Carin Silkaitis is Dean of the School of Arts and Sciences and a Professor of Humanities. Carin has also served UAS in a number of Interim positions, including Provost (AY25), Dean of Research & Sponsored Programs (AY25), Dean of Graduate Studies (AY25), and Dean of Career Education (AY24). Carin hails from Chicago, where she served the faculty and students at Columbia College Chicago as the Allen and Lynn Turner Chair of the Theatre Department, a Professor of Theatre, and a Faculty Fellow serving on the College's Antiracism Transformation Team. At Columbia, Carin managed a substantial budget and led a large faculty, overseeing a significant number of productions annually. Her leadership was instrumental in revamping recruitment strategies, and significantly enhancing student retention during the challenging times of the COVID-19 pandemic. Carin also served as Department Chair of both Art and Theatre at North Central College in Naperville, Illinois for 7 years, and served as a faculty member at this institution for a total of 17 years. While at North Central College, Carin tackled the roles of: Head of Acting, Theatre Program Coordinator, Title IX Investigator, and Lead Trainer/Educator for Green Dot - a bystander training technique that eradicates power-based personal violence. Carinʼs tenure at North Central College exemplified her capability to lead and innovate. She guided a complete overhaul of the theatre curriculum and led the department through significant growth and development (including major fundraising efforts). Carin's dedication to relationship building and community partnerships is evident in her active involvement in numerous boards and councils, including the Juneau Arts and Humanities Council where she served as President. Her commitment to antiracism and inclusivity is further exemplified in her work with the Chancellor’s Advisory Committee on Belonging, Empowerment, Access, Representation & Safety (BEARS) at UAS. A proven leader, Carin's strategic vision, combined with her extensive experience in academia and the arts, makes her an ideal leader during this time of nearly constant change in the academy. Carin's commitment to enhancing the academic landscape through innovative and inclusive practices promises to contribute significantly to the necessary conversations happening in her community and around our nation.

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Dr. Evan Faulkenbury is the University Historian for the University of South Carolina. He holds a Ph.D. in History from UNC Chapel Hill, and before joining USC in 2024, he taught U.S. and public history for eight years at SUNY Cortland. As the University Historian, Dr. Faulkenbury records oral history interviews with people who shaped USC, co-produces the podcast Remembering the Days, leads historical tours of campus, teaches the occasional history class, and collaborates with various departments and offices around campus. He is working on two books about USC’s history—one is a general history of Carolina, and the other is a close look at the 1998-1999 Gamecock football seasons.

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Marcella David is a higher education leader, most recently serving as Senior Vice President and Provost at Columbia College Chicago, a liberal arts college with a creative arts focus. Prior to that, she served as Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs at Florida A&M University (FAMU), and in various collegiate and university leadership roles at The University of Iowa, including as its chief diversity officer from 2004-2009. As an academic administrator, David has focused on providing students with meaningful access that not only encourages students from different backgrounds to attend college, but provides support that promotes success. Other key priorities she holds include building a vibrant campus community and supporting the development and vitality of the faculty and staff to promote curiosity, inquiry and educational excellence for all.

David holds a B.S. in Computer and Systems Engineering from RPI (1986) and a J.D. from The University of Michigan Law School (1989), and was a Ford Foundation Fellow in International Law at Harvard Law School (1991). She served as a professor of law at The University of Iowa College of Law (1995-2014) and FAMU (2015-2018), and her visiting appointments include The University of Chicago Law School, University of Pennsylvania Law School, and Florida State University College of Law.

