2018 Civic Learning & Democratic Engagement Meeting

2018 Civic Learning & Democratic Engagement Meeting Organized by ADP, TDC, and NASPA: Speakers

Jonathan Alger

Jonathan Alger is president of James Madison University (JMU) in Virginia. Under his leadership, JMU has developed a new vision to be “the national model of the engaged university: engaged with ideas and the world,” and a strategic plan focused on engaged learning, community engagement, and civic engagement. A nationally recognized scholar on higher education policy and law, Alger presented at many conferences and campuses across the U.S. and abroad and has published extensively in legal and higher education journals and periodicals (including on issues of free expression, hate speech, and discrimination). President Alger graduated with High Honors and Phi Beta Kappa from Swarthmore College as a political science major, and with Honors from Harvard Law School.

Stefan Bradley

Stefan Bradley is an associate professor and chair of African American studies at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles, California. His primary research area is recent African American history. More specifically, he is fascinated with the efforts and abilities of black college students to change not only their scholastic environments but also the communities that surrounded their institutions of higher learning. Amazingly, young people, by way of protests and demands, have been able to influence college curricula as well as the policies of their schools. This interest in the protest movements of these young people has led him to study black student activism at Ivy League universities. His first book, Harlem vs. Columbia University: Black Student Power in the Late 1960s deals with black students who risked their educations (and potentially their lives) during the famous controversy that took place at Columbia University in 1968-1969. After the uprisings in Ferguson, Missouri and elsewhere occurred, his work on student/youth activism has been discussed in media outlets such as the Harvard Law Review, New York Times, NPR, C-Span2 BookTV, CNN, Al-Jazeera, MSNBC, BBC, and BET.

Clare Cady

Clare Cady is a scholar-practitioner whose work rests in the intersection of higher education and human services. She has developed programs to address basic needs insecurities among college students including campus pantries, emergency aid funds, housing interventions, and resource centers. She co-founded and directs the College and University Food Bank Alliance, an organization focused on alleviating student hunger, and is engaged in evidence-based programming and evaluation at the HOPE Center for College, Community, and Justice at Temple University. Clare's work has been published in the Journal of College and Character, ACPA's About Campus, and the Chronicle of Higher Education. When she is not working, Clare can be found at least 10 miles up a trailhead in the wilderness, padding the Instagram account of her dog, Echo, or both!

Berenecea Johnson Eanes

Berenecea Johnson Eanes is vice president for the Division of Student Affairs at California State University, Fullerton. As vice president, she is responsible for running a Division that supports the personal, social and academic development of students at a diverse institution with an enrollment of more than 40,000. Overseeing a team of 400+ employees, Eanes provides leadership and direction for the areas of student engagement, student retention, student transitions, and the Associated Students, Inc., and Title IX as well as intercollegiate athletics. A firm believer that higher education is one of the most important social justice issues of our time, Eanes was recently named recipient of the California State University’s 2018 Wang Family Excellence Award, which honors four outstanding faculty members and one administrator who have distinguished themselves by exemplary contributions and achievements. Beyond leadership within student affairs, she is also active as a member of the president's cabinet and the president's advisory board, participating in the development of long-term, university-wide goals to increase engagement, retention, and graduation rates. A published author, Eanes is currently a member of six student affairs professional associations. She received a Ph.D. in social work from Clark Atlanta University, a master of social work from Boston University and a bachelor of science in public health from Dillard University in New Orleans.

Hannah Jackson

Hannah Jackson is a third-year student at University of Nevada, Reno studying education, journalism, and political science (which is the closest thing that she could get to earning a degree in civics). She is grateful to have had incredible opportunities to be involved in civic and democratic engagement during my time at the University. Hannah is the state representative for Nevada’s We the People: The Citizen and the Constitution program and has had the opportunity to work on a local ballot question campaign to fund infrastructure in local public schools, and currently serves in her student government as Speaker of the Senate.

