M.S. in Higher Education Faculty
The faculty who will guide you through the curriculum at Goucher are not just professors, and they're not just at Goucher. They are distinguished leaders in their fields. They bring a depth of practical experience that is invaluable to students.
Aarika Camp, PhD
Program Director and Vice President of Student Affairs, Goucher College
Prior to her role at Goucher College, Dr. Camp served as the program director and lead adjunct faculty member for the Master of Science in College Student Affairs at Nova Southeastern University where she taught graduate courses in student development theory, contemporary issues in higher education.
Dr. Camp received her Bachelor's degree in Women's Literature and Political Science from the University of Miami in 2001. Following that, she earned her Master's degree from the University of Florida in College Student Counseling and Personnel Services in 2003. She earned her Doctor of Philosophy degree in Higher Education and Higher Education Administration from Florida Atlantic University in 2017.
Ernest Brevard Jr, EdD
Adjunct Lecturer
Ernest Brevard Jr is the Assistant Vice President for Enrollment Management and Student Success (EMASS) Operations at Morgan State University. Dr. Brevard also teaches in the Graduate Program in Higher Education in the Welch Center for Graduate and Professional Studies here at Goucher College. He has 15+ years of experience in higher education. His knowledge of student development theories, FERPA compliance, fundraising and development, student programming, CAS standards, leadership development, and assessment procedures. Prior to coming to Morgan, he worked in Student Affairs at the College of Charleston.
Dr. Brevard received his Bachelor of Science in Special Education from the College of Charleston, his Master of Science in Education with a specialization in Leadership in Higher Education and Doctor of Education in Curriculum and Instruction from Capella University. He is Quality Matters certified to teach online.
Katherine Carnell, Ph.D.
Adjunct Lecturer
Dr. Katherine Carnell serves Goucher College as Assistant Vice President for Student Engagement. She oversees the offices of student engagement, new student programs, religious & spiritual life, and recreation.
Dr. Carnell holds a bachelor of arts in education from Mount Union College (OH), a master of arts in education from the University of Akron (OH), and a doctor of philosophy in higher education administration from Kent State University (OH). While a doctoral student at Kent State, she also earned graduate certificates in both college teaching and internationalization of higher education and served as an adjunct lecturer for the Master of Education in Higher Education Administration program.
Prior to Goucher, Dr. Carnell worked at the University of Mount Union as Director of Student Involvement & Leadership, where she oversaw campus activities, fraternity and sorority life, student government, clubs and organizations, and student leadership programs. She also directed the new student orientation program for six years and served as a lecturer in the leadership studies and general education programs throughout her 15 years with the university.
Dr. Carnell is a member of ACPA, NASPA, NODA, and AFA, where she serves on the peer review board for the organization's research journal, Oracle: The Research Journal of the Association of Fraternity & Sorority Advisors and for the Journal of College Orientation, Transition and Retention. She recently became a peer reviewer for the Middle States Commission on Higher Education.
Shireen Lalla, PhD
Adjunct Lecturer
Dr. Shireen Lalla is the Senior Associate Director at Florida Atlantic University. She has been with Florida Atlantic University for over 20 years and oversees all branch campus testing, budgeting, exam scoring, security policies, and research platforms for student researchers. Dr. Lalla has an M.A. in Women’s Studies and Educational Leadership and graduated in May 2019 with her PhD in Higher Education Administration from Florida Atlantic University. The title of her dissertation is “West Indian immigrant women: The higher education lived experiences of undergraduate and graduate students at Florida Atlantic University”. Her phenomenological study explored the perceptions and lived experiences of female West Indian immigrant students as they academically and socially acculturated while attending university. Much of her research interests focus on ways that gender, sexuality, race, and class impact students’ sense of belonging within higher education. Shireen interjects her own experience as a West Indian immigrant into her research and service to students. As a higher education practitioner, she engages the multiplicity of her identity with critical concepts of gender, race, and class alongside popular culture to help navigate her work.
