SPRING 2014
HIGHERhappenings ED The Curry Alumni Magazine CONTRIBUTE. PARTICIPATE. ENGAGE. Read your story here:
curry.virginia.edu/magazine /// (Left) Jay Chronister, faculty emeritus, and Dennis Gregory (M.Ed. ‘76, Ed.D. ’87) discuss the higher education profession with student Jill Jones and others at the Higher Ed Reunion last March. (Right) Ruffner Hall renovation is on schedule and on budget. Pictured is a new second-floor cutthrough between the two north-south corridors.
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Editor: Brian Pusser curry.virginia.edu/higher-ed-happenings Higher Ed Happenings is published by the Curry School ‘s Center for the Study of Higher Education and is sponsored by the Curry School of Education Foundation.
HE Program News
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he past year has been a time of transition, accompanied by a flurry of activity and many positive developments in the Higher Education program. We have enjoyed our temporary stay in Olsson Hall and are looking forward to returning this summer to Ruffner Hall, home of the program for nearly forty years. In one of the highlights of the spring semester, Jay Chronister, Sam Kellams and Carolyn Callahan were some of the honored guests at a reunion of program faculty and graduates in March that included a wonderful lunch in Bavaro Hall, a reception at Pavilion V hosted by Vice-President and Chief Student Affairs Officer Patricia Lampkin (Ed.D. ‘86), and lots of wonderful reminisces. Our faculty has been busy, with numerous presentations and publications detailed in the Faculty Updates section of the Happenings, and we continue to be heartened by the success of our graduates. As just two examples, Amy Swan (Ph.D. ‘11) accepted an assistant professor position at George Mason University, while Jesse Rine (Ph.D. ‘10) joined the Council of Independent Colleges in Washington, D.C., as director of research projects. Our master’s program continues to flourish. Graduates from the 2013 cohort work in a variety of institutions across the US in a variety of capacities, including coordinator of academic affairs at the University of Louisville, admissions counselor and coordinator of multicultural recruitment at Washington & Lee, coordinator of admissions at the UNC Eshleman School of Pharmacy, Bonner Scholar coordinator at Guilford College, and academic advisor for student athletes at the University of Maryland – Baltimore County. This spring Jennifer Poole (M.Ed. ’13 and a current Ph.D. student) was recognized by the OWL Society, as one of five U.Va. students who made a significant contribution to the university’s literary culture through her master’s capstone. Finally, two of our faculty colleagues will be moving on to wonderful new opportunities next year, Mark Hampton and Dennis Kramer. Mark will become vice president for finance and administration at Washington College in Chestertown, Md. He has been an exceptional teacher, mentor and advocate for the Higher Education program and our students over the years. Dennis will become an assistant professor in the Higher Education Administration program at the University of Florida. Dennis has contributed a great deal to our M.Ed. program this year and to the development of an expanded student internship program. We wish both Mark and Dennis all the best in their new endeavors. HIGHER ED HAPPENINGS • SPRING 2014
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Athletics in the University Thank You! The Curry School Foundation recognizes the generosity of the following alumni from the Higher Education program who have made donations so far in fiscal year 2014: James W. Blackburn
Marilyn S. Lockhart
Jill K. Boatright
Freddie W. Nicholas
Paul W. Brammer
Kelli E. Palmer
Patricia Elaine Brown
Dennis Robert Parks
Sarah L. Collie
Todd Parks
Lorri E. Cooper
Clementine S. Pollok
Barry M. Dorsey
P. Jesse Rine
John A. Downey
Brenda F. Roth
Stephanie L. Glover
Justin B. Thompson
Vincent John Gorman
Edgar Turner
Carole C. Grove
Anne H. Womack
Amy B. Hecht
Jennifer J. Wood
Thomas Jennings Jr.
Wendy V. Wood
Ronald James Kellum
Catherine D. Yeilding
Patricia M. Lampkin Cheryl Ann Lindeman
These gifts directly benefit Curry students and the quality of their educational experiences. Your support is very much appreciated!
