Join us in welcoming the new leaders in the Northwest:
Dr. Stephanie Erdmann has been selected as the new dean and CEO for Great Falls College of Montana State University, taking office in July. Erdmann currently serves as the vice president of academic affairs and Rice Lake Campus administrator for Wisconsin Indianhead Technical College. Previously she worked at the College of Menominee Nation as dean of Letters and Sciences, and taught as an adjunct instructor in business, management, and marketing at Northeast Wisconsin Technical College.Erdmann holds a doctorate in business administration management from Northcentral University at San Diego, California; a master’s in administrative science-project management from the University of Wisconsin at Green Bay; and a bachelor’s in interpersonal communications management from the University of Montana.
Interim President Michael L. Good, University of UtahDr. Michael L. Good, the current CEO of University of Utah Health, was chosen by the Utah Board of Higher Education to step into the temporary role of Interim President. Good is an experienced administrator who also serves as the dean of the University of Utah’s School of Medicine and senior vice president of health sciences. Good graduated from the University of Michigan with a bachelor’s degree in computer and communication sciences and then his medical degree, before completing residency training in anesthesiology and a research fellowship at the University of Florida. He then joined the University of Florida College of Medicine faculty in 1988, became the chief of anesthesiology at VA Medical Center in Gainesville, Florida in 1994, and in 2005 was named associate dean for clinical affairs at the college. In 2018, Good was appointed as the Senior Vice President of Health Sciences and Dean of the School of Medicine at the University of Utah, as well as CEO of University of Utah Health.
Interim President Connie Green, Blue Mountain Community CollegeDr. Constance Green is again Interim President of Blue Mountain Community College. For six months in 2018 and 2019, Green came out of retirement to serve as the interim president of BMCC prior to the arrival of Dennis Bailey-Fougnier, now resigning due to health reasons. A veteran college administrator, Green holds a Ph.D. in Education, Policy and Planning from the University of Oregon. Her experience includes six and a half years as president at Tillamook Bay Community College, two years as a policy advisor for Oregon’s Community College and Workforce Development, and 30 years at Chemeketa Community College in Salem in increasing leadership responsibility from faculty member to dean to Chief Information Officer.
Interim Provost, Dean of Graduate Studies,and Associate Professor of Accounting Maren Haavig, University of Alaska SoutheastDr. Maren Haavig has been appointed Interim Vice Provost for the University of Alaska Southeast. Haavig has also served as Associate Dean for the School of Arts and Sciences, she continues as Associate Professor of Accounting. Prior to working at UAS, Haavig worked as a finance officer for the State of Alaska Department of Transportation and Public Facilities, as controller for Alaska Pacific Bank, as an accountant and internal auditor for the Alaska Commission on Postsecondary Education, and as an auditor for the State of Alaska Legislature, Division of Legislative Audit. Haavig earned her Doctor of Business Administration degree with an emphasis in Accounting from Walden University. She also holds Master of Business Administration and Bachelor of Business Administration degrees from the University of Alaska Southeast, as well as a Bachelor of Arts with an Interdisciplinary concentration from Western Washington University, Fairhaven College.
Acting President & Provost Hilton Hallock, Alaska Pacific UniversityFollowing the leave of absence of President Valerie Davidson, Dr. Hilton Hallock will serve as Acting President and remain Provost of Alaska Pacific University. Prior to accepting the Provost position in 2018, Hallock was the APU Chief Strategy and Accreditation Liaison Officer. She earned her bachelor’s degree in Interdisciplinary Studies from the University of Virginia, an MEd from the University of Vermont in Higher Education and Student Affairs Administration, a CAS in Social Movement and Conflict Studies from Syracuse University, and a PhD in Cultural Foundations of Education from Syracuse.
Executive-in-Charge Laura Hartley, Seattle Pacific UniversityDr. Laura Hartley will serve as Executive-in-Charge of Seattle Pacific University until the Board of Trustees identifies an interim president. Hartley became the new provost at Seattle Pacific University on July 2020. Previously the associate provost for student academic success and dean of the College of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences at George Fox University, and the associate dean and director of general education at Templeton Honors College at Eastern University. She earned her PhD from Michigan State University in linguistics; a master’s degree in linguistics from MSU; and a bachelor’s degree in interdisciplinary studies (mathematics, communication, and world languages) from Wheaton College.
