Attendees

March 20th & 21st, 2023
Washington, DC

Honored Guests

Vivek H. Murthy, MD, MBA

Surgeon General of the United State of America

Dr. Vivek H. Murthy was confirmed by the U.S. Senate in March 2021 to serve as the 21st Surgeon General of the United States. As the Nation’s Doctor, the Surgeon General’s mission is to help lay the foundation for a healthier country, relying on the best scientific information available to provide clear, consistent, and equitable guidance and resources for the public. And as the Vice Admiral of the U.S. Public Health Service Commissioned Corps, Dr. Murthy commands a uniformed service of over 6,000 dedicated public health officers, serving the most underserved and vulnerable populations domestically and abroad.

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While serving as 21st Surgeon General, Dr. Murthy is focused on drawing attention to and working across government to address a number of critical public health issues, including the growing proliferation of health misinformation, the ongoing youth mental health crisis, well-being and burnout in the health worker community, and social isolation and loneliness. Additionally, he serves as a key advisor to President Biden’s COVID-19 pandemic response operation.

During his previous tenure as 19th Surgeon General, under President Obama, Dr. Murthy created initiatives to tackle our country’s most pressing public health challenges. The first Surgeon General of Indian descent and the youngest active duty flag officer in federal uniformed service, he helped lead the national response to a range of health challenges, including the Ebola and Zika viruses, the opioid crisis, and the growing threat of stress and loneliness to Americans’ physical and mental wellbeing. Dr. Murthy also continued the office’s legacy on preventing tobacco-related disease, releasing a historic Surgeon General’s report on e-cigarettes and youth. And in 2016, he issued the first Surgeons General’s Report on Alcohol, Drugs and Health, in which he challenged the nation to expand access to prevention and treatment, and to recognize addiction as a chronic illness, not a character flaw.

Prior to his second confirmation, Dr. Murthy co-chaired President-elect Joe Biden’s COVID-19 Advisory Board from November 2020 to January 2021. Before entering government service, Dr. Murthy co-founded VISIONS, a global HIV/AIDS education organization; the Swasthya Project, a rural health partnership that trained women in South India to become community health workers and educators; TrialNetworks, a technology company dedicated to improving collaboration and efficiency in clinical trials; and Doctors for America, a nonprofit mobilizing physicians and medical students to improve access to affordable care. His scientific research has focused on vaccine development and the participation of women and minorities in clinical trials. And as an internal medicine doctor at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and at Harvard Medical School, Dr. Murthy cared for thousands of patients and trained undergraduates, medical students, and medical residents.

Raised in Miami, Dr. Murthy received his Bachelor of Arts degree from Harvard, his MD from the Yale School of Medicine, and his Masters in Business Administration from the Yale School of Management. A renowned physician, research scientist, entrepreneur, mango aficionado, and author of the bestselling book Together: The Healing Power of Human Connection in a Sometimes Lonely World, Dr. Murthy is today among the most trusted voices in America on matters of public health. He lives in Washington, DC with his wife, Dr. Alice Chen, and their two children.

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Corey Thomas, MBA

Chairman and CEO of Rapid7 

Corey Thomas is the CEO of Rapid7, as well as the chairman of its board of directors. In 2021, Corey became a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and was appointed class-C director and deputy chair of the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston. He also serves on the Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts board of directors, LPL Financial board of directors, and Vanderbilt University board of trust.

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He is an active angel investor to technology companies, advisor to organizations undergoing technology transformation, and sought-after speaker and panelist. He previously served on the US Commerce Department’s Digital Economy Board of Advisors. Corey has extensive experience leading technology companies to the next stage of growth and innovation. Prior to joining Rapid7, Corey spent time at Parallels, Inc., Microsoft, Deloitte Consulting, and AT&T. Corey received a B.E. in electrical engineering and computer science from Vanderbilt University and an MBA from Harvard Business School.

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Presidents

President Irma Becerra headshot

Irma Becerra, PhD

President of Marymount University

Dr. Irma Becerra took office as the seventh President of Marymount University on July 1, 2018. In her four-plus years as President, she has launched the University’s new Strategic Plan, earned national recognition in the U.S. News & World Report’s Best Colleges Rankings, added market-driven academic programs, overseen the transition to a new academic structure, acquired a luxury apartment building for residential life use, improved the University’s IT infrastructure, navigated the school community through the COVID-19 pandemic and led efforts at the state and federal levels to advocate for legislative solutions to the DACA program that will protect Dreamer students.

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She is a nationally recognized educator known for innovation, entrepreneurship and transformational education. Prior to Marymount, she served as Provost and Chief Academic Officer at St. Thomas University, and also spent three decades at Florida International University (FIU) in a variety of positions that include Vice President, Vice Provost, Entrepreneurship Center Director and tenured professor. She became the first woman to earn a Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering at FIU.

Dr. Becerra has two grown children: Anthony Fernandez and Nicole Fernandez.

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Connie Ledoux Book, PhD

President of Elon University
Member of Mary Christie Institute Presidents’ Council

Dr. Connie Ledoux Book is a passionate advocate for higher education and its power to transform students’ lives. She spent 16 years as an Elon faculty member and administrative leader, helping to build the university’s reputation for excellence in engaged teaching and learning. In 2015 she accepted a groundbreaking role as the first female provost and chief academic officer at The Citadel. Following her impressive accomplishments there, she returned to Elon as president in 2018, bringing a deep appreciation for the university’s unique history and its rapid rise to national prominence     

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Under President Book’s leadership, Elon launched the 10-year Boldly Elon strategic plan to advance the university’s national leadership in experiential education, mentoring and student success. Elon has been reclassified as a Doctoral/Professional institution, ranked as a top-100 National University and named the nation’s “Best Run” university. Many new full-time faculty members have joined Elon along with innovative new academic programs in engineering and nursing and numerous new facilities. In 2022 Elon opened the Innovation Quad, with two new buildings for engineering and sciences.

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President of Vassar College Elizabeth H. Bradley, May 2019Photo credit: John Abbott/Vassar College

Elizabeth H. Bradley, MBA, PhD

President of Vassar College
Member of Mary Christie Institute Presidents’ Council

Elizabeth H. Bradley, PhD has served as President of Vassar College since July 2017. In that time, she has led the College to establish new programs and partnerships in India, Rwanda, and China to bring the model of liberal arts higher education to these settings. In addition, Vassar has collaborated with Columbia University to create a 5-year BA-MPH program for Vassar students. 

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Bradley has most recently served on Governor Cuomo’s NY Forward Re-Opening Advisory Committee and helped draft the guidelines for NY higher education re-opening in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic. She serves on the Poughkeepsie Children’s Cabinet and Board of Trustees at Vassar Brothers Hospital. Bradley, a noted public health expert who created the first Masters of Health Administration on the African continent with the Clinton Health Access Initiative and pioneered a model of scale up with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, continues to be a strong advocate for education and public health, publishing opinion pieces in Forbes, Bloomberg News, and other national outlets regularly, as well as peer-reviewed research. Prior to becoming the President of Vassar, Bradley was on the faculty at Yale for more than twenty years, and was most recently the Brady-Johnson Professor of Grand Strategy and Faculty Director of the Yale Global Health Leadership Institute. Bradley’s research has focused on quality of hospital care and large-scale health system strengthening efforts within the US and abroad including in China, India, Ethiopia, Liberia, Ghana, Rwanda, and the United Kingdom. Bradley has published more nearly 320 peer-reviewed papers and has co-authored three books including The American Healthcare Paradox: Why Spending More Is Getting Us Less. She is the 2018 recipient of the William B. Graham Prize for Health Services Research and was elected to the National Academy of Medicine in 2017.  She is a member of the Council of Foreign Affairs.

Bradley graduated phi beta kappa from Harvard in economics magna cum laude, earned an MBA from the University of Chicago, and a PhD in health economics from Yale University. While at Harvard, Bradley was captain of the Women’s Squash team. Bradley grew up in New Britain, Connecticut and is married to her husband John with whom she has three adult children. 

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American University President Sylvia Mathews Burwell

Sylvia Matthews Burwell 

President of American University
Member of Mary Christie Institute Presidents’ Council

Sylvia Mathews Burwell is the 15th president of American University, and the first woman to serve in the role. Under her leadership, AU has more than doubled its externally-funded research grants, become the first university in the United States to achieve carbon-neutrality, and increased its endowment by more than 40 percent.

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President Burwell previously served as the secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, where she oversaw the agency’s 11 operating divisions. In this position, she led the successful implementation of the Affordable Care Act and the department’s responses to the Ebola and Zika outbreaks. Prior to that, she served as the director of the Office of Management and Budget, where she worked with Congress to negotiate the two-year budget deal that ended the 2013 government shutdown.

President Burwell was the president of the Walmart Foundation. She also was president and founder of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation’s Global Development Program and the foundation’s first chief operating officer.

President Burwell received undergraduate degrees from Harvard University and Oxford University, where she was a Rhodes Scholar. She serves on the boards of the American Council on Education, GuideWell, and Kimberly-Clark.

President Burwell is a proud native of Hinton, West Virginia. She and her husband, Stephen, live in Washington, DC, with their two children, Helene and Matthew. 

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John J. DeGioa, PhD

President of Georgetown University
Member of Mary Christie Institute Presidents’ Council

For close to four decades, John J. DeGioia has helped to define and strengthen Georgetown University as a premier institution for education and research. A Georgetown alumnus, Dr. DeGioia served as a senior administrator and as a faculty member in the Department of Philosophy before becoming Georgetown’s 48th president in 2001.

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As President, Dr. DeGioia is dedicated to deepening Georgetown’s tradition of academic excellence, its commitment to its Catholic and Jesuit identity, its engagement with the Washington, D.C. community, and its global mission. Under his leadership, Georgetown has become a leader in shaping the future landscape of higher education and has recently completed a $1.5 billion fund-raising campaign dedicated to enhancing the lifelong value of a Georgetown education.

