Kevin Kruger
An accomplished speaker, leader, and educator, Kevin Kruger joined NASPA as Associate Executive Director in 1994, and became its first executive-level President on March 15, 2012. In his capacity as a national advocate for students and the primary spokesperson for student affairs administrators and practitioners, he draws on more than 30 years of experience in higher education.
Prior to NASPA, Dr. Kruger worked for 15 years at the University of Maryland College Park and the University of Maryland Baltimore County. During his tenure at the University of Maryland he worked in orientation, student activities, leadership development, admissions, and with the vice president for student affairs office. Dr. Kruger has also served as an adjunct faculty member in the Student Development in Higher Education program at Trinity College in Washington, DC.
Dr. Kruger represents NASPA in national forums such as the Washington Higher Education Secretariat, which includes the leaders of approximately 50 higher education associations. While at NASPA, he has pursued a number of initiatives designed to enhance the association's role in public policy, research, professional development, and student learning and assessment, with a particular interest in the use of technology in serving diverse student populations.
Dr. Kruger has published and presented nationally on leadership development, using technology in student affairs administration, international education and is a regular lecturer on technology in student affairs, the Myers Briggs Type Indicator, assessment and student learning. He is the editor of two Jossey-Bass publications, Technology Innovations in Student Services and Using Technology to Promote Student Learning. He also has chapters in The Handbook of Student Affairs Administration; Understanding the Role of Academic and Student Affairs Collaboration in Creating a Successful Learning Environment; Beyond Borders: How International Developments are Changing Student Affairs Practice; and Involving Commuter Students in Learning.
Nick Papadopoulos
Nick as has spent many years as a consultant, facilitator and social entrepreneur focusing on one objective – facilitating the transformation of businesses, teams and communities for meaningful and measurable results. He has worked and led initiatives in a variety of settings, from grassroots community organizing and public policy projects to managing strategic and cause-related projects for major global companies and brands.
The idea for CropMobster emerged after he and his wife Jess Flood witnessed first-hand the toll food waste and other issues take on farmers, small food businesses and communities. In addition to CropMobster Nick serves on the Sonoma County Economic Development Board. His work and writing has been featured in the Huffington Post, TIME, Fast Company and he is a frequent speaker to universities & conferences.
Dr. John Johnson
Dr. Johnson serves as the Coordinator of the African American Center for Academic Excellence at Humboldt State University (HSU). Prior to joining the staff at HSU, Dr. Johnson served as an Assistant Professor of Psychology and Chair of Social and Behavioral Sciences at Edward Waters College, a historically Black college in Jacksonville, Florida. Dr. Johnson has experience in both Student Affairs and Academic Affairs and has been recognized for his teaching, research, and efforts to enhance diversity in higher education. His research has touched on a variety of topics including the experiences of traditionally underrepresented students in higher education, leadership, multicultural student services, mentoring outcomes in higher education, and the role of ethnic student organizations in student retention. A native of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Dr. Johnson earned a PhD in Social Psychology from the University of California at Santa Cruz.
Dr. Susana Hernandez
Susana Hernández is an Assistant Professor in the Higher Education, Administration, and Leadership pathway in the Department of Educational Leadership at California State University, Fresno, both an AANAPISI and HSI.
Dr. Hernández’s research examines educational opportunity in discourse and policy. Her work disrupts traditional and conventional policy analyses and raises imperative understandings of how educational opportunity is constructed. Her work has examined in state resident tuition policies that affect undocumented students as well as how federal policy discursively shapes Latino educational opportunity and equity. She is currently conducting research on Hispanic Serving Community Colleges in California’s Central Valley and the role student affairs plays in advancing Latino student success.
Prior to becoming a professor, Dr. Hernández held several student affairs positions across multiple systems of higher education. She was a program coordinator in the Hispanic Serving Institution Office at California State University, Long Beach as well as an admissions counselor at UC Irvine where she worked with community college students, high school students, and families across the state of California.
Dr. Hernández is the daughter of Mexican immigrants and grew up in the city of Inglewood, California. Her longstanding commitment to educational equity is demonstrated in the meaningful ways she incorporates her family’s history into her daily practice as a scholar and educator.