Dr. Rebecca (Becky) Johnson, previously vice president of Oregon State University Cascades, will serve as interim president of Oregon State University.Prior to joining OSU Cascades in 2008, she spent 25 years at OSU in Corvallis, rising from an assistant professor in the College of Forestry to vice provost for academic affairs and international programs. Johnson received a bachelor’s degree in economics from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, she then received a master’s and a doctoral degree in agricultural economics from Michigan State University. In 2015, she was named the Bend Chamber Woman of the Year; in 2014, the Bend Source newspaper’s Woman of the Year; and in 2009, she received the Bend 2030 Vision Builder Award. She will be the university’s first female president.
Dr. Scott McQuilkin graduated from Whitworth University in 1984 with a degree in physical education and minors in math and religion. He earned his master’s degree in health sciences from Whitworth and then went on to earn his Ph.D. in exercise and sport science from Pennsylvania State University. McQuilkin has served the university in various faculty, coaching and administrative roles, including as a tenured professor and chair of the kinesiology department; as head baseball coach; and as athletic director for 14 years. Since 2009, he has been the university’s vice president for institutional advancement.
Dr. Rachel Pokrandt will join Umpqua Community College in July as the College’s 12th president. Pokrandt is currently Vice-President and Dean of the Leadville and Salida campuses of Colorado Mountain College. Prior to her start there in 2012, she was the dean of instruction at Front Range Community College in Colorado after a 10-year career in the nonprofit sector working on educational programs with Pfizer Pharmaceuticals, the U.S. Department of Energy, NASA, DuPont and Dow Chemical. From the United Kingdom, she holds a bachelor’s degree in theatre arts and British literature from Manchester University, a bachelor’s degree in educational studies and social science from Western Governors University, a master’s degree in business administration from Western Governors University, a graduate certificate in sustainability from Harvard University, and a doctorate degree in management from Swiss Management University.
Dr. DeRionne Pollard becomes the 8th president of the 19-year-old college beginning in August. Pollard currently serves as president of Montgomery College in Maryland and previously was an assistant professor of English at the College of Lake County (Illinois), where she served as acting division dean of the Communication Arts, Humanities, and Fine Arts Division, faculty coordinator for the Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning, assistant vice president of educational affairs, and vice president of educational affairs. Prior Montgomery College, Pollard served as administrative and instructional president of Las Positas College in California. She earned a bachelor’s degree from Iowa State University, a master’s degree in English from Iowa State University, and a Ph.D., with a specialization in Educational Leadership and Policy Studies, from Loyola University.
Chancellor Michael Reid, University of Montana WesternReid currently serves as the Vice Chancellor for Administration and Finance at the University of Montana Western and as the Chief Fiscal Officer for Helena College. Reid started with the Montana University System in March 2013 and has been at the University of Montana Western since July 2018. Over his 30 years of administrative experience, he has served for 20 of them as a Vice President/Chancellor for Administration and Finance at institutions including Pueblo Community College, Mansfield University of Pennsylvania, Angelo State University, The University of Montana, and Sierra Nevada College. He also held director’s positions at Southern Utah University and Dixie State College. Reid received his Bachelor of Science degree in Finance and Master of Business Administration degree from Utah State University and also holds an Associate of Arts degree in General Studies from Dixie State College in Utah.
Navigate the articles below, or go to the current Beacon directory.
Dr. Leonard Taylor is an Associate Professor of Higher Education and Student Affairs and Director of the National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE) at Indiana University. Leonard has taught in college contexts for nearly a decade in various teaching roles, working with undergraduate and graduate students. His scholarship is focused on investigating and improving how student success commitments are enacted at higher education institutions. Through research, teaching, and consulting he works to understand, interrogate, and inform how administrators, faculty and staff members, and other post-secondary stakeholders use research, data, and promising practices to enhance post-secondary outcomes.