Shuang Liu, PhD
Adjunct Lecturer
Dr. Shuang Liu is the Associate Vice President for Continuous Improvement and Innovation Analytics at Anne Arundel Community College (AACC), where she oversees the Office of Planning, Research, and Institutional Assessment. She has more than two decades of higher education experiences in administration, research, and instruction in both the public and private sectors. Prior to joining AACC, Dr. Liu served as the Assistant Vice President for Institutional Effectiveness and the Accreditation Liaison Officer for Goucher College. She led the institutional research offices with a demonstrated success in organizing team efforts to promote data transparency, developing a culture of data-informed decision making, and improving institutional effectiveness. She is a regular presenter at national and regional conferences on the topics of student success, assessment, accreditation, and institutional planning.
Dr. Liu teaches various courses, including research methods. Dr. Liu received her doctoral degree in Instructional Leadership for Changing Populations from Notre Dame of Maryland University
Jessica Lopez-Velez, PhD
Adjunct Lecturer
Dr. Jessica Lopez-Velez was born and raised in Puerto Rico and has over two decades of professional experience in higher education in the areas of enrollment management, student affairs, communications and marketing, community outreach, operations, policy development, strategic planning, research, budget administration, and grant development for private and public higher education institutions.
She joined Florida Atlantic University as Associate Director of Admissions in 2007. During her sixteen years working at FAU, she has also worked as Director of Enrollment Management and Academic Services for FAU’s Broward Campuses and was promoted to Director of Undergraduate Admissions in 2014. In those roles, she provided leadership and oversight in the implementation of FAU’s strategic plans for undergraduate student recruitment. She currently serves as the Director of Online Enrollment and Student Success with FAU’s Center for Online and Continuing Education. She is also an adjunct professor with the University Honors Program at FAU.
Her professional passion is to expand and facilitate access to higher education, especially for underserved populations such as minorities, and transfer students. Her research area of interest is the Community College Baccalaureate. Dr. Lopez-Velez holds a Bachelor of Arts in Public Communications from the University of Puerto Rico, a Master’s in Business Administration from Universidad Metropolitana in Puerto Rico, a Master’s in Education from FAU, and a Ph.D. in Educational Leadership in Higher Education from FAU.
Ava Norris
Adjunct Lecturer
Ava Norris is a former staff member at Goucher College. She worked as the Associate Director of Administration for the Graduate Programs in Education (GPE). She has taken steps to improve the functionality of GPE and the Welch Center as a whole. Currently, Ava teaches in both the HEA and GPE programs as an adjunct faculty member.
In a full-time capacity as Executive Administrative Manager at the University of Maryland School of Pharmacy, Ava works as an advisor to the Dean and manages the administrative, logistical, and procurement activities for the Dean’s Suite. She also works alongside senior staff on curriculum & program development, special projects, legislative planning, strategic partnerships (both international and within the US), recruiting for critical staff/faculty positions, policy review and evaluation, and more. She has over 15 years of experience in the service industry, nine years in higher education administration, and five years as an adjunct faculty member and course developer.
Ava has completed all coursework and comprehensive exams in the Doctor of Education program in Higher Education at Concordia University-Portland. She has a Master of Science degree and a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Baltimore, as well as an Associate of Arts degree from the Community College of Baltimore County.
Sharon Olivier-Whitehurst
Adjunct Lecturer
Sharon Oliver-Whitehurst currently teaches in the Graduate Program in Higher Education in the Welch Center for Graduate and Professional Studies here at Goucher College. She is a staff member of Morgan State University as the Divisional Budget Officer for the Division of Academic Affairs in the Office of the Provost. She has 15+ years of experience in higher education. Her knowledge of budget and finance is extensive, where she manages a state operating budget of about $96M and about $35M in research funding. Prior to coming to Morgan, she worked for Ernst & Young, LLC where she audited the States of Maryland and Pennsylvania.
She received her Bachelor of Business Administration in Accounting from Howard University and her MBA from University of Maryland University College (UMUC). She is Quality Matter certified to teach online and to design online classes. Sharon was recently accepted into UMUC’s Doctorate of Business Administration (DBA) program and will begin this Spring 2019. Her focus will be on higher education and her research will be on successful Budgeting Models and Historically Black Colleges and Universities.