Instructors
Julian Gomez has been serving students at the University of Utah in various capacities for seventeen years. As Marketing Manager, Julian is responsible for all departmental marketing collateral, expanding membership sales, securing sponsorships, and campus outreach to student organizations, residential education, university departments, and faculty/staff. Prior to his current role as marketing manager, Julian provided leadership for the intramural sports and sport clubs programs.
During her tenure Jennifer Post has helped create and implement the residential commons system and transition to a two year on campus living requirement at SMU. Jennifer started her career as a hall director at SMU and then oversaw the apartment communities. She left SMU to serve as the director of residence life at Texas Wesleyan University but soon missed SMU and returned.
Dr. Behrens has nearly twenty-five years of higher education and private industry experience, and he holds a doctorate in higher education management from UCLA. After serving as a career counselor with the University of Arizona’s Career Center, Dr. Behrens was appointed the director of career services for Roosevelt University in Chicago. In 2006, he joined SMU in Dallas, where he is assistant vice president of student affairs, dean of residence life and student housing, and executive director of the Hegi Career Center and the community engagement and leadership departments. He currently oversees student conduct and community standards, oversees new student orientation, is a member of the VPSA’s emergency on-call rotation team, and serves as vice president in-absentia. His AVP portfolio includes management of 90+ employees, 115 student workers, 8 graduate assistants, 18 buildings that house 3,200 students, 33 apartments, 13 fraternity houses, $39M in operating funds, and 33 endowments worth $15M.
James Reittinger inspires creativity. He has spent more than ten years in the academic setting motivating students to design outstanding architecture. With his return to architectural practice, James has been dedicated to designing thoughtful university student life projects. His understanding of students, inspirational leadership, out-of the-box thinking, and passionate dedication to the student environment transform the way we think about student housing.
Nadia Zhiri, leader of Treanor Architects’ student life design studio, has dedicated her career to the design of student life facilities. She believes in architecture’s ability to support and enhance the learning environment and has sponsored doctoral research on cause and effect relationships between residence hall environments and student success. She has spent the last year writing articles and speaking to groups about designing healthy residence halls and transforming dated residence halls into high-performance buildings that better support a school’s mission. Nadia’s designs have won such honors as the People’s Choice Award for Product Showcase at ACUHOI’s 21st Century Project and College Planning & Management’s grand prize for Education Design Showcase.
Eric Zobrist is an associate principal with over twenty years of experience in planning, designing, and managing large-scale higher education, retail, and mixed-use residential projects. Over his career, he has worked on more than 10,000 residential units, including on and off-campus student housing. Since joining Ayers Saint Gross, he has honed his expertise in the delivery of mixed-use student housing projects to strengthen the holistic student life experience on college and university campuses with significant developments at the University of South Carolina, at University of Southern California, at Boise State University, at University of the Pacific, and adjacent to Arizona State University’s main and downtown campuses. Eric is an integral part of the leadership in the Tempe, Arizona office. His direction facilitated the successful completion of multiple award-winning student life and academic projects recognized for their design, technical coordination, and construction.
With more than eleven years of experience in development, focusing on annual giving and leadership gifts, Taylor has worked with a variety of nonprofits including The University of Tampa, United Cerebral Palsy and Tampa Preparatory School. Taylor is a results-driven nonprofit director known for developing and revamping programs to serve the community. Her experience includes a proven ability to provide team leadership, execute solicitations, manage and enhance donor relations, secure and report on grants, implement cost saving measures and orchestrate special events. She is a leader recognized for passion and commitment. During Taylor’s tenure at The University of Tampa, Annual Giving increased by more than 100% and donors increased by 68% all while lowering the cost to raise a dollar by 33%. Donor stewardship played a key role in the successes achieved. Taylor is a University of Central Florida graduate with a degree in Finance and has a certificate in proposal writing from Rollins College Philanthropy and Nonprofit Leadership Center as well as a certificate in fundraising essentials from the Association of Fundraising Professionals.
Dr. Michele Murray provides leadership for integrating students’ intellectual, spiritual, and emotional development, ensuring a vibrant campus life, and delivering excellent services and programs for all students. Michele serves on several executive boards, including the Jesuit Association of Student Personnel Administrators and NASPA’s Center for Women. With Dr. Robert Nash, Michele has co-authored Helping College Students Find Purpose: The Campus Guide to Meaning Making and Teaching College Students Communication Strategies for Effective Social Justice Advocacy. Michele has served Jesuit higher education for almost twenty years.
In her current position Dr. Monica Nixon leads the division’s innovation and organizational learning initiatives. Previously Dr. Nixon held leadership positions at Colgate University, the University of Puget Sound, and at the University of Virginia. She holds a doctorate in education from the University of Washington’s College of Education, and she has a master’s of education in counselor education from the University of Virginia. She is a chapter co-author in the 2012 book Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders in Higher Education. She has served in numerous leadership capacities in the American College Personnel Association and the National Association of Student Personnel Administrators.
Jon is a frequent writer, presenter, and trainer on career development theory, data analytics, and learning outcome assessment in career services. He presents at national and state career associations, as well as invited trainings at college career centers. Additionally, Jon has recent articles in the NACE journal, as well as peer-reviewed publications. His passion is student career development and working with career center staff. Jon holds an M.Ed. in counseling from DePaul University, concentrating in community mental health and college student development. Prior to joining Brandeis, Jon was the Assistant Director for Strategic Planning and Communication in Career Services at the University of Colorado, Boulder. He has also worked at the University of Florida and Northwestern University.
