Mayra Olivares-Urueta, Ph.D. works to remove institutional barriers and ensure the success of all students, especially historically marginalized and excluded populations. An experienced higher education professional and executive in community colleges, Mayra is a published scholar-practitioner and leadership consultant, currently serving as Executive in Residence in the Higher Education Program and Director of the Bill J. Priest Center for Community College Education at the University of North Texas in Denton. In 2018 she was named an American Association of Women in Community Colleges 40 under 40 and in 2020 she became a fellow of the Aspen Institute's Rising Presidents program. She is a former president of the Texas Association of Chicanos in Higher Education, TACHE, and currently serves as faculty-in-residence within the Community Colleges Division of the National Association of Student Personnel Administrators. She volunteers for multiple educational and community organizations locally and nationally, and is the proud spouse of Alejandro and mami of Isabel, Olivia, and fur baby Luna.

Will Bowlin, Ph.D., has served as a government and history instructor at Northeast Mississippi Community College since 2014.  He holds a bachelor’s degree in Wildlife and Fisheries Science, a master’s degree in Public Policy and Administration, and a doctorate in Community College Leadership, all from Mississippi State University.  Prior to NEMCC, Dr. Bowlin worked for the Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries, and Parks.

Beyond the classroom, Dr. Bowlin is involved with organizations such as the Mississippi Historical Society, the ALL IN Campus Democracy Challenge, and NASPA’s Community College Division.  He and his wife Sallye have two children (Carson and Hayden) and reside in Booneville, MS

Dr. Gillian (Dr. G) McKnight-Tutein (she/hers) is currently the Vice President of Enrollment Administration and Student Success at Community College of Denver. As the senior student services officer, and a member of the president’s Executive Council, she provides vision and leads all student affairs divisions on the Auraria campus.

An award-winning instructor and administrator, McKnight-Tutein believes that each student was inherently born for greatness and that their potential is infinite. She expects that everyone at the college, regardless of title, takes responsibility for students realizing their definition of success. McKnight-Tutein has a bias towards data-driven action and has led the Guided Pathways efforts framework to create a thriving educational ecosystem for concurrent, transfer, and career and technical students.

Prior to her 17 years in higher education, McKnight-Tutein worked at several Fortune 500 companies leading teams all over the world. McKnight-Tutein brings her corporate experiences to bear when partnering with organizations to build employment connections for students and when talking to students about their career aspirations. She believes in the power of career mentoring, and succession planning. While she always hopes to have a positive effect on employees’ lives, she is ever aware of the impact they have on her own life.

McKnight-Tutein has served on AACC’s Commission on Student Success, Colorado Department of Higher Education’s General Education Council, and the Colorado Community College System’s VP Council. She is the recipient of several awards, including the 2022 Bernice Joseph Leadership Award.

Dr. G, a Caribbean immigrant, is a first-generation high school and college graduate. She earned an associate degree from the College of Boca Raton, a bachelor’s in psychology from Florida International University, a master’s in human resources development administration from Barry University, and a doctorate in instructional technology and distance education from Nova Southeastern University.

Dr. Edward F. Martinez currently serves as the Associate Dean for Student Affairs and Campus Senior Student Affairs Officer at Suffolk County Community College, the largest multi-campus community college in the State University of New York (SUNY) System. He has substantial administrative, academic, and program development experience in higher education, as well as a history of holding several national leadership positions in Student Affairs.  Specifically, Dr. Martinez previously served as the Community Colleges Division Director on the NASPA-Student Affairs Administrators in Higher Education Board of Directors.  He is currently the Board of Directors Secretary for The Higher Education Consortium for Student Affairs Certification, a SUNY Hispanic Leadership Fellow, and a member of the Board of Directors for the NASPA Foundation. Dr. Martinez has worked in the field of student affairs for approximately 30 years.  Throughout that time, he has had the privilege of serving in several key leadership positions at numerous institutions including a specialized college, small college, residential and for-profit institution and most recently a community college. His research interests center on the experiences of students and professionals in the community college sector. As a first-generation college student, his passion inspired him to work as a student access advocate. He has intentionally formed bridges between student and academic affairs, creating exceptional student experiences. Dr. Martinez earned a Doctoral Degree in Educational Administration and Leadership from Dowling College, a Master’s Degree in Counseling and Development from Long Island University, and Bachelor’s Degree in Social Sciences from Dominican University.