Dr. DeGioia is a leading voice in addressing broader issues in education. He previously served as Chair of the Board of Directors of the American Council on Education and is currently Chair of the Board of Directors of the Forum for the Future of Higher Education as well as Chair of the Board for the Consortium on Financing Higher Education. He is also a member of the Board of Directors of the Carnegie Corporation of New York, the Board of Directors for the Business-Higher Education Forum, the NCAA Board of Governors, the NCAA Division 1 Board of Directors and is Chair of the Division I NCAA Committee on Academics.

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Marion Ross Fedrick, MPA

President of Albany State University
Member of Mary Christie Institute Presidents’ Council

Marion Ross Fedrick was appointed as the 10th president of Albany State University on August 14, 2018, by the University System of Georgia Board of Regents. Fedrick previously served as interim president and interim executive vice president of the university. Spanning nearly thirty years of senior leadership experience, Fedrick has served in a variety of private and public sector roles.

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Her professional background includes system-level higher education administration, campus-level higher education administration, strategic planning, crisis management and strategic partnership engagement.

Committed to ensuring students realize their full potential, Fedrick believes every student deserves access to an excellent and affordable education. A two-time graduate of the University of Georgia, Fedrick holds a bachelor’s degree in adult education, with a concentration in organizational development, and a master’s degree in public administration.

A hallmark of Fedrick’s presidency is her focus on providing the ideal student experience. One which focuses on preparing students for professional careers while ensuring the entirety of the student’s wellbeing is cared for. Since 2018 President Fedrick has used her commitment towards achieving excellence to drive new initiatives including a redesign of the institution’s academic colleges, approval of the University System of Georgia’s first nexus degrees, and the design and implementation of the university’s integrated student success model.  As a result of her laser focus on this ideal, the University has achieved a sixteen percent increase in retention, and a six percent increase in student enrollment. As a champion for student wellness, Fedrick has expanded access and opportunities for ASU students by entering into partnerships that increase the available campus-wide student resources.

Due to her widely known commitment to addressing student wellness, Fedrick is highly sought after to contribute to statewide initiatives including the University System of Georgia’s (USG) Mental Health Task Force, and Georgia’s COVID-19 Health Equity Council.  Her leadership on the Health Equity Council has helped to increase the effectiveness of the Georgia Department of Public Health’s statewide outreach to communities most affected by COVID-19, and to ensure the equitable distribution and administration of the COVID-19 vaccination.

In demonstration of her commitment to student success, racial and social equity, and the power of community, Fedrick has been a spokesperson for access, equity, and fairness. The intersection of her vision, passion, and broad leadership capabilities have placed Fedrick in key leadership roles throughout her career. Serving as the USG vice chancellor of human resources, Fedrick has led strategic initiatives relating to effective university administration, leadership development and all human resources planning efforts. She has also served at Clark Atlanta University, Emory University Hospitals, State of Georgia’s Office of State Personnel Administration, AT&T, and the former BellSouth Corporation.

Born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and raised in Georgia, she and her husband, Horace, who is a 34-year law enforcement veteran, have one daughter, Sarah.

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President Wayne A. I. Frederick, MD, MBA 2020

Wayne A. I. Frederick, MD, MBA

President of Howard University
Member of Mary Christie Institute Presidents’ Council

Dr. Wayne A. I. Frederick is the 17th president of Howard University and the distinguished Charles R. Drew Professor of Surgery at the Howard University College of Medicine. He is also a practicing cancer surgeon at Howard University Hospital, where he continues to see patients and perform surgeries. He is a true son of Howard, having earned three degrees from the University – a B.S. in 1990, an M.D. in 1994, and an MBA in 2011.

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As president of Howard, Dr. Frederick has worked to strengthen internal operations in order to enhance the student experience and position the University to more effectively serve the community. He has overseen a period of immense growth and transformation at Howard, including record-breaking enrollment numbers and philanthropic donations. 

 Dr. Frederick is an expert on health care disparities and devotes his time to speaking about and advocating for social justice as well as diversity, equity and inclusion.

Dr. Frederick also serves on the boards of numerous institutions and organizations, including the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond and Humana Inc. Dr. Frederick is also a member of surgical and medical associations, including the American Surgical Association, the American Cancer Society and the American College of Surgeons.

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Mark D. Gearan, LHD

President of Hobart William Smith Colleges  

In July 2022, President Emeritus Mark D. Gearan L.H.D. ’17, P’21 was named the 30th president of Hobart and the 19th of William Smith. Gearan previously was president of HWS from 1999-2017, during which time the Colleges’ endowment doubled as he oversaw a capital campaign that raised $205 million to support facilities and annual giving, established 168 new scholarships, and completed 80 significant capital projects. During his first presidency, Gearan made substantial commitments to diversity and inclusion, propelled the Colleges’ environmental efforts, and grew programming in career services, civic engagement, leadership, student services and study abroad.

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After leaving Hobart and William Smith in 2017, Gearan served as President in Residence at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, and in 2018 was appointed Director of the Institute of Politics at the Harvard Kennedy School.

Gearan is known nationally for his work in higher education and national service, and recently served as Vice Chair of the National Commission on Military, National and Public Service created by the U.S. Congress. He is a past chair of the Board of Directors of both National Campus Compact and the Corporation for National and Community Service. He currently serves on the Dean’s Advisory Board for the Clinton School of Public Service at the University of Arkansas and the National Advisory Board for Public Service at Harvard College.

Gearan has served in a variety of roles in American politics and government including White House Communications Director, White House Deputy Chief of Staff, Vice Presidential Campaign Manager for Clinton/Gore ’92 and Executive Director of the Democratic Governor’s Association. In September 1995, President Bill Clinton appointed Gearan as the 14th Director of the Peace Corps where he oversaw the expansion of the Peace Corps program into South Africa, Jordan and Haiti as well as the establishment of the Crisis Corps, which sent former Peace Corps volunteers into crisis areas for six months or less to help during emergencies.

A cum laude graduate of Harvard College and Georgetown University Law Center, he holds 13 honorary degrees.

Gearan returns to Geneva with his wife, Mary Herlihy Gearan L.H.D. ’17, who was active in the Geneva community during their previous service and has continued to serve on the Board of Happiness House, Finger Lakes Cerebral Palsy Association. At Harvard, she received the John R. Marquand Award recognizing excellence and dedication in the mentoring and guidance of Harvard undergraduates. The Gearans served as Interim Faculty Deans at Winthrop House, one of 12 undergraduate houses at Harvard. They have two daughters, Madeleine and Kathleen ’21.

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6/6/18           UM-Dearborn Chancellor
                          Domenico Grasso

Domenico Grasso, PhD

Chancellor of University of Michigan—Dearborn  

Domenico Grasso is the sixth chancellor of the University of Michigan-Dearborn and the first Michigan graduate to lead the university. He also is an executive officer of the University of Michigan and serves as professor of public policy and sustainable engineering at UM-Dearborn.

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Grasso’s career in higher education has been marked by significant contributions to engineering education, environmental engineering research, enrollment management, diversity and inclusion, and community engagement. Directly prior to joining UM-Dearborn in 2018, he was provost and chief academic officer at the University of Delaware, where he spearheaded efforts ranging from the creation of the Division of Enrollment Management and Institute for Financial Services Analytics, to community engagement and cybersecurity initiatives. At Delaware, he was also instrumental in the development of new university programs in entrepreneurship, the humanities, social sciences and the arts. 

Grasso earned his Ph.D. in environmental engineering from the University of Michigan and began his academic career as professor in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the University of Connecticut, where he also served as department head. He then moved to Smith College, holding posts as the Rosemary Bradford Hewlett Professor and founding director of Smith’s Picker Engineering Program — the first engineering program at a women’s college and one of the few at a liberal arts college in the United States. Later, he served as dean of the College of Engineering and Mathematical Sciences and vice president for research at the University of Vermont.

Grasso is a passionate defender of sustainability and environmentally conscious practices, and his research has delved deeply into the fate of environmental contaminants and the development of techniques to reduce risks to human health and the natural world. His work has been supported by federal, state and industry partners, and he has authored more than 100 journal articles and reports; his work has been cited extensively. In addition, he has held several high-profile posts in the environmental engineering field, including fellow on NATO’s Committee on the Challenges of Modern Society, technical expert to the United Nations Industrial Development Organization, vice chair of the Science Advisory Board for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and president of the Association of Environmental Engineering and Science Professors. Grasso was also a member of a World Bank-funded international team of scholars that established the first environmental engineering program in Argentina, and addressed the Congress of the Republic of Peru on the topic of sustainable development. 

Grasso is considered an influential thinker in the field of engineering education. He views engineering as a natural bridge between science and humanity, and many of his writings have reasoned for the importance of the social sciences, arts and humanities in better contextualizing the relevance of STEM education. As editor and chief contributor to the book Holistic Engineering Education: Beyond Technology (Springer 2010), Grasso explored new paradigms for 21st-century engineering education. In his own teaching, he has taken on the full spectrum of challenges — from a National Science Foundation-recognized undergraduate class for non-engineering majors, to technically rigorous courses that also explore societal, ethical and philosophical issues facing today’s engineers and scientists. He has even found ways to engage the youngest STEM learners, co-founding, along with pioneer astronaut Sally Ride, TOYChallenge —  a nationwide toy design event for middle school students.

A frequent collaborator with other scholars and academic leaders, Grasso currently serves on advisory boards for MIT and Olin College, and has previously been a member of advisory boards at Colgate, Tufts, Johns Hopkins, Notre Dame, Worcester Polytechnic Institute and the National Academy of Engineering. In addition, he has held posts as associate editor of the journal Reviews in Environmental Science and Biotechnology and editor-in-chief of Environmental Engineering Science.

Grasso is a U.S. Army veteran having spent over ten years on both active and reserve status. He resigned his commission at the rank of Major after receiving citations and awards including the Army Commendation Medal and Army Parachutist Badge.

Grasso’s wife, Susan Hull Grasso, is also an accomplished engineer and Michigan alumna. Together, they have four adult children, Benjamin, Jacob, Elspeth and Caitlín. He and Susan enjoy reading, cycling, hiking, skiing, and spending time outdoors with their dogs.

