Educational Administration Faculty
Higher, Adult, and Lifelong Education
Marilyn Amey
Ph.D., Penn State University
amey@msu.edu
http://amey.wiki.educ.msu.edu
Marilyn Amey is a professor of higher, adult, and
lifelong education and chairperson of the
Department of Educational Administration. She is
interested in leadership issues, including how
leaders learn, post-secondary governance and
administration issues, community college contexts,
and faculty concerns, including interdisciplinary
academic work. Her current research involves work
on community college leadership development, K-14
partnerships, and a national study of faculty
teaching in college student personnel and higher
education graduate programs.
William Arnold
Ph.D., Bowling Green State University.
arnoldwh@msu.edu
William has a varied background in student affairs
administration including experience in residence
life, orientation, Greek affairs, student
activities, enrollment, advising, and conference
programs. Additionally, he has worked in a variety
of settings that include small private colleges,
mid-size public universities, and an independent
law school. His teaching and research interests
include leadership, organizational development and
culture, strategic planning, liberal arts
colleges, first generation students, and teaching
and learning.
Ann Austin
Ph.D., University of Michigan
aaustin@msu.edu
http://gihe.msu.edu/aaustin/
Ann Austin is a professor of higher, adult, and
lifelong education and the inaugural Dr. Mildred
B. Erickson Distinguished Chair in Higher, Adult,
and Lifelong Education. She is interested, within
U.S. and international contexts, in faculty
careers, roles, and professional development in
higher education, work and workplaces in academe,
organizational change and transformation in
universities and colleges, reform in doctoral
education, and the improvement of teaching and
learning processes in postsecondary education. Her
interest in these areas includes both the U.S. as
well as international contexts. She is currently
co-P.I. of the Center for the Integration of
Research, Teaching, and Learning (CIRTL), a
National Science Foundation cCenter now in its
sixth year. Her recent work focuses on the changes
in faculty careers and academic workplaces,
doctoral education, and higher education issues in
developing countries, with particular focus on
South Africa.
Roger Baldwin
Ph.D., University of Michigan
rbaldwin@msu.edu
Roger Baldwin is a professor of higher, adult, and
lifelong education. His professional interests
include instructional strategies and curriculum
planning, faculty career development, conditions
in the academic workplace, and transformation in
higher education systems. His current research
explores key dimensions of higher education’s
response to changing environmental conditions and
society’s increased demand for educational
services. His most recent work focuses on changing
faculty appointment patterns, contingent faculty,
faculty at midcareer, and evolving faculty roles
and professional activities.
John Dirkx
Ph.D., University of Wisconsin-Madison
dirkx@msu.edu
John Dirkx is a professor of higher, adult and
lifelong education. His primary research interests
focus on teaching and learning in higher and adult
education, including education for the
professions, education for work, continuing
professional development for teachers in higher
and adult education, and education for
academically under-prepared adults. Within these
contexts, his research has addressed the
psychosocial, transformative, and spiritual
dimensions of adult learning, and the role of
imagination, feelings, and emotion in these
aspects of adult learning. In addition, recent
research has focused on teaching and learning in
online environments and students’ experiences of
online collaborative group work.
Patricia Enos
Ph.D., University of Iowa
enos@msu.edu
Pat Enos is an adjunct assistant professor of
higher, adult, and lifelong education and the
Assistant Vice President for Student Affairs and
Services. She coordinates the practicum
experiences for the Student Affairs Administration
master's program, and the undergraduate Student
Leadership Training course for EAD. Her
administrative responsibilities include an
emphasis on university organization and
administration, university-community
relationships, and technology applications in
student affairs.
James Fairweather
Ph.D., Stanford University
fairwea4@msu.edu
James Fairweather is a professor of higher, adult,
and lifelong education and director of the Center
for Higher and Adult Education. He recently was
appointed as the second Mildred B. Erickson
Distinguished Chair in Higher, Adult and Lifelong
Education. His interests lie in research design
and policy analysis, faculty roles and rewards,
international higher education policy,
industry-university partnerships, assessing the
quality of academic programs, reforming
undergraduate education, and access to
postsecondary education for students with
disabilities. His latest research focuses on
finding ways to improve the quality of
college-level teaching in science, engineering,
mathematics, and technology in work supported by
the National Science Foundation, and on evaluating
the impact of philanthropic contributions to
higher education policy, funded by the Ford
Foundation.
Cynthia Helman
Ph.D., Michigan State University
helman@msu.edu
Cindy Helman is an assistant professor of higher,
adult, and lifelong education. She previously
served as a student affairs administrator at
Michigan State University. Her scholarly
interests have focused on living-learning
communities, student learning, assessment,
leadership, and organizational development.
Reitumetse Mabokela
Ph.D. University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
mabokela@msu.edu
http://edwp2.educ.msu.edu/mabokela/
Reitumetse Obakeng Mabokela is a professor of
higher, adult, and lifelong education. Her
research examines experiences of marginalized
populations and aims to inform and influence
institutional policies that affect these groups
within institutions of higher education. Her
scholarship centers on the examination of four
interrelated themes, including organizational
change and organizational culture in higher
education; gender in higher education; higher
education in transitional societies; and the K-16
connection.
