Keynote & Plenary Speakers 

Dr. Dawn Lee (she/they)

Director of Professional and Organizational Development, De Anza College

Dawn Lee, PhD, is an educator, professional development specialist, equity consultant, and talent coach. Her joys are helping people and groups grow and transform through teaching, facilitating, training, coaching, and restorative mediation. As the Faculty Director of Professional and Organizational Development at De Anza College, she develops, coordinates, and delivers equity-minded professional development opportunities for faculty. She provides mentorship and support for tenure-line faculty in their first two years and provides coaching to all faculty to help improve their instructional skills, student success support, and career growth.

As the Founder of Abundant Strategies Collective, she has spent over 20 years accompanying and guiding organizations through change management, delivering custom equity-minded leadership training for teams and coaching diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging-minded professionals. She is a Gallup CliftonStrengths Certified Coach, an INIFAC Certified Virtual Facilitator, and she uses Organizational and Relationship Systems Coaching (ORSC) methodology from CRR Global. She holds a PhD in cultural studies and an MA in American studies.

Her prior roles include Interim Associate Dean of Students at UC Berkeley, Director of Asian Pacific American Student Development at UC Berkeley, Director of The Cultural Centers (The Intercultural Center and the Gender & Sexuality Center) at the University of San Francisco, Associate Director for the Center for Multicultural Learning at Santa Clara University, and Assistant Director of the MOSAIC Cross Cultural Center at San Jose State University. She is currently part-time faculty at San Jose State University in the Sociology and Interdisciplinary Social Sciences department. She also is the co-host of From Here Podcast. Read more about Dawn on her LinkedIn page.

P. Marcell Gilmore
Educational Research Assessment Analyst | Mt San Antonio College

P. Marcell Gilmore is currently an Educational Research Assessment Analyst at Mt. San Antonio College in Walnut, California. Much of his research work has focused on Guided Pathways, Student Equity, and student success (focusing on minority males). In addition to serving as a researcher for his college, Mr. Gilmore is also on the Board of Directors for the RP Group (charged with research, planning, and professional development for California Community Colleges). Before working in community colleges, Mr. Gilmore occupied various roles in education. He was part of a team that served as the third-party evaluator for the Los Angeles Unified School District grantee high schools and Small Learning Community Implementation. He also taught middle school, high school, community college, and university students. Those experiences have allowed Mr. Gilmore to examine K12 to postsecondary preparation, equity, and transfer. Mr. Gilmore was born and raised in Oakland, California. He has a BA in Sociology from the University of California, Berkeley, an MA in African American Studies from the University of California, Los Angeles, and is a doctoral candidate at the University of Utah. He currently resides in Southern California with his wife and newly empty nest.

Dr. Hannah Lawler
Dean of Institutional Research | Santa Monica College

Dr. Hannah Lawler is currently the Dean of Institutional Research at Santa Monica College. In her role, she provides strategic vision, leadership, and oversight for the college’s research and effectiveness functions and provides leadership on campus efforts related to racial equity, Guided Pathways, and accreditation. She co-founded and leads one of the pioneer data coaching programs in the California Community College (CCC) system. She is currently working with the CCHALES Research Collective at San Diego State University to provide support and coaching for 17 CCCs in the writing of the 2022–2025 Student Equity Plan. She previously served as a consultant for The RP Group, USC Center for Urban Education, USC Race and Equity Center, and Bensimon & Associates, providing expertise and delivering work related to assessment of racial equity and promoting equity-minded inquiry on college campuses. She was selected as one of the 2020–2021 fellows of the California Education Policy Fellowship Program (EPFP). She holds a bachelor’s degree in Psychology from Pepperdine University and a doctorate in Education from USC.

