Mary Angela Baker, St. Catherine University, mabaker@stkate.edu
Mary Angela Baker, MA, is the director of the Leadership Institute at St. Catherine University, the largest women's college in North America. In her position, Baker directs the research, design, implementation and marketing of leadership development programs for professional and entrepreneurial women. She represents St. Catherine at several outreach initiatives, connecting and collaborating with senior corporate executives from companies such as Wells Fargo, 3M, Medtronic, Cargill and General Mills.
Todd Bloom, Hobsons, todd.bloom@hobsons.com
Todd Bloom is Chief Academic Office with Hobsons. He earned a bachelor’s degree in Elementary Education from Indiana University, a Master of Education degree from National-Louis University and a Ph.D. in Educational Leadership and Policy Studies from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Susan Borowick, University of Minnesota, boro009@umn.edu
Susan Borowick is Departmental Director in the College of Continuing Education, at the University of Minnesota. Susan's expertise is in instructional design and development, e-learning and blended solutions development, facilitation and project management.
Danielle Brown, Kansas State University Salina, dnbrown@ksu.edu
Danielle N. Brown currently serves as the Director of Continuing Education at Kansas State University Salina and is pursuing a Ph.D. in Student Affairs. She has been in higher education for 5 years serving in the roles of Director, Advisor, Academic Services Coordinator, Instructor, and Student Club Advisor. Her background also includes performance improvement and data management.
Soma Chakrabarti, University of Kansas, schakrab@ku.edu
Dr. Soma Chakrabarti is the director of the Center for Engineering and Interdisciplinary Professional Education (CEIPE) and the associate director of Continuing Education at the University of Kansas. She oversees the units of Aerospace Short Course Program, Engineering Technology and Engineering Management Certificate Programs, Engineering Conferences, and Bioengineering Short Courses. Prior to this position, she was the director of Aerospace Short Course Program where she developed partnerships in Asia, Europe and Australia for professional engineering education, and successfully increased international participation in professional engineering short courses.
Laurie Curtis, Kansas State University, ljcurtis@ksu.edu
Dr. Laurie Curtis is the director of the Reading Specialist Program at Kansas State University where she teaches undergraduate and graduate literacy education courses. In addition to her teaching, her research interests include international literacy initiatives, brain-based literacy practices, and studying research-based interventions for struggling readers.
Amy Dooley, University of Missouri- St. Louis, dooleyam@umsl.edu
Amy Dooley is the Manager of Continuing Education programs for the College of Arts & Sciences and the College of Fine Arts and Communication at the University of Missouri-St. Louis. Amy received her bachelor’s degree from the University of Northern Iowa and M.A. in Educational Administration from Lindenwood University. Amy has held positions including Youth Program Supervisor at the Memphis Zoo, Director of Conservation Education for the American National Fish and Wildlife Museum, and AmeriCorps Program Director and Volunteer Coordinator for the Nixa R-II School District. Prior to coming to UMSL, Amy coordinated the opening of a new 207-acre working, educational farm park in Springfield, MO.
Heather Dorr, University of Minnesota, hdorr@umn.edu
Heather Dorr works in the College of Continuing Education at the University of Minnesota. She works with faculty at the University and professionals outside the University to plan continuing education programs, conferences, short courses, symposia, and online courses. She is also an M.Ed student in Learning Technologies, at the University of Minnesota.
Eric Dunker, Metropolitan State University of Denver, dunkere@msudenver.edu
Dr. Eric Dunker is currently the director of MSU Denver's Extended Campus and oversees off campus degree completion programs, dual enrollment programs with community colleges, concurrent enrollment with high schools, and is responsible for new program development.
Jim Fong, UPCEA, jfong@upcea.edu
Jim Fong has more than twenty years working as a marketer and researcher in the higher education community. Prior to joining UPCEA’s Center for Research and Consulting, Jim worked as a higher education strategic marketing consultant and researcher for two firms and prior to that was the Director of Marketing, Research and Planning for Penn State Outreach. As a consultant, Jim worked with over a hundred different colleges and universities. While at Penn State, he was responsible for managing teams of marketing planners, competitive analysts, market researchers and enrollment management staff.
Zach Gredlics, University of Kansas, gredlics@ku.edu
Zach Gredlics is a Senior Program Manager of Program Development and In-House Courses in the Center for Engineering and Interdisciplinary Professional Education at the University of Kansas Continuing Education. He is responsible for developing new short course training programs in engineering, as well as coordinating all aspects of engineering short courses, including budgeting, procurement, content customization and legal framework. Zach has a BA from the University of Kansas, and an MBA in International Business from Baker University.
Deb Haan, Wells Fargo, deborah.l.haan@wellsfargo.com
Deb Haan is Vice President - Director of Support at Wells Fargo Mortgage in Minneapolis, MN. She has been a Wells Fargo team member for more than 20 years and experienced several mergers. Deb serves as the chair of the Baby Boomer affinity group and is the Corporate Champion between Wells Fargo and St. Catherine University.
