Stockton University

Serve as a senior academic leader at a public doctoral institution of over 9,000 students, overseeing interdisciplinary undergraduate and graduate programs, academic support services, and student success initiatives. Report to the Dean and work collaboratively with the Provost, Associate Provosts, and cross-campus partners to drive academic strategy, institutional effectiveness, and mission-aligned innovation.

Key Responsibilities and Achievements:

✅ Faculty and Academic Leadership
*Co-chaired a university-wide strategic planning committee that defined Stockton’s teacher-scholar model across academic units.
*Supervise adjuncts and support faculty development across interdisciplinary minors, Digital Studies, First-Year Studies (FRST), and Graduate Education.

✅ Curriculum and Program Development
*Partnered with the Associate Provost for Curriculum and Compliance to create a program-to-program transfer agreement between Essex County College and Stockton’s BA in Digital Studies.
*Helped launch new Living-Learning Communities in coordination with Housing and Student Affairs.

✅ Student Success and Enrollment Initiatives
*Directly oversee the University Tutoring Center and the Woodbine campus.
*Collaborate with Enrollment Management and Student Affairs to design and deliver New Student and Transfer Student Orientations.

✅ Institutional Operations and Systems Strategy
*Served on the university team that implemented CourseDog to transition Stockton to student-driven academic scheduling, increasing course planning efficiency.
*Participate in cross-functional efforts supporting graduate education, writing programs, and community engagement through the Holocaust Resource Center and the Woodbine Museum.

✅ Commencement and Academic Ceremonies
*Support campus-wide commencement operations, working with Academic Affairs and Facilities to ensure successful planning and execution of graduation exercises.

Assistant Dean ● First-Year Experience ● Graduate Education ● Student Success ● Campus Oversight

The Speech Guru 

The landscape of higher education is evolving fast. With shifting demographics, ballooning costs, and increasing skepticism around the value of education, the race to attract students gets fiercer by the day. College leaders everywhere are searching for the secret to unlocking their institution's potential.

IS THIS YOU? 

🚫 Your institution is a veritable gold mine, but outdated practices and mindsets are giving everyone the shaft. 

🚫 You and your team have a great vision, but it’s often undermined by people refusing to share needed information, budgets straining to meet existing needs, and/or processes that mimic moving a cemetery. 

🚫 Just when it looks like you’re trending in the right direction, a competitor swoops in, luring away students or faculty and creating more hurdles for you.

YOU WISH...

✅ YOU CAN lead initiatives that help faculty and staff rediscover the joy and purpose that attracted them to higher ed, transforming offices, classrooms, and labs into hubs of inspiration and innovation.

✅ YOU CAN oversee a strategic overhaul of outdated university policies, ensuring that you can adapt quickly to new trends while solidifying your institution's reputation for forward-thinking.

✅ YOU CAN infuse new energy into campus events, making them a showcase of the university's accomplishments and a testament to its future potential.

✅ YOU CAN break down silos, promote interdisciplinary collaborations, and set a clear, inclusive path for the years ahead.

Here's the secret...SHHHH! Don't tell anyone I told you. It's not the CRM you are using. Not even if it has AI. (Remember, that stays between us, right?)

Book a 15-minute information-sharing call with me, and we can talk. This will NOT be a sales call. If you would like to avail yourself of my services, that is a completely different call.

Founder

Neumann University

Led Neumann’s largest college as chief academic and budget officer. Oversaw 20+ academic programs, faculty hiring and promotion, curriculum development, assessment, accreditation, online education, and strategic initiatives. Managed a $7M+ budget and reported directly to the VPAA.

Highlights:

✅ Faculty Advancement: Achieved a 100% pass rate from assistant to associate professor and 90% from associate to full professor on first attempt; doubled faculty research productivity from 28% to 62%.

✅ Academic Innovation: Launched graduate degrees in Clinical Lab Science and Forensic Psychology; created PA’s only Behavioral Health Intervention minor; developed early-admit partnerships with Drexel, Widener Law, and Wilkes.

✅ Online Education: Served as campus Quality Matters Coordinator; personally certified 75% of full-time and 34% of part-time faculty during the pandemic; chaired the eLearning Committee with IT and instructional design.

✅ Accreditation & Compliance: Co-authored Middle States Self-Study; university earned only commendations; supported two NAACLS reaccreditations with only commendations.

✅ Student Success: Nationally recognized First-Year Experience program; contributed to HHMI SEA-PHAGES designation, through which students discovered 40+ phages.

✅ Fiscal Stewardship: Saved $140K annually via course scheduling reforms; led $1M office renovation project; co-authored grants securing $2.4M in funding (Title III, Teagle Foundation).

