Speakers that both teach and inspire.
Dr. Karen Kurotsuchi Inkelas
Dr. Karen Kurotsuchi Inkelas is a professor in the Higher Education Program in the University of Virginia (UVA) School of Education & Human Development. Her scholarship focuses on the impact of college on undergraduate students, and she is best known for her research on living-learning communities. Dr. Inkelas is the founding Principal Investigator of the National Study of Living-Learning Programs, and lead author of the books, Living-Learning Communities that Work: A Research-Based Model for Design, Delivery, and Assessment (2018) and Living-Learning Communities in Practice: A Guide for Creating, Maintaining, and Sustaining Effective Programs in Higher Education (2024). From 2018-2023, she was the sixth Principal of the University of Virginia’s Hereford Residential College.
Dr. Inkelas currently serves as the Assessment Director of the Driving Change Initiative at UVA, sponsored by the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, which seeks to support the success of historically marginalized student populations in STEM fields through equity-based practices.
In addition, Dr. Inkelas consults and advises on several initiatives, including as a consultant on designing living-learning communities and residence halls with two national architectural firms. She has been a featured speaker at several U.S. and international venues, including a World Bank-funded workshop on best practices in teaching and learning in STEM for college instructors in Cambodia, a keynote at the Teaching & Learning in Higher Education Conference at the National University of Singapore, and a plenary speaker at the second Global Forum on the Innovation of Higher Education at Sungkyunkwan University in Seoul, South Korea.
Dr. Mimi Benjamin
Dr. Mimi Benjamin is Professor of Student Affairs in Higher Education at Indiana University of Pennsylvania, joining the faculty after a 19-year career as a student affairs administrator. As a professional at Iowa State University, She worked closely with living learning communities and subsequently went on to study them, completing her dissertation study on the experiences of living-learning community peer mentors. She was a co-seminar leader for the Elon University Center for Engaged Learning research seminar on Residential Learning Communities as a High-Impact Practice, and with her colleagues co-edited the Learning Communities Research and Practice special issue on living-learning communities (2020).
She is co-author of Living-Learning Communities that Work: A Research-based Model for Design, Delivery, and Assessment (2018) and Living-Learning Communities in Practice: A Guide for Creating, Maintaining, and Sustaining Effective Programs in Higher Education (2024); editor of Learning Communities from Start to Finish (2015); co-editor of both editions of Maybe I Should . . . Case Studies in Ethics for Student Affairs Professionals (2009, 2020); and was co-editor of ACPA Books with Dr. Jody Jessup-Anger. Recent honors she has received include ACPA Diamond Honoree (2020), ACPA Annuit Coeptis Senior Professional (2022), and IUP University Senate Distinguished Faculty Award for Service (2024). She earned a Ph.D. in Educational Leadership and Policy Studies with a focus on Higher Education from Iowa State University, M.Ed. in College Student Personnel from Ohio University, M.A. in English from Clarion University of Pennsylvania, and B.S. in Secondary Education-English from Clarion University of Pennsylvania.
Dr. Jody Jessup-Anger
Dr. Jody Jessup-Anger is a professor of higher education and chair of the Department of Educational Policy and Leadership at Marquette University. Her research explores how the interaction of students and the collegiate environment affects student development and learning. Jessup-Anger (along with Benjamin and others) co-led the Elon University Center for Engaged Learning 2017-2019 Research Seminar on Residential Learning Communities, a three-year institute that promotes multi-institutional research collaboration on high-impact practices in higher education. Along with Inkelas and Benjamin, she authored Living-Learning Communities in Practice: A Guide of Creating, Maintaining, and Sustaining Effective Programs in Higher Education and Living-Learning Communities that Work: A Research-Based Model for Design, Delivery, and Assessment. She is currently serving as scholar-in-residence at Workshop Architects, a firm focused on planning, architecture, design, and research of social spaces.
Dr. Julia Metzker
Julia Metzker is the Director of the Washington Center for Improving Undergraduate Education at Evergreen. As a public service center at Evergreen, The Washington Center is a national resource to higher education institutions for creating equitable learning opportunities for all students through consulting, mentoring, activities, trainings, and initiatives. There she mentors faculty to use civic issues and active pedagogies to better design engaging courses.
Dr. Metzker’s early work in science education and civic engagement created a foundation for her work in professional development focused on learning. She has worked to design and teach courses, mentor faculty, and promote creative curriculum. In 2021, she was a co-author of Designing Learning Experiences that Matter: A Field Guide to Course Design for Transformative Education; the book received an Outstanding Book honorable mention from the Society of Professors of Education.
Dr. Larry Roper
Larry Roper is currently retired and carries the designation Professor Emeritus of Language, Culture and Society at Oregon State University. Previously he served as Vice Provost for Student Affairs and Professor of Ethnic Studies at Oregon State University from 1995-2014 and Professor of Language, Culture and Society (2014-2020). He also served during the 2016-17 academic year as Interim Director of the School of Language, Culture, and Society and from July 2007- September 2008 as Interim Dean of the College of Liberal Arts. Larry has degrees from Heidelberg University, Bowling Green State University, and the University of Maryland. He held numerous positions in higher education including roles at St. John Fisher College, Arcadia University, St. Joseph’s University (Philadelphia), University of Delaware, St. Mary’s College of Maryland, University of California-Davis, and Ashland University. He has extensive housing experience, ranging from resident director to director of housing.
Roper has co-authored four books/monographs, including co-editing Centering Dialogue in Leadership Development. He also has more than 60 other publications. He served on more than 80 thesis or dissertation committees, having chaired more than 45. He served as editor of the Journal of National Association of Student Affairs Administrators.
Dr. Anna Schmidt-MacKenzie
Anna Schmidt-MacKenzie serves as the Associate Vice President and Chief of Staff for the Division of Student Services and Enrollment Management (SSEM) at the University of Oregon. She works across the division to support division-wide initiatives and contribute as a member of the SSEM leadership team. She oversees research and assessment, central budget, and finance, and overall supports the mission to provide an outstanding student experience and strong enrollment growth.
Schmidt-MacKenzie grew up in Germany and New York City, but was born in Eugene Oregon, and returned to Oregon in 2015. She has been actively involved in ACUHO-I through their research committee and the James C. Grimm National Housing Training Institute coordinating committee. She previously worked at Columbia University and New York University, and prior to her current role, served as the director of university housing at the University of Oregon.