Dr. Aisha Lowe
Vice Chancellor of Educational Services and Supports | California Community Colleges Chancellor’s Office

Dr. Aisha Lowe is a passionate educator who has dedicated her life to improving education for all students and communities. As Vice Chancellor of Educational Services and Supports for the California Community Colleges Chancellor’s Office, Aisha provides leadership for Educational Services and Support Division activities including transfer and articulation, curriculum chaptering and approval, equity programs and grants, innovations in teaching and learning, special project management, and systemwide technical assistance delivery. Prior to joining the Chancellor’s Office in 2020, Dr. Lowe served as Associate Professor of Education at William Jessup University, where she oversaw the thesis research of future teachers in training. She also served as the Dean of the Office of Academic Research, leading the university’s Strategic Academic Research Plan and academic grantmaking. Additionally, Aisha served the students of the Los Rios Community College District, Sierra College, and CSU Sacramento as an adjunct professor for over eight years. Dr. Lowe received her bachelor’s degree in Psychology and her masters in Sociology from Stanford University, where she also received her Ph.D. in Educational Psychology.

Ginni May
Professor of Math and Statistics | Sacramento City College
Vice President | Academic Senate for California Community Colleges

Ginni May is Vice President of the Academic Senate for California Community Colleges and is a professor of mathematics and statistics at Sacramento City College. Ginni started her tenure in the California Community College system in 1982 as a student and then returned for a faculty position in 1991.

Locally, Ginni has served as both an academic senate president, curriculum chair, and accreditation lead. At the state level, her recent roles include: Chair of the Legislative and Advocacy Committee, second to the Chair of the Career and Technical Education Leadership Committee, Chair of the Transfer Alignment Project; and Chair of the Intersegmental Curriculum Workgroup; and representative on the Chancellor’s Office Consultation Council, Intersegmental Committee of Academic Senates, Committee of Faculty Organizations, and the Chancellor’s Office Ethnic Studies Steering Committee and Taskforce. In addition, she has worked closely with representatives of The RP Group in developing resources for faculty and research professional collaboration, Guided Pathways framework development, and various presentations at ASCCC and RP Group conferences. Ginni received her bachelor’s degree and master’s degrees in mathematics from California State University, Sacramento.

Craig Rutan
Professor of Physics and Academic Senate President | Santiago Canyon College

Craig Rutan is a Professor of Physics and the Academic Senate President at Santiago Canyon College and is the Chair of the ASCCC Data and Research Task Force. The ASCCC Data and Research Task Force was established to collect and analyze local implementations of AB 705 and share praising practices systemwide. Professor Rutan was previously a member of the ASCCC Executive Committee (2014–19) and has been integral in many important projects including the Student Success Scorecard, Student Success Metrics, the Common Assessment Initiative, Code Alignment Project, and the implementation of AB 705 for math, English, and ESL. Professor Rutan received his bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering from University of California, Irvine, where he also received his master’s degrees in Electrical Engineering and Physics.

Dr. Denice Inciong - Moderator
Visiting Dean of Research and Data Analytics | California Community Colleges Chancellor’s Office

Dr. Denice Inciong is currently working at the Chancellor’s Office as the Visiting Dean of Research and Data Analytics. She is supporting the building of the research office and the use of data and student success metrics. She has worked at the South Orange County Community College District for over 15 years in the district’s Research, Planning, and Data Management Office and is passionate about making data accessible and usable for all stakeholders and improving the capacity for IRPE offices to build learning across the organization. Denice holds both a bachelor’s degree in Asian Studies & Japanese Language and a master’s degree in Educational Foundation from the University of Hawaii, and an Ed.D. in Education from John Hopkins University School of Education.

Dr. Gary Hsin
Chief of Palliative Medicine | Veterans Affairs Palo Alto Health Care System
Clinical Professor of Medicine | Stanford University

Dr. Gary Hsin is the Chief of Palliative Medicine at the Veterans Affairs Palo Alto Health Care System and a Clinical Professor of Medicine (affiliated) at Stanford University School of Medicine. He provides care for patients and their families who are facing life-threatening and life-limiting illnesses. Both in the US and internationally, Gary teaches communication skills for practitioners treating seriously ill patients, including delivery of difficult news and tough conversations. He witnesses first-hand the difficulties of delivering information in an emotionally charged atmosphere where retention and comprehension is challenged. These experiences led Gary to the world of compassion cultivation, which explores ways to hone our innate compassion to navigate life’s challenges, improve resilience, and feel more connection to others. His work with Stanford’s Center for Compassion and Altruism Research and Education (CCARE) and the Compassion Institute led to an exploration of the intersection of contemporary psychology and scientific research on compassion with sound techniques of personal growth and professional development. As a certified teacher in the Compassion Cultivation Training program, he has been teaching compassion cultivation to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and other health care and public health organizations to help address burnout during the COVID-19 pandemic. This program applies mindfulness and compassion cultivation to counter stress and burnout and to deepen one’s commitment and resilience in work and life.

