Melanie is the first woman to hold the role of Executive Director in the association’s history after nearly six years as the Deputy Director. She brings a global perspective rooted in an understanding of the technological proficiency and flexibility needed to move AACRAO forward.
Melanie came to the national office with 18 years as an AACRAO member, with experience in Records & Registration, Enrollment Management and International Recruitment and Credential Evaluation. She has served the association in a variety of volunteer leadership roles throughout her career, most recently as Vice President for International Education on the AACRAO Board of Directors. Melanie earned an MA in Information Science from the University of Missouri - Columbia and a BA in History /American Studies from Marlboro College in Vermont. Identity, Mentorship, and Community: AACRAO’s First Woman Executive Director on Her Leadership Journey
Jim Kelly serves as Senior Director of Technology at Educational Credential Evaluators, Inc. (ECE). Over the last 18 years, he has successfully built a foundational framework for technology to support infrastructure, applications, and strategic activities. These initiatives have been key to the growth of services offered by ECE helping the business triple in size during Jim’s tenure. Jim manages a team of skilled technology professionals, sets technology goals and leads strategic planning initiatives. As part of ECE’s senior leadership team, Jim supports internal & external systems while involved in planning, general leadership and management efforts. Jim also works with PESC and the Groningen Declaration Network to standardize credential evaluation data and contributes to educational data mobility internationally. Jim serves as Chair of the PESC Board of Directors, Co-Chair and Steering Committee Member of the PESC Global Education Organization (GEO) User Group on the PESC EdExchange Steering Committee. Jim has also been representing PESC as speaker and presenter at Annual Meetings of the Groningen Declaration Network. After graduation from the University of Wisconsin Oshkosh with a degree in Biology and a minor in Chemistry, Jim began a career in business and technology professional consulting for organizations that vary in both size and industry. Jim’s consulting experience brings a wealth of knowledge in technology, project management, business systems, warehousing, and distribution to his current efforts.
Matt Bemis, an Associate Registrar at the University of Southern California, is responsible for the Degree Progress operations for the University. He serves as the administrator over the Degree Audit and Transfer Credit applications, is responsible the certification of student athlete academic eligibility, and is the project lead for the electronic data interchange (EDI) initiative at USC. He is a past Chair for the AACRAO SPEEDE Committee, is co-chair for the PESC GEO Code Steering Committee, and serves on the PESC Board of Directors. Matt has been active within the AACRAO community for more than 23 years, and has served on the AACRAO SPEEDE Committee for more than 10 years.
Slate Position: 2025-2026 Nominations and Elections Committee
Position Statement:
AACRAO is an undeniable leader in higher education whose advocacy, research, and guidance provides the most cutting-edge education relevant to our field. As a person who has experienced professional growth through AACRAO, my goal is to raise awareness of AACRAO’s opportunities for growth and service. As we grow professionally, so does our responsibility to be a contribution to the current body of knowledge so that it can further expand our field. Equally important is the need to pass our wisdom and experiences on to the next generation of higher education leaders. If elected, my hope is help the committee achieve its goals through continuous service to our membership and all who are impacted by our work.
Loida currently serves as the Director of Recruitment and Enrollment Services at A&M-Central Texas. Her career began 9 years ago as a graduate admissions coordinator where she gained expertise in foreign credential evaluations. Loida’s passion for serving non-traditional populations continued through her work in transfer recruitment, by leading transfer initiatives and partnerships across Texas. In her current role, Loida continues the efforts to provide equitable opportunities and educational access to all transfer students. Her advocacy for change has led her to become an active member of TACRAO and AACRAO by serving as a committee member, presenter, researcher, and as the host for Transfer Tea, an AACRAO podcast.
Rosalie is currently a lead evaluator at Bellevue College, a hybrid two and four year institution in Washington State. There she oversees transfer credit and graduation for professional and baccalaureate programs. Prior to this role, she served for two years in AmeriCorps, where she established a peer mentor program for immigrant and refugee college students. Rosalie is passionate about improving college access and developing institutional policy that is responsive to the diverse backgrounds of our students. She has a B.A. in Linguistics from the University of Washington.
Joellen Shendy has worked in higher education for over 30 years, developing unique expertise in the areas of credential innovation, competency-based education, online education, transfer and non-traditional students. A former Associate Vice Provost & Registrar, Ms. Shendy has written articles and blogs on the future of education and credential innovations as well as comprehensive learning records with AACRAO, 1EdTech, Educause, and Parchment among others and she was a founding member of CAPACRAO (Chesapeake and Potomac Association of Registrars and Admissions Officers). Currently a Senior Product Strategy Director for Workday Student, she works to envision and build the student system of the future – putting students at the center. She lives in Port Hueneme, CA and you can often find her running, reading, or playing video and board games.
