Our team of expert faculty brings together a wide variety of advising and administrative experiences. Regardless of the type of higher education institution you represent, you will have ample opportunity to interact with the faculty and others who share common challenges and commitments. Please see the Faculty Biographies below for detailed information about our faculty.
TRACK A
TRACK B
Faculty Biographies - Track A
Chrissy Davis Jones has over 18 years of experience developing, restructuring and implementing successful student service-related programs with an expertise in academic advisement systems. She starts with the ‘end in mind’ and utilizes data and research to inform her practices. Prior to her administrative roles, she served as an academic advisor at different institutions. And because of her frontline experience in student services, Chrissy states that one of her greatest strength is her ability to envision the ‘future state’ with an eye for details. Her expertise includes strategic partnerships between Student and Academic Affairs, restructuring Student Affairs, accreditation, professional development to move from theory to practice, unions and more.
Julie Givans Voller is Interim Dean at Phoenix College, part of the Maricopa Community College District. She has a track record of successfully managing large-scale change, leading teams through implementation of program mapping, critical tracking, predictive analytics, and new technologies, all with a focus on professional development and learning-centered advising.
Julie has contributed to many NACADA publications; most recently she was contributing editor for The Power of Story: Narrative Theory in Academic Advising. Julie was co-editor and a contributing author to Beyond Foundations: Developing as a Master Advisor.
Julie earned her Doctorate in Educational Leadership and Innovation from Arizona State University.
Stephanie Hands is the Director of Advising for the College of Arts and Sciences at The University of New Mexico in Albuquerque. She is responsible for all advising functions within the college including the benchmarking and data collection, staff hiring and training, student transition and completion, structure and policy reform, and communication within the college and to other stakeholders within the academic community. Stephanie has worked in advisement since 1989.She earned both a BA in Psychology and an MBA at UNM. She is currently taking courses in the graduate Educational Psychology program.
She has been a member of NACADA since 2001 and has sat on various boards for the past nine years. Her interests include advising administration, advising models and structures, technology, assessment, and relationship building with other student success units. Stephanie is serving as the Outgoing Chair for the Administrators’ Institute.
Dr. Stephanie Kraft-Terry is the Interim Director of Advising for the College of Natural Sciences at the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa where she supervises a team of professional advisors and collaborates with departmental faculty advisors. She is currently a member of the NACADA Administrators’ Institute Advisory Board, an Advising Communities Division Cluster Rep and a Mentor for the Emerging Leaders Program. Stephanie has presented at advising conferences on the topics of advising assessment, curriculum development, facilitating collaborative change, proactive advising and advising STEM students. In addition, she has published in the NACADA Clearinghouse and Journal.
Charlie Nutt, a NACADA member since 1991, joined Kansas State University and the NACADA Executive Office in 2002 as Associate Director and Assistant Professor in the College of Education and was made Executive Director in 2007. Charlie served in various leadership roles in the Association before coming to work full-time for Executive Office. He has served on the faculty of the NACADA Summer Institute, Academic Advising Administrators' Institute, and Assessment of Advising Institute. As Executive Director of NACADA, Charlie is responsible for coordinating the work of the Executive Office staff as well as working with the various NACADA units on professional development issues, external relations for the Association, and our International initiatives.
Joshua Smith began his career in academic advising, working with undeclared students in the office of undergraduate studies at the University of Albany. From there he transitioned to the role of director of assessment, assisting chairs and deans in program reviews and developing student learning outcomes. Joshua moved into a faculty role, conducting research in the area of academic transition, teaching courses in research design, and leading a research center that garnered more than $3 million in institutional, foundation, corporation, and government support. Beyond leading the center, Joshua’s leadership experience includes serving as associate dean and dean of the School of Education.
Kimberly Smith currently serves as the Assistant Provost of Academic Advising Initiatives at Virginia Tech. In this role, Kimberly provides leadership and coordination for university-wide programs and initiatives related to enhancing academic advising. She is responsible for developing, implementing, and assessing advising activities throughout the university community through various university stakeholders in support of undergraduate education. Dr. Smith has served in NACADA in various capacities including a member of NACADA’s Consult and Speakers Bureau and most recently being selected to serve as a fellow with the Excellence in Academic Advising (EAA) collaborative between NACADA and the Gardner Institute for Excellence in Undergraduate Education to advance student learning, success, persistence, retention, and degree completion through a comprehensive, standards-based assessment process to promote excellence in academic advising.
Faculty Biographies - Track B
Amy L. Burkert, Ph.D., is the Vice Provost for Education at Carnegie Mellon University. Her portfolio of responsibilities spans both undergraduate and graduate education and includes a range of programs and services focused on educational innovation, integrative learning, holistic advising, and student success. A member of the faculty in the Department of Biological Sciences and former Assistant Dean, Amy has been a leader in STEM educational reform to broaden access, advance learning, and improve completion. A former NEAAHP president, advising has been at the core of her work throughout her career. She is currently overseeing a campus-wide initiative on advising.
