Tia Minnis
PRESIDENT and SPECIAL ADVISOR FOR HBCUsDr. Tia A. Minnis serves as the Vice Provost for Academic Success, Planning, and Institutional Effectiveness at Virginia State University. In this role she oversees the Office of the Registrar, the Office of Distance Education, and the Office of Planning and Institutional Effectiveness (OPIE) which includes the Planning, Assessment, Institutional Research units of the university. Dr. Minnis also directs the Accreditation, General Education, and Faculty Development initiatives. In her role as the Vice Provost, Dr. Minnis works closely with the Provost and Executive Vice President for Academic and Student Affairs to develop and implement strategic initiatives and refine operational processes at the macro and micro levels to support the University’s faculty, staff, and overall student success. With over 15 years of experience in higher education accreditation, institutional change management, organizational effectiveness, and strategic planning, assessment, and budgeting, Dr. Minnis has supported numerous institutions in the process of attaining reginal accreditation and/or enhancing the overall effectiveness of the institution.
Dr. Minnis holds a Doctoral degree in Educational Leadership from Clark Atlanta University, a Master of Business Administration, and a Master of Technology, both from Georgia Southern University, a Bachelor of Business Administration degree in Management and in Computer Information Systems from Savannah State University, and an Associate of Arts degree in Computer Data Processing from the College of the Bahamas.
Joel Hanel
PRESIDENT-ELECTJoel Hanel serves as the Accreditation and Assessment Specialist for the School of Professional and Continuing Studies (SPCS) at the University of Richmond where he works across academic units to maintain and coordinate accreditation and program approval for the Virginia Department of Education (VDoE) and Council for the Accreditation of Educator Preparation (CAEP).
Joel’s work focuses on building partnerships across educator preparation programs through the Virginia Association of Colleges and Teacher Educators (VACTE) and the Virginia Education Assessment Collaborative (VEAC). He is particularly proud of his work co-developing, coordinating, and building shared assessment instruments through VEAC.
In addition to traditional educator preparation assessment, Dr. Hanel works with K-12 partners to measure the effectiveness and impact of coaching on provisionally licensed teachers through a new partnership program funded by the R.E.B. Foundation.
He is a graduate of the University of Mississippi (Ph.D and M.A.) and the University of North Carolina at Charlotte (BA) and teaches political science.
Linda Townsend
PAST-PRESIDENTLinda Townsend is Director of Assessment for the Office of Assessment and Institutional Research at Longwood University in Farmville, VA. In her role, she provides leadership and support for Civitae Core, academic programs, and the administrative units in assessing student learning and the student experience. Through collegial planning, professional opportunities, and collaborative research, she enables faculty/staff to develop leadership in assessment. Linda also supports the campus-wide utilization of the institution’s online assessment and planning management system. Since coming to Longwood, she has served as Assessment Coordinator, Instructional Technology Design Specialist for Longwood’s K-12 outreach program, the Institute for Teaching through Technology and Innovative Practices (ITTIP), and trained and provided support to Longwood faculty in online teaching. Linda earned a Bachelor of Science degree in both Early Childhood Education and Library Science from James Madison University. She obtained her M.S. in Education from Longwood University and a PhD in Educational Leadership and Policy Studies from Virginia Tech.
Nick Curtis
JOURNAL EDITOR, RESEARCH AND PRACTICE IN ASSESSMENTDr. Nick Curtis serves as the Director of Assessment at Marquette University. In this role, Dr. Curtis provides leadership and support to the Marquette community, including academic departments, the Marquette Core Curriculum, and co-curricular units, in the assessment of student learning and development outcomes for the purpose of large-scale student learning improvement efforts. Before joining Marquette, Dr. Curtis served as the Senior Learning Outcomes and Visibility Consultant for the Center for Assessment and Research Studies at James Madison University in Virginia, where he also earned his Ph.D. in Assessment and Measurement with a dissertation focused on student partnership in higher education learning outcomes assessment. His research areas include student partnership in higher education assessment, validity in higher education assessment, student learning improvement/innovation,, and novel performance assessment methods.
