26th National McNair Scholars and Undergraduate Research Conference

Opening Speaker

Coming Soon.

Dr. Wallace Southerland III

Vice President for Student Affairs
Millikin University, Decatur, Illinois

Dr. Wallace Southerland III has 32+ years of higher education experience which includes leadership, adjunct faculty, and TRIO oversight roles. Currently, Dr. Southerland is vice president of student affairs at Millikin University in Decatur, Illinois where he is responsible for academic and retention support, student engagement, career services, student mental health and wellness services, leadership development, residence life and housing, disability support, and other services that promote lifelong learning and success. Through TRIO and other student service work, Dr. Southerland has advised, mentored, coached, and worked with students in nearly every phase of the educational pipeline from 5th grade through preparation for doctoral degrees including supervision of nearly all the federal TRIO educational programs. Moreover, Dr. Southerland has devoted his career to serving and working with undergraduate, graduate, and online students and families from diverse backgrounds including first-generation, low-income, disability, veteran, historically excluded and underserved, international, and LGBTQ+. Additionally, Dr. Southerland has 14 years of experience in global distance learning universities such as Walden University, University of Phoenix, Capella University, and Kaplan University serving in roles such as an adjunct faculty member, dissertation chair, and university research reviewer.

Dr. Southerland is a founding staff member and co-chair of the National McNair Scholars Research Conference and the author of the McNair Scholars’ Pledge. Dr. Southerland received his B.A. degree in English and M.S. degree in counseling from the University of Bridgeport in Connecticut and his Ph.D. in Education Policy, Planning, and Administration from the University of Maryland.

Keynote Speaker

Coming Soon.

Dr. Chelsey Green

Associate Professor
Berklee College of Music, Boston, Massachusetts

Dr. Chelsey Green is Associate Professor, Berklee College of Music. She is described as passionate, electrifying, and innovative, international recording artist. Chelsey Green breaks down stereotypes of string performance. A Native of Houston, Texas, and a violinist, violist, vocalist, and educator, she combines classical and various contemporary styles to make string sing. Dr. Greene says "I want my students to embrace and know their instrument. Beyond solid intonation and great technical facility, I want my students to be confidently versatile, [and] fully equipped with the tools to effectively convey personal artistry and move fluidly through the various genres they may encounter in their professional career. I also strive to educate students on the realities of what is necessary to create and sustain a career in this ever-changing music industry as a string player. Performance highlights include appearing on stage and screen with Stevie Wonder (Songs in the Key of Life tour), Charles Lloyd (Library of Congress Commission Premiere), Regina Carter (MidAtlantic Jazz Festival), Lizzo (62nd Grammy Awards), J. Cole (CBS's Late Show), MC Lyte (Essence Music Festival), Kirk Franklin (costar in nationally syndicated Walmart commercial), and more. Five studio recordings with Chelsey Green and the Green Room Project, including The Green Room, which debuted on both the Billboard Contemporary Jazz chart and the iTunes Top Ten Jazz Albums chart.

Dr. Green received her B.M. degree from University of Texas at Austin, her Masters of Music from Peabody Conservatory at the John Hopkins University, and her D.M.A. from the University of Maryland at College Park.

BREAKFAST: Dean's Panel

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Dr. Dana Williams ( Moderator )

Dean, The Graduate School
Howard University, Washington, D.C.

Dana A. Williams is Professor of African American Literature in the Department of English and Dean of the Graduate School at Howard University. Dean Williams earned her B.A. in English from Grambling State University in Grambling, LA in 1993, her M.A. in 1995 from Howard University, and her Ph.D. in African American Literature from Howard University in 1998. As a recipient of the Ford Foundation Postdoctoral Scholar award in 1999, she was a visiting research fellow at Northwestern University in Evanston, IL, where she completed extensive research on her dissertation author Leon Forrest. Before returning to Howard as a faculty member in 2003, Dr. Williams taught at Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge for four years. In 2008-09, she was a faculty fellow at the John Hope Franklin Humanities Institute at Duke University, and she assumed chairmanship of Howard's department of English in 2009. In 2019, she was named interim dean of the Graduate School, and in 2021, she became the Graduate School's first permanent female dean.