Kevin Kruger

Kevin Kruger draws on more than 35 years of experience in higher education. Since 2012, he has served as president and CEO for NASPA – Student Affairs Administrators in Higher Education. Prior to his role as president, Dr. Kruger worked for 18 years as the associate executive director and served as the chief operating officer (COO) and chief financial officer (CFO) for NASPA. He has held a range of student affairs positions at Southern Methodist University and the University of Maryland. As NASPA president, Dr. Kruger represents student affairs at a variety of national forums and is a frequent contributor to higher education news stories on the college student experience. Dr. Kruger has published and presented nationally on trends in higher education, student success, degree-completion strategies for low-income/first generation students, technology, and change management and leadership in higher education. He is the proud father of two children, one a college sophomore and the other a junior in high school.

Mike Marriner

Mike Marriner is a Co-founder of Roadtrip Nation, and leads Roadtrip Nation’s program management and strategic partnership efforts with organizations including KQED, The Corporation for Public Broadcasting, the College Board, The California Department of Education, AVID, and other national and state-wide organizations that help bring the Roadtrip Nation Experience to millions of people. He is a co-author of all three Roadtrip Nation books, has been featured on national outlets such as NBC’s Today Show and Esquire’s “Best & Brightest” list, is an Ashoka Fellow, and a frequent public speaker. Mike graduated from Pepperdine University in 2000 with a degree in biology, and the Harvard Business School - Social Enterprise program in 2012.

Joel Pérez

Joel Pérez, a native of Southern California, is the vice president and dean of students at Whittier College (Calif.), a private, historically Quaker, liberal arts, Hispanic/Minority Serving institution in Southern California. From the start of his career, Pérez has led efforts on all the campuses he has served to create a more inclusive community. This has entailed mentoring students as well as developing programs designed to assist all students in being successful in their academic pursuits. Pérez is the national co-chair of NASPA's Latinx/a/o knowledge community ans serves on the board of directors for Degrees of Change. He is the author of a recent book chapter on "Pursuing the Dream: Policy, Practice, and Broken Promises for Undocumented Students" in Latinx/a/os in Higher Education: Exploring Identity, Pathways, and Success (2018). Pérez holds a Ph.D. from Claremont Graduate University, a master’s in education from Azusa Pacific University and a bachelor’s degree from Biola University.

Sian Proctor

Sian Proctor is a member of South Mountain Community College’s geology, sustainability, and planetary science faculty in Phoenix, Arizona. She has a B.S. in environmental science, M.S. in geology, and a Ph.D. in science education. Both her masters and doctoral research involved the use of technology to understand how individuals learn. She is continually developing new ways to engage her students and to present scientific information in interesting ways. She has a strong curriculum development background, has traveled and taught around the world, was a finalist for the 2009 NASA Astronaut Program, and was on the Discovery Channel reality TV show called The Colony. She recently participated in a 120 day Mars analogue mission called HI-SEAS (hi-seas.org) as the education outreach officer.

Verdis L. Robinson

Verdis L. Robinson is the National Director of The Democracy Commitment (TDC), a national civic engagement project for community colleges. Prior to joining TDC in 2016, Verdis worked for ten years as a tenured Assistant Professor of History and African-American Studies at Monroe Community College in Rochester, N.Y. In addition to serving as Monroe Community College’s TDC Campus Coordinator, he served on TDC National Steering Committee and on the Advisory Council for its Economic Inequality Initiative. He holds a B.M. in Voice Performance from Boston University, a B.S. and an M.A. in History from SUNY College at Brockport, and an M.A. in African-American Studies from SUNY University at Buffalo.

Nancy Thomas

Nancy Thomas is the director of the Institute for Democracy & Higher Education at the Jonathan M. Tisch College of Civic Life at Tufts University in Medford, Massachusetts. She directs research on higher education’s role in American democracy, including the National Study of Learning, Voting, and Engagement (NSLVE). Prior to joining Tisch College in 2012, Nancy directed the Democracy Imperative, a national network of academics and practitioners working to advance deliberative democracy in higher education. Earlier in her career, she practiced university law. She currently serves as an associate editor for the Journal of Public Deliberation and senior associate with Everyday Democracy. Her professional interests connect political learning and democratic engagement; equity, diversity, and inclusion; academic freedom and free speech, and; legal issues in higher education. She holds a doctorate from the Harvard Graduate School of Education and a JD from Case Western Reserve University.