Dr. Hana Lahr is a senior research associate and the director of applied learning at the Community College Research Center, where she leads research on whole-college reforms at community colleges across the country. She has conducted research on the change management process, advising reforms, onboarding students into programs, and the costs of guided pathways reforms. Lahr is interested in how colleges approach the change management process, how colleges adapt reforms to their state and institutional context, and how these reforms change the student experience and impact student outcomes. As the director of applied learning at CCRC, Lahr focuses on translating research into practical guidance that can help support organizational learning and reform. She has a BA in music performance from the University of Florida, an MS in counseling from Shippensburg University (PA), and a PhD in education policy from Teachers College, Columbia University. Prior to joining CCRC in 2011, Lahr worked in student affairs at HACC (Central Pennsylvania’s Community College) and at the Metropolitan College of New York.

Dr. Shelitha Williams serves as the Associate Vice President for Student Affairs at Rochester Institute of Technology. Prior to taking this role, Dr. Williams served as the Vice President of Student and Enrollment Services and the Chief Diversity Officer at Genesee Community College, with over 20 years of professional experience in higher education.  Dr. Williams received her doctorate in Educational Leadership from the University of Rochester, Master of Social Work with a counseling concentration from SUNY Stony Brook University and Bachelor of Arts in Psychology with a minor in Africana Studies from SUNY Potsdam.

Dr. Brownlee is an inclusive educator who proudly served as the sixth president of the Community College of Aurora. Within the first two years of his presidency, President Brownlee has already brought about significant change and improved the student success agenda at the Community College of Aurora. These successes include CCA embarking upon its first capital project in 24 years, record-breaking capital and scholarship fundraising, the hiring of CCA’s largest and most diverse faculty ranks in the college’s history, improved student completions by more than 20%.

Dr. Mordecai publishes frequently, including serving as a columnist for EdSurge. He also teaches for Lamar University and the University of Charleston. Dr. Mordecai has been featured on several local, state, and national platforms including the American Association of Community Colleges Community College Journal, NASPA Leadership Exchange, EdUp Experience, EdTech Magazine, and Colorado Sentinel. In 2023, Dr. Mordecai was named 40 Under 40 by the prestigious Denver Business Journal and the Community Leader of the Year by the Aurora Chamber of Commerce. In 2022, he was featured by Diverse: Issues in Higher Education Magazine as a “New School” leader representing the next generation of college presidents.

Dr. Dixon has spent twenty three years working in Institutional Research.   He holds a Doctorate of Education: Curriculum and Instruction and a Masters of Science in Clinical Psychology.  Dr. Dixon currently serves as the Director of Institutional Research at Monroe Community College in Rochester, NY where he oversees mandated reporting along with predictive analytics and the ethical use of data.  He has experience with the Virginia, Tennessee, and New York education systems and has worked closely with the Gates Foundation, Lumina Foundation, and the Aspen Institute.

During his tenure, Dr. Dixon has overseen several initiatives including data warehousing, college accreditation, state and federal reporting, college financial audits, Banner implementation, Grants, and a number of other projects.  Dr. Dixon’s experience in multiple areas allows him to understand the vast amount of  data available and how this data can be used in different ways.  He is a champion of data training and access and believes strongly that people make the best decision possible based on the data they have, they just may not have the right dataset.

Dr. Timothy Alvarez recently retired as President Emeritus from Otero College, where he served as only the 5th president. He was relentlessly focused on student engagement, minimizing systematic barriers, equity and inclusion, undergraduate research, career readiness, and mentoring. Professionally, Dr. Alvarez provided leadership to the National Association of Student Affairs Professionals (NASPA), the Association of Land Grant Universities (APLU), and the broader community. Within NASPA, he has been a regional director, NUFP regional coordinator, state membership coordinator, regional membership coordinator, conference program co-chair, case study judge, program reviewer, and board member for the James Scott Academy.

Dr. Alvarez also enjoys community involvement, as evidenced by his recent participation in the El Pomar Foundation, the Koshare Museum Board of Directors, the La Junta School District Advisory Council, and the La Junta Main Street Board.

