The 2007 NAICU Annual Meeting Speaker Bios

Daniel Anderson became president of Appalachian Bible College (Va.) in 1983, after having served the college as registrar, instructor, dean of students, and assistant to the president. Accomplishments during his presidency include accreditation with the Higher Learning Commission of the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools, a 100 percent increase in enrollment, and implementation of a master's program. For 18 years Anderson has served the Association of Biblical Higher Education (formerly the Accrediting Association of Bible Colleges) in various capacities, including a term as president. After receiving his three-year Bible/Theology diploma from Appalachian, he completed his undergraduate studies at Faith Baptist Bible College, and earned his master of divinity degree from Grace Theological Seminary in Indiana, where he was later ordained to the ministry.

David R. Anderson became president of St. Olaf College (Minn.) this past July. For the previous seven years he had served as provost at Denison University in Ohio. Prior to his tenure at Denison, he was vice president for academic affairs and dean of the college at Luther College in Iowa, where he also was a professor of English. Before joining Luther College, Anderson was associate dean of arts and humanities at Florida Atlantic University, and earlier, professor of English and chair of the department. He is a graduate of St. Olaf, earned his doctorate in English from Boston College, and completed post-doctoral work at the University of Kansas before joining the Texas A&M English department faculty, where he later served as director of undergraduate studies in English and associate head of the department of English.

Alexander W. (Sandy) Astin, the recipient of this year's Henry Paley Memorial Award, is Allan M. Cartter Professor of Higher Education, Emeritus, at the University of California, Los Angeles, and founding director of the Higher Education Research Institute (HERI) at UCLA. He has served as director of research for both the American Council on Education and the National Merit Scholarship Corporation. Astin is currently principal investigator on two major HERI research projects: a long-term longitudinal study of the impact of the undergraduate service learning experience after college, and (with Helen Astin) a national study of students' spiritual development. He also is the founding director of the Cooperative Institutional Research Program, an ongoing national study of students, faculty, staff, and higher education institutions. His latest book (with H.S. Astin) is Leadership Reconsidered: Engaging Higher Education in Social Change.

Michael Beschloss is an award-winning historian of the presidency and author of eight books, including his most recent work, the New York Times best seller The Conquerors: Roosevelt, Truman and the Destruction of Hitler's Germany, 1941-1945. His ninth book, Presidential Courage: Brave Leaders and How They Changed America, 1789-1989, will be published next May. His first book, Kennedy and Roosevelt: The Uneasy Alliance (1980), started as his senior honors thesis at Williams College. Newsweek has called Beschloss "the nation's leading presidential historian." He is a regular commentator on PBS's The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer and is a contributor to ABC News. Beschloss is an alumnus of Harvard University as well as Williams College.

Wanda Bigham is Assistant General Secretary for Schools, Colleges, and Universities of The United Methodist Church. She previously served as the president of two colleges, Huntingdon College (Ala.) from 1993 to 2003 and Marycrest College (Iowa) from 1986 to 1992. Earlier in her career, she served as vice president for development and college relations, and executive assistant to the president at Emerson College (Mass.); and associate dean for academic affairs and acting dean of graduate and special academic programs at Morehead State University (Ky.). Bigham received her bachelor's degree from Murray State University (Ky.), master's degrees in both music and higher education from Morehead State University, and a doctorate in higher education from the University of Kentucky.

Richard H. Brodhead became president of Duke University in 2004, after a 32-year career at Yale University. He also is a professor of English at Duke. Brodhead graduated from Yale in 1968 and received his Ph.D. there in 1972. He then joined the Yale faculty, where he became the A. Bartlett Giamatti Professor of English and American Studies. After serving as chair of Yale's Department of English, Brodhead was named dean of Yale College, and served in the post for 11 years until he assumed Duke's presidency. An expert in 19th-century American literature, Brodhead has written or edited more than a dozen books, and has been elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. He has held a presidential appointment to the J. William Fulbright Foreign Scholarship Board, is a member of the Business-Higher Education Forum, and is a trustee of the Carnegie Corporation of New York.