In addition to an annotated bibliography, Contemporary African American Female Playwrights: An Annotated Bibliography (Greenwood, 1999) which she completed as her M.A. thesis at Howard, Dr. Williams has co-edited August Wilson and Black Aesthetics (Palgrave-MacMillan, 2004) with Dr. Sandra G. Shannon, edited African American Humor, Irony, and Satire: Ishmael Reed, Satirically Speaking (Cambridge Scholars, 2007), Conversations with Leon Forrest (UP of Mississippi, 2007), and Contemporary African American Fiction: New Critical Essays (Ohio State UP, 2009). She is also the author of the first and only book-length study on Leon Forest, In the Light of Likeness--Transformed: The Literary Art of Leon Forrest (Ohio State UP, 2005). She currently completing a book-length study on Toni Morrison's editorship at Random House Publishing Company (forthcoming in 2023 with Amistad/Harper Collins).

In addition to her book projects, Dr. Williams has published articles in CLA Journal, African American Review, Bulletin of Bibliography, Langston Hughes Review, Zora Neale Hurston Forum, Studies in American Fiction, International Journal of the Humanities, Profession, and PMLA. She is the past president of the Association of the Departments of English Executive Committee, former chair of the Black American Literature and Culture Forum and former member of the Executive Council for the Modern Languages Association, and past President of the College Language Association--the oldest and largest professional organization for faculty of color who teach languages and literatures. She currently serves as President of the Toni Morrison Society, as a member of the Board of Directors for the American Council of Learned Societies and a board member of the Hurston/Wright Foundation, the Judge Alexander Williams Center at the University of Maryland, the Furious Flower Poetry Center at James Madison University, and the Center for Black Literature at Medgar Evers College.

Dr. Mark Ginsberg

President of Towson University
Towson, Maryland

Mark R. Ginsberg was named the 15th president of Towson University in August 2023. He began his tenure on October 30.

Ginsberg has enjoyed a more than 40-year career as a psychologist, educator and senior administrator in academia. Prior to his appointment at TU, he spent 13 years at George Mason University, where he served as the dean of the College of Education and Human Development from 2010-20 and the provost and executive vice president from 2020-23. As the chief academic officer at GMU, Ginsberg oversaw the largest public university in Virginia and one of the nation’s 146 Carnegie R1 institutions, a classification awarded to universities with the highest levels of research activity.

From 1999-2010, Ginsberg served as the executive director and chief executive officer of the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC). In addition, Ginsberg spent more than 20 years on the full-time and part-time faculty at The Johns Hopkins University in both the School of Medicine and the School of Education, including serving as the chair of the academic Department of Counseling and Human Services.

Before joining JHU, Ginsberg held the position of executive director of the American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy (AAMFT) from 1986-93. From 1981-86, he was a senior member of the leadership of the American Psychological Association (APA) after having been a faculty member in the Department of Psychology at the University of Rochester.

Currently, Ginsberg serves as a volunteer leader with multiple non-profit organizations. He is the chair of the Board of Directors of Parents as Teachers (PAT), one of the most respected international organizations in education. PAT is an early childhood development program that provides research-based home visiting services supporting families to raise children who are healthy, learning and ready for school. He also serves on the executive board and board of directors of the Association of Chief Academic Officers (ACAO), the national organization of university provosts; as well as Hopecam, a non-profit organization that supports children with cancer and their families; and was an appointed member of the Fairfax County (VA) Successful Children and Youth Policy Team.

He is a past-chair of the board of directors of the American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education (AACTE) and had served as a member of the executive committee of the Council of Academic Deans of Research Education Institutions (CADREI), as well as the board of directors of the Virginia Early Childhood Foundation (VECF). He also is a past-president of both the International Step by Step Association (ISSA), a nongovernmental organization of education and child/youth development focused NGOs in Europe and Central Asia; and the Society of Psychologists in Leadership (SPIL). For more than a decade, he has served as a member of the international advisory board for the Early Years Organization of Northern Ireland.

In addition, Ginsberg is a fellow of both the American Psychological Association (APA) and the Maryland Psychological Association (MPA), and a clinical member and fellow of the American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy (AAMFT). He is a licensed psychologist in Maryland. Ginsberg has published in the areas of education, psychology, human development and human services. He has lectured and presented at over 200 conferences, seminars and other educational meetings and professional development events, both within the United States and internationally.

Ginsberg completed his master's degree in 1978 and his doctoral degree in 1981 at The Pennsylvania State University, after having been awarded a bachelor's degree from the State University of New York at Cortland in 1975. He also completed a fellowship in clinical psychology at the Yale University School of Medicine. In 2006, he was awarded the honorary degree of Doctor of Humane Letters by the State University of New York.

He has been married to Elaine A. Anderson for more than 40 years. She is the former chair and currently is professor emerita in the Department of Family Science in the School of Public Health at the University of Maryland. They have two adult children, Andrew, a faculty member in the Department of Kinesiology at the University of Maryland, and Robert, an executive at Xylem, a Fortune 500 corporation.

