Christina Costanzo Clark is a doctoral candidate in Higher Education Management. Her dissertation topic focuses on the factors leading to the creation of a practice doctoral degree in the field of nursing education, particularly in relation to how professions develop and use educational credentialing to gain legitimacy and parity. Christina earned her MSEd from the University of Pennsylvania, Graduate School of Education in Higher Education Administration in 1998 and her BS in Management and a minor in Psychology from Rutgers College/School of Business at Rutgers University – New Brunswick in 1997. After her earning her MSEd at Penn, she worked for Harcum College as the Director of Student Activities. She returned to Penn in the School of Nursing in 2000 as the Associate Director of Undergraduate Academic Affairs. In 2001, she was named the Director of Student Services.  Since 2004, she has served as the Assistant Dean for Academic and Student Affairs at the Penn School of Nursing.

email:costanzo@nursing.upenn.edu

Bill Dunworth is an Ed.D. student in Higher Education at PennGSE. His research focuses on how Chinese executives learn, and how western schools of management have to adapt their executive education approaches to continue working with Chinese corporate clients over the long term. Prior to undertaking his research full time, Bill worked for five years on the design team of Wharton Executive Education, most recently as Senior Director of International Programs. Prior to Wharton, Bill spent most of his career overseas, working or studying in Germany, Russia, the UK, France, Hungary and Romania. He speaks Chinese, German, Russian and French. He has his MBA from Emory University, an MSc from Edinburgh University in Scotland, and a BA from the College of Mount St. Vincent.

email: dunworth@dolphin.upenn.edu

Nathan Franklin is a doctoral candidate in Higher Education Management. His research is focused on the civic engagement movement, especially as it relates to pooling federal, institutional, and local resources through the Federal Work-Study program.  Working at Penn for nearly ten years, he is currently Director of Graduate/Professional Student Financial Aid Programs.  In this capacity he oversees financial aid policies and programs for the University and serves as a central liaison for the 12 graduate/professional schools at Penn.  Nathan received his MSEd in Higher Education Management from Penn and a BA from Thiel College in Greenville, PA.  When not at work, he spends his time with his wife and two wonderful children on his small farm in Delaware.

email: franklin@sfs.upenn.edu

Jami Fisher is a doctoral student in the Higher Education program.  She has a master’s degree from Penn GSE in Education, Culture, and Society with a research focus in Deaf culture in education.  Her current research focus is the integration of ASL and Deaf Studies in International Study Abroad/Service-Learning settings.  In addition, she is the ASL Program Coordinator at the University of Pennsylvania and teaches courses throughout the ASL Program continuum.  She is a native speaker of both ASL and English and comes from a Deaf family.

email: jami@sas.upenn.edu

Laura Gorgol is a doctoral student in Higher Education at the University of Pennsylvania.  Her research interests include civic engagement, academic governance in higher education and organizational change. Prior to her study at Penn GSE, Laura served as the Assistant Director of Service-Learning in an immersion program along the U.S.-Mexico border in Tijuana, MX as well as the Campus Minister at Cabrini College.  Laura holds a bachelor’s degree in biology from Saint Joseph’s University and a master’s degree from the University of Pennsylvania.

email: lgorgol@dolphin.upenn.edu

Kimberly Guyer is pursuing an Ed.D. in Higher Education Management. Research interests include access and choice, college success, retention, career development, and college completion for first-generation college students. Kimberly is the Assistant Dean for Student Affairs within the School of Communications and Theater at Temple University. Prior to joining Temple, Kimberly worked at Drexel as the Director of the Student Resource Center, which is the Financial Aid Office, the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, and Penn State University in the Division of Student Affairs. Kimberly received an M.S.Ed. from PennGSE in Higher Education Management, an M.A. in Human Resources Management from Hawaii Pacific University in Honolulu, HI, and a B.A. in French and Spanish from Susquehanna University in Selinsgrove, PA.

email: kguyer@dolphin.upenn.edu

Amy Hecht is pursuing her Ed.D. in Higher Education Administration.  She also earned her MSEd from the University of Pennsylvania in 2003.  Amy currently serves as the Associate Dean of Students at Temple University.  Her responsibilities are Division-wide and include strategic planning,
assessment and program evaluation, and leadership development. Amy's research interests include accountability in higher education, organizational change management, use of business practices in higher education, and leadership development.  

