Special Presenters

 

Sarah J. Bauder is chief transformation officer at the Office of the Chancellor, Pennsylvania’s State System of Higher Education. Prior to joining PASSHE, she was a senior program officer at the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, where she was responsible for researching and developing innovative solutions to increase access, retention and graduation for low-income and marginalized students. She also was chief transformation officer at SHRM, the Society for Human Resource Management; and CEO and founder of The Alecxih Group, which specializes in helping institutions develop innovative student success programs to improve student outcomes by providing financial aid strategy assessment, emergency aid program development, strategies for scholarship programs, and more. 

Irene Skolnick was born in Przemysl, Poland in 1937. She and her family came under Nazi occupation on June 22, 1941, when Hitler attacked the U.S.S.R. Later that year her family was forced to move into the ghetto. In order to survive, her family obtained false papers and passed themselves off as Catholic Poles. They left the ghetto in August 1942, just as the Nazis began deportations from Poland. After living in France for several years, the family came to the United States when Irene was 14 years old. Today, she enjoys her children and grandchildren, auditing classes at the University of Pittsburgh, and spending time outdoors in Florida.

Session Presenters

TOPIC: How to Reverse Grads’ Underemployment Conundrum

Richard J. Scholl is a tenure-track instructor at West Chester University of Pennsylvania and the author of How to Write Killer Cover Letters & Resumes. 

TOPIC: Identifying and Managing Stress for Student Success

Dr. Amy Eperthener is an assistant professor and assistant chair in the Health and Physical Education Department at Edinboro University of Pennsylvania, where she has taught for 10 years. She is a proud product of the State System of Higher Education. Her areas of interest and expertise include athletic training, health and safety in youth sports, academic support in athletics, stress and coping skills in college students, and compassion fatigue.

Dr. Laura Miller is a professor and coordinator of the health and wellness studies program in the Health and Physical Education Department at Edinboro University, with 25+ years of teaching experience at the collegiate level. Her major areas of interest and expertise include relationship violence, human sexuality and health behavior. She has presented at the local, state, regional and national levels in a variety of health content areas, and has had articles published in the Journal of American College Health, Journal of Family Violence, Contraception, and the Pennsylvania Journal of Health, Physical Education, Recreation and Dance. Miller is dedicated to quality teaching, mentoring students, and serving her EU colleagues through APSCUF and other meaningful committee work.

TOPIC: Environmental Influences and Social Service Practice 

Taylor Phillips is a graduating senior in the Bachelor of Social Work program at PennWest California. She is completing her practicum with the Crime Victims Center of Fayette County, where she is gaining firsthand experience regarding the impacts of intersectionality and cultural diversity on rural social work. Phillips plans to pursue a Master of Social Work degree in the near future before engaging in community-level social work practice.

TOPIC: The B in LGBTQIA+: A Continuous Fight for Visibility and Validation

Melanie Morenz is a graduate student at Bloomsburg University of Pennsylvania. She expects to graduate in 2020 with an M.Ed. in Educational Leadership - College Student Affairs. Her career goal is to work with first-year programs or learning communities targeting students transitioning to college, aiding in retention services, and supporting a successful first-year experience for students. She is passionate about inclusivity, especially in the LGBTQIA+ community, and highlighting identities that are underrepresented and disadvantaged.

Christopher Wounderly is a graduate student at Bloomsburg University. He expects to graduate in 2020 with a M.Ed. in Educational Leadership – Student Affairs. His career trajectory is to work within the field of the dean of students to oversee university policy and code of conduct. He also has strong interests in diversity and inclusion, specifically LGBTQA and women’s resource programs. Having spent much of his undergraduate career advocating for and working with the university’s LGBTQA community and feminist groups, he draws upon those experiences to inform his decision-making and ideology as a professional today. 

TOPIC: What Would You Really Say If No One Knew It Was You?

Dr. Nadine Garner is an associate professor of psychology at Millersville University of Pennsylvania and a licensed professional counselor (LPC) and certified professional school counselor (PSC). Garner is a counselor educator and supervisor at Millersville, training graduate students in the school counseling M.Ed. and certification programs. She also is director of the Trauma Institute for K-12 Educators and program coordinator for the Supervisor of Guidance Services certificate. Garner is chair of the university’s Sustainability Committee and founded and directed the Center for Sustainability. 