David A. Caputo is president of Pace University, serving more than 14,000 students on five campuses in New York City and Westchester County. Prior to his appointment at Pace in 2000, he served for five years as president of Hunter College, the largest college in the City University of New York System. Caputo has authored or co-authored five books and more than 50 articles, book chapters, and research notes. He serves as co-chair of the New York State Regents' Professional Standards and Practices Board and the Board of Presidents of the Association of Governing Boards. He also is an active member of Project Pericles, an initiative designed to increase civic responsibility on college campuses. Caputo received his B.A. from Miami University (Ohio), and his master's degree and Ph.D. from Yale University.

Sean Carton is senior vice president and chief strategy officer of idfive (www.idfive.com), a Baltimore-based firm working with clients at the intersection of design, marketing, communication, and technology. He was the founding dean of the School of Design and Media at Philadelphia University. In addition to numerous corporate clients, Carton has consulted with more than 25 colleges and universities on technology, recruitment, admissions, online marketing, communications, and alumni relations. He has published eight books about the Internet, technology, business, and video games; writes columns for ClickZ.com, the leading on-line advertising industry Web site; and contributes to magazines such as Wired, Revolution, Stim, and POV.

Martin Cetron, M.D., is director of the Division of Global Migration and Quarantine (DGMQ) at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). He holds faculty appointments in the Division of Infectious Disease at the Emory University School of Medicine and the Department of Epidemiology at the Rollins School of Public Health. The DGMQ mission is to prevent introduction and spread of infectious diseases in the U.S. and to prevent morbidity and mortality among immigrants, refugees, migrant workers, and international travelers. Cetron was assigned to the CDC in 1992, where he has led numerous domestic and international outbreak investigations, conducted epidemiologic research worldwide, and helped establish Geosentinel, the global surveillance and response network of the CDC. He received his B.A. from Dartmouth College and his M.D. from Tufts University.

Timothy Cloyd has been president of Hendrix College (Ark.) since 2001, formerly serving as vice president for development and college relations at Hendrix for nearly five years. During his presidency, Hendrix has reorganized its administrative structure, and has received multi-million dollar grants to launch a new program and to create a new scholarship fund for middle-income students. Earlier he coordinated the Program in Social and Political Thought at Vanderbilt University; was a research fellow for the Institute for the Study of World Politics, conducting research on technology, trade, and security issues; and served as executive director of development and alumni relations at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock. Cloyd is a graduate of Emory and Henry College, and received his master's and Ph.D. degrees from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst.

Christopher Conley, with Cohen & Company, manages Non-Profit Preferred Funding which provides capital to non-profit corporations, including educational institutions, throughout the U.S. Previously, he founded and ran Non-Profit Capital LLC, to meet the capital needs of acute care, rural healthcare, behavioral healthcare and long-term care facilities nationally. As the manager of the Community Health Facilities Fund, Conley created the first tax-exempt collateralized debt obligation program for community-based behavioral healthcare providers, successfully financing over 30 borrowers. He earlier spent over 10 years with Lehman Brothers, completing over $1 billion of financing for healthcare facilities of all types. Conley received his undergraduate degree from the University of Notre Dame and his master's degree from Duke University.

Charlie Cook is widely regarded as one of the most astute and impartial analysts of the Washington political scene, and is one of the nation's leading authorities on U.S. elections. He is editor and publisher of The Cook Political Report; writes weekly for National Journal magazine; is an analyst for NBC News, CNBC, and MSNBC; and has appeared on all the major network news shows. The New York Times has called Cook, "one of the best political handicappers in the nation," noting that The Cook Political Report is "a newsletter that both parties regard as authoritative." The Wall Street Journal's Al Hunt once called Cook "the Picasso of election analysis," while David Broder of the Washington Post has written that Charlie Cook is "perhaps the best non-partisan tracker of congressional races."

Kenneth E. Cool is president of Emeriti Retirement Health Solutions, and has served as senior collaborator on a concurrent research investigation of faculty retirement behavior and institutional retirement incentive policies at national liberal arts colleges. Previously, he was director of academic planning and program support at Vassar College for 12 years. Still earlier, he performed similar administrative responsibilities in fund raising, sponsored research, and institutional planning at Santa Clara University. His early career at Stanford University, the University of New Mexico, and Santa Clara focused on teaching and scholarship in foreign languages and comparative literature. He received a Fulbright graduate fellowship and a Mellon post-doctoral fellowship for his work in those fields. Cool received his bachelor's degree from Davidson College, and his Ph.D. from Duke University.

