facilitates cross-organizational process designs to break down existing technological and organizational silos. A believer in the professionalism of management and leadership, his practice work is paralleled by publishing, speaking, and education on a broad number of topics.
He received his Doctorate of Management from University of Maryland, University College, a Masters of Science in Business and a post-graduate Certification in Competitive Intelligence from Johns Hopkins University as well as Bachelor degrees in Management Science & Statistics, Logistics & Transportation, and Economics from The University of Maryland, College Park.
When not working or spending time with his family, Dr. Drasin is a certified SCUBA rescue diver, a Lego enthusiast, and a superfan of women's college basketball (Go TERPS!)
AACRAO Competency: Change Management
Michael Moore, Ph.D., currently serves as the Senior Associate University Registrar for the Office of the University Registrar at Wake Forest University. Moore earned a Ph.D. in higher education from Old Dominion University, a M.B.A. from Strayer University, and a B.A. in creative writing from Ohio University. Right-Sizing the Registrar's Office
Bridgett Milner is Director of Institutional Effectiveness of Institutional Analytics, formerly the Senior Associate Director of Planning & Research in the Office of Enrollment Management at Indiana University Bloomington. Demonstrating the Value of a College Degree: Holistic Financial and Academic Support Toward Accelerating Student Success
Doug Anderson is Senior Director of Planning & Research in the Office of Enrollment Management at Indiana University Bloomington. Demonstrating the Value of a College Degree: Holistic Financial and Academic Support Toward Accelerating Student Success
Mercedes Randall is Assistant Vice Provost & Executive Director of Administration in the Office of Enrollment Management at Indiana University Bloomington. Demonstrating the Value of a College Degree: Holistic Financial and Academic Support Toward Accelerating Student Success