Hannah Bittner is an M.Ed. candidate in the school counseling program at Millersville University. Bittner is a graduate assistant for School Counseling and for the Trauma Institute for K-12 Educators. She is a member of the Sustainability Committee and is involved in the TerraCycle program. Bittner also is actively engaged in research and planning for the school counseling program and for the Trauma Institute for K-12 Educators. 

Willow Peluso is an M.Ed. candidate in the school counseling program at Millersville University and a graduate assistant for Undergraduate Admissions, overseeing the campus visit program. Peluso is actively engaged in the community, working with at-risk youth in an afterschool program focused on drug and alcohol prevention. She is passionate about advocating for the needs of marginalized groups within schools, and specifically with students in the LGBTQ+ community. 

Samuel Shaw is a graduate student at Millersville University.

TOPIC: The Masks of Leadership: Reflections on Intersectionality, Blackness and Womanhood at Slippery Rock University

Ursula Payne is a professor and chair of the Department of Dance at Slippery Rock University of Pennsylvania, where she teaches all levels of modern and jazz dance technique, dance kinesiology, and Laban movement analysis. She also is the artistic director of Slippery Rock University Dance Theater and director of the Frederick Douglass Institute at SRU. Payne received her M.F.A. from The Ohio State University, CMA certification from the Laban/Bartenieff Institute of Movement Studies in New York City, and certification from the management development program for mid-level administrators in higher education at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. She has presented and published several academic papers in national and international dance conferences since 2004. She is serving her third term as an elected board member of the American College Dance Association, representing the East-Central and Mid-Atlantic North regions. Payne served as a distinguished adjudicator for the Baja Region (2019), Mid-Atlantic South (2017), and Northeast (2015) regional ACDA conferences. 

TOPIC: Academic Freedom, Free Speech and Difficult Issues at IUP

The Rev. Tedd Cogar is associate director of Student Conduct and LGBTQIA Support at Indiana University of Pennsylvania. Cogar holds an M.Ed. in Student Development in Higher Education from The University of Maine and a Certificate of Theological Studies from the Lutheran Theological Seminary at Gettysburg (now United Lutheran Seminary). He is pursuing a D.Ed. from IUP in Administration and Leadership Studies. His professional interests include the areas of religion/faith/spirituality, LGBTQIA+, free speech, activism and student conduct.

Dr. David D. Chambers has a Ph.D. in Political Science with a specialization in American public policy from the University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana (1990) and an M.A. in Public Administration from Idaho State University (1980). He currently chairs the Political Science Department at IUP, where he has been a faculty member since 1988. Chambers’ teaching and research interests include the American presidency, the behavioral foundations of public policy, public perceptions of bureaucracy, and, more recently, a collaborative venture with members of the IUP theater faculty on the uses of Forum Theater as a means for teaching/modeling civil political dialogue. Chambers chairs the IUP Free Speech Project and is one of IUP’s representatives to the National Resource Center on Difficult Dialogues. 

Dr. Gwendolyn Torges holds a Ph.D. in Political Science with an emphasis in Constitution law from the University of Arizona. She has been a member of the Political Science Department at IUP for 21 years. Torges’ teaching and research interests include American government, constitutional law, civil liberties, constitutional issues in national security, sexuality and the law, and public policy. She is the director of IUP’s pre-law program. Torges is the content expert and spokesperson for the IUP Free Speech Project and is one of IUP’s representatives to the National Resource Center on Difficult Dialogues.

TOPIC: Framing and LINCing Routines: Learning Tools for Students with Learning Difficulties

Dr. Sujata Pisharoty-Norman is an assistant professor of special education in the Department of Counseling, School Psychology and Special Education at Edinboro University. Pisharoty-Norman recently received a Ph.D. in special education from The University of Alabama. She has 20 years of experience as a high school educator, including 10 years of teaching in Albertville High School. She also has taught in Canada, New Zealand and Dubai.

Dr. Jean Faieta is a professor of special education and a senior faculty member in the School of Education at Edinboro University. She has more than 25 years’ experience in special education and specializes in dyslexia. Last year she introduced a dyslexia course at Edinboro University. She also has implemented several reading programs in and around Edinboro for elementary school students who struggle with reading or have reading difficulties.