2014 Curry Foundation Award Recipients in Higher Education Congratulations to the following students who received awards and fellowships established by donors specifically to support students in Curry’s Higher Education program. Annette Gibbs Research Award Jason S. Jones Eric S. Molnar Jay L. Chronister Student Award in Higher Education Jill Jones Lee Williams Alton L. Taylor Award Karen A. Connors Dion W. Lewis Johnnie E. Merritt Graduate Fellowship Rose M. Cole Clarence G. “Bo” Odom Bonnie McKee Mason Clevenger and Daniel W. and RosaLee McKee Mason Fellowship in Education Jennifer Poole Sarah E. Whitley
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SPRING 2014 • HIGHER ED HAPPENINGS
One of the keys to a successful program is the ability both to build the knowledge base in the field through research and to meet the demand for new forms of professional expertise and training through classroom teaching and service. In that spirit, over the years the Higher Education program has often introduced new courses to the curriculum. In that process, one of our courses occasionally finds a significant audience beyond our program, in ways both gratifying and unexpected. A case in point is our course, Athletics in the University. Introduced by Brian Pusser in fall 2012, the course examines the history, organization, finance, leadership challenges and symbolic impact of athletics in the college setting. The course turns particular attention to the experiences of student-athletes on university campuses. In its first three years, the course has grown significantly and enrolls an array of undergraduate and graduate students from across the Grounds. In keeping with the goal of combining research and practitioner expertise in the classroom, a large contingent of academic and administrative leaders on Grounds recognized for their knowledge, experience and contributions to the field—including Leonard Sandridge, Craig Littlepage, Carolyn Callahan and John MacKnight—have contributed classroom presentations. Prof. Brian Pusser sums up the impact of the course this way: “It’s wonderful to see so many students and student-athletes from across Grounds engaged in rigorous study of an important topic in higher education. I think the class has introduced many students to the study of colleges and universities as a discipline and helped them to better understand the role
of intercollegiate athletics in shaping students and the student experience on campuses.”
HE Graduate Teaching Assistants The close of spring semester is a time of completion and new beginnings. The University’s final exercises and the Curry School’s doctoral hooding ceremony and diploma celebration are annual rites of passage and key steps in the career paths of our new graduates. In the Higher Education program, the success of our students is facilitated throughout the year by the work of graduate teaching assistants (GTAs), doctoral students who apply their talents and prior learning in partnership with our faculty, in service of classroom success for all. The role of graduate assistant can be transformational on two levels: The guidance and support of GTAs enable students to make new connections and discoveries about course material and themselves. At the same time, serving as a GTA opens new horizons for the doctoral students who take on that role, enabling them to grow as teachers and mentors in the process. In the online version of Higher Education Happenings, we introduce five students who have distinguished themselves as graduate teaching assistants this year: Karen Connors, Jason Jones, Jill Jones, Jenny Poole, and Hal Turner. Go to curry.virginia.edu/higher-edhappenings to read their profiles. We hope these short profiles will turn attention to something of which the faculty and the students in the program have long been aware: Not only are these students future leaders in postsecondary classrooms, they are making an essential difference right now.