Dean of Arts & Sciences ● Faculty Affairs ● Online Learning ● Accreditation ● Grants ● Programs

Mount St. Mary's University

Mount St. Mary's University is the second-oldest Catholic university in the United States. The institution unites a four-year, liberal arts university with the second-largest Catholic seminary in the United States. 

I was hired to serve as chair of the Department of Communication Studies, the largest department in the College of Liberal Arts. I was responsible for curriculum development; program assessment; course scheduling; and all aspects of hiring, mentoring, and evaluating department faculty. During my tenure, the department consisted of four full-time faculty, four adjunct faculty, and one administrative assistant. Additionally, I was responsible for overseeing the department's budget, which included the campus newspaper, campus radio station, and campus Writing Center.

Among my accomplishments in this position were the following: 
✔ I led the department's program review in 2011-2012. 
✔ I created the department’s Facebook and Twitter pages to manage the department’s recruitment and development efforts.
✔ I worked with the faculty and students to revise the department's curriculum and program learning outcomes and to create a new mission statement and the department's first five-year plan for program assessment. 
✔ I created a student advisory committee. 
✔ I worked with student majors to form a student club named Vocations in Communications that explored the relationship between Catholicism and communication professions.
✔ I served on the University's strategic planning committee.
✔ I was a member of the work group for Standard 12: General Education as part of the campus'​ Middle States Decennial Self-Study. 
✔ I was a member of the University's Task Force on Distance Education.

Of all the positions I have held, I loved being department chair at the Mount most. Not only did I have the opportunity to work with many talented, motivated students, but I also worked every day with wonderful colleagues, many of whom became lifelong friends.

Department Chair ● Personnel ● Curriculum Development ● Program Review & Assessment ● Middle States

Penn State Mont Alto

Penn State Mont Alto is the oldest Penn State campus outside of University Park. It offers seven baccalaureate degrees and eight associate degrees, serving approximately 1200 students annually. 

I was appointed the interim Assistant Director of Academic Affairs in March 2010, when our campus'​ Director of Academic Affairs was appointed interim Chancellor at another Penn State campus. I was responsible for overseeing all aspects of the hiring, orientation, and evaluation processes for adjunct faculty. To assist in monitoring the Office of Academic Affairs'​ budgets, I was trained on the Financial Information Tool (FIT) software package and the Integrated Business Information System (IBIS). These software packages enabled me to make data-driven business decisions related to annual budget requests for adjunct faculty salaries, faculty supplemental pay, and department allotment and wages for all of the budget areas. I served as Chief Academic Officer in the absence of the interim Director of Academic Affairs. I also worked very closely with the Registrar's Office in the scheduling of courses.

Among my accomplishments in this position were the following:
✔ I worked with the Registrar to staff the Fall 2010 and Spring 2011 courses months ahead of the normal deadlines.
✔ I worked with budget managers in the allied health fields, forestry program, Advising Center, Academic Success Center, Honors Program, and Registrar's Office to reconcile Academic Affairs' budget lines each month.
✔ I hired a total of ten new adjunct faculty members in the fields of English, Spanish, economics, education, and agricultural sciences.

I enjoyed working with the Director of Human Relations & Business Services to ensure that all of the budgets reconciled each month. I also enjoyed the mentoring and advocacy role that I played in my supervision of adjunct faculty across the campus. So this position confirmed my choice to pursue an administrative career.

Interim Assistant Director of Academic Affairs ● Assistant Dean ● Budget Oversight ● Personnel

Penn State Mont Alto is the oldest Penn State campus outside of University Park. It offers seven baccalaureate degrees and eight associate degrees, serving approximately 1200 students annually. 

I was appointed the founding Program Coordinator of the Letters, Arts, and Sciences baccalaureate program in April 2007. I was responsible for all aspects of recruiting and advising majors in the program and overseeing all assessment efforts of the program at the campus level. I also worked with forty full-time faculty members to schedule course offerings in arts and humanities, social and behavioral sciences, natural sciences, and allied health fields.

Among my accomplishments in this position were the following: 
✔ I developed the plan for the assessment of student learning outcomes in compliance with the Middle States Commission on Higher Education.
✔ I created tracks in physician's assistant, occupational and behavioral sciences, physical therapy, rhetoric, gender studies, sustainability studies, public history, library studies, and athletic administration. 
✔ I recruited nineteen majors in total, exceeding program benchmarks.

