Advisory Council and Consultants

Project participants are supported in their first-generation student success work by higher education experts selected based on their understanding of the important role MSIs play in student success and innovative practices for meeting the needs of first generation students. These consultants work with the institutional teams at the Summer Academy to refine project scope, conduct institutional site visits to aid plan implementation, and provide ongoing support to and feedback for participants and project staff. They also participate as members of the project Advisory Board to review project proposals and guide the overall scope of the project. Project consultants and advisory board members include:

Jaime Chahin, Dean of the College of Applied Arts, Texas State University
Jaime Chahin is Professor and Dean of the College of Applied Arts at Texas State University. He has been at the university since 1987 and prior to that, he served as Senior Policy Analyst for the Select Committee for Higher Education of Texas. His education includes a B.A. in Sociology and Political Science from Texas A&I University and graduate degrees in Social Work and Education Administration from the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor. In addition, he has completed postdoctoral studies at Harvard and the Salsburg Institute in Austria. His research interests involve immigrants, cultural and public policy issues that impact access to higher education. His most recent research publications include “Engaged Scholarship in Hispanic-Serving Institutions” (August 2009) and Handbook of U.S. Latino Psychology: Development and Community-Based Perspectives (August 2009). He also was executive producer of two PBS documentaries Mexican American Legislative Caucus: The Texas Struggle for Equality and Opportunity, which premiered on PBS on October 8, 2007, and, The Forgotten Americans, a film about colonias in the U.S. Mexico border, which premiered at the Smithsonian and on PBS on December 14, 2000. The documentary received a First Place Award from the National Council of Families.

Camille Hazeur, Director, Affirmative Action and Institutional Diversity, Bates College
Camille Hazeur is currently director of affirmative action/ manager of institutional diversity projects at Bates College in Lewiston, Maine. Prior to assuming the position at Bates this summer, Hazeur served as assistant to the president and director of university equity and diversity Services at George Mason University. She has an extensive background in higher education having worked in public and private, two- and four-year colleges and universities in student affairs, developmental education, and faculty competency around issues of difference. Hazeur has received two Fund for the Improvement of Secondary Education (FIPSE) grants to work with faculty and staff on negotiating the negative impact of race/racism on classroom interaction. Her most recent publication is a critique of diversity training in the U.S. in Resisting Racism and Xenophobia: Global Perspectives on Race, Gender, and Human Rights, Faye V. Harrison, editor, Alta Mira Press, 2005.

Arturo Iriarte, Former director, Opportunity Scholars Program, University of South Carolina Beaufort
Arturo U. Iriarte currently serves as director of the Opportunity Scholars Program (OSP) at the University of South Carolina Beaufort, a TRIO Student Support Services Program funded through the United States Department of Education. Iriarte received his Ph.D. from The University of Iowa, a Master of Science in Special Education from Adelphi University, and a Bachelor of Science in Education from St. John’s University. He has held faculty and administrative positions in a number of institutions including Trenton State College (now The College of New Jersey), the University of Idaho, Central Connecticut State University, and Indiana University of Pennsylvania. During his tenure at the University of Idaho, Iriarte was awarded a Senior Fulbright Lectureship to Catholic University in Quito, Ecuador. In 1990, Iriarte moved into the arena of accreditation with his appointment as executive associate director for the Middle States Commission on Higher Education. His five year tenure with Middle States brought him in close contact with approximately 135 college and universities in the Middle States region including the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico as well as a number of American style universities in the Middle East. In 1995 he returned to higher education as academic vice president at Lasell College, a small liberal arts college in Massachusetts. His culminating position, prior to moving to South Carolina, was as vice president for college access services for The Education Resources Institute (TERI) in Boston.