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Michael McGinnis was appointed Vice President for Academic Affairs at Saint Francis University in July 2022. Dr. McGinnis has 29 years’ experience in higher education and currently in the 2025-2026 cohort of the Executive Leadership Academy sponsored by the Council of Independent Colleges. Dr. McGinnis came to Saint Francis from Norwich University, a senior military college, where he served as Dean of the College of Science and Mathematics and professor of chemistry since 2013. Prior to Norwich, he served as head of the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry at University of North Georgia (a sister senior military college) and the Associate Dean and Director of Preprofessional Programs at Georgia College, Georgia’s Public Liberal Arts College. VPAA McGinnis earned his ACS-certified B.S. degree in chemistry from Elizabethtown College (PA) and Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry from the University of Tennessee. He completed a one-year teaching-research Postdoctoral Fellowship with the University of Tennessee; also working at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. He has won awards for his undergraduate teaching and advising, participated in science outreach activities and workshops around the globe, and served at the local, regional and national level for the American Chemical Society (ACS). He is currently national chair for ACS’ International Activities Committee. McGinnis’s research, much of it involving undergraduates, presently focuses on microwave-assisted organic reactions. He is an accomplished scientist with published articles and a book.

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Suzanne Benally (Navajo and Santa Clara Tewa)—Executive Director, Swift Foundation

Suzanne has worked in the higher education and the non-profit sector for 40 years. Committed to social justice, diversity, and equity, she predicates her work on transformational change. Currently serving as the executive director of the Swift Foundation she advocates for transformative practices in philanthropy that address issues of racism, equity, justice, and seeks to influence philanthropic practices in being more inclusive and in right relations with Indigenous Peoples. Formerly, Suzanne served as the Executive Director of Cultural Survival, an international Indigenous rights advocacy organization that advocates for Indigenous Peoples’ rights, self-determination, land, language, culture, and political resilience. Prior to that she held positions as a Special Assistant to the President for Diversity, Associate Vice President for Academic Affairs, and core Environmental Studies faculty member and department chair at Naropa University. Previously she held a long tenure at the Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education working with colleges and universities in the west, and with the American Indian Science and Engineering Society in k-12 and higher education programs.

Suzanne serves a co-chair of the University Board of Trustees at Naropa University and recently served as a co-chair of the International Funders for Indigenous Peoples. She was a cohort member of the Rothko Chapel’s Spirituality and Social Justice initiative to further understanding about the relationship between spirituality and social justice. Suzanne has been a consultant, advisor to higher education initiatives and philanthropic organizations, which have included among others the Association for American Colleges and Universities National Commitments Panel, Ford Foundations Higher Education and Diversity Initiative, and the James Irving Campus Diversity Initiative.

Deeply committed to social, environmental and climate justice, her passion and interests center on relationships and interconnectedness between land, spirituality, culture, and people as reflected in narratives and stories past and present. Mostly importantly she engages work that draws on hope now and for future generations to come. Suzanne lives in Santa Fe, New Mexico.

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Mays Imad received her undergraduate training in Philosophy from the University of Michigan, focusing on Philosophy of Science and Consciousness. She earned her Ph.D. in Cellular and Clinical Neuroscience from Wayne State University in Detroit, and then completed an NIH-IRACDA post-doctoral fellowship at the University of Arizona.

Mays’s current research focuses on stress, self-awareness, advocacy, and classroom community, and how these relate to cognition, metacognition, and, ultimately, student learning and success. Through her teaching and research, she seeks to provide her students with transformative opportunities which are grounded in the aesthetics of learning, truth-seeking, and self-realization.

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Valerie Shepard, PhD, CSAEd, is a student affairs scholar-practitioner who currently serves as the Senior Content and Assessment Analyst for UCLA Recreation, which is organized under Campus Life in the UCLA Division of Student Affairs. She reports to the Executive Director of UCLA Recreation. Prior to her work at UCLA Recreation, she served as the Assistant Director of the UCLA Graduate Student Resource Center. As the Senior Analyst, she supports the UCLA Recreation Executive and Communications teams by coordinating departmental assessment and collaborating on special projects and divisional and campus-wide working groups. A key component of her role is grants support: she has worked with collaborative teams to secure over $9.5M in state and federal grant funds since 2022. Dr. Shepard is also the co-editor of the recent book A Practitioner’s Guide to Supporting Graduate and Professional Students (Routledge, 2022). In 2022, she was awarded NASPA’s Administrators in Graduate and Professional Student Services (AGAPSS) Knowledge Community’s Outstanding Professional Award, along with her co-editor, Dr. April Perry. In 2024, the book was selected for the Outstanding Publication Award by NASPA’s Faculty Council.