Dr. Alvarez has been married to Lori for thirty-eight years. They have three grown children, Joshua, Jason, and Tiffany, and 5 grandsons under the age of 4.

Eric R. Felix is the proud son of Mexican and Guatemalan immigrants. Born and raised in Anaheim, he is the product and beneficiary of public education from kindergarten to graduate school. A first-generation college student, he now gets to be a faculty member at San Diego State University teaching in Student Affairs and Community College Leadership programs. Using Critical Policy Analysis, he explores the ways policymakers craft higher education reform and how institutional leaders implement them. Particularly, Dr. Felix focuses on understanding how the implementation of lauded student success reforms may benefit, harm, or render invisible Latinx students and other racially minoritized groups in the community college context.

 Dr. Tammeil Y. Gilkerson is the Chancellor of the Peralta Community College District. Dr. Gilkerson is a leader in a number of statewide efforts to find solutions that address students’ basic needs, support undocumented and mixed-status students, and improve the quality and delivery of distance education in community college. She is passionate about building learner-centered institutions that reflect students' lived experiences, provide hope, and practice love. Core to this vision, she recognizes the need to nurture leadership and community-building at all institutional levels and has tried to create spaces where individuals can be supported and affirmed as they engage in the vulnerable act of learning and leading with authenticity, courage, and humility. Dr. Gilkerson sees herself simultaneously as a teacher and a student, consistently asking, what could be possible if we believe we can achieve liberation and social justice in our communities? And what will I risk to achieve it?

As a first-generation queer, Latinx, joto, they engage their scholarship through post-structuralist and transformative paradigms rooted in Xicana/Latina feminists epistemologies. Dr. González’s research agenda focuses on three strands; 1) examining the conditions, experiences, and outcomes for queer and/or trans communities; 2) Latinx Leadership and organizational change; and 3) racial equity policy implementation all within the community college context. Dr. González's foundational research has been published in many leading community college and higher education journals such as the Community College Journal of Research and Practice (CCJRP), the Journal of Research for Community Colleges (JARCC), the Journal for Student Affairs Research and Practice (JSARP), New Directions for Community Colleges (NDCC), and the International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education (IJQSE).

Prior to Dr. González's appointment at Fresno State, they were a postdoctoral scholar in the Pullias Center for Higher Education at the University of Southern California (USC) Rossier School of Education. Dr. González informed the creation and development of the Change Leadership Toolkit (CLT) funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Dr. González has over 10 years of Higher Education and Student Affairs experience having worked across institution types (private, state, R1, community colleges, HSIs, MSIs, PWIs) and functional areas (residence life, student development, student government, student life, student conduct, academic advising, retention based programs).

Christian Moriarty is a Professor of Ethics and Law with the Applied Ethics Institute at St. Petersburg College, a public community college in St. Petersburg, Florida. Professor Moriarty received his Bachelor’s degree in Psychology and Interdisciplinary Sciences at the University of South Florida, his Master’s degree in Bioethics from USF, his Juris Doctor from Stetson University College of Law, and is a licensed attorney with the Florida Bar. He teaches Applied Ethics, Medical Ethics, Business Ethics, Legal Ethics, Business Law, and Art Law. He researches and presents on such subjects as academic integrity, emerging technology ethics, using humor and empathy in the classroom, and higher education law and ethics. Professor Moriarty serves on the Executive Board and is Treasurer of the International Center for Academic Integrity.