Doctoral Graduates: Spring 2014 Troy Buer: Educational Change and Behavioral Repertoire: A Case Study of Competing Values
Leadership in a School of Medicine – Advisor, Brian Pusser Murielle Kervizic de Wekker: Higher Education Administrators at International Branch Campuses: A Mixed-Methods Research Study on Organizational Commitment - Advisor, David Breneman Holly Foster: Celebratory Drinking Among College Students: Facilitating Prevention with Social Norms Marketing and Curriculum Infusion in a Multidisciplinary Environment – Advisor, Brian Pusser and Ellen Bass Natalie Perry: Faculty Perceptions of Diversity at a Highly Selective Research-Intensive University - Advisor, Heather Wathington Brian Ullman: Factors that Influence International Students’ College Choice Decisions: Perspectives from Current International Students – Advisor, Brian Pusser
Partnership Link
John Donnelly strengthens PVCC ties to Curry
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ince John Donnelly (Ph.D. ’06) became vice president for instruction and student services at Piedmont Virginia Community College four years ago, he has cemented a partnership with the Curry School’s Higher Education program that capitalizes on the strengths of both institutions. “John has been an exceptional contributor to the Higher Education program over the years, one who is very generous with his time and support for our students,” says Brian Pusser. Along with PVCC President Frank Friedman, Donnelly has continued an alliance that includes teaching and class presentations, supporting the professional development of PVCC staff members seeking additional credentialing, and creating placements for student interns from the Higher Education program. Donnelly’s connection to Charlottesville goes back to the beginning of his doctoral study. He had been teaching history at Germanna Community College when he began work on his doctorate degree at the Curry School. After completing his doctorate and serving as dean of instruction at Germanna’s Locust Grove campus, John was hired as vice president of academic and student affairs at Massachusetts Bay Community College in Wellesley, Mass. When the position at PVCC became available, its reputation in the Virginia Community College System attracted Donnelly only slightly more than the opportunity for partnerships with U.Va. and the Curry School. Now, he directs a broad swath of student services and support and academic responsibilities at PVCC—“provost duties combined with student affairs,” Donnelly sums up. He is happy to offer opportunities to interns from the Curry School master’s degree program in Student Affairs Practice in Higher Education (SAPHE). “We love them. We need them,” he says. “They provide expertise it’s not easy to find locally.” The interns provide a number of student services, such as advising, financial aid, career planning, and academic support. Donnelly has also co-taught a course on community colleges for the SAPHE
program. “John’s experience as both a faculty member and administrator in community colleges gives him unique insight into the workings of the community college,” say Christian Steinmetz, M.Ed. program coordinator. Students benefit from his realworld understanding of an important aspect of postsecondary education, she adds. Donnelly remembers that the real value of community colleges dawned on him not long after he began teaching, and he has been an enthusiastic advocate ever since. “The diversity was different from any class I had ever been in. All types of learners come and for all different reasons,” he says. As Donnelly learned their stories, he realized that their community college experiences were hugely transformative. “Students are so grateful. It’s hugely rewarding,” he adds. “I’ve been hooked ever since.” Donnelly, of course, was not the first alum from Curry to find working at PVCC to be highly rewarding. Among them are Mary Lee Walsh (M.Ed. ’85), dean of student services; Laurie Smith (Ph.D. ’98), an adjunct instructor of English; Kemper Steele (M.Ed. ’06), coordinator of advising and transfer; and Allyson Rea (M.Ed. ’08), registrar. More recent graduates of the program include Austin Stajudhar (M.Ed. ’13), academic and program advisor, and Andrew Renshaw (Ph.D. ’14), coordinator of dual enrollment and off-campus programs. Todd Parks, coordinator of academic support services, is currently completing his doctoral work in the Higher Education program.
Faculty Updates David Breneman, Newton and Rita Meyers Professor in Economics of Education, traveled to Kazakhstan with other colleagues working with a Nazarbayev University Center to help enhance the educational system of the country, pre-K through graduate. He will be Academic Dean on the fall 2014 voyage of Semester at Sea. Karen Kurotsuchi Inkelas, in addition to publishing a book chapter and article in Research in Higher Education, led four assessments on behalf of the University of Virginia, including case studies of 10 “flipped” classes using hybrid technology, a study of MOOCs taught by College of Arts & Sciences faculty, an evaluation of the Less Commonly Taught Languages collaboration between Duke University and U.Va., and the internal evaluation of the NSF-sponsored ADVANCE program, which aims to improve the recruitment and retention of women faculty in STEM at U.Va. Brian Pusser’s publications over the past year include “University Rankings in Critical Perspective,” published in the Journal of Higher Education with Simon Marginon; and “Forces in Tension: The State, Civil Society and the Market in the Future of the University,” a chapter in the book Thinking About Higher Education. Josipa Roksa, working with a colleague at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, has been awarded a grant by the National Science Foundation for a project entitled “Estimating and Explaining the Causal Impacts of Need-Based Financial Aid on STEM Success.” She continues to coordinate efforts by the Center for Advanced Study of Teaching and Learning - Higher Education and the Teaching Resource Center on teaching and evaluating a pedagogy seminar for graduate students. Christian Steinmetz was promoted to assistant professor this spring.
