Dr. Kristen Harrell (Mini-Track Facilitator) (she/her/hers) currently serves as an Assistant Vice President in the Division of Student Affairs. Dr. Harrell received her Bachelor of Science in Psychology from the University of Washington, her Master of Science in Student Affairs in Higher Education from Colorado State University, and her Doctor of Philosophy in Higher Education Administration from Texas A&M University. Dr. Harrell has worked in a variety of functional areas within student affairs including student conduct, sexual violence prevention, alcohol and other drug education, and residence life. Dr. Harrell currently provides administrative supervision of the Department of Multicultural Services, Disability Resources, the Don & Ellie Knauss Veteran Resource and Support Center, and Student Community Standards. Her work also includes oversight of Civil Rights appeals pertaining to student respondents.
Danny Shaha, Ed.D. (Mini-Track Facilitator) (he/him/his) serves as an Assistant Vice President (AVP) for Student Affairs at Penn State University. In this capacity, he oversees or has overseen various essential offices including the University’s offices of Student Accountability and Conflict Response, Sexual Misconduct Reporting and Response, Student Care and Advocacy, Off Campus Student Support, Respondent Support, Fraternity and Sorority Compliance, and Student Legal Services. He also co-chairs the University’s Behavioral Threat Management Team, oversees the Care team, and holds responsibility for the University’s response to student-related crises, providing functional supervision to the Directors of Student Affairs at Penn State’s 19 Commonwealth Campuses. During the first year of his tenure as an AVP, Danny also served as the University’s Title IX Coordinator.
Before assuming the AVP role, Danny served as the Senior Director of the Office of Student Conduct (OSC) at Penn State for seven years. During this time, he also held the position of Deputy Title IX Coordinator. From November 2015 to July 2017, Danny took on the additional role of Interim Director of the University’s Office of Fraternity and Sorority Life.
Prior to joining Penn State, Danny served in various capacities at The Ohio State University, Texas A&M University, and the College of William and Mary. He also served as a Special Agent in the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
Danny recently completed a year-long fellowship with the University of California National Center for Free Speech and Civic Engagement, serves on the board for the University of Vermont Legal Issues in Higher Education Conference, and serves as an adjunct instructor for the University of Southern Mississippi and Virginia Commonwealth University teaching courses in leadership, behavioral threat management, culture change, and free speech.
Anhar Bekhet, Ed.D. (Mini-Track Facilitator) (she/her/hers) currently serves as the Assistant Dean of Students at the University of West Florida. In her role, Anhar oversees the Office of Student Rights and Responsibilities. Prior to Joining the University of West Florida, she served as the Assistant Dean of Students for the Office of Student Rights and Responsibilities at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette.
Anhar has a Bachelor’s degree in Political Science and Criminal Justice from the University of West Florida, a Master of Science in Mental Health Counseling from the University of Louisiana at Lafayette (UL), and a Doctor of Education in Higher Education Leadership from UL.
Michael Fernbacher, Ed.D. (Mini-Track Facilitator) currently serves as Assistant Director in Community Standards & Conflict Resolution at the University of Delaware. Responsibilities include managing all academic honesty incidents, coordinating annual updates to the Student Guide and serving as the primary Maxient Level 5 administrator for the campus. Michael has been at UD since 1999, serving in roles in Admissions, Residence Life and Conference Services in addition to Community Standards.
Michael has been active in ASCA since 2001 (hasn’t missed a conference yet!) and has served as circuit/state rep; member of the annual conference committee; member, secretary and chair of the Raymond H. Goldstone Foundation; and Gehring Academy faculty.
Michael earned a Bachelor’s degree from Indiana University-Bloomington and Master’s and Doctoral degrees from the University of Delaware.
Tamera Dunn-Perry (Mini-Track Facilitator) (she/her/hers) currently works at Michigan State University as the inaugural Assistant Director in the Office of Student Support & Accountability focused on student organization conduct investigations. Tamera has worked at Michigan State since March 2022. Prior to Michigan State, Tamera has worked professionally at multiple institutions in housing and residential life roles and has obtained a certification in project management. Tamera is a proud first-generation college student and graduate.
Personally, Tamera enjoys watching and attending sporting events, cooking & baking gluten-free meals, trivia nights and board games, and spending time with her husband and dog while exploring both their Michigan home and “off-season” vacation sites.