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Paula A. Johnson, MD, MPH

President of Wellesley College
Member of Mary Christie Institute Presidents’ Council

Paula A. Johnson, president of Wellesley College, is an innovator recognized globally for advancing, promoting, and defending the education, health, and well-being of women. This critically important work is deeply informed by her broad range of experience as a pathbreaking physician-scientist and educator who is an expert in health care, public health, and health policy.

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President Johnson has dedicated her scientific and medical career to furthering our knowledge of the biological differences between women and men. She has led the way in ensuring that research findings are effectively translated in order to improve health care for women and has used her voice to effect important changes in policy so that sex differences are included in research. By uncovering gender biases in these arenas and advancing science, she has helped transform how medicine is practiced and how research is conducted, touching the lives of countless women.

Before coming to Wellesley, President Johnson founded and served as the inaugural executive director of the Connors Center for Women’s Health and Gender Biology and was chief of the Division of Women’s Health, both at Brigham and Women’s Hospital—a Harvard teaching hospital and one of the world’s leading academic medical centers. Central to the Connors Center’s approach is its work to further our understanding of the intersection of sex, gender, race, ethnicity, and other social determinants of health. President Johnson developed the center’s efforts to both undertake cutting-edge research and translate it into outstanding clinical care for women, and she oversaw the center’s work to utilize its research and care models to better educate the next generation of physicians and scientists. Her vision for achieving sustainable improvement in women’s health is reflected in the Connors Center’s unique approach to all aspects of health throughout the lifespan.

A cardiologist, President Johnson was also the Grayce A. Young Family Professor of Medicine in Women’s Health at Harvard Medical School, a professorship named in honor of her mother, and a professor of epidemiology at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.

Her research and the research, health care models, and training programs of the Connors Center have had an impact on women across the country by helping to shape health care and health policy reforms. Her work has also influenced and educated emerging leaders beyond the borders of the United States who seek to improve the health of women globally. In 2018, President Johnson co-chaired the landmark report of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine, titled Sexual Harassment of Women: Climate, Culture and Consequences in Academic Sciences, Engineering and Medicine.

In 2020, as the COVID-19 pandemic shut down schools and college campuses across the country, President Johnson joined Massachusetts Governor Baker’s 14-member Higher Education Working Group (HEWG) to develop a framework to safely reopen campuses. She also chairs the Massachusetts Higher Education Testing Group. Her 2021 essay, “Learning the lessons of Covid, in order to teach them,” was published by the Global Institute for Women’s Leadership.

President Johnson is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the National Academy of Medicine, the nation’s leading advisory organization providing expertise on issues relating to biomedical science, medicine, and health. She has been recognized as a national leader in medicine by the National Library of Medicine and has received several honorary degrees and numerous awards for her contributions to science, medicine, and public health. Most recently, she received the Stephen Smith Medal for Distinguished Contributions in Public Health by the New York Academy of Medicine.

She earned international acclaim for her 2013 TED Talk, “His and hers…healthcare,” which continues to raise awareness of the crucial need to understand sex differences in treating disease.

Her vision, research, and ability to lead at the intersection of education, health care, and public health have earned President Johnson key leadership roles in organizations around the world. She chaired the board of the Boston Public Health Commission and was a member of the National Institutes of Health Advisory Committee on Research on Women’s Health. She has served on numerous national and international boards, and currently serves on the Abiomed Board of Directors.

Since becoming president of Wellesley in July 2016, she has advanced women’s higher education, championing cross-campus efforts to integrate the ideals of inclusive excellence into every aspect of academic and residential life. She has matched that with a belief that health and wellness are crucial to academic and personal success, reimagining how a college promotes resilience, resolve, and balance in its students at a time when this is needed most. Under her leadership, the College is also developing new opportunities in STEM fields by drawing on the synergies found at the intersection of science, the humanities, and social sciences.

President Johnson attended Harvard and Radcliffe colleges, received her A.B., M.D., and M.P.H. degrees from Harvard, and trained in internal medicine and cardiovascular medicine at Brigham and Women’s Hospital. She was born and raised in Brooklyn, New York.

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Russell Lowery-Hart, PhD

President of Amarillo College

Dr. Russell Lowery-Hart, President for Amarillo College since 2014. Amarillo College was named a 2021 Top Five Institution and Rising Star for the Aspen Prize for Community College Excellence.

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Russell’s leadership is focused on improving student success through systemic and cultural change centered on one word: LOVE. Under Russells leadership, Amarillo College developed the systemic Culture of Caring targeting removal of poverty barriers that was featured in The Atlantic (June 2018) by Marcella Bombardieri  and in the documentary on AmazonPrime, The Antidote, from Oscar Nominated and Emmy Award winning directors Kahane Cooperman and John Hoffman.

 Dr. Lowery-Hart previously served as Vice-President of Academic Affairs for Amarillo College and named the National Council of Instructional Administrators Academic Leader of the Year for 2014. He received his Ph.D. from Ohio University; M.A. Texas Tech University; and, B.S. from West Texas State University.

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Félix Matos Rodríguez, PhD

Chancellor of the City University of New York 

As Chancellor, Dr. Matos Rodríguez has doubled down on the University’s commitment to lifting students and graduates from all backgrounds up the socioeconomic ladder. This mission has been especially critical throughout the coronavirus pandemic, during which the Chancellor erased more than $100 million in owed tuition and fees for more than 57,000 students through the CUNY Comeback program, announced a year before President Biden’s federal debt forgiveness program. The Chancellor also led the University to formally discontinue its policy of withholding transcripts from current and former students with unpaid balances.

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To support students facing financial hardship amid the pandemic, the University announced the Chancellor’s Emergency Relief Fund in April 2020. As of the summer of 2022, the fund had disbursed almost $10 million to support more than 17,500 students in need, including single parents, undocumented students who were originally excluded from federal government relief programs, international students, students with disabilities and students from foster care.

Dr. Matos Rodríguez is a dedicated champion of accessibility, inclusion and excellence in higher education. He built a diverse team of tested leaders to serve on his cabinet, and as administrators, including leaders who are the first Asian American, the first Dominican woman and the first person of South Asian descent to serve as presidents or deans of CUNY colleges.

Responding to the crisis of the coronavirus pandemic in March 2020, Dr. Matos Rodríguez oversaw within a week the transition of nearly all of CUNY’s 50,000 course sections to distance education. To ensure the success of CUNY students who lacked the resources to participate in distance modalities, the University quickly purchased thousands of laptops and tablets to distribute to those who needed them for remote learning.

Chancellor Matos Rodríguez has developed and advocated for career pipelines for students and graduates through a series of public-private partnerships with some of New York’s largest employers including the New York Jobs CEO Council, a coalition of CEOs from 28 of the city’s largest employers, aiming to provide job opportunities and apprenticeships for 25,000 CUNY students by 2030. Additional efforts include training students for financial careers through CUNY Futures in Finance, placing students in public sector and nonprofit jobs over the summer via CUNY Career Launch and providing in-demand skills training through CUNY Upskilling.

In keeping with his ambition to grow access for traditionally underrepresented firms to CUNY, he unveiled a comprehensive plan to bolster business opportunities for firms owned by women, minorities and service-disabled veterans.

Chancellor Matos Rodríguez’s distinguished career spans both academia and the public sector: He is a scholar, teacher, administrator and former cabinet secretary for the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico. Prior to his appointment as Chancellor, Dr. Matos Rodríguez was president of CUNY’s Queens College from 2014 to 2019 and of CUNY’s Eugenio María de Hostos Community College in the Bronx from 2009 to 2014, making him one of a select few U.S. educators who has led both a baccalaureate and a community college.

Dr. Matos Rodríguez has used his extensive regional and national networks and board memberships to advance the visibility and recognition of CUNY. A member of the Council on Foreign Relations, the Chancellor has been appointed as co-chair of the New York City Future of Workers Task Force by New York City Mayor Eric Adams; he also served as a co-chair of Adams’ mayoral transition team. A former chair of the Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities (HACU), he continues to serve on the steering committee for HACU’s Leadership Academy. In 2021, he joined the board of the Association for a Better New York (ABNY) and was named co-chair of the New York City Regional Economic Development Council (NYCREDC). He also serves on the boards of Phipps Houses and the United Way of New York City, and he is a member of the Research Alliance for New York City Schools steering committee. In 2020, the Chancellor was named by the American Council on Education (ACE) to a national task force focused on improving transfer of credit practices.

A cum laude graduate in Latin American studies from Yale University, Matos Rodríguez received his Ph.D. in history from Columbia University. He has taught at Yale, Northeastern University, Boston College, the Universidad Interamericana de Puerto Rico, City College and Hunter College, and was affiliated with the history department at the CUNY Graduate Center. At Hunter, he also directed the Center for Puerto Rican Studies, one of the largest and most important Latino research centers in the United States.

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Martin Meehan, MPA, JD

President of the University of Massachusetts System
Member of Mary Christie Institute Presidents’ Council

Marty Meehan is the 27th president and first undergraduate alumnus to lead the five-campus University of Massachusetts system. A former member of the U.S. House of Representatives, President Meehan was elected to the presidency after eight successful years as chancellor of his alma mater, UMass Lowell, leading the campus to top-tier national status and improving its performance in every sphere of activity, including enrollment, student success, fundraising, and auxiliary revenue generation.

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At his presidential inauguration on November 12, 2015, he pledged to fight for UMass, which he called “the most important institution in Massachusetts in the critical areas of social mobility and economic growth.”

Under President Meehan’s leadership, UMass has achieved milestones in enrollment growth, research expansion, financial aid funding and statewide economic impact. In addition, the UMass School of Law earned full ABA accreditation and has seen the academic credentials of its incoming students and bar pass rates rise.

During his 14 years in Congress, he served on the House Armed Services and Judiciary committees and established a national reputation for his legislative leadership. He won praise for his efforts to protect the public from the health risks of tobacco, and he was a central figure in campaign finance reform. In addition to his degree from UMass Lowell, Meehan earned a master’s degree in public administration from Suffolk University in 1981 and a juris doctor from Suffolk University Law School in 1986.