Bob Hansen, UPCEA, rhansen@upcea.edu
Dr. Robert J. Hansen was named Chief Executive Officer of the University Professional & Continuing Education Association in September 2010. He previously served as Associate Provost for University Outreach at the University of Southern Maine. Prior to that position, he spent six years at Saint Xavier University of Chicago as Assistant to the President & Secretary of the Corporation, and then as founding Executive Director of Orland Park Campus & Off-Campus Programs. Hansen also previously served as an education policy aide in the administration of former Illinois governor, Jim Edgar.
Brenda Harms, Converge Consulting, brenda@convergeconsulting.org
Dr. Brenda Harms is an experienced higher education administrator with a diverse marketing and admissions background. Her perspective on higher education strategic planning, marketing, and recruitment is strengthened by her extensive consulting experience with colleges and universities throughout the country who are focused on serving adult students in a more intentional way.
Rebecca Hawthorne, St. Catherine University, rkhawthorne@stkate.edu
Rebecca Hawthorne, Ph.D. is the director for the graduate Organizational Leadership program at St. Catherine University. She is the author of the Minnesota Census of Women in Corporate Leadership which examines the percentage of women on the boards and in the executive suites of Minnesota's top 100 publicly traded companies.
Kim Kieras, University of Chicago, kmkieras@uchicago.edu
Kim Kieras is the Associate Director of Recruitment and Enrollment Management at University of Chicago Graham School. Her areas of specialization include recruitment; admissions leadership; staff training and development; marketing; strategic planning; and organizational leadership. Kim’s contributions have been integral in the conceptualization, design and implementation of internal business models that bring focus on new approaches to student recruitment. In addition, Kim has held key roles in the procurement and implementation of CRM technologies designed to introduce staff to admissions automation.
Walter Pearson, Lewis University, pearsowa@lewisu.edu
Walter began his role as Dean for the School for Professional and Continuing Education at Lewis University in the Chicago region in March, 2011. In this role, he works with faculty and staff to deliver on the Lewis University commitment to working adults. Walter has been active as a researcher, author, and presenter on best practices in serving working adults. His topics include outreach, collaboration, prior learning assessment, sustaining academic quality, academic advising, and practices that support degree completion persistence. He was recently elected to the board of the Association for Continuing Higher Education.
Julie Rohovit, University of Minnesota, rohov001@umn.edu
Dr. Julie Rohovit is the program director for the University of Minnesota's new Masters of Professional Studies in Integrated Behavioral Health and the Addiction Studies Certificate Programs. Julie was instrumental in designing and launching both programs. She is also the lead Principle Investigator for the Minnesota Center for Clinical and Research Innovation.
Gail Ruhland, St. Cloud State University, gmruhland@stcloudstate.edu
Gail Ruhland serves as the Director of Corporate Education and Outreach in the Center for Continuing Studies. In her 12 years at SCSU, Gail has been committed to creating opportunities for professionals with credit and non-credit professional development programs. These programs have ranged from career exploration for “at risk” youth from the St. Cloud area to a week-long Leadership Institute for Law Enforcement officers throughout the Minnesota, South Dakota, North Dakota and Wisconsin states. Gail earned a Bachelor of Arts in Business Management and Communication from Concordia College in St. Paul, a Master’s in Business Administration and Doctorate of Higher Education Administration from St. Cloud State University.
Erik Sherman
Erik Sherman is a SaaS consultant and Business Resource for Augusoft, Inc. A native of Austin, Minnesota, Erik is a graduate of University of Wisconsin-River Falls. Erik has been partnering with higher education organizations for the past four years with a focus on Continuing & Corporate Education programs seeking a cloud-based solution for student enrollment and contract management.
Nancy Sayre, Metropolitan State University of Denver, nsayre@msudenver.edu
Dr. Nancy Sayre is the lead faculty member for MSU Denver's competency based education initiative. She is an Assistant Professor and the Assistant Chair for the department of Health Professions.
Karen Sibley, Brown University, Karen_sibley@brown.edu
Karen Sibley is Dean of Continuing Education at Brown with responsibility for executive and non-credit adult education, undergraduate summer session and pre-college summer, international and online programs. She thrives in the work of innovative program development, continuous improvement in student experience and academic outcomes, and collaboration within the workplace/University and beyond.
Christina Trombley, University of Wisconsin-Green Bay, tromblec@uwgb.edu
Christina has worked with adult students for the past sixteen years in adult and continuing education. Currently as the director of the Adult Degree Program, she is responsible for two online degree programs in the Interdisciplinary Major and the associated services of a department that is designed for the adult student. While pursuing her doctorate in urban education, her research is focused on the leadership, administration, and operation of online programs in higher education.
Liz Turchin, University of Minnesota, turch001@umn.edu
Liz Turchin is the Associate Director of Marketing at the University of Minnesota’s College of Continuing Education. She chairs three cross-college Enrollment Management teams tasked with building deeper relationships with prospective students in order to guide them to the programs that meet their career and life needs.
Steven VandenAvond, University of Wisconsin-Green Bay, vandenas@uwgb.edu
Steve VandenAvond has worked in adult and continuing education for more than fifteen years as a faculty member and administrator in both private/non-profit and public colleges and universities and has devoted his career to providing adult students with suitable access to higher education. Steve received his doctorate in development psychology from Loyola University-Chicago, and has focused on finding ways to not only create adult friendly academic programs and services, but to cultivate meaningful and engaging relationships with adult students, even when they study at a distance.