After seven years teaching in K-12, Carolyn moved into higher education as an adjunct faculty member, lecturing in educational courses for pre-service educators. Finding a passion for teaching teachers, she began to focus on faculty professional growth in her role as instructional designer and technologist within the Maricopa Community College District. Carolyn has been working with individual faculty (residential and adjunct) since 2007. Today, her role allows her the privilege and opportunity to support faculty with specific instructional needs. She continues her adjunct role by teaching three online courses every semester. She also develops and delivers comprehensive training programs on subjects including pedagogy, best practices in teaching and learning, and instructional technologies. Currently, she is a tri-chair for a district-wide implementation of the new learning management system for online learners.
With nearly 20 years of experience with professional development in and out of education, Michaelle has extensive experience working with adjunct faculty – including those new to teaching – as manager of employee and organizational learning at Paradise Valley Community Colege. Over the past five years, Michaelle has developed an award-winning program to orient new adjunct faculty to the college and to the classroom utilizing a learning-centered college perspective. Michaelle also teaches as an adjunct professor in communication.
Through her leadership in the Center for Teaching and Learning, Dr. Strickland supports Mesa Community College’s 300+ residential faculty and 1100+ adjunct faculty in ways that foster student success by promoting innovative teaching and learning through ongoing professional development and collaboration. She supports the faculty by developing, delivering, and overseeing training programs including adjunct orientation, adjunct convocation, new faculty experience, quality matters, learning spaces, iPads, and more. She also coordinates and develops training including learnshops on pedagogy, assessment, starting the semester off right, and best practices in teaching and learning.
Instructor for session two. Meg Pagonis brings over 10 years of experience to her position at Georgetown University. She discovered development while working at College Connections in McLean, VA in 2001-02. At College Connections, she worked on accounts for Clemson, Duke, and Radford Universities, providing support on alumni relations, development, and admissions projects. After running on the marathon team for Georgetown’s Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center, she later joined the staff as a special events coordinator in the development office. Almost four years later, she moved to main campus as an associate director of alumni relations, managing regional alumni clubs and reunion class programming. In April 2008, Meg began working with the parents program overseeing the Parents Leadership Council and major gift fundraising. Meg graduated from Elon University in Elon, NC.
Lynne is a frequent conference speaker and a well-known resource for donor relations and fundraising. She has been featured in The Washington Post, CURRENTS magazine, The Chronicle of Philanthropy and other industry publications. Lynne also created the website and blog where she shares her expertise, opinions, and collections of samples on a variety of topics to the greater development world and hosts a monthly webinar series. Using her hands-on approach, Lynne works with many organizations to help them keep their focus donor driven, technology savvy, strategic, and always with a splash of good humor. She received her undergraduate degrees from the University of South Carolina and is a loyal gamecock alumna, donor, and fan, and holds a master’s in strategic fundraising and philanthropy with an emphasis in higher education.
Claudine coordinates the University of Central Florida’s Seizing Opportunities for Achievement and Retention (SOAR) summer bridge program. She comes to the SOAR program with over 10 years of academic advising experience from University of Louisville, Spalding University, and UCF, during which she encouraged students to develop the knowledge, skills, and attitudes to be successful in college and beyond. Claudine is an active member of the National Academic Advising Association (NACADA), serving on the Professional Development Committee and the Summer Institute Advisory Board.
Bryce is a former Associate Director for First-Year Mentoring and has extensive experience in orientation, first-year seminars, admissions, academic support, and academic advising. Bryce holds a doctorate in instructional design and focuses his research on transformative learning, the application of learning theory to student affairs practice, early alert systems, and high-impact practices. His research on peer leadership was published in a special issue of The Journal of the First-Year Experience & Students in Transition. He has presented nationally and internationally with the National Resource Center for the First-Year Experience, the American Educational Research Association (AERA), the International Society for Exploring Teaching and Learning (ISETL), the Association for the Study of Higher Education (ASHE), and the National Academic Advising Association (NACADA).
Amanda’s background includes work in residence education at small and large institutions, as well as intensive case management in a community setting. She earned her B.A. at DePaul University and her M.S.W. at Dominican University. She has developed the case manager role at CAPS since its implementation in 2009, and currently serves as a chair for clinical case managers in the Higher Education Case Managers Association (HECMA).
Previous to her current role as a faculty member in the Academic Skills department, Jessica coordinated WCC’s orientation program. In this capacity, Jessica welcomed more than 15,000 students to WCC’s campus and participated in the development and implementation of a successful online orientation. Jessica is the co-chair of the Two Year College Network and has presented at national and international conferences on topics related to online orientation, educational technology, and transitional programming for students and parents.
Dennis is the lead analyst for a diverse portfolio of colleges and universities as well as a variety of not-for-profit organizations. He serves on Moody’s liquidity and charter school task force groups. Dennis was the lead author for the several rating methodologies, including the one for Not-for-Profit Organizations (other than Healthcare and Higher Education). He has authored publications on various higher education topics including liquidity, the credit challenges of small colleges, and mergers within the sector. Dennis graduated from the Fuqua School of Business at Duke University with an MBA. Dennis holds a BA and an MA in History from the New College of Florida and the College of William and Mary, respectively.