Raymond D. Cotton is vice president of higher education for ML Strategies LLC, with clients that include colleges and universities, health sciences centers, and biomedical research centers. He has also represented numerous university boards of trustees, presidents and nonprofit association executives during his more than 25 years in practice. Cotton is a frequent speaker before higher education association audiences, and is a frequent contributor to The Chronicle of Higher Education. Earlier in his career, he served in the public sector as special assistant to the U.S. Department of Health, Education and Welfare under Secretaries Elliot Richardson and Caspar Weinberger.

George Dehne, president of GDA Integrated Services, has worked with more than 300 colleges and universities throughout the U.S. GDA Integrated Services is a market research, consulting, and services firm specializing in customized, integrated marketing solutions that help independent colleges and universities compete successfully for students, funds, and visibility. As special assistant to the president in the late 1970s, he developed and directed the landmark marketing program for Carleton College. He earlier served as director of public relations for Wittenberg University, and as an account executive for Gehrung Associates University Relations Counselors. He also is principal author of Marketing Higher Education: A Handbook for Administrators.

Ann J. Duffield is a founding principal of The Presidential Practice, a group of former long-term college and university presidents and chancellors who provide specialized counsel to current presidents and chancellors in transition. Previously, Duffield spent over 25 years at the University of Pennsylvania, where she was associate vice president of university and medical center relations, and then was director of the Pew Higher Education On-campus Roundtable and the Knight Collaborative at the Institute for Research on Higher Education. In 1999, Duffield joined the fundraising firm of Marts & Lundy as senior consultant and lead consultant for a new practice in communications and planning. She received her B.A. from Chatham College, and did graduate work at the University of Nebraska at Omaha.

Richard Ekman became president of the Council of Independent Colleges in 2000, having previously served as vice president for programs with the Atlantic Philanthropic Service Company. From 1991 to 1999 he was secretary of the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation where, in addition to his overall administrative responsibilities, he focused especially on issues in higher education, technology, libraries, area studies, and faculty development. Ekman earlier served as director of the divisions of education programs and research programs at the National Endowment for the Humanities. His campus experience includes service as vice president and dean of Hiram College, and assistant to the provost of the University of Massachusetts at Boston.

Francis Fukuyama is Bernard L. Schwartz Professor of International Political Economy at the Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) of Johns Hopkins University, and director of the school's international development program. He also chairs the editorial board of the quarterly journal The American Interest. Fukuyama has written widely on political issues and economic development. His most recent book, America at the Crossroads: Democracy, Power, and the Neoconservative Legacy, was published in 2006. His earlier books include The End of History and the Last Man (1992), Trust: The Social Virtues and the Creation of Prosperity (1995), The Great Disruption: Human Nature and the Reconstitution of Social Order (1999), and State-Building: Governance and World Order in the 21st Century, (2004). He received his B.A. from Cornell University and his Ph.D. from Harvard.

James F. Galbally, Jr. is a founding principal of The Presidential Practice, a group of former long-term college and university presidents and chancellors who provide specialized counsel to current presidents and chancellors in transition. Galbally spent over 25 years at the University of Pennsylvania, where he was associate dean in charge of strategic planning and operational management for Penn's School of Dental Medicine. He was also a member of the executive committee of the Pew Higher Education Roundtable and the Knight Collaborative, and an editor of Policy Perspectives. Galbally received his Ed.D. from the University of Pennsylvania, Ed.M. from Temple University, and B.A. from La Salle University.

Leslie Garner will become chair of the NAICU board of directors at the association's business session on February 7. Garner has been president of Cornell College in Iowa since 1994. From 1987 to 1994, he was president of North Carolina Wesleyan College, and earlier served as assistant professor of business administration and director of the Young Executives Institute at the University of North Carolina. Still earlier in his career, Garner served as special assistant to the director at the International Institute of Applied Systems Analysis in Laxenburge, Austria. His publications include the book Leadership in Human Services, published in 1989. He graduated from the University of North Carolina with a bachelor of arts, and received his master's degree and Ph.D. in public policy from Harvard University.

