Dr. Nikki Christensen
Vice President, The College of Global Studies at Arcadia University
Dr. Steve Michael
Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs, Arcadia University
Dr. Michael is a professor of higher education administration with an interest in higher education finance and strategic management issues. His research interest includes the application of business strategies to institutional management, quality assurance, entrepreneurial higher education and global higher education. He has published widely in most of the leading international and national refereed journals in the field of higher education on topics such as diversity in higher education, cost reduction analysis and financial constraints in higher education, presidency and trusteeship, academic program reviews and discontinuation, and marketing of higher education. He is an active presenter at international conferences and a consultant on higher education issues. Dr. Michael was a British/Canadian Commonwealth Scholar and the recipient of the first Sheffield Award for the best article published in the Canadian Journal of Higher Education. His awards include the Outstanding Dissertation Award from the Canadian Society for the Study of Higher Education, the Outstanding Faculty Award from Phi Beta Delta, Dean’s Award for professional achievements, and a letter of recognition from the Governor of Alaska. He has directed over 20 doctoral dissertations and theses on topics that include TQM in higher education, financing higher education, internationalization of higher education, and evaluation of college president’s effectiveness. Dr. Michael has served on the Editorial Board for the International Journal of Educational Management – the leading international refereed journal on education management; the American Psychology Association’s Journal of Diversity; and once the associate editor of the Journal of Research in Education.
Elizabeth Moy
Executive Director of Southeastern Pennsylvania Consortia for Higher Education (SEPCHE)
Elizabeth (Beth) Moy is Executive Director of the SouthEastern Pennsylvania Consortium for Higher Education (SEPCHE), a collaborative of eight independent colleges and universities in the Philadelphia region. Member institutions include: Arcadia University, Cabrini College, Chestnut Hill College, Gwynedd-Mercy College, Holy Family University, Immaculata University, Neumann University and Rosemont College. Within this role, she is responsible for the development and administration of major initiatives within the consortium and serves as a facilitator and liaison to various consortium committees. In addition to overseeing the budget, Beth manages all consortium development efforts and facilitates relationships with community, foundation and government partners. Beth has held positions at Moore College of Art & Design as Academic Planning Consultant and former Director of Development and Capital Campaign Director launching and managing its $15 million capital campaign through its expansion to $30 million. She also brings experience in public policy and legislative advocacy having served as Director of Special Projects and former Director of Constituent Services for Philadelphia City Councilwoman-At-Large Happy Fernandez. Beth has an undergraduate degree in English from the University of Texas at Austin and a masters degree from the School of Social Administration at Temple University.
Dr. Norman Muir
Dean of the Undergraduate College, Medaille College, USA
Dr. Norman Muir is the undergraduate academic dean at the Buffalo campus of Medaille College. He holds degrees in English from Keene State College (BA), Northeastern University (MA), and the State University of New York at Stony Brook (PhD). Over the last two years, he has been privileged to lead the College's strategic Cross-Border Medaille initiative and help develop educational partnerships with universities in China, Taiwan, and Korea.
Leslie Davidson
Dean of the College, Bard College at Simon’s Rock, USA
Leslie Davidson serves as the dean of the college at Bard College at Simon’s Rock. In this role, she provides strategic leadership for admission, financial aid, student affairs, and institutional advancement. Under her leadership, the college has enrolled the largest, strongest, and most diverse classes in its history and improved efforts to support a more diverse student body. Her current priorities include evolving the enrollment strategy to adapt to a changing external environment, internationalizing the student body, and increasing the resources available to support strategic initiatives, including diversity and internationalization, civic engagement, and new academic programs. Previously she served as dean of student affairs and as dean of admission and student affairs and has taught in the general education curriculum. She has a B.A. from Denison University and an Ed.M. in administration, planning, and social policy from Harvard University.
Anne O’Dwyer, Ph.D.
Dean of Academic Affairs, Bard College at Simon’s Rock, USA
Anne O'Dwyer is the dean of academic affairs at Bard College at Simon's Rock. She began her transition into higher education administration at Simon's Rock while on the faculty, serving as Head of the Division of Social Studies, Chair of the Faculty Senate, and Faculty Lead on the College's re-accreditation. She subsequently transitioned into administration, first as Associate Dean of Academic Affairs, and then serving as Dean of Academic Affairs since July 2010. Her focus as an administrator has been on student retention, assessment and the development of new academic programs and initiatives. She was a professor of Psychology at the college for over ten years. Her research interests include the consequences of interpersonal and intergroup conflict on individuals' sense of self and identity; most recently, she has been exploring the sociocognitive bases of anger. She received her Ph.D. in Social Psychology from Boston College in 1996 and began her tenure at Simon's Rock shortly after.
Dr. Leanne Owen
Associate Professor and Graduate Chair of Criminal Justice, Holy Family University, USA
Dr. Leanne Owen is Associate Professor and Graduate Chair of Criminal Justice in the School of Arts and Sciences at Holy Family University in Philadelphia. Since 2008, she has served as chair of Holy Family’s institutional MSCHE self-study re-accreditation committee. She earned her doctorate in Comparative Criminology and Criminal Justice from the University of Wales, Bangor in 2004 and her research interests include prosecutorial discretion and juvenile delinquency.