Read more about John Donnelly’s perspectives on community colleges at curry. virginia.edu/higher-ed-happenings
HIGHER ED HAPPENINGS • SPRING 2014
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Higher Ed Happenings P.O. Box 400268 417 Emmet Street South Charlottesville, VA 22904-4268
CLASS NOTES Christy Anderson (M.Ed. 09 SAPHE) is Assistant Director of Reunions and Class Activities with the University of Virginia Alumni Association. Lorri Cooper (Ed.D. ’98 Higher Ed) earned the rank of (full) Professor at Marymount University in Arlington, Va., where she teaches graduate business courses in Leadership and Leading Collaboration and Innovation. She also serves as the director for the M.S. in Leadership & Management....She continues to live in Charlottesville and occasionally reunions with doctoral classmates Jenifer Blair, Alan Leffers, Checka Leinwall, and Brenda Roth. John Downey (Ed.D. ’05 Higher Ed) is the chairperson of the Virginia Community College six-year Strategic Planning Committee. Downey is leading a group of employees from across Virginia’s Community Colleges in the development of a strategic plan that will lay out a series of goals to meet Virginia’s unmet workforce and education needs through the year 2021. Chris Foley (Ph.D. ’03 Higher Ed) joined Plus Delta Partners in August 2013 after 10 years of increasing responsibility for securing resources at the University of Pennsylvania and Villanova University. Previously, Foley was the Executive Director of Constituent Giving Programs at Villanova University.... Dennis Gregory (M.Ed. ’76 Admin & Supv; Ed.D. ’87 Higher Ed) recently served on the Negotiated Rulemaking Committee for the US Department of Education to develop regulations for the implementation of the Clery Campus Safety Act, resulting in passage 4
SPRING 2014 • HIGHER ED HAPPENINGS
Submit your class note at curry.virginia.edu/classnotes/submit of the Campus SAVE and Violence Against Women Act. He is the principal investigator on a $300,000 grant from the Department of Justice for the development of a mandatory education program related to sexual assault on campus. He has been awarded a Fulbright Fellowship to do research on accreditation processes for universities in Southern Europe and will be in the University of Porto in Portugal for fall 2014. Tom Jennings (Ph.D. ’93 Higher Ed) serves on the board of directors of CASE District III and as chair of the recently established Legislative Advocacy Committee.... He is Vice President for University Advancement and President of the Florida State University Foundation and president of the FSU Real Estate Foundation. Cheryl Lindeman (Ed.D. ’84 Higher Ed) will be retiring as biology instructor/partnership coordinator at Central Virginia Governor’s School for Science and Technology and will transition to be an assistant professor of education with focus on STEM at Randolph College in Lynchburg, Va. Cheryl served as one of the founding faculty members of CVGS for 29 years. Anna Millsaps (M.Ed. ’11 Higher Ed) serves as Assistant Director of Donor Relations at The College Foundation of the University of Virginia. Mari Normyle (Ph.D. ’11 Higher Ed) after almost 22 years at Lynchburg College, recently accepted a position as Assistant Vice President for Retention Solutions at Noel-Levitz.... “At NL, I work with a team of professionals to provide colleges and universities with tools to
identify at-risk students and target timely interventions to improve student success and retention. While the headquarters for this division of Noel-Levitz is in Iowa City, Iowa, I work from my home in Lynchburg.” Dennis “Skip” Parks (Ed.D. ’82 Higher Ed) presented a paper entitled “Utilizing a Customer Relations Management System for Recruiting Specific Undergraduate Student populations” at the 2014 International Education and Development Conference in Valencia, Spain in March. Annie Rappeport (M.Ed. ’11 Higher Ed) works at Semester at Sea managing international student admissions, support and international university partnerships. She will be presenting as a part of a team at the NAFSA conference on the work collaborating with the United Nations in Geneva to create opportunities for Semester at Sea students during the Human Rights Council. Jacob Rooksby (M.Ed. ’07 Soc Fdns; Ph.D. ’12 Higher Ed) was excited to coauthor a chapter with Brian Pusser in Academic Capitalism Revisited, an edited volume forthcoming this year with Johns Hopkins University Press. Jacob is an Assistant Professor of Law at the Duquesne University School of Law.
Read more. Some submissions were abbreviated due to lack of space. You can read complete class notes and view photos online at curry.virginia.edu/highered-happenings.
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