Dr. Ignacio Hernandez
Ignacio Hernández, Ph.D. is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Educational Leadership at California State University, Fresno—both an AANAPISI and an HSI. Ignacio turns to minority-serving community colleges as a source of inquiry within the broad institutional landscape of higher education in the United States. His research seeks to highlight the experiences and lessons learned by Latina/o leaders in community colleges that may serve to re-imagine normative definitions of community college leadership and the social practice of leadership in higher education.
Ignacio is the son of Mexican immigrants from Jalisco, México. He was born and raised in Los Angeles County and attended public schools in Southern California’s San Gabriel Valley. He began his journey in higher education by enrolling at Mt. San Antonio College (Mt. SAC), one of California’s community colleges. After earning an AA at Mt. SAC he navigated the transfer pathway and earned a BS in Mathematics from California State University, Long Beach (CSULB). At CSULB Ignacio also completed a MS in Counseling with an emphasis in Student Development in Higher Education. Ignacio left California for the Midwest where he completed his PhD with a major in Education and a minor in Statistics at Iowa State University in Ames, Iowa.
Casey Robertson Howe
The KIPP Through College Associate Director of Data & Communication at KIPP Bay Area Schools. In her role, she oversees the data strategy and tracking of nearly 4,000 KIPP alumni from middle school through college graduation, leads department marketing efforts, and supports a caseload of KIPP alumni who currently attend college. Prior to KIPP, Casey worked for Citizen Schools, where she launched and led Extended Learning Time programs for middle school students East Oakland. She holds a BFA in Writing, Literature and Publishing from Emerson College and lives in Oakland with her husband and daughter.
Dr. Steven P. Jacobson
Senior Associate Vice President for Student Life
University of the Pacific
Steve Jacobson is the Senior Associate Vice President for Student Life at the University of the Pacific. Steve joined Pacific in 2002 as the Director of Housing and has worked in a variety of areas within the Student Life Division including Residence Life and Housing, Dining Services, Student Life Information Crisis Management, Public Safety, and New Student and Family Programs. He currently works with Student Involvement and Government, Student Leadership Programs, Fraternity and Sorority Life, the Community Involvement Program (CIP), the SUCCESS (TRiO) program, the Center for Community Involvement (CCI), Student Life Technology, and Development.
While at Pacific, Steve helped to establish the University’s PRIDE Resource Center, worked to increase the University’s Campus Pride “Campus Climate Index” score (an index that reviews the campus climate for LGBTQIA students at colleges and universities across the United States), participated in the establishment of two University scholarships for LGBTQIA students, and co-chaired Pacific’s regional bi-annual LGBTQIA student conference (2008-2014).
Steve received his undergraduate degree from Washington State University in English and his Masters of Education degree from Plymouth State University. In 2007, Steve was awarded his Doctor of Education degree in Educational Administration from the University of the Pacific. He is an active scholar on residential learning communities and campus violence prevention and has presented at several conferences on how institutions can effectively implement such programs on their institution.
Steve’s award and recognitions include receiving the San Joaquin Pride Center Educational Champion Award in 2013, the Dr. Steven Jacobson “Enough is Enough” award for Promoting Social Justice and Peace in 2012, the University of the Pacific Cavanaugh Distinguished Service (Outstanding Staff Member of the Year) award in 2010, the Harvey Milk Award for Outstanding Achievement in 2010, the Pennsylvania College of Technology Distinguished College Staff Member of the Year Award in 2001, and the AUCHO-I Foundation of Excellence Award in 2000.
Dr. Adriana Ruiz Alvarado
Adriana Ruiz Alvarado's research focuses on improving the conditions and increasing the success of historically underrepresented students in college, particularly with regard to persistence to the baccalaureate degree and to experiences with the campus climate. Her professional background includes work in academic advising, intergroup dialogue, and student-initiated outreach programs.
She did her undergraduate work at the University of California, Berkeley, and received her M.Ed in Student Affairs and Ph.D. in Higher Education and Organizational Change from UCLA.