Dr. Michelle Cantu-Wilson is a trustee at San Jacinto College. She is also the owner of Vida Linda Consulting, a higher education leadership consulting firm that provides leader-focused professional development, program review services, and strategic-planning support. Dr. Cantú-Wilson currently serves on the board of Pasadena Health Center, a growing medical care provider in Southeast Houston. She also serves on the College of Education Curriculum & Instruction (EDCI) with STEM Emphasis Doctoral Program Advisory Board at the University of Houston-Clear Lake. Dr. Cantú-Wilson is a guest host of the EdUp Experience podcast, a global higher education podcast. Locally, she is a member of the Pasadena Chamber of Commerce and serves on the workforce committee. She is also a member of the Pearland Chamber of Commerce. Previously, Dr. Cantú-Wilson served as the Director of Teaching and Learning Initiatives and Special Projects at San Jacinto College. She was also a developmental education faculty member. She is the past president of the Gulf Coast Region Chapter for the Texas Association of Chicanos in Higher Education and served as the membership chair for the Houston Chapter of the Hispanic Women’s Network of Texas. Dr. Cantu-Wilson’s prior career as a K-12 campus administrator and teacher have served her well. She was a junior high assistant principal for six years and a junior high English teacher for 5 years in Pasadena ISD. Michelle holds a Doctor of Education degree in Higher Education Leadership from the University of Houston-Clear Lake, a Master’s in Administration and Supervision from the University of Houston, a Bachelor’s of Arts in English from the University of Houston, and an Associate of Arts from Ranger College in north Texas. She was born and raised in Brownsville, Texas and was the first in her family to attend college. She is married and has three amazing children.

Richard Lee Monroe (he, him, his) assumed the role of Student Engagement Manager in January 2019, having previously served as the Coordinator for Campus Life & Leadership at Metropolitan Community College (MCC) from March 2017 to January 2019.  Before joining MCC, Monroe served as the Coordinator for Student Organizations at the University of Missouri - Kansas City and the Technical Operations and Marketing Manager for Missouri State University in Springfield, Missouri.  Richard has also served as an adjunct faculty member at MCC.

A native of Carl Junction, Missouri, Monroe holds a bachelor of science in accounting with a minor in computer information systems from Missouri State University, and a master of science in student affairs in higher education (administration) from Missouri State University.  Monroe is working on his dissertation for the Ph.D. in Education, instructional design, and Technology degree from Liberty University.

Monroe is a lifelong learner dedicated to improving higher education by providing holistic support services that give students the best opportunity to grow in their life path.  Monroe has the drive to improve and seek efficiency, which has directed him to research how higher education can better utilize and mine the available data to enhance the support systems at higher education institutions.

Monroe is very involved and continues to serve in many capacities.  Currently, Monroe serves as a deacon and as a lead producer for the production team at his local church and is a founding father of the Theta Lambda chapter of the Pi Kappa Phi fraternity of Missouri State University.  Monroe is also a member of NASPA, Student Affairs Administrators in Higher Education, and Chi Sigma Alpha, student affairs honor society international, of Missouri State University, among other organizations.  

Andrea Garcia Gonzalez (she/her/ella) serves as Program Specialist at Mt. San Antonio College (Walnut, CA) in the NextUp/REACH Program where she has the privilege of working with current and former foster youth in their transition into, while attending, and as they graduate from college. Additionally, Andrea oversees grant funding and programming for Life Skills, a unique component of NextUp/REACH which aims at strengthening students’ independent living skills for a more successful transition into adulthood. 

A proud first-generation college graduate, Andrea has dedicated her life’s work to supporting students from all backgrounds as they strive to grow through education. Andrea has experience working in the K-12, university, and more recently, community college system, having worked for multiple campuses in the southern California region. As a new student affairs professional herself, Andrea cares about growing the pipeline of equity-minded community college professionals, which is why she sits on the board of NASPA’s Community Colleges Division as the New Professionals representative. She also supports the work of the CCD Latinx/a/o Task Force. 

Andrea earned a Bachelor’s of Science in Child Studies from Santa Clara University and a Master’s of Education in Educational Counseling from the University of Southern California. She proudly claims the agriculturally rich town of Dinuba, CA as her hometown and currently lives in Ontario, CA with her husband and fur baby, Fanta.

A dedicated student affairs professional who has worked in both a large public university and community college. She is currently the Assistant Dean of Student Affairs/ College Director for Career Services at Suffolk County Community College. As a licensed Social Worker, Tania has functioned in various capacities in higher education ranging from working with at-risk student populations, Veterans, mental health, and career development.  Tania is a published author and experienced presenter, having presented at several local, regional and national conferences. Her research interest is on Latinx/a/o and women leadership empowerment and within the community college sector. Tania earned her AA in Liberal Arts at Suffolk County Community College, BS at SUNY at Geneseo, and an MSW with a specialization in Student Community Development at Stony Brook University.