Dr. Shepard has also been an editorial board member of the NASPA Journal of Student Affairs Research and Practice (JSARP) since 2016, and a member of the editorial committee of the NASPA Annual Knowledge Communities publication since 2014. She advocates for graduate and professional student success as a member of the AGAPSS leadership team. She also served as an invited humanities expert and content creator throughout the initial 2014-2018 development of ImaginePhD, a web-based career exploration and planning tool for those who have advanced degrees in the humanities and social sciences. ImaginePhD is a collaborative project of the Graduate Career Consortium (GCC), and Dr. Shepard continues to be a GCC member as well.

Prior to her work in Student Affairs, Dr. Shepard completed her PhD in English Literature at UCLA. She also currently serves as the volunteer grants director for the Chromosome 18 Registry and Research Society.

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As an academic leader and author, J. David Arnold has focused on learning communities, first-year programs, strategic planning with faculty and promoting the “teacher-scholar” model of faculty professional development at liberal arts institutions. Dr. Arnold's dedication earned him recognition as a National Learning Community Project Fellow. He attributes much of his success to the influence of great mentors throughout his life, which fueled his passion for higher education and student advocacy

Dr. Arnold served as the 26th President of Eureka College in Eureka, Ill. for 11 years. He retired from Eureka as President Emeritus in 2016 and subsequently served as Interim Provost at Salve Regina University and Keystone College.

His Eureka presidential tenure has been some of the strongest and most successful years in the College’s history. Under Arnold’s leadership, the college achieved: 1) record enrollment including graduates who represent over 30% of living alumni; 2) balanced budgets; 3) $35 million in private donor support; 4) more than 30 new endowed scholarships; 5) nearly doubled the College endowment from $12 to over $20 million; and 6) more than $30 million in campus improvements, including the construction of a new residence hall, a new Sanders classroom/laboratory building, a new fitness center, Shenkman Reagan Research Center in the library, and the transformation of the Reagan gym into the Christine Bonati Bollwinkle arena and convocation center. Other achievements include the creation of visiting scholar, artist and executive programs.

The College campus was designated a National Historic District in 2010 for its importance in American history—Eureka has graduated 42 college presidents, seven governors and members of Congress, and the 40th President of the United States. Building on the legacy of creating servant leaders, a Reagan Forward initiative was launched in 2008 to focus on leadership and service—related events include a 2011 national academic conference on “Reagan and the Midwest,” and campus lectures by dozens of Reagan authors. An Honorary Reagan Fellow Award component of the Reagan Leadership Program was created that featured notable participants, such as Mikhail Gorbachev and Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, and hosted national events with former Secretaries of State George Shultz and James Baker.

In honor of Dr. and Mrs. Arnold, the Eureka Board of Trustees renamed the newest residence hall Arnold Hall and established the J. David and Katherine Arnold Leadership Fund.

Arnold formerly was vice president for academic and student affairs at Missouri Western State University. He also served as provost at St. John Fisher College and as a dean and grants officer at Clarion University. He started his academic career as a professor teaching psychology and writing at St. Lawrence University.

In addition to his professional accomplishments, Dr. Arnold has been actively involved in various civic organizations. He has served on the school improvement council at Fountain Inn High School and the board of advisors for the PRISMA YMCA of Greenville. He is a past board member of Academic Search and has chaired the Council for Christian Colleges & Universities under the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) and was an academic trustee with the Lincoln Academy of Illinois.

A native of Lancaster, Pa., and the first in his family to graduate from college, Arnol

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