Awilda Hamilton, Ed.D.

Area: FLA , EDAD

vita [pdf]

After receiving a bachelor's degree in microbiology from Howard University, I quickly decided that a change in career choice was in order. That decided, I enrolled at Ohio University and graduated in 1972 with a master's degree in education. I began my career in education as an elementary teacher and soon determined that an administrative path was what I wanted to pursue. My doctorate in educational administration from the University of Akron in 1980 has provided opportunities to serve as an elementary principal and several central office administrative posts for some fifteen years. In 1990, however, it was a call to direct a diversifying the teaching force project at Kent State University and Cuyahoga Community College, that introduced me to higher education . Fifteen years later, I have enjoyed a career at Kent State University as a faculty member, program coordinator, and special assistant to the dean, associate dean, and currently interim department chair. I was an American Council on Education Fellow in 2004-05. This experience provided the opportunity to study the systemic elements of organizations that impact communication and collaboration. In addition, I studied the change process and how it affects an institution. These are areas I will continue to investigate as I continue in other leadership roles. I am active in the American Council on Education, AERA, and AAC+U.

Susan Iverson

Area: FLA

vita [pdf]

Susan Iverson is Assistant Professor of Higher Education Administration and Student Personnel, and holds affiliate faculty status with women's studies. Prior to joining the faculty in 2006, Iverson served as adjunct faculty in both Higher Educational Leadership and Women's Studies at the University of Maine, where she also worked as Associate Director of Safe Campus Project, a federally grant-funded initiative to address interpersonal violence on campus. Prior to UMaine, Iverson worked as a student affairs administrator at colleges in Massachusetts and Virginia. Iverson's scholarship includes: equity issues, women and advancement, service-learning, and feminist and post-structuralist approaches to inquiry. One line of her inquiry focuses on educational strategies to cultivate changes in students' thinking. For example, Iverson has investigated the use of theatre to address social justice issues. Iverson also has examined the ways in which students' participation in change-oriented service or activism contributes to the development of critical consciousness.

Mark Kretovics, Ph.D

Area: FLA , EDAD

vita [pdf]

Mark Kretovics is an Associate Professor of Higher Education Administration and Student Personnel at Kent State University. He received his Ph. D. from Colorado State University and his research interests include the assessment of student learning, business practices in higher education, distance education, and pedagogical issues in compressed courses. Mark had over 20 years of administrative experience within higher education before transitioning into his current faculty role.

Tracy Lara, Ph.D

Area: FLA

Tracy Lara is an Assistant Professor of Higher Education and Student Personnel at Kent State University. She earned her Ph.D. at Idaho State University. Her research interests relate to career development, student development, community colleges, and international student services. Tracy is also a licensed professional counselor and a trained distance career counselor. Previously she coordinated the Student Affairs program as well as the International Student Services Certificate program at Western Kentucky University.

Martha Merrill, Ph.D

Area: FLA

vita [pdf]

Martha C. Merrill, who worked on higher education reform in the Kyrgyz Republic in Central Asia from 1996 to 2001, has been involved in college-level international education since 1982. Currently Associate Professor of Higher Education at Kent State University and Coordinator of the program's International Education Certificate, Dr. Merrill previously was the Dean of Academic Programs at the International Partnership for Service-Learning and Leadership (www.ipsl.org), on whose Board she had served for seventeen years. From 2002-2006, she taught master's students at the School for International Training (Vermont) in the fields of intercultural communication and international education. In 2001-2002, she was a Visiting Scholar at the Inner Asian and Uralic National Resource Center at Indiana University. Before she went to Kyrgyzstan, she was a founding faculty member of the (planned) New College for Global Studies at Radford University (Virginia) and Director of Programs and Resident Life at International House in New York City, which houses 700 graduate students from 100 different countries. She has published several articles and book chapters and given many conference papers on intercultural issues, international education, and Central Asia. Her degrees are in Russian literature (BA, Michigan), Creative Writing (Master's, Boston University), College and University Administration (Master's and Ph.D., Michigan) and Islamic Studies (Master's, Columbia University). She has been a member of the Executive Committee of the Board of the Alliance of Universities for Democracy (www.audem.org), which links US and Eurasian universities, since 2001. Her current research interests focus on the globalization of quality assessment standards in higher education and, in particular, the effect of such globalization in Central Asia.

Stephen Thomas, Ed.D.

Area: FLA , EDAD

vita [pdf]

I received my B.S. degree in 1971 from Oklahoma State University, M.S. also from OSU in 1972, and doctorate in 1974 from the University of Florida. While attending UF, I was a fellow with the National Educational Finance Project, where I had the opportunity to work with many of America's leading scholars in Education Finance and Law. Upon graduation, I served as an assistant professor at Madison College in Virginia for two years, Texas Tech University in Lubbock, Texas for five (the final three years as an associate professor), and St. Johns University in Queens, N.Y. for four, all at the full professor level. I then came to Kent State University and have been here for 23+ years. I teach many of the law courses in the College of Education, Health, and Human Services, including those in higher education, K-12 administration, special education, and school psychology. Additionally, I teach courses dealing with education finance (both higher education and K-12), higher education disability, and faculty roles and responsibilities. While at Kent, I am most proud of my role (others also have been involved) in acquiring graduate assistantships for students (we currently have 60-70 diverse GA placements at 10-15 institutions) and for receiving the Distinguished Teaching Award in 2007.