2018 Speaker Bios

John Gardner is an educator, university professor and administrator, non-profit organization chief executive officer, author, editor, public speaker, consultant, change agent, student retention specialist, first-year, sophomore, transfer, and senior year students’ advocate, and initiator and scholar of the American first-year and senior-year reform movements. He serves as Chair and Chief Executive Officer of the John N. Gardner Institute for Excellence in Undergraduate Education, and is the Founding Director and Senior Fellow of the National Resource Center for The First-Year Experience and Students in Transition. John is a Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Library and Information Science at the University of South Carolina, and the recipient of twelve honorary doctoral degrees, as well as numerous local and national professional awards. John has authored and co-authored numerous articles and books, including: Step by Step to College and Career Success, Your College Experience: Strategies for Success, and The Senior Year Experience: Facilitating Integration, Reflection, Closure, and Transition.

Amy Baldwin, Ed.D., Director of the Department of Student Transitions at the University of Central Arkansas, has worked with first-year community college and university students for over 20 years. She wrote the first community college student success and first-generation student success textbooks for Pearson Education. She most recently co-authored A High School Parent’s Guide to Student Success: 12 Essentials with Brian Tietje, Ph.D.

Jeff Buller has served in administrative positions ranging from department chair to vice president for academic affairs. He is currently Florida Atlantic University’s Director of Leadership and Professional Development, as well as the author of fifteen books on higher education administration, including The Essential Academic Dean or Provost, Change Leadership in Higher Education, and Positive Academic Leadership. Along with Robert E. Cipriano, Jeff is a senior partner of ATLAS: Academic Training, Leadership, & Assessment Services, through which he has presented numerous workshops on academic leadership, implementing change processes and promoting a positive approach to college administration.

Bob Cipriano served as a department chair for 28 years and has conducted research and written extensively on such topics as civility and collegiality in higher education, managing conflict, and  the changing roles and responsibilities of academic leaders. He is the author of Facilitating a Collegial Department in Higher Education: Strategies for Success and co-author with Jeff Buller of A Toolkit For Department Chairs and A Toolkit for College Professors. Bob is a Senior Partner in ATLAS – Academic Training, Leadership & Assessment Services, an internationally acclaimed consulting firm specializing in academic leadership training, and has been invited to deliver more than 260 presentations in the US, Asia, and the Middle East.

Greg Cook is the Vice Provost and Associate Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs at the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater where his primary responsibilities include the development of new academic programs, professional development for faculty and staff, and student success initiatives as well as strategic planning, budget management, and assisting with personnel policies and reviews in Academic Affairs. Greg enjoys working with the LEAP (Liberal Education & America’s Promise) initiative with faculty, staff, administrators, and students to improve student learning and success, all toward delivering on America’s Promise to provide high-quality educational programs for all students.

Bryan Dewsbury is an Assistant Professor of Biology at the University of Rhode Island. He is the Principal Investigator for the SEAS (Science Education and Society) program. Their research focuses on questions relating to identity constructs, bias, relationships, and the effects of those variables on learning in students (from K-PhD). Dr. Dewsbury is ultimately interested in helping to re-frame the education discussion to better address questions of equity and community-building. His work addresses pressing issues such as the under-representation and retention of minority groups in STEM fields, and the role of effect (instructor and student) in promoting student learning gains. He uses the results of those efforts to help faculty develop inclusive curricula and sense of community in the classroom.

Michael Gray has a PhD in Microbiology from Clemson University. During a 40-year career (mainly at Bob Jones University) he has taught over 10,000 university students at levels ranging from freshman non-majors through graduate students. He has created numerous innovative courses including, most recently, an issues-focused blended course for non-majors called Essential Science. He consults with universities to assist their faculty in focusing and interconnecting curriculum to create transformative learning environments. He equips faculty who aspire to effectively engage students in deep and durable learning.

