Radford University — Chair of Political Science, 2021–Present

When I arrived at Radford in 2021, the Political Science department had 81 declared majors and no coherent enrollment strategy. It is now the fastest-growing department in the College of Humanities and Behavioral Sciences, with 409 declared students — majors and minors combined — and a retention rate of 87 percent.

That growth did not happen through passive accumulation. It required a complete overhaul of departmental marketing and recruitment messaging, coordinated with Strategic Enrollment and Admissions to unify the institutional voice. It required curricular redesign — new minors in Legal Studies, Wicked Problems, Leadership Studies, and International Studies, aligned with Radford's REAL general education framework and designed to attract students from across the university. It required physical investment in student community, converting departmental space into the Public Policy and Democracy Lab and Student Community Center. And it required systematic attention to what was happening to students after they declared — building advising pipelines, launching internship programs with the City of Radford, Pulaski County, and the Virginia legislature, and adding a dedicated Careers course to improve post-graduate preparation.

The high-impact practice numbers tell a parallel story. In 2021, 27 percent of departmental courses incorporated high-impact practices. In 2026 that figure is 78 percent — a transformation in the pedagogical culture of the department that directly supports retention and student success.

Selected program-building accomplishments at Radford:

• Negotiated 3+2 bachelor's-to-master's pathways with Virginia Tech and George Mason University

• Built the Legal Studies minor from inception to more than 150 enrolled students in partnership with the Criminal Justice department

• Launched the Virginia Government Simulation, a statewide annual event conducted on the floor of the Virginia House of Delegates

• Created the first departmental alumni advisory board

• Secured more than $20,000 in external funding for student space renovation, civic engagement programming, and survey research infrastructure

• Grew the Wicked Initiatives program to a 500-plus student university-wide event each semester

University of West Georgia — Chair of Political Science, 2017–2021

At UWG I led a significantly larger department — sixteen full-time faculty, five part-time, and more than 400 students across in-person and online programs — through four years of sustained growth and program development.

Undergraduate majors grew from 115 to 284. Graduate enrollment in the MPA program grew from 18 to 75 — the NASPAA-accredited maximum — a more than threefold increase that required not just recruitment effort but a complete restructuring of the program's online delivery model, a new standalone budget, and successful NASPAA reaccreditation. I also launched a fully online Organizational Leadership undergraduate program within the University System of Georgia, developed the first dedicated departmental assessment plan, and increased the share of courses incorporating high-impact practices from 4 percent to 66 percent over four years.

The faculty composition of the department changed as well. When I arrived there was one female faculty member. Through intentional revision of our hiring strategy I built a department with five women in faculty roles — a transformation that changed the intellectual and cultural character of the unit.

Director of Civic Engagement, 2020–2021

In my final year at UWG I took on a concurrent university-wide role as Director of the Office of Civic Engagement and Leadership, building the institution's civic engagement infrastructure from the ground up while continuing to chair the Political Science department. In the first semester of operation I secured more than $35,000 in external funding, developed a civic engagement curricular certificate program, coordinated voter registration and mobilization activities across campus, and managed on-campus polling site operations during one of the most consequential election cycles in recent Georgia history.

That dual role — simultaneously leading a large department and building a new institutional office — demonstrated a capacity for high-volume, multi-track leadership under real operational pressure.

Fort Hays State University — Multiple Roles, 2003–2017

At FHSU I held a series of overlapping and escalating leadership roles across fourteen years, ultimately serving simultaneously as department chair, director of liberal education, interim graduate dean, and interim assistant provost for quality management.

As Graduate Studies Director I grew the department's graduate enrollment from 39 to 212 students — a 444 percent increase — by developing new program concentrations, creating new assessment systems, and advising more than 400 master's students over the course of the program. I supervised 62 master's theses.

As Interim Dean of the Graduate School I supervised seventeen graduate assistants, launched the university's first doctoral program in coordination with the Nursing department, advocated for and won increased budget allocations for the Master of Liberal Studies core, created the university's first graduate student onboarding process, and led the successful advocacy for adoption of the Workday ERP system.

As Director of Liberal Education I chaired a 25-person committee and led the first phase of a comprehensive general education redesign — securing Faculty Senate approval of new learning objectives and goals within a single academic year.

As Interim Assistant Provost for Quality Management I served as the institution's chief accreditation officer, wrote the AQIP reaccreditation systems portfolio, and served as primary HLC liaison during a period of personnel transition.

The breadth of that simultaneous administrative experience at a single institution — spanning graduate education, undergraduate curriculum, accreditation, and institutional quality — gave me a systems-level fluency in how universities function that most department chairs do not acquire until they reach the dean level.