Alex Lewin (Mini-Track Facilitator) is the Director of Student Conduct and Community Standards at the University of Toledo in Toledo, Ohio. Alex has a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Photography and Media from the California Institute of the Arts (CalArts), an MA in College Student Personnel from Bowling Green State University (BGSU) and is pursuing her doctorate in Leadership Studies at BGSU. Alex is passionate about infusing social justice into her work in higher education by helping to revise policies and processes, supporting others in using equitable practices, and creating environments that are inclusive for students and colleagues. This will be Alex’s second year serving as faculty for the Gehring Academy.
Erin Kaplan (Mini-Track Facilitator) (she/her/hers) serves as the Associate Dean & Director of Student Conduct at Swarthmore College in Pennsylvania. Erin earned her Master of Education in College Student Affairs from Rutgers University New Brunswick and is currently pursuing her Doctor of Education in Higher Education Administration from the University of West Georgia.
Erin has been a member of Higher Education Case Managers Association (HECMA) Mid-Atlantic Region since 2016 and has been a member of ASCA since 2013. Through ASCA, from 2020-2023, Erin served as the Co-Chair for the Women and Student Conduct Community of Practice (CoP), and in 2023, Erin served as the Co-Chair for Region 10. Currently, Erin serves on the ASCA Board of Directors as a Director of Large and remains involved with the Women and Student Conduct CoP, Region 10, and the Equity & Inclusion committee. Erin has attended five Gehring Academy tracks and is thrilled to serve as faculty this summer.
Christina Parle (Mini-Track Facilitator) is an equity, inclusion, and diversity (EID) educator and consultant with her company, Social Responsibility Speaks, and currently serves as the Director of Student Life at Avila University. Christina’s career experience is in student development, accountability, and fraternal organizations. Christina has served on the Association for Student Conduct Administration’s (ASCA) Board of Directors for six (6) years and is presently the Past President. Much of her work is rooted in unlearning, conflict resolution, and effective communication. Christina’s particular interest is in language and its impacts. Christina has specific experience in building effective systems, policies, and procedures, curriculum writing, and leadership education.
Christina is a Kansas City, Missouri native. Prior to her work at Avila University, Christina served as the Director of Chapter Services and Conduct at Zeta Beta Tau (ZBT) Fraternity. She also previously served as the Assistant Director of Student Conduct and Community Standards at the University of Kansas (KU) where she was the Student Housing liaison and then transitioned to a focus on student organization misconduct. Before KU, she served as a Fraternity and Sorority Advisor at Western Carolina University where she advised the Panhellenic, Interfraternity, and National Pan-Hellenic Councils. Christina earned her bachelor’s in criminal justice and political science at the University of Central Missouri and attended Penn State where she earned her master’s in higher education with an emphasis in student affairs. While at Penn State, she completed a graduate assistantship in student conduct and served as the primary advisor for the National Pan-Hellenic Council and the Multicultural Greek Council for a semester.
Nicole (Nikki) Kogan, Ed.D (Mini-Track Facilitator) (she/her) joined Florida Atlantic University as the Assistant Dean and Director of Student Conduct and Conflict Resolution in August 2023. Dr. Nikki got her start in higher education working in housing and residential life before transitioning to residential conduct and eventually moving over to a conduct office full-time. She has worked with students across five institutions within Washington (state), Florida, and Georgia. She as a B.A. in Philosophy from Wittenberg University (Ohio) and a MS Ed. for College Student Development and Administration from the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse.
In December of 2022, Dr. Nikki earned her Ed.D. in Student Affairs Leadership from the University of Georgia, with her dissertation: “An Exploration of Current Student Conduct Educators’ Knowledge and Application of Learning Outcome and Assessment Practices Within Student Conduct Programs”. Dr. Nikki is firm believer that student conduct practice should be a place to assist students with their transition to collegiate life and help them understand the impact their choices have not only themselves but their community (p.s. there are several ways to assess effectiveness of that support!)
Heather Ryan (Mini-Track Facilitator) serves as the Director of the Office of Community Standards at the University of Notre Dame. She has experience within residential life, student conduct, and registrar functional areas. Heather has served as faculty for ASCA’s Gehring Academy mini track for assessment in the past and is co-chair of ASCA’s Assessment Committee.