Dr. Steven P. Dandaneau is Executive Director of the Reinvention Collaborative and Associate Provost at Colorado State University. Dr. Dandaneau previously served as Vice Provost for Undergraduate Studies at Kansas State University; Associate Provost and Director of the Chancellor’s Honors and Halsam Scholars Programs at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville; Visiting Professor of Sociology, University of Maryland, College Park; and Director, University Honors & John W. Berry, Sr. Scholars Programs at the University of Dayton. He earned a B.A. in Economics (with honors) from Michigan State University and an M.A. and a Ph.D. in Sociology from Brandeis University.
Dr. Colin Potts, the vice provost for undergraduate education oversees offices and programs affecting undergraduate education, including coordination of academic and career advising, and student success initiatives. Potts sits on the President’s Cabinet and represents Georgia Tech’s undergraduate academic affairs to the University System of Georgia Board of Regents and the Association of American Universities (AAU), among other constituencies. He also evaluates and approves academic policies affecting undergraduate students and proposals for all undergraduate courses and programs. He is the President of the Reinvention Collaborative, a coalition of eighty research universities dedicated to undergraduate education.
An award-winning teacher, Potts has taught at the undergraduate, master’s and doctoral levels, as well as professional development seminars and evening courses to the general public.
After earning a Ph.D. from Sheffield University in psychology, he worked as a software engineer and ergonomics consultant before joining the faculty at Imperial College, London. Later, he moved to the Microelectronics and Computer Technology Corporation, Austin, Texas to lead research in software design methods. Potts joined the Georgia Tech College of Computing in 1992 as a faculty member in what is now the School of Interactive Computing. His research over the past 25 years has spanned applications of cognitive science in software engineering, user experience, information privacy, and ethics education.
John Paul “JP” Regalado has over 22 years of experience working in higher education. In that time, he has worked at the University of Texas at Austin in a variety of positions and areas including the College of Liberal Arts, the Executive Vice President and Provost’s office, and the School of Undergraduate Studies. He most recently served as the Executive Director of Academic Advising at Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi where he was responsible for all of academic advising.
JP is the first in his family to go to college and completed both his Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees at UT. JP has served in numerous roles in NACADA including Vice President and President.
Dr. Kevin P. Thomas is the Associate Vice President for Enrollment Management at the University of Central Arkansas. Kevin previously served as the Director of Retention and Student Success at SIUE from 2012 - 2019 where he led efforts that resulted in an increased retention rate of 10%. Prior to SIUE, he served in advising and student success roles at WKU. With NACADA, he has served as chair of the Advising Administration Community, the chair of the 2017 Annual Conference in St. Louis, a member of the 2018 – 2020 Emerging Leaders Program, and serves on the NACADA Board of Directors.
Carol Wilson, a faculty-model academic advisor and English professor, Carol Wilson has benefited greatly from participation in NACADA institutes, e-tutorials, and conferences in her leadership as Wofford College’s Coordinator of Academic Advising. She guides Wofford’s general education advising program, focusing upon advising as teaching. A member of the college’s Quality Enhancement Project (QEP) leadership team for reaccreditation, she offers professional development opportunities for faculty along with group presentations and individual academic success coaching for students. A recent presenter at several NACADA conferences, she holds the MA and PhD in English, with specialization in 20th-century British and American literature.
Tara Stopfel Warden serves as the Assistant Vice Provost for Advising & Academic Services at the University of Cincinnati. She specializes in strategic leadership and program design for advising, enrollment management, and student success. Tara was the founding director of UC’s Center for Exploratory Studies in 2003, published by NACADA as an exemplary practice program in 2007. She established the UC Office of Advising & Academic Services in 2013. In 2016, Tara designed and launched a new Center for Pathways Advising & Student Success, housing transfer and transition student advising, early alert and retention outreach, and advisor training & development. She is also responsible for Pre-Professional Advising, College Credit Plus, Orientation, Credit Evaluation, and the Advising Tools & Assessment team. She provides consultation and planning support to the university’s 18 advising centers, including 11 undergraduate colleges on three campuses. Tara has advocated for and facilitated strategic investments of over $4 M in advising and student success over the last 17 years.
Dana Zahorik is a past-president for NACADA, serving for the organization from 2016-2017, and is currently a Fellow for the inaugural partnership with the Gardner Institute. Additional NACADA leadership positions include Vice President, Board of Directors, Council, and various committees in her membership since 1998. She is currently a member of the Consultant and Speaker’s Bureau where she has delivered workshops as well as conducted audits for a variety of institutions. She is currently Manager of Advising Services at Fox Valley Technical College, where she recently assisted in implementing a college-wide Proactive Advising Model.