This position convinced me that an administrative career was a good fit for me. I enjoyed working with students from the recruitment phase through their completion of the program. I also enjoyed working with faculty from across the different disciplines to schedule needed courses. This position also afforded me my first real chance to oversee the assessment of student learning outcomes in a formal way. Although that involved a steep learning curve, it proved to be essential knowledge for my future leadership positions.

Program Coordinator ● Individualized Major ● Middle States ● Curriculum Development ● Retention

Penn State Mont Alto is the oldest Penn State campus outside of University Park. It offers seven baccalaureate degrees and eight associate degrees, serving approximately 1200 students annually. It also offers the first two years of coursework in approximately 120 majors that students can pursue throughout the Penn State system.

I was hired to teach courses in Communication Arts and Sciences. Although I primarily taught public speaking, I also developed courses in persuasion, rhetorical theory and criticism, and the history of rhetoric.

Among my accomplishments in this position were the following:
✔ I served as a member of Penn State's Framework for Diversity Assessment Team, leading the assessment of the Shenango campus in western Pennsylvania and the College of Liberal Arts in State College. I also served on the team evaluating diversity in the School of Nursing, the College of Health and Human Development, University Relations, the Dickinson School of Law, and the Beaver and New Kensington campuses.
✔ I chaired the Intra-University Relations Committee of the University Faculty Senate, which oversaw the realignment of courses across all locations at Penn State and developed a tuition-based budgeting system for the new University College system.
✔ As chair of the Mont Alto Faculty Senate, I addressed religious diversity issues on campus, efforts that resulted in the creation of a permanent standing committee on diversity.
✔ I organized a series of workshops that addressed the issue of shared governance on campus.
✔ I served on the strategic planning committee three times during my tenure on campus.
✔ I served on the Facilities Planning Committee, which oversaw the construction of an elevator and new faculty offices in the General Studies building.

This position taught me the importance of shared governance and diversity initiatives. The process of strategic planning also taught me how the different units of the university function together.

Assistant & Associate Professor ● Shared Governance ● Diversity ● Strategic Planning ● Facilities

Eastern Communication Association

The Eastern Communication Association (ECA) is a professional organization of scholars, teachers, and students of Communication Studies. The ECA was initially established in 1910 and continues as the oldest professional communication association in the United States.

As Executive Director, my responsibilities included managing and balancing a budget of approximately $240,000, including scholarship monies, and administering all organizational investments, which amounted to more than $350,000. I was also responsible for negotiating contracts with all external entities and for supervising one administrative assistant.

Among my accomplishments in this position were the following: 
✔ I instituted electronic balloting for the annual election of officers.
✔ I created listserves to be used by the association's interest groups.
✔ I created a more accurate system of budgeting and accounting for the association.
✔ I oversaw the creation of policies on whistleblowing in compliance with the Sarbanes Oxley Act. 
✔ I advocated for and purchased event cancellation and liability insurance for the first time in the organization's history.
✔ I negotiated contracts with the Hyatt Regency Hotel in Baltimore for the 2010 conference, the Marriott Key Bridge Hotel in Washington, DC, for 2011, and the Royal Sonesta Hotel in Boston for 2012. 
✔ I negotiated contracts with EBSCO and Taylor & Francis Publishing on behalf of the association. 
✔ I presided over the creation of the Communication Traits and Communication Administration Interest Groups.

This position enabled me to learn the intricacies of budget preparation and management, accounting, financial leadership, and contract negotiation. These skills enabled me to be successful in all of my future leadership positions.

Executive Director ● Budget Planning & Management ● Negotiation ● Accounting

Yerevan State Linguistics University (Brusov)

The Yerevan State Linguistics University named after Valery Brusov is a university in Yerevan, Armenia, that trains specialists in Russian, English, French, German, Greek, and Spanish languages, History, Political Science, Area Studies, and other humanities.

I was stationed at Brusov during my term of service as a Fulbright Scholar in Armenia. I taught courses in public speaking, journalism, and film to graduate students in the American Studies program.

Among my accomplishments in this position were the following:
✔ I delivered a workshop on public speaking at the annual meeting of the International Research and Exchanges Board (IREX) in Tsakhkadzor, Armenia.
✔ I delivered a workshop on public speaking at Project Harmony, an NGO based in Yerevan, Armenia.
✔ I delivered a workshop on successful sales strategies at the College of Agricultural Economics in Yerevan, Armenia.

This position offered me the opportunity to teach graduate students and helped me understand the similarities and difference between the American and Eastern European models of higher education. I also enjoy the distinction of having served under Ambassador John Evans, who was dismissed from service in September 2006 for recognizing the Armenian Genocide.