Rep. Louie Gohmert was sworn in two years ago as a member of the House of Representatives, representing the First District of Texas, and serves on the House Committees on Judiciary, Resources, and Small Business. He also serves on the House Subcommittees on Immigration, Border Security, and Claims; Commercial and Administrative Law; and Crime, Terrorism, and Homeland Security. In addition, he serves as a resource for the Court Rules and Intellectual Property Subcommittee. Before his election to Congress, Gohmert was elected to three terms as district judge in Texas and, during his tenure on the bench, gained national and international attention for some of his innovative rulings. He received his undergraduate degree from Texas A&M University, and his law degree from Baylor School of Law.

Rep. Rubén Hinojosa was elected to Congress in 1996, representing the 15th District of Texas. As a senior member of the House Education and Workforce Committee, he has advocated, introduced, and passed legislation to expand higher education services into rural communities, and make education a life-long enterprise. Most recently, in the new 110th Congress, he has been chosen to chair the House Subcommittee on Higher Education, Lifelong Learning, and Competitiveness, which has responsibility for all titles of the Higher Education Act. He also serves on the House Resources Committee and Financial Services Committee. Hinojosa was born the son of immigrant parents and raised in the small rural town of Mercedes, Texas. He earned his bachelor's degree from the University of Texas at Austin, and his MBA from the University of Texas - Pan American.

Dick Jones is principal of Dick Jones Communications in State College, Pa., a national media relations and program counseling firm that, since 1987, has served colleges and universities nationally. He is co-author of How To Get Noticed by the National Media: Your Complete Guide to High-Impact Publicity. Before founding Dick Jones Communications, Jones was public relations director for the University of Scranton, where he also taught classes in journalism and public relations. Earlier, he served in the news bureau of Penn State University's department of public information. In the mid-1970s he was co-founder, publisher, and editor of The Observer, a successful weekly newspaper in Western Pennsylvania which continues to publish. He holds degrees from Penn State University and Syracuse University.

Rep. Dave Loebsack, newly-elected House member from Iowa and former professor of political science at Cornell College, was part of the Democrats' capture of 30 seats previously held by Republicans in the 2006 elections. In profiling his upset victory over 15-term Republican Rep. Jim Leach, Congressional Quarterly observed that "in a national election year that became notorious for negative campaigning, neither candidate in Iowa 2 personally attacked the other. Loebsack went so far as to call Leach ‘a good man' in a television ad." CQ also noted that "his criticism of the federal policy known as No Child Left Behind is augmented, he said, by what he learned from his wife, who recently retired after 28 years as a second grade teacher." Loebsack has been names to the House Subcommittee on Health, Employment, Labor, and Pensions, and the Subcommittee on Early Childhood, Elementary and Secondary Education.

Dale Rogers Marshall is a presidential partner with the Presidential Practice, a group of former long-term college and university presidents and chancellors who provide specialized counsel to current presidents and chancellors in transition. She also is president emerita of Wheaton College where she served as president from 1992 to 2004. Prior to her presidency at Wheaton, Marshall was academic dean of Wellesley College from 1986 to 1992 and acting president in 1987-88. She earlier served as associate dean of the College of Letters and Sciences and as faculty assistant to the vice chancellor at the University of California, Davis, was a professor of political science at UC-Davis, and previously taught at UC-Berkeley and UCLA. She earned her B.A. from Cornell University, her M.A. from UC-Berkeley, and Ph.D. from UCLA.

R. J. (Ron) McCall is president of Executive Communications in Kingsport, Tenn., with expertise in aligning leadership communications with an organization's strategic goals. His clients include some of the most notable companies on Fortune's Global 500, such as Caterpillar, ChevronTexaco, Delta Air Lines, Public Broadcasting Service (PBS), Shell Oil Company, and United Parcel Service. He also has consulted with state and federal agencies, major U.S. universities, and well-known not-for-profit organizations. A frequent conference speaker, McCall's presentations include "Chaos in the Public Square: Strategic Implications of the Rapidly Evolving Landscape of Corporate Speech," developed and produced in partnership with Harvard University; and "How to Write Speeches for College and University Presidents," a day-and-a-half seminar conducted at Emory University in March 2006.