Dr. Hakeem Oluseyi, author of a highly-anticipated upcoming memoir The Stars in My Soul: My Unlikely Journey through Space and Time, is an internationally-recognized astrophysicist, science TV personality, and global education advocate who has had a long, distinguished career in academia and scientific research. Since 2007, he has been a professor of Aerospace, Physics, and Space Sciences at the Florida Institute of Technology. Currently, he is stationed at NASA Headquarters, where he serves as an Astrophysicist and Space Science Education Lead for NASA's Science Mission Directorate. A former TED fellow, Dr. Oluseyi holds three degrees, eight U.S. patents, four E.U. patents, and co-hosts several shows on Science Channel and Discovery International, including Outrageous Acts of Science, How the Universe Works, Space's Deepest Secrets, Strange Evidence, You Have Been Warned, and Strip the Cosmos. Dr. Oluseyi’s success is even more impressive given his incredible personal background and story.
Hakeem grew up in some of the roughest neighborhood’s in this country; he changed schools roughly 10 times in seven years. Living in chaotic circumstances led him to spend most of his time indoors reading and watching PBS nature shows. Discovering a love of science and a fascination with Einstein’s Theory of Relativity, Hakeem decided to teach himself these principles of science. He became determined to become a scientist and overcame incredible odds to earn 3 degrees: a Bachelor of Science in Physics and Mathematics from Tougaloo College, and a Masters and Ph.D. in Physics from Stanford University. After finishing up with school, Hakeem worked at one of Silicon Valley’s most successful companies and did research on manufacturing computer chips. Hakeem’s inventions can be found in the computer chips you use every day. Sharing his roller-coaster ride of success and the setbacks he faced along the way, Hakeem inspires audiences around the world to chase their dreams no matter how unlikely they may seem.
Today, as NASA’s Space Education Lead, he is responsible for co-managing 27 SMD Science Activation cooperative agreements totaling more than $40M. He also provides strategic and scientific advising for SMD investments in STEM Education, Citizen Science, Diversity, Equity & Inclusion, and Strategic Communications. Currently, his scientific research is based on "hacking stars" to develop innovative new technologies and better understand our universe. Leveraging techniques for interpreting electromagnetic radiation, laboratory plasma physics, computational modeling, machine learning, time-domain informatics, big data analytics, and high-performance computing, his work has resulted in 12 patents, and ~80 publications covering contributions to astrophysics, cosmology, semiconductor manufacturing, and ion propulsion. His science education research has resulted in highly effective and efficient, divergent techniques for teaching mathematics and physics to learners of all ages.
Outstanding Technical Innovation and Best Paper at the 2010 NSBE Aerospace Systems Conference, the 2006 Physics Technical Achiever of the Year by the National Technical Association, a 2005 NASA Earth/Sun Science New Investigator Fellow, the Gordon & Betty Moore Foundation Astrophysics Research Fellow, the Ernest O. Lawrence Astrophysics Research Fellow at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (2001-2003), and as a NASA GSRP Fellow at Stanford University.
Hakeem is one of the world's most popular educators and science communicators. He regularly appears on news programs and has won or been nominated for several awards for science reporting including one Emmy nomination and four Webby Awards.
Sara Goldrick-Rab, Ph.D. is Professor of Higher Education Policy & Sociology at Temple University, and Founding Director of the Hope Center for College, Community, and Justice in Philadelphia. She is also the Chief Strategy Officer for Emergency Aid at Edquity, a student financial success and emergency aid company, and founded Believe in Students, a nonprofit distributing emergency aid.
Sara is best known for her innovative research on food and housing insecurity in higher education, having led the four largest national studies on the subject, and for her work on making public higher education free. She is the recipient of the William T. Grant Foundation’s Faculty Scholars Award, the American Educational Research Association’s Early Career Award, and the Carnegie Fellowship.
In 2016 POLITICO magazine named her one of the top 50 people shaping American politics and she is ranked 6th in the nation among education scholars according to Education Week.
Her latest book, Paying the Price: College Costs, Financial Aid, and the Betrayal of the American Dream, won the 2018 Grawemeyer Award, and was featured on The Daily Show with Trevor Noah.
The Chronicle of Higher Education calls Sara “a defender of impoverished students and a scholar of their struggles”--an accurate description of her life’s work.