Heather earned her Bachelor of Science in Interpersonal and Public Communication from Central Michigan University and her Masters in Education in College Student Affairs Leadership from Grand Valley State University. She is a doctoral candidate in the Educational Leadership program at Indiana State University. Heather’s research interests include the impact of educational programs and interventions on anti-racism and critical consciousness.
Mackenzie Wilfong (Mini-Track Facilitator) earned her Bachelor of Arts from the University of Oklahoma where she graduated Phi Beta Kappa, she received her Juris Doctorate degree from Southern Methodist University’s Dedman School of Law.
Following law school, Mackenzie practiced litigation at a national law firm, in Kansas City where she specialized in Education and Employment Law. After leaving private practice, she joined the United States Department of Education, Office for Civil Rights as a federal enforcement attorney investigating allegations of harassment and discrimination in a five-state region, including ensuring compliance with Title IX, during both the late Bush and early Obama administrations.
For nine years Mackenzie worked for Oklahoma State University and its Board of Regents in several roles including Associate General Counsel to the Board. Since 2017, Mackenzie has served as the Vice President of Legal Affairs and General Counsel for Tulsa Community College, where she supervises governmental affairs personnel and provides and directs all legal services for the College’s four campuses in Tulsa County. Mackenzie is a certified Board Professional from the Association of Governing Boards and serves on the finance and audit committee for the National Association of College and University Attorneys.
Dr. Lee Bird (Mini-Track Facilitator) received her Ph.D. at the University of Arizona in 1991. Dr. Bird served as the Vice President for Student Affairs at Oklahoma State University for over 18 years before retiring in 2019. At OSU she led numerous functional areas in the division including the Student Union, Campus Life, University Counseling, Residential Life, Dining, University Health Services, Student Conduct Education and Administration, and the Department of Wellness. Dr. Bird also chaired the OSU Threat Assessment Team and Students of Concern Committee from their inception. Dr. Bird also served as an adjunct professor in the Student Development graduate program and served as an advisor for numerous master’s and doctoral student.
Prior to OSU, Bird served as the Dean of Students at Lycoming College (Pennsylvania) and AVP and Vice President for Student Life and Development at St. Cloud State University (Minnesota). Bird served as the President of the National Board of Directors for the Association for Student Conduct Administration (2002-3) and coauthored, “The First Amendment on Campus: A Handbook for College and University Administrators” (NASPA, 2006). Bird received the D. Parker Young and Donald D. Gehring for her work with ASCA. Dr. Bird served on the Board of Advisors for the University of Vermont Legal Issues Conference for over a decade and as the Vice President of the Colorado Chapter of the Association of Threat Assessment Professionals. Dr. Bird has consulted and lectured nationally on student conduct and the First Amendment rights of students and internationally on student development, crisis management and suicide prevention.
Dr. Bird is a member of Phi Kappa Phi, and Phi Delta Honor Society for International Scholars in recognition of her work in Chinese higher education. Following retirement, Bird started a Patient Advocate position at the Stillwater Medical Emergency Department. Lee also serves on the Stillwater Medical Foundation Board of Directors and is an active volunteer with the American Red Cross, Oklahoma Medical Reserve Corp, Wings of Hope Domestic Violence Center as a sexual assault advocate and her church. In her free time, Lee is an avid pickeball player.
Dr. Jill Childress (Mini-Track Facilitator) (she/hers) has served since December 2020 as the Manager of Student Conduct and Retention and Title IX Deputy Coordinator at Linn-Benton Community College in Albany, Oregon. In her role, she supports student accountability, the academic standing process, compliance, and conflict resolution. She has 17 years of progressive experience in higher education, with particular experience in student conduct and accountability, residence life, crisis response, compliance, Title IX and sexual misconduct, and training and development, among other areas. Prior to LBCC, Jill served as Assistant Director in Housing conduct and Interim Director of Conduct at Oregon State University, and she got her career start as a hall director at the University of Oregon.
Jill holds a Bachelor of Arts in English from Millersville University of Pennsylvania, a Master of Education in College Student Affairs Administration from the University of Georgia, and a Doctor of Education in Educational Leadership with a focus in Postsecondary Education from Portland State University. She considers ASCA her professional home and has participated in the organization through serving on the CAS Standards Review Team, the State and Regions Task Force, as a Women in Conduct Community of Practice co-chair, and as past Gehring Foundations track faculty. She looks forward to collaborating and learning with this year’s Gehring participants.