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Richard K. Miller, PhD 

President Emeritus of Olin College of Engineering 

Richard K. Miller was appointed President and first employee of Olin College of Engineering in 1999 where he served for 21 years until he stepped down in June 2020 and became President Emeritus and Professor of Mechanical Engineering.  He served as the Jerome C. Hunsaker Visiting Professor of Aerospace Systems at MIT during the 2020-2021 academic year

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Previously, he served as Dean of Engineering at the University of Iowa, Associate Dean of Engineering at USC in Los Angeles, and assistant professor of engineering at UCSB in Santa Barbara. With a background in applied mechanics and current interests in innovation in higher education, Miller is the author of numerous reviewed journal articles and other technical publications.

Miller is a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts & Sciences, a Fellow of the National Academy of Inventors, and a Member of the National Academy of Engineering (NAE).  He received the 2017 Brock International Prize in Education. Together with two Olin colleagues, he received the 2013 Bernard M. Gordon Prize from the (NAE) for Innovation in Engineering and Technology Education. In 2011, he received the Marlowe Award for creative and distinguished administrative leadership from the American Society for Engineering Education.

Miller has served as Chair of the Board on Higher Education and Workforce (BHEW) of the National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM) and as Chair of the Engineering Advisory Committee of the National Science Foundation (NSF).  He has also served on advisory boards and committees for Harvard University, Stanford University, the NAE, NASEM, and the U.S. Military Academy at West Point as well as others. In addition, he has served as a consultant to the World Bank in the establishment of new universities in developing countries. A frequent speaker on higher education, he received the 2002 Distinguished Engineering Alumnus Award from the University of California at Davis, where he earned his B.S. He earned his M.S. from MIT and Ph.D. from the California Institute of Technology, where he received the 2014 Caltech Distinguished Alumni Award.

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Jere W. Morehead, JD

President of University of Georgia 

President Jere W. Morehead began his tenure as the 22nd University of Georgia President on July 1, 2013. Under his leadership, the University has risen in the rankings of the best public colleges and universities and has completed a series of initiatives to enhance student learning and success, including a requirement for experiential learning for all undergraduates.

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Additionally, the University completed the most successful capital campaign in its history, raising $1.45 billion, and launched an Innovation District initiative to create UGA’s campus of the future, where students and faculty will partner with industry to generate ideas and solutions to continue the University’s role as a powerful driver of economic development in Georgia. During President Morehead’s tenure, UGA has increased its research expenditures by 41% and has been ranked among the top five universities in the U.S. for research-based products reaching the marketplace for the past seven years. UGA was ranked No. 1 in the nation for FY2019 and FY2017.

In keeping with his focus on student success, President Morehead launched the ALL Georgia Program to support students from rural areas and created the Double Dawgs program, which enables students to save time and money by earning an undergraduate and graduate degree in five years or less. A UGA education is in greater demand than ever, with a record 39,500 applications submitted for a spot in the incoming Class of 2025 and an admission rate under 39%.

President Morehead has served the University of Georgia since 1986 in both faculty and administrative roles. Before becoming President, he was Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs and Provost from 2010 to 2013. Prior to 2010, he held several key administrative assignments, including Vice President for Instruction, Vice Provost for Academic Affairs, Associate Provost and Director of the Honors Program, and acting Executive Director of Legal Affairs.

He is the Meigs Professor of Legal Studies in the Terry College of Business, where he has held a faculty appointment since 1986. He is a co-author of several books and book chapters, including The Legal and Regulatory Environment of Business, and he has published scholarly articles on legal topics ranging from export controls to jury selection. He has served as Editor-in-Chief of the American Business Law Journal.

President Morehead serves as Co-Chair of the University Leadership Forum, a national initiative led by the Council on Competitiveness. He also serves as Chair of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I Board of Directors, a member of the NCAA Division I Administrative Committee, and a member of the NCAA Board of Governors. He previously served on the NCAA Presidential Forum; the Working Group on Name, Image, and Likeness; and the Federal and State Legislation Working Group. He is President of the Southeastern Conference (SEC) and Chair of the SEC Executive Committee. Additional service includes membership on the boards of the Georgia Chamber of Commerce, Metro Atlanta Chamber of Commerce, Georgia Research Alliance, University System of Georgia Foundation, Atlanta Regional Council for Higher Education, and Emory University Candler School of Theology.

In 2021, he received the Chief Executive Leadership Award from the Council for the Advancement and Support of Education District III for outstanding leadership and service in support of education. He has received several University-wide teaching awards, including the Josiah Meigs Award—UGA’s highest honor for teaching excellence, the Richard B. Russell Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching, the Teacher of the Year Award in the Terry College of Business, and the Lothar Tresp Outstanding Honors Professor Award. He also earned the UGA School of Law’s premier honor for alumni, the Distinguished Service Scroll Award.

President Morehead holds a bachelor’s degree from Georgia State University and a law degree from the University of Georgia.

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Melissa Shivers, PhD

Senior Vice President for Student Life at The Ohio State University

Dr. Melissa Shivers is the Senior Vice President for Student Life at The Ohio State University where she serves on the university’s senior administration team and provides leadership and strategic oversight on matters related to the student experience. She has broad leadership responsibility for numerous university operations affecting students outside the classroom, including the residential experience, dining services, the Ohio Union and student activities, student leadership and service, mental health support, career development, recreational sports, health care and wellness programs, disability services, the Center for Belonging and Social Change, off-campus and commuter student engagement, the student judicial process, student advocacy and crisis intervention.

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Dr. Shivers came to Ohio State from the University of Iowa where she was the Vice President for Student Affairs. Prior to that, she spent seven years at the University of Tennessee, where she held various roles, including Associate Vice Chancellor for Student Life and Dean of Students. She also held positions at the University of Georgia, Clemson University and Georgia Southern University. Dr. Shivers has held faculty appointments at multiple institutions, including teaching a required Diversity in Higher Education course for students in Ohio State’s Higher Education and Student Affairs graduate program. She was also selected as a faculty member for the National Association of Student Personnel Administrators’ Institute for Aspiring Vice Presidents for Student Affairs

She is a proud first-generation college graduate with a BS from Georgia Southern University in Communication Arts, a master’s degree in Education, Counseling and Guidance Services from Clemson and a Doctor of Philosophy, Counseling and Student Personnel Services from the University of Georgia.

Dr. Shivers was honored as a 2022 Legend and Legacy by the King Arts Complex and was selected as a 2021 Diamond Honoree by ACPA, which is one of the highest honors bestowed by the international student affairs professional organization. Dr. Shivers is a member of the Association of Fraternity/Sorority Advisors’ Board of Directors, the Georgia Southern University’s Alumni Association Board of Directors, the Melvin C. Terrell Educational Foundation Board of Directors, the King Arts Complex Board of Directors, the Campus Partners Board of Directors, a university representative on The Ohio State University Foundation Board of Directors and member of the Association of Public Land-grant Universities Council on Student Affairs and its nominating committee. She was also recently named as one of 40 higher education leaders to follow on social media.

Dr. Shivers loves to travel and is a college football fan. She is passionate about removing barriers to student and staff success, serving her community and contributing to the world in ways that help to ensure the health, safety and security of others. 

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Clayton Spencer, JD, MA

President of Bates College
Member of Mary Christie Institute Presidents’ Council

Clayton Spencer has served as president of Bates College since 2012. Under Clayton’s leadership, Bates has made significant advances in its academic program, the student experience, and fundraising. Clayton came to Bates from Harvard, where she served for fifteen years on the university’s senior leadership team, including seven years as Vice President for Policy. At Bates, in addition to the Purposeful Work program, the college has established a program in Digital and Computational Studies; built a new, $50 million science center that houses state-of-the-art classrooms and labs for teaching and research; launched a $100 million initiative to increase the number of Pell and low-income students at Bates; and secured significant grant funding for initiatives focused on curricular transformation and inclusive pedagogy in STEM and the humanities. Before Harvard, Clayton worked for Senator Edward M. Kennedy as Chief Education Counsel in the United States Senate, and, prior to that, as an Assistant United States Attorney in the District of Massachusetts.

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Clayton serves on the Boards of the National Association of Independent Colleges and Universities, the Annapolis Group of Liberal Arts Colleges, and the Steering Committee of the Coalition for Life Transformative Education. She previously served on the Board of the American Council on Education, where she chaired the Public Policy Committee and was a member of the Executive Committee. She also served on the Board of the Institute for the International Education of Students.  She has served as a trustee of Williams College and Phillips Exeter Academy and on the Boards of the Maine Public Broadcasting Network and the Fund for the Improvement of Postsecondary Education of the U.S. Department of Education.

Clayton earned a J.D. from Yale Law School, bachelor’s degrees from Williams College and Oxford, and an M.A. from Harvard.

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Laura Walker, MBA 

President of Bennington College
Member of Mary Christie Institute Presidents’ Council

Laura R. Walker took office as the 11th president of Bennington College on August 1, 2020. Prior to this appointment, she was the President and CEO of New York Public Radio (NYPR), a position that she held for 23 years.

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Ms. Walker is a visionary, mission-oriented and strategic leader who spearheaded the transformation of NYPR  from two city-owned local stations to the nation’s largest independent non-profit public radio station group and a groundbreaking producer that serves more than 26 million people each month. Ms. Walker’s vision of fearless journalism that represents the breadth of American experiences helped establish the station’s role as one of the world’s preeminent podcast producers. During her tenure, NYPR was awarded ten George Foster Peabody awards and many other honors. Ms. Walker built a pioneering staff of innovative journalists and producers at NYPR, including the MacArthur genius Jad Abumrad and his colleagues at Radiolab, the investigative team that uncovered stop-and-frisk abuses under the Bloomberg administration, the great minds behind Freakonomics, and the artists-in-residence at WQXR. Behind NYPR’s superlative journalism was a sound and strategic long-term financial model. With regular reexaminations of the media landscape, NYPR was able to consistently adapt to shifting trends and stay ahead of challenges on the horizon. Ms. Walker led three separate five-year plan processes at NYPR, translating goals into executable tactics for program production, fundraising, and partnership-building. One measure of that success is the organization’s extraordinary growth from two city-owned radio stations with an $8 million budget and 1 million monthly listeners to an independent nonprofit with a $100 million annual budget, 26 million monthly listeners on 8 radio stations, 20 nationally distributed programs, and a staff of 500.