His research is deeply informed by his previous experiences facilitating High Impact Practices as a practitioner, and his ongoing research projects related to the implementation of student success practices in various institutional and disciplinary contexts. His work has been funded through the National Science Foundation, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Lumina Foundation, College Student Educators International (ACPA), as well as other national and local entities. Recent examples of his scholarship can be found in the Review of Higher Education, The Journal of Higher Education, and in a recently published volume of New Directions for Higher Education titled, Enacting Student Success: Critical and alternative approaches for practice.
Charag Krishnan is a Partner with McKinsey & Company’s Education Practice. He supports institutions on improving student outcomes, developing sustainable business models, operational turnarounds, capability building, advanced analytics applications, M&A as well as international expansion. He primarily works with universities in the US but has also served institutions across the spectrum of education – impact investors, non-profits, governments, and philanthropic foundations in India, Europe. Middle East and Australia.
Charag is a founding cohort Teach for India fellow where he taught grades 2 and 3 at a low-income municipal school, and was involved with setting and scaling up India operations of Generation, a non-profit focused on youth employment founded by McKinsey Social Initiative. He has also been a UNICEF Innovation Unit Fellow and currently serves on the Boards of Teach for India U.S. and Mantra4Change US. He graduated with an MBA from Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management as a Youn Scholar, Tata scholar and Dean’s Award recipient and holds a Bachelors degree in Electronics from National Institute of Technology, India.
Dr. Nasser Paydar currently serves as the Assistant Secretary of Education for Postsecondary Education.
Dr. Paydar is chancellor emeritus of Indiana University–Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) and executive vice president of Indiana University (IU). An IU faculty member for more than 36 years, he has held various administrative and executive leadership positions at the university. Paydar joined IUPUI in 1985 as an assistant professor of mechanical engineering. From 1989 to 2003, he held a number of positions in the school, including chair of the Department of Mechanical Engineering, associate dean for graduate programs, associate dean for academic programs, and executive associate dean. From 2004 to 2007, he served as vice chancellor and dean of Indiana University–Purdue University Columbus. Paydar was appointed chancellor of Indiana University East in 2007, serving in that role until he returned to IUPUI in 2012, when he was named the campus’s executive vice chancellor and chief academic officer. He became IUPUI’s fifth chancellor in 2015.
As an IUPUI faculty member, he has served as principal and co-principal investigator on research grants from federal and state agencies and private companies, including Cummins Electronics, DePuy, the National Institutes of Health, the U.S. Army, and the U.S. Naval Air Warfare Center. His research in the area of solid mechanics, with applications in biomechanics and electronic packaging, has been published widely in scientific journals. Paydar earned bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral degrees in mechanical engineering from Syracuse University.
Anthony Salcito works to help empower educators and inspire students to achieve more. He aims to transform the way we learn with the support of the best technology to help build critical skills for the modern, global workplace.
In his role as Chief Institution Business Officer at Nerdy, Anthony works to support institutions and educators with solutions for high-dosage tutoring, homework help, test prep, and enrichment all with the goal of driving student outcomes and helping transform education.
Anthony is a recognized leader in driving education transformation and has worked globally with education leaders and organizations to support new approaches to delivering student impact and supporting learners. Prior to joining to Varsity Tutors, Anthony served at Vice President of Worldwide Education for Microsoft, leading the worldwide execution of the company’s vision for education, and pioneering many core programs and education offerings including Live@EDU which evolved to be Office 365, Partners in Learning, Microsoft Innovative Educator program, and Showcase Schools.
Anthony has served as an active board member at Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, Network for Teaching Entrepreneurship, and Teach.org. He has also helped author a book on Education Transformation which serves as a reference guide for schools looking to drive innovation to enhance student outcomes. You can engage with Anthony Salcito at @AnthonySalcito.
Dr. Bridget Burns – Named one of the “Most Innovative People in Higher Education” by Washington Monthly magazine, Dr. Bridget Burns is the founding CEO of the award winning University Innovation Alliance (UIA), a multi-campus national laboratory for student success innovation that helps university leaders dramatically accelerate the implementation of scalable solutions to increase the number and diversity of college graduates across the country. Dr. Burns is a frequent keynote speaker, and her work has been highlighted in national outlets like The New York Times, Fast Company, 60 Minutes, and she was featured in the documentary “Unlikely.” She received her Doctorate of Education in Higher Education Leadership & Policy from Vanderbilt University.