Cokie Roberts is a political commentator for ABC News and NPR. In her more than forty years in broadcasting, she has won countless awards, including three Emmys. She has been inducted into the Broadcasting and Cable Hall of Fame, and was cited by the American Women in Radio and Television as one of the fifty greatest women in the history of broadcasting. In addition to her reporting, Roberts has written six New York Times bestsellers, most dealing with the roles of women in U.S. history. Roberts holds more than twenty five honorary degrees, serves on the boards of several non-profit institutions, and was appointed by President Bush to his Commission on Service and Civic Participation. In 2008, the Library of Congress named her a “Living Legend,” one of the very few Americans to have attained that honor.
For the past decade, Dr. Bridget Burns has advised university presidents, system chancellors, and state and federal policy leaders on strategies to expand access to higher education, address costs, and promote completion for students of all backgrounds. Named one of the “16 Most Innovative People in Higher Education” by Washington Monthly, she is the founding Executive Director of the University Innovation Alliance (UIA). The UIA is the ground-breaking national consortium of public research universities igniting a movement through their collaborative work (innovate together, scaling “what works,” and broadly diffusing what they learn) to close their achievement gaps and improve outcomes for all students. The UIA was developed during Dr. Burns' tenure at an American Council on Education (ACE) Fellowship at Arizona State University.
Dr. Burns held multiple roles within in the Oregon University System, including serving as Chief of Staff and Senior Policy Advisor, where she won the national award for innovation in higher education government relations. She was a National Associate for the National Center for Public Policy and Higher Education, and has served on several statewide governing boards including ones governing higher education institutions, financial aid policy, and policy areas impacting children and families.
She received her Ed.D in Higher Education, Leadership, and Policy from Vanderbilt University.
Award: Emerging Leader Award Winner: Texas Ruegg Texas is a boomerang transplant to East Texas, returning to LeTourneau University after severing as Registrar at Tarrant County College in Fort Worth and as Registrar and Director of Institutional Research at Austin College in Sherman. He is a two-time alumnus of LeTourneau, earning both his graduate and undergraduate degrees in Business and is currently completing his dissertation at Northcentral University for the completion of a Ph.D. in Higher Education Administration. Texas is an Eagle Scout, an avid cyclist, triathlete, and advocate for health and wellness as well as a certified Stephen Covey 7 Habits instructor and an award winning public speaker and leadership trainer. After losing his first wife to cervical cancer at age 35, Texas discovered the power of Post Traumatic Growth which has created the opportunity for him to share his testimony and the importance of work/life balance at leadership events and conferences around the country. Rüegg’s return to LeTourneau University brought an accumulation of personal and professional experience that spans both public and private higher education as well as leadership roles in state, regional, and national professional organizations. His wife, Shana, works for Longview Regional Hospital in Longview, TX as a Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetist(CRNA) and they have two beautiful children at home, Lukas (6yrs) and Vivian (3yrs), and one older child, Jacob (23yrs) living and attending college in Austin. The Rüeggs live in a restored Victorian home tucked away in the piney woods of East Texas where they have just planted the first acre of what will soon be the Rüeggenbach Vineyard. Texas said any AACRAO members who visit get the first glass on him. Learn More about AACRAO Awards
For 30 years, Shelby served his alma mater, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, Texas, in varying roles of increased responsibility and in 2018 retired as Vice Provost and University Registrar. Today, he continues serving higher education as director, service innovation networks with the National Student Clearinghouse. With a background in software development and design, Shelby has had a wide professional portfolio that includes experience working with the offices of the bursar, admissions, student financial services, information systems and technology and registrar. Shelby was part of the technical team for the UT Austin SPEEDE (Standardization of Postsecondary Education Electronic Data Exchange) Server which was developed and managed by the Office of the Registrar at the University of Texas at Austin from the fall of 1996 until which time the Server was transferred to the National Student Clearinghouse in 2013. During that time the UT SPEEDE Server supported the electronic exchange of over 34 million educational documents (including transcripts, test scores, and applications for admission) nationally using industry-based national standards. Shelby is active professionally, serving as a member of the Board of Directors, Foreign Credential Services of America, and a former member of the Board of Directors and former chair of the Advisory Committee, National Student Clearinghouse, former member of the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center board, and holds regular membership and participates in AACRAO (American Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers), SACRAO (Southern Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers) for which he was president 2003-2004, and TACRAO (Texas Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers) for which he was chair of the TACRAO Legislative Issues Committee and TACRAO Technology Committee. Shelby has been a member of Educational Testing Services (ETS) TOEFL Technology Committee and has served on AACRAO’s International Education Data Collection Committee. Shelby has been a participant in the Groningen Declaration initiative since 2013, presented a keynote at the 2013 meeting in Beijing and a session in Malaga, Spain in 2015 and in Cape Town, South Africa in 2016, and participated on a keynote panel in Puebla, Mexico in 2019.