Ms. Walker began her professional career as a print journalist. She later moved to National Public Radio where she worked as a producer. She has also served as Vice President of Development at Sesame Workshop; and at Carnegie Hall, where she launched the award-winning series, AT&T Presents Carnegie Hall Tonight. Following her time at NYPR, she was an Executive Fellow in Residence at the Yale School of Management and an advisor to media startups and nonprofits.

Ms. Walker sits on the boards of The Commonwealth Fund, the Eagle Picher Trust, Yale University’s  Honorary Degree Committee and the President’s Advisory Council of Wesleyan University.

In 2009 and again in 2017, Ms. Walker was named by Crain’s as one of New York City’s 50 Most Powerful Women. She has been honored with an Edward R. Murrow Award from the Corporate for Public Broadcasting and a Distinguished Alumna Award by Wesleyan University. She was recognized in May 2020 with the honorable Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis Award by the Municipal Arts Society for her notable contribution to the public media landscape.

Ms. Walker holds an MBA from the Yale School of Management and a BA in History, magna cum laude, from Wesleyan University, where she was an Olin Scholar.

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David Yarlott, Jr, EdD 

President of Little Big Horn College 

Dr. David Yarlott, Jr. (Baluxx Xiassash or Outstanding Singer) currently serves as the President of Little Big Horn College (LBHC).  He has served in that capacity for over 20 years.  Dr. Yarlott is a member of the Crow Tribal Nation and is a member of the Greasy Mouth and Big Lodge Clans and also a child of the Greasy Mouth Clan.  He was raised on the Crow Indian Reservation in southcentral Montana.  He is a fluent speaker of the Crow language.  He enjoys participating in some of the tribal customs, ceremonies, and traditions.

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Little Big Horn College is a Tribal (Indigenous) College located in Crow Agency, Montana, USA on the Crow Indian Reservation.  Dr. Yarlott is a proud alumnus of Little Big Horn College.

 Dr. Yarlott serves on a number of Advisory Councils and Committees, such as; Chairman of the Board for the American Indian Higher Education Consortium (AIHEC), serves as the Chair for the AIHEC Athletic Commission, Board member with the American Indian College Fund, Montana Tribal College President’s Association, Commissioner for the Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities as an Executive Officer, Advisory Council member for the Montana Heritage Center, Advisory member for the National Leadership Initiative at Montana State University, serves as an International Indigenous Advisory Council member representing the USA for the World Indigenous Nation’s Games, assisted as an Indigenous Advisory Council member to develop the first ever World Indigenous Peoples Games held in Palmas, Brazil in 2015.  

 Previously before becoming the President of LBHC, Dr. Yarlott worked in the forestry field with the Crow Tribe, USFS and Bureau of Indian Affairs, mostly in wildland fire suppression for twenty-four seasons.  He has been a Warden for Fish & Wildlife, and was raised in a farm and ranch environment.  Currently, he and his wife Beth are ranchers raising cattle and horses, and raising two grand-children.  His involvements in youth activities have been in serving as a coach for sports, organizer of activities, advisor, presenter at workshops and seminars, and spearheading local fundraising activities.

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Experts and Special Guests

Amelia M. Arria, PhD

Amelia Arria, PhD

Director of the Center on Young Adult Health and Development at the University of Maryland School of Public Health and Associate Professor in the Department of Behavioral and Community Health

Amelia M. Arria, PhD is currently the Director of the Center on Young Adult Health and Development at the University of Maryland School of Public Health and an Associate Professor in the Department of Behavioral and Community Health. As a first-generation college student, she received a B.S. in Human Development from Cornell University, a Ph.D. in Epidemiology from the University of Pittsburgh School of Public Health and completed postdoctoral training at the Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health.

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She has authored more than 150 scientific peer-reviewed publications, numerous white papers and book chapters, and is the recipient of several major grant awards from foundations, and state and federal agencies. Her longstanding research career has focused on mental health and substance abuse among adolescents and young adults. She has also completed studies related to mental health service utilization, predictors of suicidal behavior, prenatal substance use, and evaluations of addiction treatment. In 2003, she was awarded a major grant from the National Institutes of Health to conduct a large longitudinal prospective study of health-risk behaviors among college students. That study has made major contributions to the scientific literature regarding the mental health needs of young adults and the risk factors and consequences of substance use among college students. Currently, a main focus area of her work is the connections among untreated mental health conditions, substance use and human capital, as measured by academic achievement, employment and health status. She is passionate about translating research findings for practical purposes to be used by parents, policy makers and educational professionals. She has a leadership role in the Maryland Collaborative to Reduce College Drinking and Related Problems, a policy initiative that brings together 14 universities in the state of Maryland to address the problem of excessive alcohol consumption and its consequences on their campuses and in their communities.

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Stephanie Bell-Rose, JD, MPA

Co-Founder and Board Co-President of The Steve Fund
Director of the Knight and MacArthur Foundations, the Association of Black Foundation Executives, and the Hispanic Scholarship Fund

Stephanie Bell-Rose is a corporate, governance, and finance professional who is a passionate advocate for mental health, and co-founder of The Steve Fund, a national organization promoting mental health and emotional well-being of young people of color. She is a director of the Knight and MacArthur Foundations, the Association of Black Foundation Executives, and the Hispanic Scholarship Fund.

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Stephanie served as Senior Managing Director at TIAA, and Managing Director at Goldman Sachs, where she was founding President of the Goldman Sachs Foundation. She was Legal Counsel and Program Officer at the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, and is a member of the Independent Directors Council, the Council on Foreign Relations and the Executive Leadership Council. Stephanie received JD, MPA and AB degrees from Harvard University

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Hollie Chessman, PhD

Director of Research and Practice at the American Council on Education (ACE)

Hollie M. Chessman is the director of research and practice and the resident college student mental health and well-being expert at the American Council on Education (ACE). Chessman joined ACE in December 2018, bringing almost 20 years of professional experience in higher education.

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Prior to her current role at ACE, she was the director of research projects at the Council of Independent Colleges and a postdoctoral associate at ACE. Chessman earned her PhD from George Mason University in 2015, prior to which she spent 17 years as a student affairs professional serving in various roles and institutions—including 10 years in housing and residence life. Her primary interests include college student mental health and well-being, student affairs professional well-being, graduate student choice, and organizational change and leadership.

Chessman worked for over six years at George Mason University leading organizational change in the housing and residence life department. She implemented a training and professional development curriculum for staff, directly supervised five professional staff responsible for 12 professional resident directors and 142 student staff, and established key relationships with university support services. Chessman served in the primary role of interfacing with frontline housing staff and university support services to address mental health concerns, crisis management, and incident response. Her role on the campus case management team with counseling and conduct staff was instrumental in managing the many issues that arose on a campus of over 4,500 residents. Prior to George Mason University, she also worked at Loyola University New Orleans, Lake Erie College, Tulane University, and Kent State University.

Chessman’s dissertation research focused on the well-being of student affairs professionals. With a sample of over 2,100 professionals, she was able to discern the level of well-being of the student affairs respondents, along with analyzing the significant impact work has on their well-being. This research yielded proposals to present at national conferences, including those of the American Educational Research Association, American College Personnel Association, NASPA – Student Affairs Administrators in Higher Education, and the Association for the Study of Higher Education. It has also been published in the January 2021 issue of the Journal of Student Affairs Research and Practice.

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Micheal Cohen, PhD

Director of Student Counseling, Disability Services Coordinator, and Thesis Advisor at Glasgow Caledonian New York College (GCNYC)
President of Michael Cohen Group, LLC

Michael Cohen, PhD is Director of Student Counseling at Glasgow Caledonian New York College (GCNYC), and President of the Michael Cohen Group, LLC (MCG), a research and evaluation firm. A research psychologist, clinician and educator, Dr Cohen has extensive experience in the areas of mental health and wellbeing; crisis response and communication; assessment and evaluation; media-based learning and education; and life-span development. Dr Cohen conducts applied and scientific studies, often in complex and challenging social environments, and develops new and innovative research designs. Based on timely research, Michael provides in-depth profiles of youth, adolescent and young adult cohorts.

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Dr. Cohen has recently developed a new Mental Health & Wellbeing Model at Bennington College, conducted a college-wide mental health needs assessment; convened a symposium of higher education experts; and prepared a higher education mental health landscape review. Working with the Endeavor Foundation Lab Colleges Presidents (ELC), Dr Cohen is currently developing innovative designs for multi-college collaborations.

Dr. Cohen has thirty years of experience in crisis communications and trauma response. In the immediate aftermath of the 9/11 WTC attack, Michael was Senior Crisis Communications Consultant to the NYC Mayor & Administration and the NYC Board of Education Chancellor. Additionally, Dr. Cohen was Principal Investigator of the large-scale, seminal study “The Effects of the 9/11 Terrorist Attacks on the Mental Health of Public-School Children”. 

Dr. Cohen provides research, evaluation and consulting services to clients in the private, public and non-profit sectors, including the US Department of Education; the USDA Food and Nutrition Service; FEMA; The European Commission; Apple; You Tube; Microsoft; LEGO; The College Board; Bloomberg Philanthropies; the Onassis Foundation, and PBS. 

Dr. Cohen serves on the board of the Children’s Museum of Manhattan (CMOM), is widely published and is an active member of the American Psychological Association (APA) and the American Counseling Association (ACA). Dr. Cohen has taught at the Yale School of Management and the City University of New York (CUNY). Prior to establishing MCG, Dr. Cohen was President of Applied Research and Consulting LLC (ARC) and KRC Research Sawyer Miller Group. Dr. Cohen holds a PhD in Psychology from the Graduate Center of the City University of New York.

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Jan Collins-Eaglin, PhD

National Senior Advisor for The Steve Fund

Dr. Jan Collins-Eaglin serves as the for the Steve Fund. At the Steve Fund she serves as a Campus Coach, university consultant, speaker, co-leader for the Equity in Mental Health Framework project, and webinar presenter on mental health and wellness resources and programs for BIPOC students. She is a national organizational effectiveness consultant and coach.