Luncheon: COLLEGE PRESIDENTS’ CONVERSATIONS

Coming Soon.

Dr. Rhea Roper Nedd ( Moderator )

Director, Center for Student Diversity
Towson University, Maryland

Dr. Rhea Roper Nedd, is the Director of the Center for Student Diversity at Towson University and leads the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion initiatives at the University. She oversees programs that focus on students of diverse identities and intersections, including: African American and the African Diaspora, Latine/x, LGBTQ+, Asian Pacific Islander Middle Eastern and Desi Americans (APIMEDA). As the Director of the Center for Student Diversity, she is responsible for implementing the Diversity Strategic Plan through program initiatives to create a sense of belonging, to celebrate the diversity of students and their communities, and to bring about systemic change. At Towson University, Dr. Roper Nedd is an adjunct professor in the Department of Political Science. Her current course, “Themes in African and African American Studies,” remains consistent with her work on and with underserved communities and incorporates her research on marginalized populations and development initiatives.

For more than nine years Dr. Roper Nedd served as the Director of the McNair Scholars Program at the University of Maryland, College Park. She developed programs that led to increased retention and graduation rates as well as guided students on research methodologies and the dissertation writing process. Dr. Roper Nedd remains committed to advocating for equity and access for low-income, 1st generation, and traditionally underserved populations.

Dr. Roper Nedd earned her Ph.D. from Howard University, her Master of Arts from The Catholic University of America, and her Bachelor of Arts from the University of Maryland, College Park.

Dr. Stephen Roth

Associate Provost and Dean
Graduate School, University of Maryland, College Park

Stephen Roth is Associate Provost and Dean of the Graduate School. He has been on the faculty at Maryland since 2003 and a professor in the School of Public Health since 2014. Prior to joining the Graduate School in 2023, Dr. Roth held a variety of leadership roles on the campus, including as associate chair and graduate director for the Department of Kinesiology; Interim Director of the Maryland Institute for Applied Environmental Health; Director of the Public Health Science B.S. program; and most recently as Associate Dean for academic and faculty affairs. Dr. Roth also served as director of outreach and instructional innovation for the university's Teaching and Learning Transformation Center.

Dr. Roth is a professor of kinesiology and affiliate faculty for the Neuroscience and Cognitive Science (NACS) graduate program, and his scholarly research focuses on human genetic variation and its implications for health and exercise-related traits, including the ethics of genetic testing for talent identification in sport. Dr. Roth is a fellow of the American College of Sports Medicine and the National Academy of Kinesiology. He also serves as an editorial board member for Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise.

Dr. Roth earned his Ph.D. and M.A. in kinesiology from the University of Maryland, and B.S. in health and human performance from the University of Montana.

Dr. Janet C. Rutledge

Vice Provost and Dean of the Graduate School
University of Maryland, Baltimore County

Janet C. Rutledge is currently serving as the Vice Provost and Dean of the Graduate School at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC). She is also a faculty member in the Computer Science and Electrical Engineering Department. Prior positions in the Graduate School include Associate Dean, Senior Associate Dean and Interim Vice Provost for Graduate Education. Before coming to UMBC she was the program director for the Graduate Research Fellowships Program at the National Science Foundation (NSF). In her prior positions at NSF she served as a program director in the Division of Engineering Education and Centers and the Division of Undergraduate Education. She also chaired the NSF-wide coordinating committee for the Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) Program. Formerly she was on the faculty in the Electrical Engineering and Computer Science Department at Northwestern University with an affiliate appointment in the Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders. Under Dr. Rutledge’s leadership, the Graduate School at UMBC manages the full “lifecycle” of a graduate student from recruitment and admissions to progressions and graduation. The Graduate School has transitioned to a nearly paperless system for processing admissions applications, and they are in the process of transitioning their progressions and graduation systems. During her tenure she created the graduate student development unit that manages their diversity, retention, and completion activities. Their activities have been supported by external grants such as the NSF Alliances for Graduate Education and the Professoriate (AGEP) and LSAMP Bridge to the Doctorate, both phases of the Council of Graduate Schools (CGS) PhD Completion Project, the CGS Doctoral Initiative on Minority Attrition and Completion, and the TIAA-CREF/CGS Enhancing Student Financial Education project. She was instrumental in UMBC’s receiving recognition by the CGS and Peterson’s for “Innovation in Promoting an Inclusive Graduate Community.” The graduate student development unit has recently expanded to include postdoctoral affairs. Dr. Rutledge received the B.S. degree in electrical engineering from the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. She received the M.S. and Ph.D. in electrical engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology. Her primary research area is modeling and compensating for the effects of sensorineural hearing loss and other communication disorders. She is the author of numerous journal and conference publications, an undergraduate textbook, and holds a patent. She has served as principal investigator or co-principal investigator on over $20 million dollars in grant funding in support of research and graduate education, mostly from federal agencies and private foundations. In addition to grants previously mentioned, she also served as a co-PI for the NSF ADVANCE Institutional Transformation grant and for the I 3 grant on Evaluation, Integration and Institutionalization of Initiatives to Enhance STEM Student Success. Among her honors and accomplishments, Rutledge has served as a Trustee of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute for more than 25 years, and as an ABET engineering program evaluator for the IEEE and the Biomedical Engineering Society. Rutledge serves on the Council of Graduate Schools Board of Directors, the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Minority Ph.D. Program Advisory Committee, and is chair-elect of the GRE Board. She is Chair of the Board of Trustees at the Barrie School, (an independent school serving grades PK-12).