Award: Centennial Award for Excellence Winner: Rosana Reyes A tireless advocate for underserved populations in higher education, Rosana has a distinguished career of over 30 years in both the public and private sectors. She currently serves as Vice President for Enrollment Management and Student Development at Luzerne County Community College. Prior to serving in this role Ms. Reyes served as Associate Vice President of the Newburgh campus at The State University of New York-Orange County, SUNY Orange. At this same institution, she also served as Director of Educational Partnerships. Prior to arriving at SUNY Orange, Ms. Reyes held the Director of the Higher Education Opportunity Program at Mount Saint Mary College. From early on in her career, Rosana set herself apart as an inspired mentor and advocate for ESL and economically-challenged first-generation college students striving to find their way. Always seeking ways to advance the cause, Ms. Reyes accepted a SEEK Directorship at Mount Saint Mary College where she was solely responsible for the oversight of recruitment, academic advisement, mentoring and transitional challenges of qualified minority student populations in assimilating them into a traditional college setting, always with an eye on graduation and successful outcomes. When Luzerne Community College in Pennsylvania was looking to further diversify and implement a robust Student Enrollment Management strategy and plan, they tapped Rosana and she helped to implement a successful One-Stop Enrollment Center and combine the functions from Recruitment through Enrollment though Graduation and beyond to continue serving underserved and economically challenged student populations. Ms. Reyes has presented at numerous national and state conferences including the National Association of Community College Trustees, the National League of Innovation, and the Northeastern Association of Two-Year Colleges Annual Conferences. Her professional involvement includes serving a as SUNY Orange's and Mount Saint Mary College representative for the Mid-Hudson Association of Women in Higher Education. She also served as a Member of the Orange-Ulster BOCES Career and Technical Education Advisory Board, and on the Hudson Valley Tech Prep Consortium Advisory Board. Ms. Reyes earned a Bachelor's Degree in Forensic Psychology and a Master’s Degree in Public Administration with a concentration in Fiscal Analysis and Oversight from John Jay College of Criminal Justice. Ms. Reyes is currently pursuing a Doctoral Degree in Educational Leadership from Wilkes University. She is a graduate of Leadership Orange class of 2009, Wilkes Barre Executive Leadership class of 2013 and Lackawanna Executive Leadership Class of 2015. Ms. Reyes is also co-recipient of 2018 Innovation Award from the National League of Innovation. Learn More about AACRAO Awards
Rock is the Associate Registrar for Operations at Clemson University. He previously served as Registrar at Armstrong State University in Savannah, Georgia, and prior to that, as Registrar at Southern Wesleyan University in Central, South Carolina. The primary responsibility of his current position is to oversee the planning, development, implementation, & maintenance of systems that support the operations & services provided by the Registrar's Office. He is also responsible for continuous process improvement initiatives within the department. He has been, and continues to be active in AACRAO, SACRAO, CACRAO, and GACRAO, presenting multiple sessions over the years. He has held leadership positions at both the state and regional levels, including serving as the President of SACRAO in 2011. He currently serves on the AACRAO Board of Directors as VP for Information Technology, and as a faculty member for Registrar 101 online and Registrar 201. He also was a 2024 AACRAO Congressional Hill Day Advocate.
