Faculty Profiles and Contact Information

Faculty in the HEA Program include the Core HEA Faculty, Visiting Faculty and Regular Adjunct Faculty. In addition, the program has the benefit of a number of faculty with academic appointments in other departments and colleges that have a strong, active research agenda directly related to higher education administration and adjunct faculty that facilitate individual courses. This page includes a list of contacts for specific issues, followed by brief profiles of HEA Core, Visiting and Regular Adjunct Faculty.

Contacts

HEA Program Coordinator
Rick Jakeman | This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

HEA Doctoral Coordinator
Jason Johnson | This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Admissions Information

HEA Master's, Educational Specialist, and Doctoral Programs
Gianna Miller | This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

To Schedule a Doctoral Interview | RSVP/Inquiry about Upcoming Prospective Student Events
HEA Program Office | This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. | 703-726-8254

Applications Process, Materials, Status | Upcoming GSEHD Information Sessions/Open House
GSEHD Admissions | This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. | 202-994-9283 | Visit the Admissions website

Core HEA Faculty

Core HEA Faculty represent the central, full-time faculty members of the program. As core faculty, members are responsible for conducting the teaching, advising, research and service work of Higher Education at GW.

Sandy Baum (Ph.D., Columbia University)

Sandy Baum is a Senior Fellow for the Graduate School of Education and Human Development as well as an independent higher education policy analyst and consultant.  Dr. Baum has written and spoken extensively on issues relating to college access, college pricing, student aid policy, student debt, affordability, and other aspects of higher education finance.  Dr. Baum regularly teaches higher education finance and policy courses for the Higher Education Administration Program.

Phone:  | Email:  This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Jeanne Contardo (Ph.D., University of Marlyand, College Park)

Jeanne Contardo has joined the HEA faculty as a Professional Lecturer of Higher Education for the 2011-2012 academic year.  She will focus on instructing HEA internship courses as well as expanding external relations within the DC community.  This appointment aligns with the Program's long-range plans of expanding DC-based connections via additinoal internship and career networking opportunities, as well as talent identification for special-topic courses and research projects.  Dr. Contardo will maintain her current appointment at the Business-Higher Education Forum as the director of programs and policy analysis in Washington, DC.  She earned a PhD in higher education policy at the University of Maryland, College Park.  Dr. Contardo has published and presented widely on the topic of access to higher education, specifically focusing on how interagency partnerships form to provide postsecondary education for underrepresented groups.

Phone:  | Email: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Liliana Garces (Ed.D Harvard University; J.D. University of Southern California Law School)

Liliana M. Garces is an Assistant Professor of Higher Education Administration.  Dr. Garces' research and teaching interests focus in the areas of access and diversity in higher education.  Her work bridges the fields of law and social science research to inform policies that may assist educators address socioeconomic and racial/ethnic inequities across K-12 and postsecondary education.  In her most recent projects, she has examined the impact of state- and judicial-level policies on student of color representation in graduate education.  Dr. Garces' dissertation research, supported by a Spencer Foundation fellowship, focused on the impact that affirmative action bans have had on the enrollment of underrepresented students of color in graduate studies.  She has also served as counsel of record on an amicus brief submitted by 553 social scientists in support of the respondents in the voluntary school K-12 desegregation cases, Parents v. Seattle School District No. 1, and Meredith v. Jefferson County Board of Education. Prior to faculty life in higher education, Dr. Garces worked as a public interest attorney in the areas of immigrants' and women's rights.  During the 2011-2012 academic year, Dr. Garces will continue her research as a Ford Postdoctoral Fellow at the National Poverty Center, Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy, University of Michigan.  During this time, she will also work with Dean Michael Feuer to help develop a policy institute at GW.  Dr. Garces will transition to GW in the Fall of 2012.

Phone:  | Email:  This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Rick C. Jakeman (Ed.D., University of Arkansas)

Rick Jakeman is an Assistant Professor of Higher Education Administration and Coordinator of the Cohort Track. Former positions include both administrative and academic roles at Drury University (MO), including seven years as a student affairs practitioner. His research interests include graduate student motivation and persistence, graduate program climate, the experiences of students (including satisfaction) in Higher Education programs, and how students progress though the P-16 academic pipeline.

Phone: 703-726-3771 | Email: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. | Visit Rick's website | Skype: rickjakeman

Jason Johnson (Ph.D., University of Wisconsin-Madison)

Jason Johnson is an Assistant Professor of Higher Education Administration. His former positions include faculty work at West Virginia University and a variety of roles in undergraduate academic affairs at the University of Washington. Through his research on higher education communication, he is interested in learning how the academic missions and identities of institutions of higher learning are variously given expression in public spheres.

Phone: 703-726-8338 | Email: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Mikyong Minsum Kim (Ph.D., University of California - Los Angeles)

Minsun Kim is an Associate Professor of Higher Education Administration. She has served as a consultant and panelist for the National Science Foundation. Former posts include faculty positions at the University of Arizona at Tucson and the University of Missouri at Columbia. Her teaching and research interests include college impact, comparative higher education, equity and opportunity issues, finance, equity and opportunity issues, higher education policy, organizational theory, special colleges for special populations, and bridging K-12, higher education and work.

Phone: 202-994-3205 | Fax: 202-994-5870 | Email: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Lindsey E. Malcom-Piqueux (Ph.D., University of Southern California)

Lindsey E. Malcom-Piqueux is an Assistant Professor of Higher Education Administration and coordinator of the Policy and Finance track of the Master's in Higher Education Administration program.  Malcom-Piqueux teaches graduate level courses on research design, college student experiences and outcomes, critical policy issues in higher education, and diversity and demographics in higher education.  Her research interests center on the relationship between higher education policy and access and success for underrepresented minorities (URM) in the sciences and related (STEM) fields.

