Staff Bios

Mary Odden

Student Learning Outcome Specialist
University At Buffalo
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 does so for the University at Buffalo for Academic Affairs and the College of Arts and Sciences (and anyone who asks, honestly). She also enjoys creating data visualizations with Tableau and making data accessible and understandable.

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.

Carol Van Zile-Tamsen

Associate Vice Provost, Curriculum, Assessment, & Teaching Transformation
University at Buffalo
cmv3@buffalo.edu

Carol Van Zile-Tamsen is Associate Vice Provost for Curriculum, Assessment, and Teaching Transformation at the University at Buffalo and the co-chair of the SUNY Council on Assessment (SCoA). At UB, she provides oversight and support for curriculum and instructional development, academic program assessment, and comprehensive program review and coordinates with units across campus to design assessments of key campus initiatives. She also serves as an adjunct instructor for two departments: Counseling, School, and Educational Psychology and Learning and Instruction. She teaches course in educational psychology and college teaching for graduate students, as well as first-year seminars for incoming freshmen and transfer students. She is an alumni of UB, earning her doctorate in Educational Psychology in 1996.

Susan Deer

Provost and Executive Vice President
Rockland Community College
sdeer@sunyrockland.edu

Dr. Susan Deer has served in a leadership capacity in higher education for over thirty-five years. In 2016, she became Provost and Executive Vice President of Rockland Community College. She has been the resource go to person in meeting the Middle States accreditation standards over the past twelve years. She has served as a Middle States Peer Evaluator, and was the only SUNY representative selected to serve on the first MPPR (Mid-Point Peer Review) Committee in January 2019. Dr. Deer has served, or continues to serve, on the following State University of New York (SUNY) task forces/advisory committees: Chancellor’s Advisory Council for TeachNY, Open SUNY, SUNY Voices on Shared Governance, SUNY Provost’s Advisory Council on SUNY Excels, and the Chancellor’s newly formed task force on Micro-Credentialing. She has also served as the Chair of the SUNY Chief Academic Officer’s Executive Committee, which includes all sixty-four colleges. In recognition of her leadership, Dr. Deer was awarded the Catalyst Leadership Award by the American Council of Education (ACE) in 2016 as the New York State outstanding woman leader in higher education.

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

Associate Vice President of Academic Affairs and MSCHE Accreditation Liaison Officer
Fulton-Montgomery Community College
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

A native of South Carolina, Kane Gillespie received his Doctor of Musical Arts degree from Stony Brook University. He also completed post-graduate work in music at the Staatliche Hochschule für Musik in Karlsruhe, Germany. Kane thereafter began a career as a performer and teacher of Horn, playing with professional orchestras and chamber music ensembles in Germany and the United States. A graduate assistantship in the Stony Brook College of Arts and Sciences Dean’s Office led to a full-time appointment for Kane in the Office of the Registrar in 2002. From 2004 to 2015, Kane served as the Assistant Dean for Curriculum in the College of Arts and Sciences. In 2015 he was appointed the College’s Senior Assistant Dean of Academic Affairs. Throughout this period, Kane was actively engaged in professional activities serving the College, the University, and SUNY. Kane joined the Stony Brook Provost’s office as Director of Academic Assessment in July, 2017.

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.

Doug Sweet

Director, Student Affairs Assessment & Planning
University of Albany
dsweet@albany.edu

Work to advance the Division of Student Affairs strategic planning and assessment initiatives, including the continued development of program and student learning outcomes, refinement of key performance indicators, as well as a comprehensive program review process

Bruce Rowe

Director, Student Affairs Assessment & Planning
University of Albany
dsweet@albany.edu

Bruce Rowe has been teaching at North Country since the fall of 2009; before that, he taught high school English for so long that Abraham Lincoln was one of his first students (exaggeration). As an undergrad he majored in government and thought he wanted to be a journalist…then his love of literature and writing took over and he found himself with a graduate degree in English. A life-long member of the Bruce Club (Monty Python reference), he is—with his wife, Susan Hoffer—an Adirondack transplant, having grown up in central and western New York. He most enjoys in this world—in no particular order—reading, writing, hiking, his family, music, gardening, baseball, travel, and
just about anything else labeled an outdoor sport. He doesn’t like lima beans.

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.

Deborah Spiro

Assistant Vice President of Distance Education
Nassau Community College
deborah.spiro@ncc.edu

Deborah Spiro, Ed.D., has been the Assistant Vice President of Distance Education at Nassau Community College since January 2011. She leads the College’s efforts to integrate online education and instructional technologies across academic areas and provides leadership for new initiatives. Dr. Spiro and the Office of Distance Education work with faculty and staff to develop online courses and provide student and faculty support services. Her primary research interests are in adult learning and the design and delivery of effective online education, and she has conducted presentations and taken part in panel discussions on these topics.