Virtual RP Conference 2021 Opening Plenary

Frameworks and Tactics IRPE Professionals Can Leverage to Dismantle Racialization in California Community Colleges

Please join us for a panel discussion about some specific methods, practices, and frameworks that IRPE offices can utilize to inform and guide institutional priorities associated with diversity, equity, inclusion, and anti-racism.

Dr. Martín De Mucha Flores
Associate Dean of Educational Success, Student Equity, and Achievement Programs, Berkeley City College

Dr. Martín De Mucha Flores is a Chicano Scholar Activist who weaves his personal experience, research, data, and community testimonials into his professional career. Martín is the Associate Dean of Educational Success and Student Equity and Achievement Programs at Berkeley City College. At the college Martín supports the Undocumented Community Resource Center, Society of Scholars, a collective of learning communities, the college's Title V HSI grant, outreach and retention programming, dual enrollment, and implementation and monitoring on the HEERF grants. In addition Martín works closely with the Senior Research at the college to implement equity advancing prompts in the college's Annual and Comprehensive Program Review.

Michelle Fowles
Dean of Institutional Effectiveness, Los Angeles Valley College

Michelle Fowles serves as the Dean of Institutional Effectiveness and adjunct faculty in Sociology at LA Valley College. She has breadth of experience supporting data-informed decision making, institutional planning, program review and evaluation, and accountability. In support of data-informed action, she works closely with participatory governance and other groups to improve institutional processes. Michelle also dedicates her time to promoting anti-racism and equity efforts, encouraging informed action, awareness, and dialogue. She is a former RP Group board member and currently serves on the RP Group Equity Taskforce.

Dr. Melissa Leal
Instructor / Tribal Liason and Wonoti Program Coordinator, Sierra College

Dr. Melissa Leal is an enrolled member of the Ohlone/Costanoan Esselen Nation. She earned her Ph.D. in Native American Studies from the University of California, Davis and currently teaches and serves as a Tribal Liaison and Wonoti Program Coordinator at Sierra College in Northern California. Her research and teaching focuses on contemporary film, music, dance and other performance arts in indigenous communities. She has worked with tribes and tribal youth for more than 15 years focusing on education, language revitalization, and empowerment. 

Dr. Mayra Padilla
Dean of Institutional Effectiveness & Equity, Contra Costa College

Dr. Mayra Padilla is the Dean of Institutional Effectiveness & Equity at Contra Costa College (CCC). Under her leadership, CCC has been awarded two Department of Education HSI STEM grants and a Title V HSI Social Justice grant. Dr. Padilla has received numerous awards for her work at CCC including the Jefferson Award for Public Service, STEM Woman of the Year for Nancy Skinner's Office, Contra Costa County Women's Hall of Fame for "Building Community," and the San Francisco Foundation Koshland Civic Unity Fellowship. She has also been featured in the SF Business Times Notable People.

We are pleased to announce that Gary Hsin and Marilee Bresciani Ludvik will be serving as the keynote speakers for the 2020 RP Conference.

Dr. Gary Hsin | Director of the Hospice and Palliative Care Center | Veterans Affairs Palo Alto Health Care System, Clinical Associate Professor of Medicine, Stanford University School of Medicine |

Dr. Gary Hsin is the Director of the Hospice and Palliative Care Center at the Veterans Affairs Palo Alto Health Care System and a Clinical Associate Professor of Medicine (affiliated) at Stanford University School of Medicine. He provides care for patients and their families who are facing life-threatening and life-limiting illnesses. Gary teaches communication skills in serious illness including the delivery of difficult news and tough conversations, both in the US and internationally. He witnesses first-hand the difficulties of delivering information in an emotionally-charged atmosphere where retention and comprehension are challenged.