email: hecht@temple.edu

Don Huesman is a doctoral student in the Graduate School of Education’s Higher Education Management program. Don currently holds the position of Senior Director, Wharton Computing, overseeing technology support for faculty research and teaching at the Wharton School. Previously Don directed technology support for Wharton Executive Education, implementing e-commerce solutions, as well as online and distance education systems. Don has taught in Wharton’s graduate and executive programs as a lecturer and adjunct in the Operations and Information Management department. Prior to joining Wharton Don was an entrepreneur and software pioneer in the personal computer industry. Don’s research interests are in the area of non-traditional adult post secondary education and organizational learning.

email: huesman@wharton.upenn.edu

Katie Krimmel is currently pursuing an Ed. D. in Higher Education Management at GSE, where she also received her Master's in Higher Education Management in 2008. Katie graduated with honors from Pennsylvania State University (B.S., Psychology) in 2003. She is currently Associate Director for the Wharton Graduate Leadership Program, responsible for student programming related to community leadership and has been part of the Graduate Leadership Program staff for three years. Prior to working at Wharton, Katie’s career began at Target as an Executive Manager where she developed an interest in leadership through managing diverse personalities and teams. Her research interests are in the area of university community partnerships, civic engagement, and experiential learning.

email: krimmel2@wharton.upenn.edu

The theme of Alison LaLond Wyant’s dissertation (in progress) is an insistence that campus partnerships with West Philadelphia be respectful and mutually beneficial – and she is trying to figure out what that means, how it can be operationalized, and what gets in the way.  Alison’s day job – which includes frequent nights and weekends – allows her to advise and support a community of about 300 undergraduates as House Dean of Stouffer College House.  Before Stouffer, Alison worked in positions dedicated to nurturing university-community partnerships at Penn, as well as in both hands-on and behind-the-scenes positions in community-based organizations in Baltimore.  Alison earned her B.A. at Loyola College and her M.S.Ed. at Penn.

email: alalond@upenn.edu

Mark McCormick is a part-time student in the Ed.D. Program in Higher Education. He has one course left to take (Fall 2010) and is working on his dissertation proposal. He plans to study the effects of legislation in New Jersey on the rate of transfer between two- and four-year public institutions of higher education in New Jersey. He has worked in higher education for 25 years--first as an adjunct, then as a full-time instructor, and for the past six years as an academic administrator. He is currently the Dean of Academic Affairs at Salem Community College in south Jersey.

email:mmccormick@salemcc.edu

Tryan L. McMickens is an Advanced Doctoral Candidate and Assistant Director of the National Black College Achievement Study in the Higher Education Division at Penn GSE. He is an alumnus of Tuskegee University, a historically Black university in Alabama, where he obtained baccalaureate degrees in Sales & Marketing/Business Administration, while engaging in cross-cultural exchanges in 13 countries around the world. Mr. McMickens obtained a masters degree from Suffolk University in Administration of Higher Education with an emphasis on institutional advancement. His postsecondary professional experiences are primarily in fundraising at various colleges, universities, and educational foundations across the country. His dissertation-in-progress is entitled: “Racism Readiness as an Educational Outcome for Graduates of Historically Black Colleges and Universities.”

email: tryanmc@dolphin.upenn.edu

Thai-Huy Nguyen is a California native and student in the Higher Education Division. He is interested in the history of American higher education and seeks to document the historical narratives of Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) students. He believes that juxtaposing these narratives with disaggregated data will provide a stronger argument in supporting AAPI education policies and initiatives. Prior to Penn, he has spent time in public accounting and graduate admissions. During his down time, Thai-Huy keeps active with half-marathons and yoga.

email: thaihuy@gse.upenn.edu

Aaron Olson is pursuing an Ed.D. in Higher Education beginning Fall 2009.  He previously received a M.S.Ed. from the same program in 2008, and is an '04 alumnus of Brandeis University.  His research interests
are centered around the concept of leadership, but range from disaster management to curricular programming to information management.  Aaron is currently the Assistant Director for Communication at the Center
for Undergraduate Research and Fellowships at Penn, where he is in charge of all print and electronic publications for the center as well as developing outreach and awareness efforts.  

email: aolson@upenn.edu

Kathleen Overly is an Ed.D. student in Higher Education at the University of Pennsylvania Graduate School of Education. Kathleen earned a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Political Science and Sociology from Wake Forest University and her Juris Doctor from the University of Michigan. After practicing corporate law in Illinois and Washington, DC, Kathleen accepted her current position as the Associate Director for Student Development at the University of Pennsylvania Law School. Kathleen is particularly interested in professional student development and the practice of student affairs within professional schools.

email: koverly@law.upenn.edu

Matthew Parker is currently pursuing an Ed.D. in Higher Education at GSE. He is currently Assistant Dean, Graduate Programs at Penn Law School. Prior to that he worked as an attorney in Philadelphia and Washington DC. Matthew graduated from Cornell University in 1995 with a BA in Government/International Relations, and from Penn Law School with a JD in 2000. His research interests include comparative international higher education systems.

