Staff Bios

Mary Odden

Data Analyst/Manager
University At Buffalo, Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Science
maryfish@buffalo.edu

Mary is the rare sort of person in higher education that actually, really, truly, does like assessment. She worked as a consultant for several years, helping dozens of colleges and universities design assessment plans, surveys, rubrics, and learning outcomes, and now helps make sense of large data sets for the Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Science using Tableau. She is interested in AI, accessibility, sustainability, and student engagement.

Nicole Childrose, PhD

Associate Professor of History, Non-Academic Assessment Chair, Co-Chair of the Division of Technical Professions
Columbia-Greene Community College
nicole.childrose@sunycgcc.edu

Nicole Childrose is an Associate Professor of History and Co-Chair for the Division of Technical Professions at Columbia-Greene Community College (SUNY C-GCC). Having taught at every level of education since 2008, she brings with her robust experience in assessment, development of learning outcomes, administrative and service area unit assessment, and institutional effectiveness that relate directly to student success and institutional renewal. Nicole designed and co-instructs the SUNY CPD Assessment Leadership and instructs Championing Change: Applying Institutional Effectiveness on Your Campus. She is a member of the Institutional Assessment Planning Group and Chairs Non-Academic Assessment at SUNY C-GCC. She has authored a Non-Academic Resource Guide, and formerly served as Co-Chair of the SUNY Council on Assessment, where she still actively serves on the board. She is a former board member of the Assessment Network of New York.

Dr. Shushawna DeOliveira

Associate Dean for Program Operations & Quality 
SUNY Downstate School of Health Professions
sdeoliveira@downstate.edu

As the newly appointed Associate Dean for Program Operations and Quality (POQ), Dr. DeOliveira is responsible for the program operations aspect will entail chairing the Admissions Academic Standing Committee, assisting with accreditation and SUNY Program Review as well as New York State Education Department matters, along with new program development. The quality aspect will involve implementing a comprehensive school wide evaluation effort, i.e., the Evaluation and Assessment Initiative (EAI), and generally helping the School of Health Professions to be more data-driven in its operations. Sh has a cultivated interest in and knowledge of academic pipeline programs, accreditation compliance, assessment to enhance program effectiveness, the creation of student mentorship opportunities, as well as developing student-centered services.

Kathleen Landy

Associate Director, Center for Teaching Innovation
Cornell University
landy@cornell.edu

Kathleen is the Associate Director for Assessment & Evaluation Cornell’s Center for Teaching Innovation. Kathleen came to Cornell from the City University of New York, where she served as the Assistant Dean for Teaching & Learning at Queensborough Community College. She holds a BA in Psychology from SUNY Geneseo, as well as a MST and EdD in Educational Leadership, Administration, and Policy from Fordham University. In addition to serving on SCoA’s Board of Directors, she is a peer evaluator for the Middle States Commission on Higher Education and a former board member and Past President of the Assessment Network of New York.

Katie McGowan Bucci

Associate Vice President of Institutional Effectiveness
SUNY Delhi
buccikl@delhi.edu

As a key member of the Academic Council and Leadership Team, the Assistant Vice President of Institutional Effectiveness, in concert with the Provost, Vice-Presidents, Deans, Directors, and Academic Program Directors, assists in the establishment and achievement of college-wide academic goals with a primary focus on assessment, accreditation, institutional learning outcomes (ILO), and educational effectiveness. Further, the Assistant Vice President designs, implements, and monitors an array of academic initiatives, programs, and priorities to ensure accreditation requirements are met, and a culture of evidence-driven, continuous improvement is maintained. The Assistant Vice President of Institutional Effectiveness supervises areas of academic support (Callas Center for Educational Technology and Instruction, Center for Teaching Innovation and Excellence, Assessment, Institutional Research, the Library, and the IRB) as a subdivision of Academic Affairs.

Kirk Jones

Director of Academic Assessment
SUNY Canton
jonesk@canton.edu

Kirk Jones has 10 years of experience in assessment. He currently serves as SUNY Canton’s Director of Assessment and as ALO for Middle States. oversees GER assessment, AIM assessment, Institutional Outcomes Assessment, and SUNY Canton’s assessment management system (AMS) Taskstream.

Elizabeth Seton Mignacca, PhD

Director of Institutional Assessment
Cayuga Community College
emignacc@cayuga-cc.edu

Elizabeth Seton Mignacca, PhD currently serves as the Director of Institutional Assessment at Cayuga Community College. In this position, she manages all aspects of academic program review, student learning outcomes assessment, and functional area review. She is an Associate Professor of Sociology and serves as Co-Chair of the College’s Committee for the Advancement of Teaching and Learning (CATL).

Chris Price

Academic Programs Manager
SUNY Center for Professional Development
Chris.price@suny.edu

Chris is the Academic Programs Manager for the State University of New York (SUNY) Center for Professional Development (CPD). At the CPD, he designs and implements professional development programs including the SCOA sponsored Assessment of Learning Outcomes and Institutional Effectiveness Certificate programs. He started working at Brockport after receiving his PhD in Political Science from the University at Albany in 2004. He has been invited to give a keynote address or presentation over twenty times at conferences and campuses across the U.S. Teaching, learning, and educational development workshops and presentations Chris has conducted include discussion-based teaching, communicating effectively with students, collaborative learning, academic integrity, teaching with technology, course design and using critical reflection to improve teaching and learning. In 2013, he received the SUNY Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Professional Service.