These experiences have led Gary to the world of compassion cultivation, which explores ways to hone our innate compassion to navigate life’s challenges, improve resilience, and feel more connection to others. His work with both The Center for Compassion and Altruism Research and Education (CCARE) at Stanford University as well as the Compassion Institute led to an exploration of the intersection of contemporary psychology and scientific research on compassion with sound techniques of personal growth and professional development. As a certified teacher in the Compassion Cultivation Training program, he is piloting the Compassion at Work program, which applies mindfulness and compassion cultivation to counter stress and burnout—deepening one’s commitment and resilience in work and life.

Marilee Bresciani Ludvik, Ph.D. | Professor of Postsecondary Educational Leadership, San Diego State University (SDSU) |

Marilee Bresciani Ludvik, Ph.D. serves as a professor of postsecondary educational leadership at San Diego State University (SDSU). She serves as the Faculty Fellow within the University’s Office of Educational Effectiveness where she assists in connecting student learning and development outcomes to equity performance indicators in a manner that can inform improvements both inside and outside the classroom. She also serves as a Faculty Fellow within the University’s Office of Analytic Studies and Institutional Research where she works with cross-college teams as well as academic and student support teams to leverage the science of learning to close achievement gaps. Before SDSU, she served as Assistant Vice President of Institutional Assessment at Texas A&M University and prior to that, served in student, academic affairs, and alumni relations leadership roles at various institutions.

Marilee’s research focuses on using translational neuroscience and mindful compassion practices to inform the design and evaluation of workshops and curriculum. These collectively aim at decreasing the stress and anxiety of students, faculty, and administrators and increasing their attention, emotion, and cognitive flexibility, as well as enhancing compassion, inquiry, creativity, and overall well-being.

Marilee has consulted with over 200 institutions on assessment and accountability matters. In addition, she assists organizational leaders to identify and leverage opportunities to collaborate across division lines, using trauma-informed mindfulness-based inquiry practices, nonviolent communication, difficult conversation processes, compassion practices, restorative justice, and design thinking. Marilee is a certified meditation and yoga instructor, a certified life coach, and a qualified Mindfulness-based stress reduction teacher on the certification path.

We are pleased to announce that Matthew Wetstein will be serving as the keynote speaker for the 2019 RP Conference.

Matt Wetstein has just completed his first year as Superintendent/President of Cabrillo College. Prior to being hired by the Cabrillo board, Wetstein served for six years as the Assistant Superintendent/Vice President of Instruction and Planning at San Joaquin Delta College in Stockton, CA. Before that time, he served as Delta’s Dean of Planning, Research, and Institutional Effectiveness. He is a statewide leader in the California Community Colleges IRPE community, having spent six years on the board of the RP Group and two years as President. During that time, Wetstein represented the community on several statewide task forces related to student success metrics and helped the RP Group rewrite its strategic plan. He is the co-author of three books on the Canadian Supreme Court, one book on abortion politics in the United States, and has written or co-authored more than a dozen peer-reviewed articles on judicial behavior, abortion politics, and community college student success. Wetstein is a member of a number of community advisory boards in Santa Cruz County, including the United Way, Santa Cruz Symphony, Santa Cruz County Business Council, Santa Cruz Chamber of Commerce, the Agri-Culture Board, and Sutter Health/Palo Alto Medical Foundation Advisory Board. A member of the Capitola/Aptos Rotary Club, Wetstein  resides in the La Selva Beach area.

We are pleased to announce that Nader Twal will be serving as the keynote speaker for the 2018 RP Conference.

Twal serves as Program Administrator for innovative Professional Development (iPD) in the Office of Curriculum, Instruction, and Professional Development of Long Beach Unified School District and coordinates a focused team effort to actualize the iPD Theory of Action, through Design Thinking:

"Given simple and multimodal access to high quality, job-embedded, collectively-developed online and offline professional development (anchored in a common Teaching and Learning Framework and high functioning Communities of Practice), teachers will be better equipped with the tools, research, and professional learning opportunities to accelerate implementation of the Common Core State Standards and increase student achievement." 