Mary J. Meehan is the seventh president and first lay president of Alverno College, an independent, Catholic, women's liberal arts college located in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Prior to coming to Wisconsin in 2004, Meehan served as the executive vice president of Seton Hall University in South Orange, New Jersey. She began her career at Seton Hall in 1996 as vice president and assistant to the president. From 1975 until 1996, Meehan served in various capacities in health care institutions, beginning as a rehabilitation counselor and ending her health care career as executive vice president and chief operating officer of St. Mary's Hospital in Passaic, N.J. She holds bachelor's, master's, and doctoral degrees from Seton Hall University, and a master's in health policy and management from New York Medical College.

Christopher B. Nelson has been president of St. John's College in Maryland since 1991. He is an alumnus of the college, and a graduate of the University of Utah College of Law. He practiced law in Chicago for 18 years, and was chairman of his law firm when he left to take the St. John's presidency. Prior to 1991, Nelson served on numerous national, state and local bar association committees, and has published articles in the field of labor and employee benefits law. He also has served on boards and committees for the Chicago Association of Commerce and Industry, St. John's College, and St. Joseph's College (Indiana). A member of the Maryland Independent College and University Association since 1991, he now chairs the association's board of directors, and has recently been named president of the Annapolis Group, a consortium of 112 of the nation's leading liberal arts colleges.

Loren Pope, the recipient of this year's Award for Advocacy of Independent Higher Education, is the author of Colleges That Change Lives, originally published in 1996, with a revised third edition released last year. His earlier books on selecting a college are Looking Beyond the Ivy League, Finding the College That's Right for You (1995) and The Right College: How to Get In, Stay In, Get Back In (1970). Formerly a journalist, Pope started an education column for Gannett Newspapers in 1952, and later became education editor of The New York Times. He founded College Placement Bureau in 1965 to provide counseling and the consumer information that would help students make fruitful choices. Pope is now retired after over 35 years of counseling.

John C. Reynders is president of Morningside College in Iowa. Previously, he was vice president for administrative services and treasurer at Allegheny College in Pennsylvania. Since his arrival on campus in 1999, he has engaged faculty, staff, and students in a culture of planning, beginning with the five-year plan (2001-2006). Currently, the campus community is working together to fulfill the college's 2015 goals. Reynders has varied experience at all levels of higher education, having also served at Allegheny as director and dean of enrollment planning and financial aid; special assistant to the provost and associate director of athletics; and associate professor of physical education, instructor in mathematics, and head men's basketball coach. He also has been active in higher education organizations as well as consulting for George Dehne and Associates.

Stu Rothenberg is editor and publisher of The Rothenberg Political Report, a Washington-based newsletter that reports on and analyzes congressional and gubernatorial elections, presidential politics, and current political developments. He writes a twice-a-week column in Capitol Hill's Roll Call, and has frequently contributed opinion pieces to major newspapers such as The Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, and New York Times. He has appeared on ABC's This Week, the CBS Evening News, NBC's Meet the Press, PBS's NewsHour with Jim Lehrer, The McLaughlin Group, and the Today Show. Rothenberg has been a political analyst for CNN since 1996, including election night coverage, and also has served as an analyst for the Voice of America (VOA).

Robert Sevier is senior vice president at Stamats Communications, Inc. With over 20 years of experience in higher education recruiting, marketing, and public relations, his research has been excerpted in such publications as CASE Currents, Journal of College Admissions, Admission Strategist, and College & University Journal. His most recent book is An Integrated Marketing Workbook for Colleges and Universities: A Step-by-Step Planning Guide. He also is the author of Strategic Planning in Higher Education: Theory and Practice; Thinking Outside the Box; and Integrated Marketing for Colleges, Universities, and Schools. Prior to Stamats, Sevier worked at the Oregon Health Sciences University and Denison University. He holds an M.S. degree from the University of Oregon, and earned a Ph.D. from Ohio State University.

Kenneth A. Shaw is a presidential partner with the Presidential Practice, a group of former long-term college and university presidents and chancellors who provide specialized counsel to current presidents and chancellors in transition. Shaw is also chancellor emeritus and university professor at Syracuse University, having recently retired as chancellor after leading the university through the most comprehensive restructuring process in its history during the early 1990s. Prior to coming to Syracuse in 1991, he was president of the 26-campus University of Wisconsin System. Earlier he was chancellor of the Southern Illinois University System, president of Southern Illinois University at Edwardsville, and vice president and dean of Towson State University. Shaw holds degrees from Illinois State University and University of Illinois-Urbana, and received his Ph.D. from Purdue University.

