ACHE South 2008 Spring Conference Speakers
Dr. Wayne Whelan retired in January 2005 after a 40-year career in continuing higher education. He held leadership positions at Trident Technical College, the University of Tennessee-Knoxville, Virginia State University, and the College of William and Mary. He served as President of the Association for Continuing Higher Education (1984) and received the Association’s Leadership Award (2004) and Meritorious Service Award (1989). From 1993 through 2004, Wayne served as the Association’s Executive Vice President. He also served as President of the South Carolina Association for Higher Continuing Education.
Mr. Joe Combs is the Dean of Community and Economic Development at Walters State Community College. He has over 25 years of corporate training and consulting experience with BellSouth, Intermedia Communications, and Peak Performer Resources, Inc. He has won numerous awards for public speaking, training and development, and public relations. Joe has trained over 10,000 employees from 500+ companies across the United States, Australia, Europe, and Asia. His client list is a “Who’s Who” of Fortune 500 and local businesses including IBM, AT&T, MCI, Holiday Inn Corporate, Tennessee Personnel Management Association, Tennessee District Attorneys Association, State of Tennessee, Hillsborough County, Florida Government, Florida Association of Community Colleges, Optus Communications—Australia, International Telecommerce Research Center—Zilina, Czechoslovakia, International Leadership Conference—Amsterdam, MCI—Hong Kong and Tokyo—just to name a few. Joe has two master's degrees from Christian Brothers University in Memphis, TN: an MBA in International Business and a MS in Telecommunications and Information Systems Management. He has a Bachelor's of Science degree from Trevecca Nazarene University in Nashville, TN, and is working on his doctorate at ETSU. Joe is originally from Miami, Florida, but moved to Nashville, TN, in 1976.
Hiram (Hi) Fitzgerald is University Distinguished Professor of Psychology and Associate Provost for University Outreach and Engagement at Michigan State University. He has been actively involved with national efforts to define and measure the scholarship of engagement, create institutional alignment, effective models of community-university partnerships, and standards of practice for such partnerships. His scholarly work is grounded in a developmental psychobiological or systems perspective and has been applied to studies of infant learning and attention, interhemispheric specialization of function, community-based prevention programs for families with infants and young children, the impact of fathers on early child development, the etiology of alcoholism and co-morbid psychopathology, and broad issues related to the scholarship of engagement. He is a member of the research consortium overseeing the national evaluation of Early Head Start and the Migrant and Seasonal Head Start Consortium, and the steering committees of the American Indian/Alaska Native Head Start Research Center at the University of Colorado Health Sciences, the Higher Education Network for Community Engagement, and the Outreach Scholarship Conference. He was Editor of the Infant Mental Health Journal and associate editor of Child Development and currently is a member of the editorial boards for Journal of Studies on Alcohol, Zero to Three, the Infant Mental Health Journal, Journal of Community Engagement and Scholarship. Hi is Associate Editor of the Journal of Higher Education Outreach and Engagement.
At Michigan State University, his administrative responsibilities include oversight of the MSU Museum of Cultural and Natural History, the Wharton Center for Performing Arts, the Cultural Engagement Council, University-Community Partnerships, the Center for Service Learning and Civic Engagement, the Center for Community and Economic Development, and the Community Evaluation Research Center, the Usability and Accessibility Center, and the National Center for the Study of University Engagement. Hi has over 430 scholarly publications in broad areas of developmental psychology, psychopathology, and early prevention science, and in the role of PI or Co-PI has received over 25 million dollars in support of this work. Recent books include two four-volume sets, the WAIMH Handbook for Infant Mental Health (with Joy Osofsky), The Crisis in Youth Mental Health (with Robert Zucker and Kris Freeark), and a two-volume set on Obesity in Children and Adolescence (with Delle Davies). Hi is a Fellow of the American Psychological Association, the Association for Psychological Science, and the American Association of Applied and Preventive Psychology and has served as Executive Director of the World Association for Infant Mental Health since 1992.
Dr. Dianna Rust is the Director of Academic Outreach and Distance Learning at Middle Tennessee State University in Murfreesboro, Tennessee. She directs the activities of all distance learning programs at the university.
Cindy Adams is Coordinator of Distance Learning Faculty Services at Middle Tennessee State University in Murfreesboro, Tennessee. She assists faculty in the development of online courses and was instrumental in establishing and implementing the University’s course review and mentoring program for online faculty. She has also been active in assisting faculty with the development of online courses for the Regents Online Degree Program.
Jo Lobertini is the chair of cross-disciplinary studies at East Tennessee State University. She oversees four undergraduate degree programs and two master degree programs. Her doctoral research focused on adult higher education persistence.
Kathleen McDermott is a Program Coordinator in the Professional and Personal Development unit at the Georgia Center for Continuing Education at the University of Georgia.
Nina Smith has served as an advocate for adult students for over 15 years through her employment with the College of Continuing Studies. She is the Manager for Adult Student Services in Academic Outreach in The College of Continuing Studies. She, too, was an adult student, earning both her undergraduate and master’s degrees at the University of Alabama.
Tom Walker is the Dean of the Division on Continuing Education at the University of Missouri—St. Louis. In his capacity as Dean, he oversees all Continuing Education activity for the University. A native of Mobile, AL, his educational background includes degrees from the University of Southern Mississippi, the University of North Texas, and a Doctor of Arts in music performance from the University of Northern Colorado. Prior to his appointment at UM-St. Louis, Walker was at Oklahoma State University where he served as Associate Dean for continuing education in the College of Arts and Sciences and held a faculty appointment in the Department of Music. Continuing education programming flourished under his leadership and included a wide variety of credit and non-credit activity. A notable contribution was the development of an online course creation program which recruited faculty, provided technical and instructional design assistance, and a broad array of services for students. This program led to exponential growth in enrollment and course offerings of the unit.