For the four and half years prior, he served as the Smaller Learning Communities (SLC) and Linked Learning Project Coordinator in the Secondary Schools Office, working with a gifted team of educators to actualize the district’s Academic and Career Success Initiative. With over nine years of classroom experience, eleven years of site-level teacher leadership, and six years as a district administrator, he has developed a unique perspective on systems-level reform — from grant writing and strategic planning to effective community outreach and building teacher capacity.

Twal has managed multi-million dollar budgets, and has established systems of accountability and progress monitoring that inform processes in the Secondary Schools Office to date. 

As a Milken National Educator (CA 2003) and California Association of Teachers of English Award for Classroom Excellence Recipient (2008), he remains committed to equipping, empowering, and inspiring educators to own the profession and better serve every student, every day.

Dr. Darla Cooper| Interim Executive Director of the RP Group\Director of Research and Evaluation |

Dr. Darla M. Cooper is an educational leader and expert in research and evaluation dedicated to using inquiry, data, and evidence to improve the lives of all community college students. After serving for the past several years as the Director of Research and Evaluation for the Research and Planning Group for the California Community Colleges (The RP Group).

Dr. Cooper has worked in the California Community College system for almost 20 years, having previously held institutional research director positions at Santa Barbara City College, Oxnard College, and Ohlone College. She led Student Support (Re)defined, a landmark research project that examined what supports student success, and has been invited to present on this work at various venues across the state.

She also recently served as one of the coaches for the American Association of Community Colleges’ (AACC) Pathways Project, is on the advisory committee for the California Guided Pathways Project, and is currently co-directing a research study funded by the College Futures Foundation that will examine what happens with students who appear ready to transfer, but do not.

She has extensive experience serving as an external evaluator for several federal and private foundation grants, and has worked on various other projects designed to promote student success including the Aspen Prize for Community College Excellence, and the RP Group’s Bridging Research Information and Culture (BRIC) initiative, Student Transfer in Professional Pathways Project, and Accreditation Study.

Dr. Cooper also has direct experience assisting students in achieving their educational goals in her previous work at the University of Southern California as a Director of Research and Information, student services counselor, and ombudsperson. She holds a BA in Psychology from the University of California, San Diego, and an MSEd and EdD from the University of Southern California.

Tia Brown Mcnair| Association of American Colleges and Universities |

Dr. Tia Brown McNair is the Vice President in the Office of Diversity, Equity, and Student Success at the Association of American Colleges and Universities (AAC&U) in Washington, DC. She oversees both funded projects and AAC&U’s continuing programs on equity, diversity, inclusive excellence, high-impact educational practices, and student success, including AAC&U’s Network for Academic Renewal series of yearly working conferences. McNair also directs AAC&U’s Summer Institute on High-Impact Educational Practices and Student Success. McNair serves at the project director for AAC&U’s “Advancing Roadmaps for Community College Leadership to Improve Student Learning and Success,” and a newly funded Liberal Education and America’s Promise (LEAP) project “Committing to Equity and Inclusive Excellence: Campus-Based Strategies for Student Success.” She is a co-PI on another project “Advancing Underserved Student Success through Faculty Intentionality in Problem-Centered Learning.” McNair chaired AAC&U’s Equity Working Group that was part of the General Education Maps and Markers (GEMs) project that represented a large-scale, systematic effort to provide design principles for 21st century learning and long-term student success. She is a co-author on the publication Assessing Underserved Students’ Engagement in High-Impact Practices.

Prior to joining AAC&U, McNair served as the Assistant Director of the National College Access Network (NCAN) in Washington, DC. McNair’s previous experience also includes serving as a Social Scientist/Assistant Program Director in the Directorate for Education and Human Resources at the National Science Foundation (NSF); Director of University Relations at the University of Charleston in Charleston, West Virginia; the Statewide Coordinator for the Educational Talent Search Project at the West Virginia Higher Education Policy Commission; and the Interim Associate Director of Admissions and Recruitment Services at West Virginia State University. She has served as an adjunct faculty member at several institutions. McNair earned her bachelor’s degree in political science and English at James Madison University and holds a master’s in English from Radford University and a doctorate in higher education administration from George Washington University.