TOPIC: Embracing Inclusion … Every Student Matters

Dr. Kristen Majocha is dean of the College of Liberal Arts at PennWest California.

Dr. Laura Tuennerman is a history professor in the Department of History, Politics, Society and Law at PennWest California. She also teaches courses for the minor in African American Studies.

Andrea Vargas Cencich is an instructor in the Department of Arts and languages at PennWest California.

Laura DeFazio is a Pittsburgh-based artist and a professor in the Department of Art and Languages at PennWest California.

Dr. Mathilda Spencer has worked in the field of human services and criminal justice for more than 30 years. She is an assistant professor in the Department of Criminal Justice at PennWest California.

Suzan Mohney teaches in the Department of Arts and Languages and the Secondary Education and Administrative Leadership program at PennWest California.

Dr. Marta McClintock-Comeaux is an associate professor in the Department of Social Work and director of the women’s studies program at PennWest California. 

TOPIC: Collaboration in Assessment: Refugee Peer Support Groups in Allegheny County

Dr. Azadeh Masalehdan Block is an associate professor in the Department of Social Work at PennWest California and chair of the BSW program.

Yesmina Salib is a program associate for Refugee and Immigrant Services at Jewish Family and Community Services, Pittsburgh.

TOPIC: Intersectionality Success: College to High School

Dr. Frederick White has addressed issues of intersectionality and diversity since arriving at Slippery Rock University in 2002.  His main focus has been racial and ethnic diversity, as well as gender 

Jamie Coniglio is from eastern Pennsylvania and is an English and education major at Slippery Rock. She loves learning and wants to impart that love of learning to her own students.

Haley Lavella is from southwestern Pennsylvania. An English and education major at Slippery Rock, she is excited about having a positive impact on her students

Kevin McLaughlin, of Pittsburgh, is a Slippery Rock education and English major who can’t wait to start his career in teaching. 

Mariah Otto is and education and English major at Slippery Rock. Originally from southwestern Pennsylvania, she is looking forward to the having her own classroom and providing a strong role model in community leadership.

TOPIC: Intersectionality in the LGBTQ+ Community: Exploring Identities, Experiences and Challenges

Erica Maloney lives in the Monongahela Valley area of Allegheny County with her wife and two children. Her practice interests are in the areas of poverty and workforce development, and she has spent more than five years doing anti-poverty work in Mon Valley communities. She is data and evaluation manager for Pennsylvania Women Work, a nonprofit organization that serves more than 1,200 jobseekers per year with workforce development services across the commonwealth. Additionally, she teaches in the Social Work departments at both PennWest California and Westmoreland County Community College. Other experience includes working as a mental/behavioral health clinician for children, adolescents and young adults, as well as providing intensive case management services to people living in poverty who are navigating barriers such as homelessness, domestic violence, mental health issues and substance use disorders.  

TOPIC: Supporting Hispanic Students by Establishing a Hispanic Faculty and Staff Campus Organization 

T. David Garcia joined PennWest California in spring 2019 as vice president for Enrollment Management. Garcia has more than 27 years of successful enrollment management experience at four institutions of higher education. He began his career as an admissions counselor and developed leadership skills while progressing upward on the enrollment management leadership career pathway. He developed several strategic enrollment management plans that highlighted growth for new undergraduate enrollment, as well as increasing retention rates of current students. He also implemented an aggressive strategic enrollment plan that broke all-time freshmen enrollment records at Kent State University. Garcia is an advocate for diversity, college access, and affordability, and he developed several financial aid programs to close the financial aid gap for high-need and first-generation students.  

TOPIC: Exploring Cultural Diversity at East Stroudsburg University: The Diversity Dialogue Project

Dr. Timothy Levonyan Radloff is a sociology instructor at East Stroudsburg University (ESU), where he teaches cultural diversity and introductory sociology courses. He also serves as co-director of the Diversity Dialogue Project (DDP) at ESU and assists in training DDP facilitators to conduct open-ended small group dialogues concerning social justice and diversity issues. 