Paul N. Friga, PhD, is one of the foremost higher education thought leaders and strategists. With 20 years of experience as a professor, researcher and consultant at UNC CH and Indiana University, Friga understands how public education really works and how it should change. His former experience as a consultant with PwC (earned CPA and CMA designations) and McKinsey (including projects in public higher education) round out additional relevant experience. He has also served as a Trustee at Saint Francis University and the Board Chair at Saints Francis and Clare Church in Greenwood, Indiana. He has an MBA and Ph.D. from UNC Chapel Hill.
Chris Moloney, PhD, serves as AGB Consulting’s Associate Vice President and Associate Managing Principal. In that supervisory role, he manages strategy development offerings for colleges, universities, and their governing boards and leads business development efforts with private institutions, while providing internal connectivity among consulting team and other AGB units. Moloney previously held the roles of Senior Director, Consulting, and Director of Strategy and Transformation Consulting within AGB, where he led the development of external engagement and business development strategies, digital initiatives, and oversaw operations. Moloney began his tenure with AGB in a business and partnership development role under the affiliated entity AGB Institutional Strategies, with significant responsibility for the operations and business development of that unit. Prior to joining AGB, Moloney served as the associate director of the College Division at Global Maximum Educational Opportunities (GMEO), an international education company, where he led a team engaged in building international education partnerships with colleges and universities across the United States.
Stephen P. Hundley, PhD, is Senior Advisor to the Chancellor for Planning and Institutional Improvement at IUPUI, where he is also a Professor of Organizational Leadership. Stephen provides strategic advice and consultation to the Chancellor, the Chancellor’s Cabinet, and the Council of Deans on a range of matters pertaining to IUPUI’s strategy, effectiveness, and future directions. He leads the Office of Planning and Institutional Improvement, including facilitating the administrative and program review processes; directing campus-level strategic planning activities; handling the executive search function for the campus; promoting various improvement-oriented initiatives; and serving as executive sponsor of IUPUI’s Program Review and Assessment Committee.
Stephen chairs the annual Assessment Institute in Indianapolis, which is the oldest and largest U.S. event focused on assessing and improving higher education. He is executive editor of Assessment Update, an award-winning bimonthly periodical from Wiley with a national readership, and he serves as host of Leading Improvements in Higher Education, an award-winning podcast profiling people, initiatives, institutions, and organizations improving conditions in higher education.
Stephen has addressed a variety of audiences in more than 30 countries on six continents and throughout the United States. He has been recognized for his accomplishments through teaching, publication, and service awards and has received competitive funding from private foundations and state and federal agencies to support his work, including continuous funding from the National Science Foundation for more than a decade. Stephen earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Virginia Commonwealth University and a doctorate from American University in Washington, D.C.
Louisa Hunkerstorm joined NCHEMS in April 2022 as a Research Associate. She has particular interests in translating data into actionable insights for decision makers and in fostering climates of improvement and growth. She previously served as the Director of Institutional Effectiveness at Central Wyoming College where she was responsible for institutional research, served as the institution’s Accreditation Liaison Officer, and oversaw multiple accreditation-related visits and reviews. She has degrees from the University of Washington and Dartmouth College.
Brian Prescott is President at NCHEMS, where he sets the organization’s strategic direction and leads a team of accomplished and committed policy experts, information analysts, and creative thinkers working to improve how postsecondary education serves the nation’s needs. He also leads and supports projects on behalf of states, state agencies and systems, and institutions related to state strategic planning, postsecondary finance and affordability, governance and organization, demographics, and student success and workforce outcomes. Before joining NCHEMS in 2016, he served as Director of Policy Research at the Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education. He is a current board member of the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center and a past board member of the National Association of College Admission Counseling. He has degrees from the University of Virginia, the University of Iowa, and the College of William and Mary.