email: mparker2@law.upenn.edu

Jamey Rorison began the Ph.D. program in higher education in Fall 2009.  His research interests include bridging the gap between K-12 and postsecondary education systems, pre-college academic preparedness and information diffusing initiatives, and need-based financial aid programs at the federal, state, and institutional level.  Jamey is planning to use mixed methods in his dissertation.  In his abundant spare time, Jamey likes to play tennis, read fiction, and enjoy the company of his awesome friends and family.  Jamey also has a BA in Elementary Education and an M.S.Ed. in Higher Education from Penn.

email: rorison@gmail.com

Tracey Rush is pursuing her Ed.D. in Higher Education Management. Tracey currently serves as the Coordinator of Learning Resources and Student Disability Services at Swarthmore College.  She works with undergraduate students, facilitating their transition from high school to college and their progression through college academics to graduation.  As the Director of the Student Academic Mentor Program, a large part of her job focuses on first-year students and their acclimation to the very different college climate.  Students with ADHD represent a segment of her practice.  She speaks across the country on practical strategies for a successful college experience for students with ADHD. Tracey's research focus is on college students with ADHD and the support necessary to facilitate a positive educational environment for this population of students.

email: trush1@swarthmore.edu

Joel R. Seligman is an Ed.D. student in Higher Education in Penn GSE's Executive Doctorate Program. His research centers on the intersection of strategic planning, branding, and fundraising in American research universities. In particular, Joel is exploring the value of strategic plans in advancing enterprise-wide reputation building and fundraising. Joel is currently Senior Director for Strategic Communications at the University of Chicago. His 17 year career in higher education communications has included work in public information, government affairs, student recruitment, creative services, branding, and fundraising at Cornell University (1991-99) and Boston University (1999-2007). Joel holds bachelor's and master's degrees in Communication from Cornell, where he specialized in communication planning and strategy. Beyond his studies, Joel is a competitive rower and choral singer. He lives in Chicago and Ogunquit, Maine, with his Labrador retriever, Ivy.

email: jseligman@development.uchicago.edu

Adam Sherr has been at Penn since before his Freshman year in 1986. Adam grew up in University City, so he has been in University City since his birth!  While working, for ten years, in the Campus Dining Services, Adam completed his MSEd in Higher Education in 2000.  He is now pursuing his EdD in Higher Ed and is on Dissertation Status.  He serves as the Director of Student Registration and Information in the Office of Academic Affairs at the Penn School of Nursing.  Adam is also Assistant Director of the Penn Marching Band.  Adam is married to Sarah Sherr (NU '98, MSN '01) and they have two children, Alexa (Penn 2024) and Anna (Penn 2026).

email: swilhelm@dolphin.upenn.edu

David Soo is a Ph.D. student in Higher Education at the University of Pennsylvania.  His dissertation focuses on college and university mission and its intersection with leadership.  While at Penn, David has done research about civic engagement in higher education and has studied education from multiple disciplinary perspectives, including sociology, philosophy, and organizational theory.  David has interned at the US Department of Education in the Under Secretary's office and for the US Public Service Academy.  Prior to Penn, David studied at Boston College, earning a bachelor's in Communication and a master's in Higher Education Administration. He then worked in the Office of Student Life at the Franklin W. Olin College of Engineering, a new college that awards full-tuition scholarships to all 300 students and is seeking to encourage innovation in undergraduate engineering education.

email: davidsoo@upenn.edu

Anu Vedantham is a doctoral student in Higher Education. Her current research interests focus on individual responses to multimedia technologies with respect to gender, ethnicity and race. She is the Director of the Weigle Information Commons in the Penn Libraries. She completed her Masters in Public Affairs from the Woodrow Wilson School at Princeton University and her Bachelors and Masters in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). Before joining Penn in 2007, she held several positions at the Richard Stockton College of New Jersey. She directed the Southern Regional Educational Technology Training Center (ETTC) for six years, and also served as Interim Associate Provost and Director of Instructional Technology. She holds her New Jersey Principal Certificate
and has significant K-12 work experience.

email: vedantha@pobox.upenn.edu

Erin Walsh is a Ph.D. Candidate in Higher Education. Her dissertation is a case study examining the role of information provided by Graduate! Philadelphia, an adult degree completion program, in adults' decision to return to college to earn a degree. In addition to adult students, Erin's research interests include postsecondary persistence and higher education policy. Erin currently works as the Director of Student Retention at Neumann University.

email: walshe2@dolphin.upenn.edu