Robert (Bob) Daly| California Association for Institutional Research (CAIR) Board Member and Former CAIR President |

Bob Daly began his 40-year career in institutional research at Santa Ana College (SAC) in 1974. After spending six years at SAC, he accepted the position of Director of Information and Planning Analysis at University of California, Irvine, where he stayed for 24 years. Then in 2004, he was hired as the Assistant Vice Chancellor of Strategic Academic Research and Analysis at the University of California, Riverside (UCR). Although Bob formally retired from UCR in 2014, he continues to serve as a leader and visionary in the institutional research field. Bob recently presented at the California Association for Institutional Research 2015 Conference on “The Future of IR.” In addition, Bob has been interviewed twice for the Association for Institutional Research (AIR) e-newsletter (eAIR) regarding AIR’s recent publication Statement of Aspirational Practice for Institutional Research. In these interviews, Bob discussed the “Six Stages of Growth for the IR Professional,” which was honored with the CAIR Best Presentation Award in 2013, and “The Future of IR.” Bob served as CAIR's first president in 1987-1988 and continues to be active in the institutional research community, currently serving as a member on CAIR's Board of Directors.

J. Luke Wood, PhD| Associate Professor of Community College Leadership and the Director of the Doctoral Program Concentration in Community College Leadership at San Diego State University (SDSU) |

J. Luke Wood, PhD, is Associate Professor of Community College Leadership and the Director of the Doctoral Program Concentration in Community College Leadership at San Diego State University (SDSU). Dr. Wood is Co-Director of the Minority Male Community College Collaborative (M2C3), a national project of the Interwork Institute at SDSU that partner with community colleges across the United States to enhance access, achievement, and success among minority male community college students. He is also Chair-Elect for the Council on Ethnic Participation (CEP) for the Association for the Study of Higher Education (ASHE), Director of the Center for African American Research and Policy (CAARP) and Co-Editor of the Journal of Applied Research in the Community College. Wood’s research focuses on factors impacting the success of Black (and other minority) male students in the community college. In particular, his research examines contributors (e.g., social, psychological, academic, environmental, institutional) to positive outcomes (e.g., persistence, achievement, attainment, transfer, labor market outcomes) for these men. Dr. Wood is a former recipient of the Sally Casanova Pre-Doctoral Fellowship from which he served as research fellow at the Stanford Institute for Higher Education Research (SIHER), Stanford University. He has also served as a Young Academic Fellow for the Institute for Higher Education Policy and Lumina Foundation.

Dr. Frank Harris, III| Associate Professor: Postsecondary Education, Co-Director: Minority Male Community College Collaborative (M2C3), San Diego State University |

Dr. Frank Harris, III, is Associate Professor of Postsecondary Education and Co-Director of the Minority Male Community College Collaborative (M2C3) at San Diego State University. His research is broadly focused on student development and student success in postsecondary education, and explores questions related to the social construction of gender and race on college campuses, college men and masculinities and racial/ethnic disparities in college student outcomes. In his role as co-director of M2C3, he partners with community colleges across the United States to conduct research and design interventions to facilitate student achievement among men who have been historically marginalized in postsecondary education. Before joining the faculty at San Diego State, Harris worked as a student affairs educator and college administrator in the areas of student affairs administration, student crisis support and advocacy, new student orientation programs, multicultural student affairs, academic advising and enrollment services. His most recent administrative appointment was at the University of Southern California as Associate Director of the Center for Urban Education.

Dr. Milbrey McLaughlin, Co-Director, Center for Research on the Context of Teaching, Director of the John Gardner Center for Youth and their Communities, Stanford University

Sonia Ortiz-Mercado, Dean of Matriculation, Early Assessment Program, Student Equity, Student Leadership and Division Administration, California Community Colleges Chancellor's Office

Randy Swing, Association of Institutional Research

Thomas Bailey, Community College Research Center