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She was the Senior Associate Dean of Students for Wellness and Personal Success, coordinator of Behavioral Assessment program, manager of academic standards committees and the Disability Coordinator for Pomona College. Her responsibilities included for managing mental health and wellness initiatives for students, liaison to the Counseling Center, provided staff and faculty development about curricular and co-curricular mental health programs, and managed all ADA cases. She also served as the Intergroup Dialogue consultant for the college.  Prior to Pomona College, she was the Director of the Michigan State University Counseling Center that included alcohol support services, sexual assault counseling and Testing center. At Wayne State University Dr Eaglin directed the Student Support Services – which included Counseling and Psychological Services, Disability Services and the Academic Success Center. She is a senior advisor for the National College Depression Partnership and senior facilitator of 20X30 Transformation Project.

Dr. Collins Eaglin is active nationally in professional organizations such as the American Psychological Association and was chair of the Section for College and University Counseling Center in Division 17. She also served on the accreditation board of the International Association of Counseling Centers. 

As a graduate of the University of Michigan Combined Program in Education and Psychology, she was an American Psychological Association Minority Fellow and Center for Education of Women Fellow.

Her research is on depression among African American women. She developed nationwide mental health programs for African American women through Alpha Kappa Alpha, Inc., and The Links, Incorporated, both international African American women’s community service organizations. For both organizations, she consults on interpersonal dynamics within chapters and provides workshops and seminars on helping chapters and members thrive personally and through community service.

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Eleanor JB Daugherty, EdD 

Vice President for Student Affairs at Georgetown University 

For more than two decades, Dr. Daugherty has engaged in all aspects of student life from admissions to advising as well as alumni relations at multiple institutions. She shares a deep knowledge of the student experience and unwavering care for students’ wellbeing.

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Before joining Georgetown, Dr. Daugherty served as the Associate Vice President for Student Affairs and Dean of Students at the University of Connecticut (UConn) where she spent the last eight years working with campus partners as well as legislative partners to improve student experience on various matters including mental health and wellbeing, Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA), and Title IX compliance. She also has experience teaching graduate level courses in UConn’s Higher Education and Student Affairs program, which is focused on developing reflective practitioners in student affairs.

Prior to her time at the University of Connecticut, Dr. Daugherty worked as the Assistant Vice President for Student Life and Associate Dean of the College for Student Life and Alumni Affairs at the University of Chicago. In this role, she developed and led a comprehensive leadership program that provided students with opportunities to develop and practice leadership skills in ways that might inform their approach to achieving their personal, academic, and professional goals.

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Eugenie Dieck, MBA 

Vice President for Strategy at Georgetown University

Eugenie Dieck joined Georgetown University in September 2017 as the Vice President for Strategy. In this role, she collaborates with leadership, faculty, staff, and donors to consider the future actions and investments of the University.

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Previously, Ms. Dieck served as a Senior Partner for Korn Ferry Leadership and Talent Consulting, based in Philadelphia.  Ms. Dieck joined Korn Ferry from Marsh & McLennan Companies, where she was a partner in various consulting entities.

She began her career in the public health/social services sectors, with VISTA (Volunteers in Service to America), working with underserved youth and then as a program manager for the first Medicaid health maintenance organization. 

Ms. Dieck earned a BA from Harvard College and a MBA from The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. She is a member of the YWCA Academy of Women Leaders.

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Carson Domey

Student at the University of Texas Austin

Carson Domey, 18, is a youth mental health advocate from Massachusetts. Growing up with a rare chronic illness, Carson began his legislative advocacy at the Massachusetts State House at the age of 11 years old while seeking to expand access to telehealth services in the commonwealth. Following the loss of a friend to suicide in 2018, he began advocating for cost-effective policy solutions to promote widespread education about mental health in educational settings. Carson is currently working with legislators on the state and federal levels to pass legislation to remove barriers to accessing mental healthcare and to expand resources within school systems.

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Carson is a freshman at the University of Texas at Austin, studying Economics and Government. In his free time, he enjoys flying and rooting on Boston’s sports teams.

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Mary Jane England, MD

Professor of Health Policy & Management at the Boston University School of Public Health
Member of Mary Christie Institute Board of Directors

Dr. Mary Jane England is a Professor of Health Policy & Management at the Boston University School of Public Health. She served as President of Regis College in Weston, Massachusetts from 2001 to 2011.

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From 1990 to 2001, she served as President of the Washington Business Group on Health. Prior to 1990, she served as Vice President of Prudential Insurance Co., Associate Dean at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard, Commissioner of Social Services, and Associate Commissioner of Mental Health in Massachusetts.

For over ten years, Dr. England served as the President of the Washington Business Group on Health, which is a non-profit devoted to representing the interest of large employers on national health policy issues.

Additionally, Dr. England serves on the board of NSF International, which is a non-profit involved in standards development, product certification, education and risk-management for public health and safety and the Tramuto Foundation, which focuses on awarding annual college scholarships to graduating seniors who have successfully overcome a difficult situation in their life. She recently retired from the Tivity Health Board of Directors after serving for 13 years.

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Ashley Finley, PhD

Vice President for Research and Senior Advisor to the President at the American Association of Colleges and Universities (AAC&U)

Ashley Finley is the vice president for research and senior advisor to the president at the American Association of Colleges and Universities (AAC&U). She was previously associate vice president for academic affairs and founding dean of the Dominican Experience at Dominican University of California and national evaluator for Bringing Theory to Practice.

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Currently, Dr. Finley oversees AAC&U’s research agenda through the coordination of projects and reports on pressing issues in higher education. She also advises on strategic initiatives to support member campuses. Dr. Finley’s campus engagements focus on aligning learning outcomes, vocational exploration, and assessment with students’ holistic development and equity. Her publications include, How College Contributes to Workforce Success; A Comprehensive Approach to Assessment of High-Impact Practices; “A Comprehensive Approach to Assessing high-Impact Practices,” and “Well-Being: An Essential Outcome for Higher Education.” Finley received a BA from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and an MA and PhD, both in sociology, from the University of Iowa.

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Terry Fulmer, PhD, RN, FAAN

President of The John A. Hartford Foundation
Member of Mary Christie Institute Board of Directors

Terry Fulmer, PhD, RN, FAAN, is the President of the John A Hartford Foundation in New York City, a foundation dedicated to improving the care of older adults. Founded in 1929, the Foundation has a current endowment of $565 million and is world renowned for philanthropy devoted exclusively to the health of older adults.

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She serves as the chief strategist for Foundation giving and is also the chief spokesperson for advancing the Foundation mission.

She previously served as Distinguished Professor and Dean of the Bouve College of Health Sciences & Professor of Public Policy and Urban Affairs in the College of Social Sciences and Humanities at Northeastern University, and prior as the Erline Perkins McGriff Professor of Nursing and founding Dean of the New York University College of Nursing. She received her bachelor’s degree from Skidmore College, her master’s and doctoral degrees from Boston College and her Geriatric Nurse Practitioner Post-Master’s Certificate from New York University. She is an elected member of the National Academy of Medicine (formerly the Institute of Medicine).

Dr. Fulmer is nationally and internationally recognized as a leading expert in geriatrics and is best known for her research on the topic of elder abuse and neglect which has been funded by the National Institute on Aging and the National Institute for Nursing Research. She is a trustee for the Josiah Macy Jr Foundation, the Clark Foundation and the Bassett Healthcare System. She previously served as the Chair of the National Advisory Committee for the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Executive Nurse Fellows Program, and held board positions at Skidmore College, the Institute for Healthcare Improvement, the Geriatrics and Gerontology Advisory Committee for the Veterans Administration and the Advisory Board for Hong Kong Polytechnic University School of Nursing.

She has received many prestigious awards and invitations for named lectureships from noted universities. She has held faculty appointments at Columbia University, where she held the Anna Maxwell Chair in Nursing, and she has also held appointments at Boston College, Yale University, and the Harvard Division on Aging. She has also served as a visiting professor of nursing at the University of Pennsylvania and Case Western University.

Dr. Fulmer is dedicated to the advancement of intraprofessional science, education and practice that advances the health of older adults. Her clinical appointments have included the Beth Israel Hospital in Boston, the Massachusetts General Hospital, and the NYU-Langone Medical Center. She is an attending nurse and senior nurse in the Munn Center for Nursing Research at the Massachusetts General Hospital. She is a Fellow in the American Academy of Nursing, the Gerontological Society of America, and the New York Academy of Medicine where she served as vice-chair. She completed a Brookdale National Fellowship and is a Distinguished Practitioner of the National Academies of Practice. She has served as the first nurse on the board of the American Geriatrics Society and as the first nurse to serve as president of the Gerontological Society of America.

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Maurice L. Hall, PhD

Provost, Bennington College

Maurice L. Hall, Ph.D. joined Bennington College as Provost in July 2021. He earned a B.A. in Literature with honors from the University of the West Indies at Mona in Jamaica; a post graduate certificate in Journalism from Westminster University in London, England; and an M.A. and Ph.D. in Communication from Howard University in Washington, D.C.

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In his research and applied work, Dr. Hall focuses on the social organizing of culture in the United States and in Jamaica, examining the intersections of public communication, media and the arts. He has written several book chapters and scholarly essays for academic journals such as Howard Journal of Communications and Management Communication Quarterly on topics related to leadership, cross-cultural communication, and the postcolonial culture of Jamaica.

Dr. Hall has won awards for both teaching and research, including sharing a Best Book Award in 2012 for Re-Constructing Place and Space: Media, Power, and Identity in the Constitution of a Caribbean Diaspora.

As a Department Chair at Villanova University and as a Dean at The College of New Jersey, Dr. Hall collaborated with staff, students and faculty to introduce innovative academic programs that changed and extended the curriculum at these institutions and led the process to design new facilities that significantly enhanced each academic program. In both roles, Dr. Hall worked to raise significant money for scholarships, for supporting the work of the faculty and for building endowed funds to facilitate strategic thinking and planning.

