OUR ASSOCIATES

Senior associates include accomplished leaders, faculty, administrators and consultants from across the country who bring a holistic approach to serving the needs of all institutional types.

ANN KNOWLES

Ann received her BS and MS degrees from Kansas State University and the University of Arizona in composition, communication and literature.  Ann has held roles as a faculty member, General Education Department Chair and Associate Dean of General Education where she was dedicated to improving the student learning experience. She has served as a lobbyist for state government and a department chair for state and local government.  Her work in community project development has been an additional focus in her professional life.  Ann currently works with educational/organizational assessment as an independent contractor.  As an educational consultant, Ann designs and delivers faculty development workshops for colleges and also provides consultation for improving job performance in school districts and small colleges.

DAWN RESSEL

Dawn currently serves as the Associate Vice-President for Institutional Research and Chief Data Officer for the University of Montana in Missoula, Montana. She has over 20 years experience leading community colleges, universities and educational systems in developing, maintaining, and enhancing an infrastructure to support a strong, reliable data-informed culture. In addition, Dawn has led higher education systems organizations through complicated data analyses like performance funding models, internal and system-wide budget allocation models, enrollment prediction models, and predictive models for student success. Dawn has experience and expertise in all aspects of the responsibilities typically under the direction of an institutional research office, assessment office, planning office, and business intelligence unit.

CONNIE BEENE

 Connie is a leader nationally in developing an innovative model of integrating adult basic education, career and technical education and experiential learning.  She previously served as an administrator and faculty member in higher education where her efforts were focused on improving the quality of higher education.  Connie serves EDaccelerated in a consultant role outside the state of Kansas.

BRUCE MOSES

 Bruce currently serves as Assistant Vice Chancellor for Accreditation and Academic Quality Improvement.  He has built a reputation for revitalizing organizational culture to positively influence continuous quality improvement where he excels at motivating and fostering collaborations among multiple stakeholders. Bruce has a passion for improving persistence and completion of underrepresented and low socioeconomic student populations.  His service includes multiple roles as a Higher Learning Commission Peer Reviewer Corp member since 2007. Including, Strategy Forum facilitation, Systems Appraiser, Financial Panel reviewer, Comprehensive Campus and Multi-campus visits, Action Project reviewer, and a member of the AQIP Strategy Forum Redesign Team. Bruce is trained as a State Governor's Quality Award Examiner and Datatel trained team facilitator. Bruce is currently a Community College Leadership Doctoral Candidate (ABD) at Ferris State University and has earned his Master’s degree in Educational Leadership and Bachelor’s degrees in Finance and Administrative Management from Eastern Michigan University. He has previously served as the Associate Vice President of Planning and Institutional Effectiveness at Central Arizona College, Executive Director of Institutional Effectiveness at Northwest Arkansas Community College, and Director of Continuous Improvement and Planning at Eastern Michigan University.

LINDA HENNINGSEN

Linda has over 15 years of comprehensive experience in applying her knowledge and skills as a clinical nurse and higher education administrator to designing and implementing all aspects of nursing program curricula and nurse educator faculty training (specializing in the incorporation of Bloom’s taxonomy).  She serves tirelessly as a volunteer through K-State Research and Extension, and served as the first president of the Kansas Association of 4-H Volunteers, which included writing by-laws and setting up processes and procedures for this state-wide volunteer organization.  Linda was instrumental in designing, organizing, implementing and training for all aspects of developing the Kansas Master Volunteer program which focuses on the recruitment, and training for adult volunteers.  Linda is a gifted presenter, and finds creative ways to re-purpose this information so it is practical in in college settings as well.  Topics she has developed for training are:  True Colors (personality inventory), recognition systems, job description development,  Bloom’s taxomony, motivational leadership, syllabi development and experiential learning processes.

JAN GRACE

Jan Grace has experience in higher education as an administrator and faculty member. She has been deeply involved in programmatic accreditation efforts and has served as a consultant in both the education and business sectors for over 18 years, focusing on marketing, education, organization, managing, and  leadership.

DR. JULIE N . SMITH

Dr. Julie N. Smith has 17 years of experience serving as a faculty and administrator in higher education in both online and on campus environments.  She has played integral roles in the success of assessment and accreditation visits, and has also served as a principal writer on self-studies and assurance arguments.