Kristen Renn
Ph.D., Boston College
renn@msu.edu
http://www.msu.edu/~renn
Kristen Renn is an associate professor of higher,
adult, and lifelong education. Her research
centers on identity in higher education, with
current projects focusing on bi/multiracial
college students and lesbian, gay, bisexual, and
transgender college students. Other interests
include college student learning and development,
student affairs administration, and qualitative
research in education. Current projects include a
national study of new professionals in student
affairs and a study of women's higher education
institutions around the world.
Matthew Wawrzynski
Ph.D., University of Maryland
mwawrzyn@msu.edu
Matthew Wawrzynski is an associate professor of
higher, adult, and lifelong education. His
research focuses on transitional experiences of
college students, living-learning communities,
peer education, and student learning. Other
interests include student affairs, college student
development, college teaching, and assessment.
Steven Weiland
Ph.D., University of Chicago
weiland@msu.edu
Steven Weiland is a professor of higher, adult,
and lifelong education. His primary research
interests are in the fields of academic careers
and disciplinary cultures, adult development and
aging, and life history methods in the behavioral
and social sciences and the humanities. He
addresses the nature of disciplinary
specializations and their place in intellectual
history and the history of higher education, aging
in academic life, the rhetoric of scholarly
inquiry, and the development of new forms of study
and writing in adult development and learning,
including educational biography.
K-12 Administration
David Arsen
Ph.D. University of California at Berkeley
arsen@msu.edu
David Arsen is a professor of K-12 educational
administration. He is an economist with
specialization in public policy analysis. His
current research focuses on school choice, school
capital facilities, Michigan school finance, and
the privatization of education services.
Amita Chudgar
Ph.D., Stanford University
amitac@msu.edu
https://www.msu.edu/~amitac/index.shtml
Amita Chudgar is an assistant professor of
educational administration and education policy.
As an economist of education her work aims to
identify policies to address educational
challenges facing developing countries, especially
focused on equity in access to education in India
and equity in educational achievement in the
international comparative context.
Nancy Colflesh
Ph.D., Michigan State University
colflesh@msu.edu
Nancy is an Assistant Professor of Practice and
earned her doctorate at MSU where her
qualitative research study earned recognition from
the AERA: Research on Women Group in 1996. An
experienced teacher, principal and ISD
administrator, she has served as an independent
consultant for the past dozen years working with
school and district leaders to continuously
improve leadership, group work and coaching. Prior
to her current position, she served as an adjunct
faculty member in Educational Administration for
nine years. Currently, she teaches EAD 820 School
Leadership Internship, EAD 824 Leading Teacher
Learning (on campus and, next fall, online), and
EAD 852 Principalship.
Kristy Cooper
Ed.D., Harvard University
kcooper@msu.edu
Kristy Cooper is an assistant professor of K-12
educational administration. Her research examines
how school and district leaders systematically
increase student engagement in classrooms—both to
enhance student learning and increase high school
graduation rates. Kristy also studies school
improvement, dropout prevention, and the qualities
of effective schools. Her prior work has included
analyses of the use of data in elementary schools
and the inner-workings of high-performing, urban
charter schools.
Christopher Dunbar
Ph.D. University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
dunbarc@msu.edu
http://christopherdunbar.com/
Christopher Dunbar is a professor of
K-12 educational administration. His research has
focused on alternative education for students who
have been unable to successfully matriculate
through traditional public school. His current
research examines the intersection between school
choice and disruptive students. His areas of
expertise include school administration,
educational leadership and school violence.
Sean Kelly
Ph.D., University of Wisconsin-Madison
spkelly@msu.edu
Sean Kelly is a visiting assistant professor in
the Department of Educational Administration and a
leading expert on the social organization of
schools, student engagement, and teacher
effectiveness. He is the author of over 25
scholarly articles and book chapters, as well as
the forthcoming edited volume Assessing Teacher
Quality (Teachers College Press). In 2008, his
research on the social-psychological determinants
of student engagement and the teaching practices
that foster high levels of engagement among all
students received an Exemplary Dissertation Award
from the Spencer Foundation. He serves on the
editorial board of the journal Sociology of
Education and is a board member and past
conference chair of the Sociology of Education
Association.
Barbara Markle
Ph.D., Michigan State University
markle@msu.edu
Barbara Markle is assistant dean for K-12
Outreach in the College of Education. She
develops and implements programs for teachers,
administrators and policymakers that translate
educational research to application in schools
and settings where education policy decisions are
made. She directs several state and federal
grants, including the Michigan Principals
Fellowship and Coaches Institute. She also works
closely with the Michigan Department of
Education, the state Board of Education and the
state’s professional education associations.
Under her direction, the Office of K-12 Outreach
sponsors the annual Summer Institute for
Superintendents, the Emerging Leaders Program for
aspiring principals, international education
study tours and monthly forums for legislators
and other policymakers. In addition, K-12
Outreach sponsors an annual international
education conference.
Susan Printy
Ph.D., Ohio State University
sprinty@msu.edu
Susan Printy is an associate professor of K-12
educational administration. Her research interests
center on schools as learning organizations, with
particular focus on the leadership relations
between principals and teachers and the use of
data in promoting school improvement. Her current
work examines the professional impact of social
learning that occurs within high school teachers’
departmental communities.
BetsAnn Smith
Ph.D., University of Minnesota
bas@msu.edu
BetsAnn Smith is an associate professor of K-12
educational administration. Her research focuses
on theories of school reform and development, and
on relationships between policy, school
organizational development and students'
opportunities.