Dr. Ray Muller is professor of sociology at East Stroudsburg University, where he has been teaching sociology courses on race relations and cultural diversity since 2002. A few years ago he developed a course on the Race Relations Project (RRP) designed to train DDP facilitators and students in various campus leadership roles. Muller also was chair of the ESU President’s Commission on Race and Ethnic Diversity (CORED) and for several years chaired the university senate’s committee on diversity. 

Dr. T Storm Heter teaches political theory at East Stroudsburg University, where he is director of the Frederick Douglass Institute for Intercultural Studies. He published his first book, Sartre’ Ethics of Engagement, in 2006 and also has written about Jewish studies and American art. Currently he is writing a book on the social construction of racial identities through American jazz music. 

TOPIC: How Student Success Programs Empowered Me

dr. tonya thames taylor is an associate professor of history at West Chester University of Pennsylvania.

TOPIC: Stop the Hate: Bystander Training

Dr. Sheri Boyle is the department chair and MSW program director at PennWest California. She has been with the Social Work Department at PennWest California for 14 years. Boyle received her Ph.D. from Widener University, her MSW from University of Pennsylvania and her B.A. in Political Science from UCLA. Her research interests include aging and community attachment, diversity issues, and social welfare policy. Prior to her career in higher education, Boyle worked on Capitol Hill for Congressman John P. Murtha and Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi. She serves on the board of advisors for Open Your Heart to a Senior: Greater Greensburg (Pa.). 

Sheleta Camarda-Webb is the associate director of on-campus living and director of the Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (MADE) at PennWest California. With over 25 years of experience in higher education/student affairs, her work includes university housing initiatives, residence life education and assessment, and LGBTQA+ education, advocacy, policies and practices. Since assuming the role of MADE director in 2015, she has worked tirelessly to continue PennWest California’s commitment to fostering an inclusive and welcoming environment for all by creating and implementing cultural-related educational programs and activities for the campus and local communities. 

Jim Fulton is a second-year Master of Social Work student at PennWest California; he holds a bachelor’s degree in sociology from IUP. Fulton has an extensive professional background in HIV/AIDS case management, residential programs for those with severe and persistent mental illness, and homelessness. His research interests include clinical mental health, medical social work, hospice and palliative care services, HIV/AIDS, and the needs of the LGBTQ+ community. He is currently a clinical intern at Persad Center of Pittsburgh. 

Anna Lotze is a second-year Master of Social Work student at PennWest California; she has a bachelor’s degree in psychology from Hobart and William Smith Colleges. Lotze is a member of the National Association of Social Workers and secretary of the Graduate Social Work Association. She has worked with children and adolescents as a research associate at Western Psychiatric Institute and Clinic and has substantial training and experience in early intervention Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA). She is currently a yoga instructor and an early intervention ABA consultant. Lotze is dedicated to helping individuals with anxiety, depression and trauma, and she plans to focus a large part of her social work career on trauma-informed research and direct practice aimed at improving trauma-informed care through implementation of holistic methods.

TOPIC: Teaching Equitably with Inclusive Practices 

Dr. Melissa Cheese is an assistant professor of reading in the Department of Academic Enrichment at Bloomsburg University of Pennsylvania. She has over 20 years’ experience as an administrator and educator in higher education and earned her doctorate in Literacy Studies from Hofstra University. Her research interests include using literacy practices, culturally relevant pedagogy, and student success and retention strategies to support at-promise students’ learning and development. 

Dr. Cassandra O'Sullivan Sachar is an assistant professor of writing in the Department of Academic Enrichment at Bloomsburg University. She previously worked for 15 years as a secondary English teacher in Delaware public schools and received her Doctor of Education in Educational Leadership with a Literacy Specialization from the University of Delaware. Writing articles and studies for diverse educational publications, she is primarily interested in providing meaningful feedback and working with at-promise students. 

TOPIC: A Study Abroad Experience: Detangling the Strands of Intersectionality

Dr. Maria Sanelli is a professor of history and director of the Frederick Douglass Institute at  Kutztown University of Pennsylvania.

Dr. Chartice Wyatt (ABD) is a doctoral candidate in Administration and Leadership, Department of Professional Studies, Indiana University of Pennsylvania. 

Dr. Veta Talton (ABD) is a doctoral candidate in Administration and Leadership, Department of Professional Studies, Indiana University of Pennsylvania.