Wendy Johnston

Faculty Council Vice President
Associate Professor of Political Science SUNY Adirondack
wendy.johnston@suny.edu

Wendy Johnston began teaching at SUNY Adirondack in 2008. An alumna of SUNY Adirondack (class of 2005), Wendy went on to receive her BA in English (with Distinction) from the College of St. Joseph, Rutland, Vermont, and her master’s in political science at the University at Albany (SUNY). Wendy has been recognized for her teaching and service to SUNY Adirondack; She received the SUNY Adirondack’s President’s Award for Excellence in Teaching, Junior Faculty (2011), and the SUNY Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Faculty Service (2016). Wendy is also active in Shared Governance at the campus and system levels.

Jacqueline Snyder

Assistant Provost for Health Professions Education

SUNY

jsnyder@fmcc.edu

Jacqueline Snyder, Ed.D., has over two decades of documenting evidence related to student learning and institutional effectiveness. Dr. Snyder currently serves as the Associate Vice President of Academic Affairs for SUNY Fulton-Montgomery Community College, the MSCHE Accreditation Liaison Officer, and is an Art History adjunct instructor.  A strong proponent of cultivating grass root assessment processes and systems, she has assisted multiple public and private institutions to meet accreditation standards and to complete requested progress reports.  Dr. Snyder has presented at various conferences including MSCHE Annual Conference, SUNY Student Success Summit, SUNY Council on Assessment Drive-in Sessions, and Drexel University’s Annual Assessment Conference.

D. Kane Gillespie

Director of Academic Assessment
Stony Brook University
daniel.k.gillespie@stonybrook.edu

D. Kane Gillespie, DMA, is Director of Evaluation, Outcomes Assessment, and Accreditation at SUNY Downstate Health Sciences University in Brooklyn, NY. Kane works in collaboration with the Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs to manage Middle States accreditation efforts as well as support long range academic program planning, design, and assessment. Before his role at Downstate, Kane served for 20 years in academic affairs, assessment, and program planning at Stony Brook University. Dr. Gillespie received his Bachelor of Music with distinction from the Eastman School of Music, a Master of Music from Southern Methodist University, and a Doctor of Musical Arts from Stony Brook University. He also completed post-graduate work in music at the Staatliche Hochschule für Musik in Karlsruhe, Germany.

Debora Ortloff

Vice President for Strategic Initiatives and Assessment
Fingerlakes Community College
Debora.Ortloff@flcc.edu

My approach to leading educational change brings together a deep knowledge of educational practice, savvy in strategic planning and program development with an inclusive, learner-centered leadership style.

Steven Doellefeld

Director of Assessment
University of Albany
sdoellefeld@albany.edu

Dr. Doellefeld is the Director of Assessment at the University at Albany, and is a pioneer in the use of retention strategies informed by predictive analytics. He has a strong background in policy development, general education assessment, program review, and learning objectives development. Other research interests include productivity, faculty development, and technology integration.

A popular speaker on the conference circuit, he has been the sole or primary author of more than 60 articles and conference papers on a variety of subjects and additionally has authored dozens of reports and white papers.

Deborah Moeckel

Assistant Provost for Assessment and Community College Education
SUNY System Administration
deborah.moeckel@suny.edu

Dr. Deborah L. Moeckel has been Assistant Provost for Assessment and Community College Education at SUNY System Administration since June 2010. Since the beginning of her tenure at SUNY, she has served as the liaison from SUNY System to the Middle States Commission on Higher Education. She has conducted a study of system-wide accreditation results, and incorporated these into the SUNY Council on Assessment (SCoA) Institutional Effectiveness Rubric. Dr. Moeckel has served as the SUNY Liaison on an average of four accreditation visits to SUNY institutions annually. She is a staff liaison to SCoA and an ex-officio member of the Assessment Network of New York Board of Directors. Prior to her position at SUNY System Administration, she served as Chief Academic Officer at Cayuga Community College, where she was also engaged in accreditation activities at the campus, and participated as a team member on Middle States visiting teams. Dr. Moeckel has a Ph.D. in Reading/Writing/Literacy from the University of Pennsylvania.

Tara Hisert Winter

Director for Institutional Effectiveness
SUNY Cobleskill
wintertl@cobleskill.edu

Tara Winter has been a higher education professional for over 25 years, serving in a variety of leadership roles. The majority of her experience is in enrollment management, with her most recent efforts focused on strategic planning and institutional effectiveness. Winter believes that a combination of servant leadership and data-informed decision making is fundamental to successful change management in higher education. In her current role, she co-leads the institution-wide assessment committee and is responsible for facilitating the development and sustainability of an institutional culture of evidence-based decision-making and improvement and for aligning strategic planning, budgeting, assessment and analytics to support achievement of institutional goals. Winter holds an EdD in executive leadership from St. John Fisher, an M.S. in communications from Ithaca College, and an M.S in education from the College of St. Rose.