Mike Healy provides marketing research and planning for the University of Georgia Center for Continuing Education. He has over 15 years experience marketing adult and continuing educational programs, including conferences, online programs, certificate programs, an intensive English language program, and non-credit short courses. Dr. Healy is currently responsible for direct marketing, eMarketing, and marketing online programs. In the private sector he has over 14 years experience as and advertising sales manager and in advertising sales.
Steve Stoffle, as Executive Director of Emory University’s Center for Lifelong Learning, oversees an operation which conducts over 1,500 noncredit adult education courses annually. ECCL is comprised of the popular Event at Emory series of personal enrichment classes; the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at Emory, a senior learners program; and Emory Professional Learning Programs, comprising technology courses, professional development courses, and certificate programs. A graduate of Emory College, Stoffle obtained an MS in Adult Education from Georgia State University and has served as president of the Georgia Adult Education Association.
Jon Horn has been a dynamic presence in the continuing education field for more than ten years as an administrator and educator. As the president of JMH Consulting, Jon spent several years as a technology and web consultant before specializing in consulting for continuing and professional education. For the last four years, Jon has also served as the acting Director of Professional Programs at Emory University’s Center for Lifelong Learning. During that time, he has been a catalyst behind Emory University’s 400% increase in continuing education revenues. As a presenter, Jon has spent more than four thousand hours teaching for organizations including Emory University, The Home Depot, UPS, and Coca-Cola. He has also presented sessions at conferences such as UCEA and CMED. A student once described him as a dynamic presenter who has the unusual ability to convey technical concepts in layman’s terms. This ability to simplify complex ideas, coupled with remarkable enthusiasm, helps engage all types of audiences.
Manon Pardue serves as Director in the Center for Training and Development at Western Kentucky University, a unit of the Division of Extended Learning and Outreach (DELO). Manon is currently serving as chair of the Bowling Green Area Chamber of Commerce Workforce Development Committee, a strategic component in assisting business and industry in meeting their training needs and supporting economic development. Prior to coming to Western Kentucky, Manon worked as a Human Resources Manager for BellSouth. Her responsibilities included managing the educational programs throughout the southeast region for 70,000 employees and designing new programs and redesigning existing programs.
Nicole Foerschler’s passion is helping organizations create cultures that support and retain talented, engaged employees. As Vice-President of JMH Consulting, Nicole brings her enthusiasm and knowledge of professional education to bear on the development and launch of new classes and programs. For the last four years, Nicole has served as Acting Manager of Corporate Learning for Emory University’s Professional Learning Programs. In that role, Nicole supports Emory clients by identifying employee knowledge gaps that prevent companies from achieving their goals, mapping curriculum to those goals, and creating programs that transfer learning from the classroom to the workplace. Since launching Emory’s Corporate Learning Program in 2003, Nicole has developed learning partnerships with over 50 metro-Atlanta corporations, including several Fortune 1000 companies.
Dr. Robert McGaughey is the chairman emeritus of Murray State’s Department of Journalism and Mass Communication. A former executive secretary of the West Kentucky Press Association, he has been named Murray State’s Outstanding Teacher, Distinguished Professor, and was named the Frank Stanton Fellow of the International Radio and Television Society. He continues to teach both graduate and undergraduate courses and is one of the University’s most popular classroom lecturers.
Robert Valentine is emeritus Head of College for M.S.U.’s Elizabeth Residential College. He teaches in both the mass communication and theatre departments. He is the editor of Murray Life Magazine, and the senior editor for the New Caledonian Press. For twelve years, he headed the National Scouting Museum’s storytelling tour, and he still performs around the country as an actor and storyteller.
Together, “Bob and Bob” have been lecturing and performing at conferences, seminars, and conventions since 1978. Their clients include the Hyatt Hotels, the U.S. Department of Labor, and educational and industrial organizations from across the nation. When they are not engaged in such scholarly pursuits, they also appear at comedy clubs and entertainment venues. Regardless of the setting, the message – and the laughter – is often the same. The goal is better communication, and the lesson is well worth learning.
Bill Duffy is the Executive Director of the University of Tennessee at Martin’s Office of Extended Campus and Continuing Education since 1996. As Executive Director, Bill is responsible for four off-campus centers, three of which he started, as he says, ‘from scratch.’ The centers provides dual-credit offerings to 35 high schools and off-campus degree and non-degree programs. Bill has written and received federal and state grants totaling approximately $10 million over the past 8 years. He also served as president of the Tennessee Alliance for Continuing High Education (TACHE) in 2005-2006.
Susan Elkins is Vice President of Extended Programs and Regional Development and Dean of the School of Interdisciplinary Studies at Tennessee Technological University. She has been a member of ACHE for the past 15 years. During that time Susan has served on conference planning committees and presented at conferences on both the regional and national levels, as well as fulfilled various other committee assignments as needed. Susan is currently serving as secretary for ACHE South and also as co-chair for the ACHE Program Committee for the 2008 Annual Conference in Nashville. Susan has also been a very active member of the Tennessee Alliance for Continuing Higher Education (TACHE), serving in various leadership roles throughout the past decade, including president of the organization. Most recently, she served as chair of the TACHE Strategic Planning Committee and as co-chair of the TACHE Impact Committee, the topic for today’s presentation.