David E. Shi has served as the 2006 chair of the NAICU board of directors. He has been president of Furman University since 1994, having joined the university as vice president for academic affairs and dean in 1993. He previously taught for 17 years at Davidson College, where he also served as chair of the history department. Shi is the author of several books, including The Simple Life: Plain Living and High Thinking in American Culture (1985), which was a History Book Club selection, and is co-author of the popular textbook America: A Narrative History. He was one of 50 college and university presidents recognized by the John Templeton Foundation in 1999 for leadership in the development of student character. Furman also has been awarded presidential leadership grants from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation and the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation in recognition of Shi's leadership.

Christopher Small, executive vice president at GDA Integrated Sevices, has worked in higher education admissions and administration for more than 30 years. Prior to joining GDAIS, he was vice president for enrollment management at Trinity College (Conn.). where he was responsible for admissions and financial aid. Earlier, Small was vice president for administration at the University of Tulsa, overseeing admissions, financial aid, student services, athletics, and development. Prior to that, he headed admissions and financial aid at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and Ripon College. Small earned his bachelor's degree from Ripon College, and his master's degree from the University of Massachusetts in Amherst.

Lloyd Thacker left his high school counseling job three years ago, after nearly 28 years in college admissions and college counseling. Disillusioned with a college admissions system that focuses more on the interests of the college than of the students it admits, he established the Education Conservancy, which includes in its goals "To make college admissions a sensible and productive set of processes for all." He also has edited and published College Unranked, a collection of candid essays by college presidents and admission deans. A major feature in the San Francisco Chronicle quoted Bob Laird, retired director of undergraduate admissions at UC Berkeley, as saying, "Lloyd's voice is the single most important voice trying to rein in this kind of national hysteria that's overtaken the college admissions process." Thacker holds degrees from the University of California at San Diego and the University of California at Davis.

Tom Vilsack was elected governor of Iowa in 1998, the first Democratic governor of the state in more than 30 years. He then was re-elected to a second four-year term which ended in January 2007. Last fall he became the first Democrat to declare his candidacy for president in 2008. Prior to being elected governor, Vilsack was an Iowa state senator and the mayor of Mt. Pleasant, Iowa, in addition to managing a private law practice with his father-in-law. He is the chair of the Democratic Leadership Council and former chair of the Democratic Governors' Association, the Midwest Governor's Conference, the Governors' Biotechnology Partnership, Jobs for America's Graduates, and the Ethanol Coalition. He was born in Pittsburgh, Pa., orphaned at birth, and adopted in 1951. Vilsack received his bachelor's degree from Hamilton College in New York, and a law degree from Albany Law School in 1975.

David L. Warren became president of NAICU in 1993 after nearly a decade as president of Ohio Wesleyan University. Earlier, he held administrative and faculty positions at Yale University and at Antioch University, and from 1982 to 1984 served as chief administrative officer of the City of New Haven, Conn. At NAICU, Warren has led cooperative efforts with other national higher education associations, such as the National Campus Voter Registration Project which, again in last fall's mid-term elections, engaged the nation's campuses in the political and electoral process. He also spearheaded the Student Aid Alliance, an ongoing campaign to increase student aid, and has been the driving force behind the "Stop the Raid on Student Aid" initiative, an ambitious national effort to roll back proposed cuts in federal student loan funding.

Camille Welborn is special adviser to the Secretary of Education on pandemic influenza, responsible for the coordination and implementation of the department's pandemic influenza plan. She serves on the White House Homeland Security Council's Pandemic Influenza Interagency Working Group and coordinates the Department's efforts with the Centers for Disease Control. Welborn previously served as chief of staff for the Department of Education's Safe and Drug-Free Schools program, where she oversaw health policy issues, especially pandemic influenza planning for the Department as well as physical education and obesity prevention. Earlier she served in the White House in the Office of Cabinet Affairs. She is a graduate of Baylor University with certification in elementary education.