Betty Overton-Adkins, Vice President for Academic Affairs, Spring Arbor University
Betty J. Overton-Adkins is vice president for academic affairs at Spring Arbor University (SAU). She came to Spring Arbor after ten years of work at the Kellogg Foundation in Battle Creek, MI where she was a project director and director of higher education programs. Overton-Adkins holds a bachelor and master’s degree from Tennessee State University, both in English, and a Ph.D. in Higher Education Leadership from George Peabody College of Vanderbilt. She has done further study at Harvard University, the University of Michigan, and Boston College. Overton-Adkins started her career in education in 1970 as a public school teacher in Nashville, Tennessee. She has served a number of higher education institutions as faculty member and administrator, including Tennessee State University, Nashville State Technical Institute, the University of Tennessee, Fisk University, and Western Michigan University. Prior to her work at the Kellogg Foundation, she was dean of the graduate school at the University of Arkansas, Little Rock campus for seven years. Overton-Adkins serves on the boards of a number of educational organizations, including the Higher Education Commission of the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools, where she is the in-coming chair. She is a consulting editor for Change Magazine and on the Board of Trustees for Union Institute and University. Betty (or BJ as she is known) has led workshops on assessment, strategic planning, access and diversity, and women's roles in higher education.

Ted Wright, Former Provost, Haskell Indian Nation University
Ted A. Wright was recently named general manager of the Lummi Indian Business Council and previously served as vice president of university services at Haskell Indian Nations University. Before that he was a core faculty member in the Center for Programs in Education and director of the Center for Native Education at Antioch University Seattle. He earned a Master’s degree in Educational Administration and a Ph.D. in Education Theory & Policy from Penn State University and was twice the Director of the American Indian Leadership Program at Penn State. Wright has taught high school English, served on the faculty of teacher training programs at three universities, and conducted Indian education program planning and community development through a company he founded in 1992. Further, he was elected to the tribal council for and managed his tribe in his hometown of Sitka, Alaska. He has extensive experience in American Indian education nationally, in Alaska and the Northwest as well as in tribal governance and management.

ALLIANCE FOR EQUITY IN HIGHER EDUCATION

In addition to project consultants, IHEP staff and participants are supported by representatives from each major MSI association on behalf of the Alliance for Equity in Higher Education, who also serve as members of the project Advisory Board. These Alliance representatives include:

Lezli Baskerville, President & CEO, NAFEO
Lezli Baskerville is the fifth President and CEO of the National Association for Equal Opportunity in Higher Education (NAFEO) –the national membership and advocacy association for the nation’s120 historically and predominately black colleges and universities. She is a seasoned lawyer, government relations and equity professional, and association and small business senior executive, who is a recognized expert on equal educational and employment opportunity, education access, affirmative action and diversity issues. Prior to her role at NAFEO, Baskerville served as vice president of Government Relations for The College Board, executive director of the National Black Leadership Roundtable, as national legislative counsel for the NAACP, as a member of the national appellate litigation team of the Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, and as an administrative appeals judge in the District of Columbia. In 1998, Attorney Baskerville was inducted into The Douglass Society by her undergraduate alma mater, Douglass College, in recognition of her unstinting commitment to improving the quality of life of vulnerable populations. She is a cum laude graduate of Howard University School of Law.

Alicia Martinez, Executive Director of Membership, HACU
Alicia Martinez is executive director of member services for the Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities (HACU), which is the only national association representing Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSIs) and others committed to Hispanic student success in higher education. Martinez oversees member service relations with the over 400 member colleges and universities in the United States, Puerto Rico, Latin America, and Europe. She also oversees HACU’s newest initiative for Hispanic-Serving School Districts. Ms. Martinez has worked in social services for over 15 years and prior to HACU she served as the capital campaign director and the director of development and communications for St. Anthony Foundation in San Francisco, development associate for Santa Marta Hospital Foundation in Los Angeles, and development assistant and Case Manager for Los Angeles House of Ruth. She is a graduate of Stanford University.

Al Kuslikis, Development Associate/STEM Coordinator, AIHEC
Biography is forthcoming.