Dr. Karen Panetta

Dean for Graduate Education

Dr. Karen Panetta is the Dean of Graduate Education for the School of Engineering and a professor of electrical and computer engineering at Tufts University. She is a prolific inventor changing lives through her pioneering approaches to solve society’s greatest challenges using technology. She was a computer engineer for Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC) where her algorithms played an instrumental role in developing the first complete digital twin of a CPU design capable of running software programs that have redefined semi-conductor manufacturing and test processes and led the way for other complex system simulations to be possible.

Karen Panetta received a B.S. in Computer Engineering from Boston University, and a M.S. and Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from Northeastern University. As the first female electrical engineer to be given tenure in the Electrical and Computer Engineering department, Panetta continues to promote the interests of women in her field. From 2007 to 2009, she was the worldwide director for IEEE Women in Engineering, the largest international professional organization dedicated to promoting women engineers and scientists, and she served as editor-in-chief of the IEEE Women in Engineering magazine. She is the faculty adviser to the Tufts student chapters of both the Society of Women Engineers and the IEEE, and is founder of the nationally acclaimed Nerd Girls program, which promotes engineering disciplines to young students. She is a fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) and was awarded the 2013 IEEE Award for Distinguished Ethical Practices for exemplary contributions and leadership in developing ethics and social responsibility in students. She has received several NASA and National Science Foundation research grants, including the NSF CAREER Award. In 2011, President Barack Obama awarded Panetta the Presidential Award for Science and Engineering Education and Mentoring. Karen Panetta’s research focuses on developing efficient algorithms for simulation, modeling, and signal and image processing for security and biomedical applications.

Dr. Kimberly Griffin

Professor and Dean of the College of Education
Graduate School, University of Maryland, College Park

Kimberly A. Griffin (she/her) became dean of the College of Education in 2022. She previously served as associate dean for graduate studies and faculty affairs and as a professor in the Higher Education, Student Affairs and International Education Policy Program. Prior to joining UMD, she was a faculty member at Pennsylvania State University, an assistant dean for graduate studies at the Stanford University School of Medicine, and an admissions officer at Stanford University. As a scholar, Griffin identifies herself as a “problem-based researcher” and her work aims to promote access, equity, and justice in higher education. Much of her current research and writing focuses on mentorship, career development, and faculty and graduate student diversity. Her research has been funded by the Burroughs Wellcome Fund, National Institutes of Health, and National Science Foundation. She previously served as the Editor-in-Chief of The Journal of Diversity in Higher Education from 2018 - 2022.Griffin’s work has been widely recognized for its relevance and effectiveness in addressing persistent problems in higher and science education. She received the Promising Scholar/Early Career Award by the Association for the Study of Higher Education in 2013, and was named an Emerging Scholar in 2010 and Diamond Honoree in 2020 by ACPA. For the past three years, she was named one of the 200 most influential education scholars by Education Week.

Griffin earned degrees from Stanford University, the University of Maryland, and the University of California, Los Angeles.

Dr. Miriam Okine Davies

Assistant Dean of Graduate Student Affairs and Enrollment Management
Graduate School, Howard University, Washington, D.C.

Miriam Okine Davies is Assistant Dean of Graduate Student Affairs and Enrollment Management with the Graduate School at Howard University, where she helps lead graduate student support initiatives and directly supports the management of strategies and initiatives related to the enrollment and support of graduate students. She earned her BA in Political Science and Public Policy from Swarthmore College and her MBA in Strategic Management from George Washington University. She has spent over 17 years in the education sector working at the grassroots level, in public policy research, and in the higher education sector.