Jodi Fisler
SCHEV REPRESENTATIVEJodi Fisler has served as the Associate for Assessment Policy and Analysis at the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia (SCHEV) since February 2016. Prior to that, she worked for six years as the Director of Student Affairs Planning & Assessment and Assistant to the Vice President for Student Affairs at the College of William & Mary. Jodi received her B.A. in German Studies from Williams College and her M.Ed. and Ph.D. degrees in Educational Policy, Planning and Leadership (Higher Education concentration) from the William & Mary School of Education.
Tisha M. Paredes
COMMUNICATIONS AND MARKETINGDr. Tisha M. Paredes was the Assistant Vice President for Institutional Effectiveness and Assessment at Old Dominion University. Prior to accepting this position in 2015, she served as the office’s Research Associate, Senior Research Associate, and Director of Assessment. Tisha helped to promote institutional effectiveness activities at all levels of the University. She has presented workshops and consulted on topics including institutional effectiveness, academic and administrative assessment, general education assessment, QEP assessment, and SACSCOC compliance. She has served on several on and off-site accreditation committees. Her book, Using Focus Groups to Listen, Learn, and Lead in Higher Education, was published in summer 2018. In June 2021, Tisha stepped away from ODU to focus on supporting other institutions.
Keri-Beth Pettengill
SECRETARYKeri-Beth Pettengill is the Director of Institutional Effectiveness at John Tyler Community College, in Midlothian, VA. Prior to her current role, Keri-Beth served as an Associate Dean at John Tyler, and as a Program Manager and Associate Professor at Frederick Community College, in Frederick, MD. Prior to working in academia, Keri-Beth worked in regulatory affairs in Washington, DC. Keri-Beth is a graduate of the University of Maryland at College Park (BS, Biology), Hood College (MS, Environmental Biology), and Morgan State University (EdD, Community College Leadership).
Sheena G. Serslev
TREASURERDr. Sheena G. Serslev is the Associate Director of Institutional Assessment at George Mason University where she manages annual assessment efforts while integrating an educational development approach. Prior to joining George Mason, she co-led a center for teaching as Associate Director of Engaged Teaching at UC San Diego where she collaborated with departments and faculty to design evidence-based, student-centered, and equitable learning experiences. Sheena earned her BA Visual Arts and BA in Communications at UC San Diego and completed her Master’s in Arts Management from the Heinz College of Public Policy at Carnegie Mellon University. She earned her Doctorate in Educational Leadership from UC San Diego and her research interests blend program assessment with creativity and learning.
David Shirley
MEMBER-AT-LARGE, FOUR-YEAR PUBLICDavid Shirley is the Director of Institutional Effectiveness and Assessment at Old Dominion University. Mr. Shirley oversees University needs including those related to SACSCOC and SCHEV compliance, operational data analysis and insights, and the processes for student learning and administrative assessment. Prior to his role at ODU, Mr. Shirley developed institutional effectiveness expertise in assessment strategies, data analytics, and strategic planning through his work at Georgia Southern University. Mr. Shirley is a frequent presenter at SACSCOC annual meetings and he enjoys finding ways to innovate planning and assessment strategies.
Janet Ping
MEMBER-AT-LARGE, TWO-YEAR PUBLICJanet Ping is the Director of Institutional Research and Effectiveness at Blue Ridge Community College, in Weyers Cave, Virginia where she provides leadership and coordination to a comprehensive and effective assessment and institutional research program. Before accepting the current position in 2022, Janet served in multiple positions at Laurel Ridge Community College, including the Office of Technology Services, the Office of Planning and Institutional Effectiveness, and the Office of Research, Analytics, and Data Systems. With an in-depth knowledge of research methodologies, big data capture, curation, manipulation, and visualization, Janet is an analytical and process-oriented individual. She earned her Master’s in Information Systems at Marshall University. She is pursuing a post-graduate certificate in Higher Education Assessment at James Madison University.