Dr. Hall is on the editorial board of Management Communication Quarterly, a premier, peer-reviewed scholarly journal with an international readership focusing on leadership, communication and organizational studies.  Dr. He has consulted with a variety of organizations nationally and internationally, including Ethiopian Airlines in Ethiopia, the US Agency for International Development (USAID) in Washington D.C. and Malawi, East Africa and The Human Resources Management Association of Jamaica (HRMAJ) in Kingston, Jamaica, over the past 23 years on issues ranging from diversity management to leadership training.

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David C. Henderson, MD

Psychiatrist-in-Chief at Boston Medical Center
Professor and Chair of Psychiatry at Boston University School of Medicine
Member of Mary Christie Institute Board of Directors

David C. Henderson, MD, currently serves as Psychiatrist-in-Chief at Boston Medical Center and Professor and Chair of Psychiatry at Boston University School of Medicine.

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Dr. Henderson previously served as Director of The Chester M. Pierce, MD Division of Global Psychiatry at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH), Director of the MGH Schizophrenia Clinical and Research Program, and Medical Director of the Harvard Program in Refugee Trauma.

He also worked for Massachusetts Institute of Technology Health Services for 10 years. Presently, Dr. Henderson serves as Co-Director of the NIMH T32 Boston University School of Medicine (BUSM)/Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) Global Mental Health Clinical Research Fellowship. He has worked internationally for the past 25 years in resource-limited settings, and areas impacted by mass violence, disasters and complex emergencies.

Dr. Henderson has conducted research and training programs in Bosnia, Cambodia, East Timor, Ethiopia, Haiti, Liberia, New Orleans, New York City, Rwanda and Peru, South Africa, and Somaliland among other places. His work has consisted of field studies, needs assessments, mental health policy development and strategic planning, quantitative and qualitative surveys, mental health capacity building programs for specialized and primary health professionals, and skill-transfer program evaluation. In the United States, he has conducted more than 30 randomized clinical trials in severely mentally ill populations.

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Marcus Hotaling, PhD

Director, Eppler-Wolff Counseling Center, Union College
President, Association for University and College Counseling Center Directors

Marcus Hotaling, PhD received his bachelor’s degree from Alfred University in 1995 and his doctorate in counseling psychology in 2001 from the University at Albany.  He completed his doctoral internship at the Northampton Veteran’s Affairs Hospital and UMass Amherst’s Counseling Center.  Marcus has worked in a variety of higher educational settings, starting his career as the Assistant Director at University of Albany’s Career Development Center in 2001 before joining Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute as a psychologist and Outreach Coordinator in 2003.  He has been the Counseling Center Director at Union since July 2007.

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Marcus is active in local and national psychological organizations, serving as the Mental Health Chair and Secretary for the American College Health Association (ACHA), the Mental Health Chair and President of the New York State College Health Association (NYSCHA), and served on the board and is the current president for the Association for University of University and College Counseling Center Directors (AUCCCD).  He currently leads the Mentoring Program for AUCCCD and a Resiliency Task Force for ACHA. 

His research and professional presentations have focused on social networking and its impact on professional ethics and generational differences, medication use and abuse, behavioral intervention teams, mentoring, and resilience, teaching a course at Union College called “The Practical Side of Struggle.”

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Gloria Larson, JD

President Emeritus of Bentley University
Chair of the Mary Christie Institute Board of Directors

Gloria Cordes Larson is a respected lawyer, public policy expert, Boston business leader, and former university president. Immediately following her eleven year tenure as President of Bentley University, Larson served as President in Residence at the Harvard Graduate School of Education from July 2018 through June 2019.

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She currently serves as a director on two public company boards, Unum Group and Boston Private, as well as on the boards of two private companies, reacHIRE and Christie Campus Health.

In addition, she is a member of the boards of several national and regional non-profit organizations, including McLean Hospital, the MA Conference for Women, and the executive committees of the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce and the Boston Chapter of the National Association of Corporate Directors.

From 2007 until June 2018, Larson served as the President of Bentley University, located in Waltham, MA. During her tenure, Bentley achieved university status, further deepened its distinctive integration of business and the liberal arts, was named a Top 10 undergraduate business school by Bloomberg Businessweek, and was ranked #1 in the country for both career services and internship programs by The Princeton Review. In 2011, Larson launched the Center for Women and Business (CWB) at the university, with a stated mission to advance women in the organizational world. The Bentley Board of Trustees named the CWB in her honor when she stepped down from her role as president. While at Bentley, Larson also authored the book PreparedU: How Innovative Colleges Prepare Students for Success, published in 2016 by Jossey-Bass, a division of Wiley.

Before joining Bentley, Larson had a wide ranging career in law, public policy and business. She served as a partner and Co-chair of the Government Strategies Group at the Boston based law firm, Foley Hoag, LLP; as Secretary of Consumer Affairs and Business Regulation, and later as Secretary of Economic Affairs, under Massachusetts Governor William F. Weld; and as Deputy Director of Consumer Protection for the Federal Trade Commission in Washington.

Larson has received numerous awards and honors throughout her career, including being named multiple times to the “Power 50” by both the Boston Business Journal and Boston Magazine, as well as to The Commonwealth Institute’s roster of the Boston Globe Magazine’s Top 100 Women-led businesses in Massachusetts. In 2018, she was awarded the Ellen M. Zane Award for Visionary Leadership from Tufts Medical Center. More recently, she received a Woman of the Year Award from the Wentworth Institute of Technology and was named one of the University of Virginia School of Law’s One Hundred Change Agents, recognizing those alumni who have made a distinctive impact in the world over the course of the law school’s 200 year history.

Larson received her Bachelor of Arts with honors from Vassar College and earned her Juris Doctorate from the University of Virginia School of Law. She is the recipient of Honorary Doctorate of Laws degrees from Northeastern University and Wachusetts Community College. Married to attorney Allen Larson, the couple resides in Yarmouthport, MA and Isle of Palms, SC, along with English Labs Olive and Sally.

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Joselyn Schultz Lewis, MA

Director of Inclusive Pedagogy at Georgetown University 

Joselyn Schultz Lewis is an educator, facilitator, and educational developer focused on inclusive and equity-focused teaching and learning. She serves as the Senior Associate Director for Inclusive Teaching and Learning Initiatives at Georgetown’s Center for New Designs in Learning and Scholarship (CNDLS). In this role, she works with faculty, graduate students, departments, and programs on inclusive pedagogies, pedagogical and curricular innovation, facilitating difficult discussions, and designing approaches to well-being and whole student learning. Her passion for teaching and learning began in her early professional experiences as a K-12 educator for English Language Learners in multicultural and multilingual schools.

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At CNDLS, Joselyn is the co-lead for the Engelhard Project for Connecting Life and Learning, an innovative Georgetown program for integrating student well-being issues into academic contexts. She also co-leads the university’s Learning, Equity, Access, and Pedagogy (LEAP) Initiative, a whole-institution approach to strengthening inclusive pedagogical practices. Her research interests include the impact of pedagogical interventions on student learning, facilitation of experiential and practice-based learning, trauma-informed pedagogy, and sustainable educational development practices.

Joselyn earned her M.A. in Communication, Culture, and Technology from Georgetown University and also holds a B.A. in Religious Studies from Davidson College. She is currently pursuing her Masters in Social Work, Clinical Practice from Boston University School of Social Work. Beyond her work in higher ed, Joselyn loves time and adventures with her family—on hikes, on bikes, in the garden, traveling and exploring, doing creative projects, and trying new recipes together.

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Sarah Ketchen Lipson, PhD, EdM

Assistant Professor at the Department of Health Law Policy and Management at the Boston University School of Public Health
Co-Principal Investigator of the Healthy Minds Study

Member of Mary Christie Institute Board of Directors

Sarah Ketchen Lipson is an assistant professor in the Department of Health Law Policy and Management at the Boston University School of Public Health. She is also co-Principal Investigator of the national Healthy Minds Study, an annual survey of undergraduate and graduate student mental health and related factors.

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Sarah completed a dual-PhD at University of Michigan in Health Services Organization and Policy at the School of Public Health and Higher Education at the School of Education, where she was awarded best dissertation of the year. She received her bachelor’s degree from Tufts University, her master’s from Harvard University, and was a Fulbright scholar. Sarah teaches a range of graduate-level research courses at the Boston University School of Public Health.

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Marjorie Malpiede, MPA

Executive Director of the Mary Christie Institute 

Marjorie Malpiede is Executive Director of the Mary Christie Institute, Editor of the Mary Christie Quarterly, and host of the Quadcast.

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As a journalist and strategist, Ms. Malpiede has over thirty years of leadership experience in the public, private and non-profit sectors. She has advised public agencies, campaigns, private companies and non-profit organizations on policy, communications, and government relations. From 2007 to 2013, Ms. Malpiede was the Vice President of Programming and Public Affairs for MassINC and CommonWealth magazine, a non-partisan research organization and policy journal. Before then, she spent twelve years as the Vice President of Public Affairs at The MENTOR Network, a national health and human services company based in Boston. She began her career at BOSTON Magazine and later worked in state government as a press aid and speechwriter. Ms. Malpiede has a Masters in Public Affairs from the McCormack Graduate School of Policy and Global Studies at UMass Boston and a BS from Drew University..

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Zainab Okolo, EdD

Strategy Officer at Lumina Foundation

Zainab Okolo, EdD, is a strategy officer at Lumina Foundation, an independent, private foundation in Indianapolis that is committed to making opportunities for learning beyond high school available to all. In that role, works to support the creation of a system in which student success and credential attainment are scaled up significantly, particularly at four-year institutions.

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Okolo previously served as an associate on HCM Strategists’ postsecondary team, where she worked on policy issues such as competency-based education and recognition of prior learning. Prior to that, she contributed to both higher education and the mental health of young adults through her institutional work and clinical practice.

Okolo has spent time studying free speech on college campuses, the impact of cultural competency and social capital on student outcomes, and reducing prison recidivism through prison education. She has also developed assessment tools for institutional practitioners and has served as a licensed clinical marriage and family therapist.