Fulbright Scholar ● Cultural Ambassador ● U.S. Embassy in Armenia

Wesleyan College

Wesleyan College is the first college in the world that was chartered to grant degrees to women. It remains a private, liberal arts college for women, and is the oldest member of the prestigious Seven Sisters of the South colleges.

I was hired to assist in creating a new Communication major. The Division Head of Humanities, Dr. Delmas Crisp, and I created a major with three tracks: one in Rhetoric & Public Address, one in Media & Film Studies, and one in Interpersonal Communication. 

When the new major began in Fall 1998, I was responsible for all aspects of recruiting and advising majors in the Media & Film Studies track and assisted in the direction and management of the Rhetoric & Public Address track. I also managed the program budget of $32,000 and assisted the Director of Alumni Relations on community outreach projects related to the program.

Among my accomplishments in this position were the following: 
✔ Dr. Crisp and I earned national exposure for the program when Samuel Becker published our article on the curriculum revision process in the Journal of the Association for Communication Administration.
✔ Within one year, I recruited thirteen new majors in Media & Film Studies and nine double majors in Rhetoric & Public Address and Media & Film Studies.
✔ I hosted Nina Totenberg from National Public Radio on campus, where she did a live broadcast of her program.

This position helped prepare me for future leadership positions by teaching me how to plan and manage larger budgets and how to negotiate the curriculum planning and development process. I also began to become familiar with the recruitment process.

Director of Media & Film Studies ● Curriculum Planning & Development ● Budget Manager ● Recruitment

Wesleyan College is the first college in the world that was chartered to grant degrees to women. It remains a private, liberal arts college for women, and is the oldest member of the prestigious Seven Sisters of the South colleges.

I was hired to create and administer the college’s debate and forensics program. I served as director and coach, training students in all individual events as well as parliamentary and Lincoln-Douglas (LD) debate. As director, I also served as budget manager for the team and hosted one collegiate and one high school tournament per year. 

Among my accomplishments in this position were the following:
✔ I worked with the Director of Admissions to create two scholarship awards to defray the cost of books and classroom materials. These scholarships enabled us to attract students who otherwise would have attended the University of Georgia.
✔ I coached students to consecutive state championships in individual events, earning national rank in the American Forensic Association (AFA) for the team in eighteen months.
✔ I presided over a perfect record. The team traveled to eight tournaments per year for two years without ever failing to earn an award in at least one event.

This position helped prepare me for future development efforts by teaching me the importance of working with development officers to identify and cultivate donors.

Director of Debate and Forensics ● Debate Coach ● Budget Manager ● Fundraising

University of Iowa

The University of Iowa is a major national research university known for its programs in medicine, communication, and writing.

I was hired as an instructor in the Rhetoric department, teaching the Rhetoric I and II sequence to freshmen as well as the Accelerated Rhetoric course for honors students. I was responsible for all aspects of the course, which combined critical reading, writing, and public speaking instruction in a four-credit course. 

While at Iowa, I became an assistant editor of the Communication Education national journal under Douglas Trank's editorship and was selected to serve as a co-leader in the Professional Development Program (PDP) in the Rhetoric department, training new instructors alongside an experienced professor of rhetoric. Serving as a co-leader of the PDP was a paid position assigned only to the most effective rhetoric instructors.

This position prepared me for working in undergraduate education, exposing me to students with a wide range of attitudes, aptitudes, and abilities. It also taught me to be a self-reflective teacher and mentor.

Instructor ● Mentor ● Assistant Editor

The future of higher education demands more than ideas. It demands action.

As a senior academic leader with 20+ years of administrative experience, I’ve led institutions through curriculum redesigns, budget realignments, and culture shifts that increased enrollment, strengthened retention, and revived morale. I’ve served as dean for a decade; assistant dean for first-year, interdisciplinary, and graduate education; and held faculty and leadership positions across public, private, faith-based, and research-intensive universities.

🛠 I specialize in:

Translating mission into measurable, institution-wide outcomes
Breaking down silos between academics, enrollment, and student success
Restoring trust across fractured or fatigued campus environments
Leading accreditation, program development, and strategic planning that sticks

I have:

Reduced academic scheduling costs by six figures through smart systems
Designed new academic programs aligned with labor market needs
Co-led multi-million dollar grant efforts and reaccreditation reviews that earned only commendations
Built cross-functional teams that get results without burning out people
💬 I’m also a keynote speaker and author of the forthcoming Lead with Kick, a strategic guide for leaders facing tough decisions, tighter margins, and rising demands for relevance.

Whether you're looking for your next provost or a proven collaborator to help chart the next era of your institution’s life, I’m open to the conversation.

📞 Let's connect for a 15-minute strategy exchange. No pitch. No pressure.

Taplio

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