Dr. Andy Pusca
Vice-Rector, Associate Professor, Danubius University of Galati, Romania
Young and modern academic teacher and researcher, Mister Andy Puşcă became a teacher right after graduating, in 1999. He has never wanted a career other than that of being a teacher, as his father, although he was also intrigued by the diplomacy. He worked as a lawyer and was a member of the Bucharest Bar for a short period of time. In 2002, he returned to his first passion, that of being a teacher. Mister Andy Puşcă has taught at many educational institutions (Alexandru Ioan Cuza" Police Academy - Bucharest, Faculty of Law, National School of Political Studies and Public Administration, Romanian National Institute of Magistracy). His father being a university professor, Andy Puşcă grew up in this environment. In deciding upon his career, the experience gained in college helped him also. It was there that he discovered, in his teachers, his true models for his career as an academic. The modern teacher is a complex man: an open-minded person, a good teacher, a partner for students. He’s been working since 2008 at one of the most important private universities in Romania, namely, "Danubius" University of Galati, where he holds a leading position (i.e. Vice Rector).
Danubius University trains specialists, researchers and leaders through teaching and research at a high level of excellence and is involved with responsibility in the progress of the global society. The vision of Andy Puşcă is that Danubius University will be a world class university in terms of quality modern education. Through everything he does in his capacity of Vice-Rector, by what he thinks and feels, he wants to promote the new/modern type of teachers and students.
In order to realize the academic research, Andy Puşcă is also in charge with the institutional relations between Danubius University and prestigious universities from Europe and other continents, like: Poland (Adam Mickiewicz University, Philological School of Higher Education in Wroclaw), France (Jean Monnet University from Saint-Etienne), Ukraine, Iceland (Reykjavik University), Slovenia (University of Ljubljana), Bulgaria, Turkey (Karabuk University, Kadir Has University), Chile (Mayor University), Czech Republic (Westmoravian College Trebic) and Italy (Universita Cattolica del Sacro Cuore).
Father Roderick C. Salazar Jr., SVD
Trustee of Center for Educational Measurement (CEM), Philippines
Roderick C. Salazar, Jr. SVD is a member of the Catholic missionary congregation, Society of the Divine Word. Since ordination to the priesthood in 1974, he has worked at the University of San Carlos (USC) in Cebu City, Philippines, in various administrative and academic capacities, including the university presidency for four 3-year terms. For 16 years, he was president of the Catholic Educational Association of the Philippines (CEAP), the national organization of Catholic schools, colleges, and universities in the country. During the same period he thrice chaired the Coordinating Council of Private Educational Associations (COCOPEA). He has served in various national education committees and advisory groups in collaboration with the government’s Department of Education and Commission on Higher Education. Currently on sabbatical from the University of San Carlos, he is the regional secretary for Asia of the Office International de l’Enseignement Catholique (OIEC), and the Executive Secretary of the Office of Education and Faith Formation of the Federation of Asian Bishops Conferences (FABC-OEFF).
Dr. Leonard G. Soroka
Dean of the School of Education at Holy Family University
Dr. Leonard G. Soroka is the Dean of the School of Education at Holy Family University in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and a former professor and Chair of the Department of Earth Sciences at St. Cloud State University, Minnesota. He is past President of the Minnesota Academy of Science, former President of the Minnesota University Faculty Association. He is the recipient of several awards including the Minnesota Science Teacher of the Year award and the Minnesota Governors Commendation. He has been a middle school science teacher, a chair of the School District of Philadelphia’s Campaign for Human Capital and the Diversity Campaign and a founding board member of the Franklin Towne Charter High School. He is a current member of the Board of Directors of the Philadelphia Academy Charter Schools in Philadelphia. He has been awarded principal investigator of numerous grants and contracts to prepare pre-service and in-service teachers. Recent projects include a Teacher Quality Enhancement grant through the U.S. Department of Education, a FIPSE grant, a Wachovia grant, Verizon technology grants and numerous Eisenhower Science and Mathematics grants. He has published numerous articles and chapters dealing with topics in science education, science curriculum, educational partnerships, professional development schools and geology. Dr. Soroka received his bachelor’s degree from Temple University, a master’s degree from West Chester University, and doctorate in Earth Sciences from the Pennsylvania State University.
Dr. Douglas Yates
Associate Professor, Director of Research, American Graduate School in Paris, France
Dr. Douglas Andrew Yates was born in Hollywood, California. After secondary studies at The Buckley School, he graduated with a bachelor's degree in Law and Society at the University of California at Santa Barbara. After working for Finley, Kumble, Wagner law firm in Beverly Hills, he was admitted on a fellowship grant to the department of political science at Boston University, where he received his master's and doctorate. His dissertation on the political economy of oil in sub-Saharan Africa was published as The Rentier State in Africa: Oil-Rent Dependency and Neo-colonialism in the Republic of Gabon (Trenton/Asmara: Africa World Press, 1996). This work was later used by the Catholic Relief Services to develop its African Extractive Industries Initiative. Yates is a frequent contributor to West Africa magazine, a London-based news weekly covering France's highly controversial African policy.
Upon moving to France, Professor Yates started teaching in the French university system, eventually joining the faculty of the American Graduate School of International Relations and Diplomacy, where he is the research methodology advisor, helping graduate students through their master's theses and doctoral dissertations.