She holds a bachelor’s degree in family and consumer sciences from the University of Maryland, a master’s in marriage and family therapy and counseling from Syracuse University, and a doctorate in higher education administration from George Washington University

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Narcisa A. Polonio, EdD

President of Narcisa Inc.
Executive Team Leader for Community College Practice at Greenwood/Asher & Associates, Inc.
Senior Advisor on the Mental Health needs of students of Color for the Steve Fund

Narcisa A. Polonio, Ed.D., was the former Executive Vice President of Education, Research & Board Leadership Services at the Association of Community College Trustees (ACCT). Serving ACCT for 18 years, Narcisa is recognized for having a long and distinguished history of providing outstanding services to boards of governance, presidents, chancellors, State systems throughout the country. She provided direction for the ACCT’s annual leadership Congress, publications, research projects and leadership services including Retreat Service; Presidential Search Service; the Governance Leadership Institute; and New & Experienced Trustees Institutes. She is currently associated with the Greenwood/Asher & Associate, Inc., a nationally recognized university executive recruitment firm. She also serves as a Senior Advisor to the Steve Fund, a nonprofit organization dedicated to addressing the mental health needs of students of color in colleges and universities.

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Dr. Polonio directed The Trustees for Student Success national initiative, which seeks to increase the engagement of community college trustees and governing boards in the student success movement. This initiative includes the nationally acclaimed Governance Institute for Student Success (GISS). She provided 

leadership to several different initiativesincluding: the Trustee Education Webinar Series, Governance Recognition Program, and Completion Symposia; supported by grants from the Kresge Foundation, Lumina Foundation, StradaNetwork, William & Melinda Gates Foundation, and corporate contributions.

Dr. Polonio previously served as the Chief Operating Officer for Replication and Program Strategies, Inc. (RPS) in Philadelphia, PA, and President of Harcum College (PA) and Hudson County Community College (NJ). Other previous positions include Director of the Office of Community Colleges, New

Jersey Department of Higher Education. Dr. Polonio served for seven years as a faculty member for the Institute for Educational Management, Graduate School of Education, Harvard University. In addition, she served in State government for over 9 years.

She has an extensive list of publications and speaks throughout the country on issues related to governance, leadership, and equity and inclusion.  Dr. Polonio attended Foothill Community College, CA and holds a BA in History from San Jose State University (CA), an MA from Stanford University (CA), and an Ed.D. from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst.

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Zoe Ragouzeos, PhD, LCSW

Executive Director of Counseling and Wellness Services at New York University
Chief Clinical Officer of the Mary Christie Institute

Member of Mary Christie Institute Board of Directors

Zoe Ragouzeos is the Chief Clinical Officer of the Mary Christie Institute. She is Executive Director of Counseling and Wellness Services at New York University, where she oversees the mental health services as well as the sexual misconduct support services for the over 40,000 students.

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She was hired in summer 2004 to start the “Wellness Exchange”, a set of programs and services that respond to the varied wellness needs of students. At its core, the Wellness Exchange offers the NYU community a clinically-staffed hotline that offers counseling support over the telephone as well as access to face-to-face emergency response services 24/7. The hotline receives tens of thousands of calls each year from students themselves but also from their friends, parents, faculty, staff and others who care about their wellbeing. The NYU Wellness Exchange also recruits and trains other Student Affairs and University partners including Athletics, Public Safety, LGBTQ Student Services and faculty from all around the University thereby building a “web of support” for students beyond the walls of the Student Health Center.

From 2004-2009, Dr. Ragouzeos created a significant Emergency Response Service at NYU including a 60 hour/week walk-in service and the Crisis Response Counselor program modeled after NYC Mobile Crisis. These services significantly augmented the support being provided by the traditional Counseling and Behavioral Health Services already in place. In 2009, Dr. Ragouzeos united the two units creating the current “NYU Counseling and Wellness Services”. This service offers approximately 40K visits each year including short term counseling, group treatment, psychiatry services, workshops and emergency interventions.

Given the vast global presence of NYU, Dr. Ragouzeos currently oversees a clinical team of full time NYU staff in 12 countries.

In 2014, Dr. Ragouzeos created the Center for Sexual Misconduct Support Services which seeks to coordinate wrap-around health, mental health, academic, housing, safety and other support services to survivors of sexual misconduct.

Dr. Ragouzeos is a clinical social worker licensed in the state of New York and holds a Ph.D. in Social Work from New York University.

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Nance Roy, EdD

Chief Clinical Officer for The Jed Foundation

Dr. Nance Roy serves as the Chief Clinical Office of the Jed Foundation and is an Assistant Clinical Professor at the Yale School of Medicine, Dept. of Psychiatry.  She earned a bachelor’s degree from the University of Rhode Island, a master’s degree from the University of North Carolina and her doctorate from Harvard University.

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Dr. Roy has over 30 years of experience as a psychologist working in college mental health.  She served as the Assistant Dean of Health and Wellness at Sarah Lawrence College and most recently was the Associate Dean of Health and Wellness at Rhode Island School of Design. Publications have focused on effective strategies for promoting emotional well-being among teens and young adults as well as treatment and management of at-risk students on college campuses.  She has been actively involved in strategic planning initiatives focusing on a holistic approach to education, crisis management and a public health model for delivery of care in high schools and on college campuses.  Dr. Roy is a senior advisor for the National College Depression Partnership, serves on the Mental Health Task Force for the Ruderman Foundation and has worked on mental health initiatives with the Surgeon General, the Higher Education Mental Health Alliance, the Department of Defense, The Veteran’s Administration, the Milken Institute, the Clinton Health Matters Initiative and college and university systems across the country.

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Allison J. Smith, MPA

Director of Health Strategy and Outcomes at New York University

Allison J Smith, M.P.A., is the Director of Health Strategy and Outcomes at New York University. Additionally, she co-founded and co-leads the Action Network for Equitable Wellbeing.  Her focus is on the use of network approaches and structured methods for changemaking to spark innovation, translate knowledge into practice, and accelerate measurable improvement of population health and toward equitable wellbeing in higher education settings. Allison has been awarded external funding to design and lead several groundbreaking national improvement collaboratives that support colleges and universities in advancing transformational change to improve student health and wellbeing outcomes.

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She has also received national recognition for facilitating impactful partnerships and systems change at NYU, including university-wide efforts to address equity gaps within the NYU LGBTQ+ student community, and developing new strategies to activate college students to be engaged in their own health and the health of their communities. Allison is an appointed member of the American College Health Association’s National College Health Assessment (ACHA-NCHA) Advisory Committee, served as Chair of the ACHA Healthy Campus 2020 Coalition,  co-authored revisions to the Council for the Advancement of Standards in Higher Education (CAS) Health Promotion Standards, and is a frequent speaker at national and regional conferences. Previously, Allison developed a nationally recognized school based asthma education curriculum, and she testified before a United States Congressional Committee about the importance of passing H.R. 2023—Asthmatic Schoolchildren’s Treatment and Health Management (ASTHMA Act) of 2004.

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Peter Twichell, MA

Program Officer at Ruderman Family Foundation

Peter Twichell is program officer for youth mental health at the Ruderman Family Foundation in Boston.  He has more than 20 years of experience designing, managing, and evaluating youth and community development programs in North America , Europe, Africa, the Middle East, and the Caribbean. His focus has been on engaging youth and young adults using the principles of Positive Youth Development for mental health and wellness, economic empowerment, civic engagement, education, peacebuilding, social justice, environmental stewardship, leadership development, and community asset building.

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He played a leading role in the scaling of the federally funded YouthBuild program in 14 countries including the U.S., South Africa, Haiti, Bosnia, Canada, and the United Kingdom.  Since then, he directed the Edna McConnell Clark Foundation’s PropelNext program strengthening U.S. youth-serving organizations, and has consulted to a wide range of government, foundation, non-profit, and corporate partners in the research and development of youth programs.  

Peter has a master’s degree in international and intercultural management from World Learning/School for International Training.

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Eric Wood, PhD, LPC

Director of Counseling and Mental Health at Texas Christian University 

Dr. Eric Wood currently serves as the Director of Counseling & Mental Health at Texas Christian University. He has over 13 years of experience in college mental health, including previously serving on the governance board of the National College Depression Partnership and being a peer reviewer for the Journal of American College Health.

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He’s a frequent presenter at national conferences, provides consultations with various colleges and universities, and a former diversity scholar of the Association of University and College Counseling Center Directors. He successfully authored two federal grants with the Department of Health & Human Services, and has helped secured almost $1 million in external funding to TCU in order to expand clinical programs and services on campus. Dr. Wood founded TCU’s Comprehensive Collaborative Care Model and helped trained over 100 colleges and universities to implement various aspects of this model. He has been mentioned in publications such as the Texas Tribune, the Fort Worth Star-telegram, US News & World Report, The Chronical of Higher Education, Insider Higher Education, Harvard Business Review, and The New York Times.

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Jennifer Woolard, PhD

Professor and Chair of the Psychology Department at Georgetown University

A Professor of psychology and adjunct professor of law at Georgetown University, Jennifer Woolard began her career at the National Victims Resource Center. While obtaining her doctoral degree in developmental and community psychology at the University of Virginia she also served as a victim-witness volunteer in the county police department, a staff member to the Virginia Commission on Family Violence Prevention, and a consultant with Virginians Against Domestic Violence (now Virginia Sexual and Domestic Violence Action Alliance).

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She then joined the MacArthur Foundation Research Network on Adolescent Development and Juvenile Justice and became an assistant professor at the University of Florida’s Center for Studies in Criminology and Law. In 2002 she joined the psychology faculty at Georgetown University. Her research and action laboratory, the Georgetown Community Research Group, studies individual and family experiences with systems of care and control in order to create fair, effective, and just legal processes. Projects examine how youth and parents understand the right to remain silent, the right to an attorney, and the right to a trial. Her lab is the evaluation partner for the Youth In Custody Practice Model initiative, which helps juvenile correctional institutions implement evidence-informed and developmentally-appropriate practices. Dr. Woolard has testified as an expert before federal and state legislatures as well as in criminal cases. She has presented her research findings to a wide variety of academic, legal, and policy audiences, and won several awards for teaching excellence, including the Dean’s Award for Teaching Excellence. She currently serves as chair of the Psychology Department.

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