Making the Transfer Path to a Bachelor's Degree Seamless and Successful: Best Practices
Award: Elbert W. Ockerman State and Regional Professional Activity Award Winner: Pacific Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers (PACRAO) Project: PACRAO Leadership Development Institute (LDI) PACRAO initiated a Leadership Development Institute (LDI) with the expressed intent to provide a development opportunity for emerging leaders in the professional arenas that PACRAO serves. As registrars and admissions officers, we are both the gatekeepers and the pathfinders for our students. America's population, and by extension the population of American colleges and universities, is rapidly diversifying. Within a generation, a majority of Americans will come from populations that are currently underrepresented in higher education. However, the ranks of admissions and registrar professionals, particularly at the leadership level, is not representative of the students we serve and will serve in the future. PACRAO can play a key role in shaping every level of membership through thought leadership, professional development opportunities, and the creation of intentional streams of development that actively encourage a broader spectrum of professionals to engage and grow in the profession. The PACRAO LDI exists to fill both PACRAO’s leadership funnel, and the leadership funnel in our professions, with emerging leaders who are representative of the diversity of our region. Through their commitment to transformative learning and the guidance and mentorship of our phenomenal faculty, the cohort will become the next generation of enrollment leaders who will reshape the way higher education works. What is the LDI? • A Cohort of 10-15 "students" who are relatively early in their careers who aspire to leadership roles at their institutions and with PACRAO. The Cohort is carefully selected so that it is as representative as possible of the diverse experiences of the students we are serving now and will be serving in the coming decades. • A dedicated faculty made up of PACRAO members who have distinguished themselves in the Admissions and Registrar fields and as servant leaders to the PACRAO community. Three faculty members and a faculty Dean have been selected to lead and mentor the cohort. • A carefully constructed curriculum that will expose Cohort members to literature, group conversation, guest speakers and more. The LDI experience will expose Cohort participants to the possibility of a transformative experience that will both provide critical knowledge that higher education leaders must possess in order to be effective in their roles. Coequally, the LDI experience should create inspiration in each participant to be difference makers and change agents in every community they belong to. The cohort has been asked to commit to being involved in the LDI for one year. The cohort’s year begins at the Annual Meeting and concludes at the Annual Meeting the following year. The Cohort will be engaged in readings and virtual conversations about those readings. All materials will be provided at no charge to participants by PACRAO. PACRAO does not charge for the LDI or LDI materials. We expect one commitment in from our cohort members in return for our investment in the LDI: we expect that every Cohort member will agree to stand for some sort of leadership or other formal involvement opportunity with PACRAO once their cohort year has concluded. Learn More about AACRAO Awards
Award: Elbert W. Ockerman State and Regional Professional Activity Award Winner: Ohio Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers (OACRAO) Project: OACRAO Summer Institute The OACRAO Summer Institute (OSI) is a three-day intensive workshop that is geared toward newer professionals but designed to allow all participants to gain from the experience, including the “faculty” leaders. This immersive experience provides opportunities for attendees to reflect upon their own strengths, develop their leadership capabilities, learn more about the profession, explore emerging trends, and expand their network of colleagues. Intended for a small target cohort of 20-30 participants, OSI is led by a faculty group of six experienced members. The faculty members serve as mentors for smaller mentee groups within the larger OSI cohort. In advance of OSI, faculty mentors reach out to each of their mentees to introduce themselves and serve as a resource not only before OSI, but also during and after the event. The curriculum is designed to facilitate small group activity and discussion. While there are specific topics in the curriculum, OSI allows for discussion on any topic by including campfire discussion, meals, team-building activities, etc. The goal is to ensure that everyone has an opportunity to ask any question while attending. If a participant leaves and has a question, they have a built-in network of colleagues that includes, but is not limited to, their assigned faculty mentor. OSI was first offered in 2013 and was conceptualized by then OACRAO President Dan Wilson, Registrar at Muskingum University. The fourth and most recent offering of OSI was held in August 2018. OSI has served 76 participants over the four offerings and has featured 15 different experienced OACRAO members serving as faculty. OSI has not only enhanced its participants and faculty in their path towards personal and professional growth, it has also enriched the entire OACRAO organization by developing and attracting members who are new to the profession. OSI has quickly developed into a flagship event for OACRAO, and we look forward to the next edition of OSI planned for 2020! Learn More about AACRAO Awards
Karee is the 2023-2024 VP for International Education.
She was hired as the international admission processor for the University of Idaho in May 2006. Through my position at the University of Idaho, she has been given the opportunity to work with colleagues around the world though organizations like AACRAO, NAFSA: Association for International Educators Member, TAICEP: Association for International Credential Evaluation Professionals Member, and AICE: Association of International Credential Evaluators, Inc.
Most of her volunteer work with AACRAO has been with the professional activities committees. She have sought out topics for annual meeting sessions, webinars, international training offerings that are needed to be successful in our day-to-day jobs on our campuses.
This volunteer work has enriched her professional life and passion for international education. Starting in 2010, Karee served as a member for the International Admissions Professional Activities Committee and appointed to Chair in 2011. While serving as Chair, she wanted to get more involved and asked to join the AACRAO Program Committee. Karee served as Program Committee Coordinator for Group 2: International Education for four years. She served on the Annual Meeting Program Committee as Vice Chair in 2018 and served as Chair of the 2019 Annual Meeting.
Karee has been awarded several AACRAO awards in recognition of her strong willingness and desire to volunteer. She was awarded the Emerging Leader Award in 2016, Thomas A. Bilger Award in 2019, and most recently the Award for Excellence in International Education in 2020.
If I am elected as a Vice President of International Education and serve on the Board of Directors, I will collaborate with AACRAO membership to fulfill AACRAO’s mission and vision. Learn More about AACRAO Awards