Phone: 202-994-8108 | Email: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Roger Whitaker (Ph.D., Boston University)

Roger Whitaker is a Professor of Higher Education Administration. His career spans 33 years, four educational institutions, and three continents. Most recently, he was GW's Dean for the College of Continuing Professional Studies, after serving as the Associate Vice President for Academic Development and Continuing Education. Whitaker has been among the leaders in national and international discussions on the direction of the university of the future. He has a long track record of re-engineering and re-invigorating existing organizations. He successfully launched several start-up educational enterprises in very complex and difficult circumstances, in the U.S. and abroad. His international experience includes service as a Peace Corps volunteer in Africa and founding president of the American College of Sofia in Bulgaria.

Email: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Adjunct Faculty

Regular Adjunct Faculty are practitioners who regularly facilitate courses in the HEA Program. While regular adjunct faculty may not have direct faculty appointments in HEA, they provide key resources for students, including serving as chairs and members of dissertation committees, regularly facilitating HEA courses, and assisting students in connecting research and theory to practice.

Sharon McDade (Ed.D., Harvard University)

Sharon McDade is Director of the Fellows Program at the American Council on Education and Professorial Lecturer in Higher Education Administration at GW. She focuses on leadership development. Current projects include interviews about leadership learning of heads of colleges in the US and England and women science academicians. McDade has launched leadership development programs for senior administrators in both higher education and business, in the US and abroad and worked with presidential cabinets, trustees, and other leadership groups. She directed the Massachusetts Higher Education Executive Leadership Institute (MHEELI) sponsored by the New England Resource Center for Higher Education (NERCHE) funded by Massachusetts Board of Higher Education; was a founding faculty member of the National Association for Women in Education (NAWE) Institute for Emerging Women Leaders and a NAWE Senior Scholar.

Email: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Ray W. Francis (Ed.D., George Washington University)

Ray Francis is a Visiting Assistant Professor of Higher Education Administration. He is a retired Army Lieutenant Colonel who has held several command and staff positions in the United States and in Europe. He has also held executive leadership positions in business and industry. His research interests include leadership, leadership development, and leadership coaching.

Email: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Peggy Weissinger (Ph.D.)

Peg Weissinger is Director of Assessment and Evaluation, Georgetown Medical School, and regularly facilitates the course Curriculum in Colleges and Universities (among others). Her research interests include problem-based learning, critical thinking, and distance education. Number of courses taught in past 3-years: 5.

Email: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Robert Chernak (Ed.D.)

Bob Chernak is GW Vice President for Student and Academic Support Services, and regularly facilitates the course Strategic Decision Making in Student Affairs. Number of courses taught in past three years: 3.

Email: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Todd Olson (Ed.D.)

Todd Olson is currently Vice President for Student Affairs at Georgetown University, and regularly facilitates the course Budget Management in Higher Education. Number of courses taught in past three years: 3.

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Peter Konwerski (Ed.D.)

Peter Konwerski is the Associate Vice President and Chief Administrative Officer for GW's Division of Student and Academic Support Services, and facilitates courses in enrollment management for the program. Number of courses taught in past three years: 1.

Email: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Charles K. Barber (J.D.)

Charles Barber is GW's Associate General Counsel, and regularly facilitates the course Higher Education Law. Number of courses taught in past three years: 4.

Email: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Frank Pengitore (Ed.D.)

Frank Pengitore facilitates several courses in the program, and has provided direct dissertation support and guidance to a number of HEA Doctoral Students. His teaching and research interests include the adult learner, the history of adult and higher education, instructional systems design, student persistence in college, and workforce education. Number of Courses Taught in past three years: 8.

Email: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Staff Contacts

HEA Staff members can assist students with a variety of issues and requests including course scheduling issues, resources and forms, questions about the requirement process, and other general information. See the brief descriptions below for more information.

Gianna Miller

Gianna Miller serves as the Student Support Coordinator for the HEA Program. Students should contact her for the following: HEA Prospective Student questions about the HEA recruitment process, or issues for pre-admitted HEA students.

Phone: 703-726-8254 | Email: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Lori Stevens

Lori Stevens serves as the Program Support Coordinator for the HEA Program. Students should contact her for the following: Enrollment in the HEA Master's Listserv, the schedule of HEA courses for the semester, and enrollment issues.

Phone: 703-726-2191 | Email: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Christina Hatcher

Christina Hatcher is the GSEHD Student Services Representative for the Department of Educational Leadership (including the HEA Program). Students should contact her for the following: Admissions, paperwork and institutional records management. If you have a specific problem with registration, your reply card, your admissions letter, etc.

Phone: 202-994-9701 | Email: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Alicia Bellezza-Watts

Alicia Bellezza-Watts is the Assistant Director of Student Services for the GSEHD (including the HEA Program). Students should contact her for the following: Dissertation forms and paperwork, dissertation deadlines, IRB contact information, and management of student records.

Phone: 202-994-9274 | Email: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Debbie Gaspar

Debbie Gaspar is an Instruction Coordinator Librarian serving the needs of Higher Education Administration students. Please contact her with research-related information for class projects, dissertation work, and publications.

Phone: 202-994-1333 | Email: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Graduate Assistants

Markesha McWilliams

Markesha McWilliams coordinates the Educational Symposium for Research and Innovations (ESRI) and the 2010 South Africa Study Abroad Experience.

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Christopher Stone

Christopher Stone helps to coordinate the Idealist.org Career Fair and the Meet the Leaders Series.

Email: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Margaux Manley Lima

Margaux Manley Lima provides advising and administrative support to the HEA Master's Students and coordinates Experience GW for newly admitted HEA students.

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