Tony Holland is Special Assistant to the Chief of Staff of the Alabama Community College System where he is responsible for developing and implementing a state-wide faculty development program. Prior to assuming this position, he served six years as Dean of Instructional Affairs at Wallace Community College (WCCD) in Dothan, AL, and 22 years as a chemistry instructor there, while concurrently serving over ten of those years as Division Director for Natural Sciences. Through Mr. Holland’s conception and implementation of the I-CAN (Improvement, Constant And Never-ending) instructional initiative, WCCD was recognized in 2017 by the American Association of Community Colleges as the top community college in the nation with the Student Success Award of Excellence. Mr. Holland has given over 80 presentations on leading, teaching, and learning at multiple state and national conferences, as well as over 40 colleges and universities around the country. He has also had several articles published in Community College Weekly magazine on these same topics.

Jillian Kinzie, Ph.D. is Associate Director, Center for Postsecondary Research and the National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE) Institute, Indiana University School of Education. She conducts research and leads project activities on effective use of student engagement data to improve educational quality and issues of teaching and learning, and serves as senior scholar with the National Institute for Learning Outcomes Assessment (NILOA) project. She is co-author of Assessment in Student Affairs (2016), Using Evidence of Student Learning to Improve Higher Education (2015), Student Success in College (2005/2010). She is co-editor of New Directions in Higher Education and serves on the boards of the Washington Internship Institute, and the Gardner Institute for Excellence in Undergraduate Education. Kinzie earned her PhD from Indiana University in higher education with a minor in women’s studies. Prior to this, she served on the faculty of Indiana University and coordinated the master’s program in higher education and student affairs. She also worked in academic and student affairs at Miami University and Case Western Reserve University.

Donald Pearl is the Director of the Center for Academic Success at the Georgia Institute of Technology where he oversees extensive programs in tutoring, supplemental instruction, and academic coaching that serve more than 4,000 students each semester. Dr. Pearl has been an academic administrator for 18 years during which time he has held the positions of science chair, academic dean, and vice-president of academic affairs at several two year colleges. Prior to coming to Georgia Tech, he served as the Assistant Vice-President for Academic Affairs at Georgia Perimeter College in Atlanta Georgia, where he was responsible for Complete College Georgia initiatives, tutoring, supplemental instruction, advising, Dekalb Early College Academy, and dual enrollment. He has presented at a number of conferences about student retention, progression, and graduation.

Ann Marie VanDerZanden is a Louis Thompson Distinguished Undergraduate Teacher, and Associate Provost for Academic Programs at Iowa State University. At ISU, she provides leadership in undergraduate education including in the area of diversity and inclusion in the classroom. Dr. VanDerZanden regularly presents at regional and national conferences on a number of topics in higher education.

Greg Walton is an Associate Professor of Psychology at Stanford University. Much of his research investigates psychological processes that contribute to major social problems and how “wise” interventions that target these processes can help people flourish, even over long periods of time. Dr. Walton and his collaborators have shown that one of the most powerful sources of influence on students’ motivation is their sense of belonging. This insight led Dr. Walton to develop the social-belonging intervention and co-found the College Success Collaborative to implement and assess the effectiveness of the intervention at colleges and universities across the United States and Canada. Dr. Walton’s research has been covered in major media outlets including the New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, NPR, and The Chronicle of Higher Education. He has presented to numerous educators and policymakers including at the White House.

Ken Warden is the Dean of the College of Applied Science and Technology at the University of Arkansas – Fort Smith. He holds a doctorate in workforce development education and, prior to his position as dean, severed as the Associate Vice Chancellor for Workforce Development at UAFS. He also serves on the Executive Committee of the National Council for Workforce Education as the Vice President of Communications. Under Dr. Warden’s leadership, UAFS secured and implemented an Arkansas Regional Workforce Grant that funded an Automation Academy for robotics in manufacturing and a Data Analytics Academy. Dr. Warden’s research interests focus on non-traditional students, credit and non-credit workforce aligned programs, student retention, and sustainability initiatives on college campuses.