Archive | Board of Directors

Emmanuel Hernandez-Agosto

Dean, College of Business, St. Petersburg College

Emmanuel Hernandez-Agosto is a seasoned mid-level executive and academic professional with over 18 years of experience in management, entrepreneurship, and education. He currently serves as the Dean of the College of Business at St. Petersburg College, where he has significantly enhanced strategic partnerships and course offerings. Previously, he was an Associate Professor and Program Manager at Gulf Coast State College, where he led the development of entrepreneurial programs. Emmanuel is a former founder of Mindhatch Ventures and held various leadership roles at Ana G. Mendez University. He has a Doctorate in Business Administration, an MBA in Marketing, and a BBA in Management. His previous community engagement includes roles with Habitat for Humanity and Junior Achievement of Northwest Florida, and currently serves as Board member of Suncoast Housing Connections.

Michelle Mattson

Provost, Carleton College

Michelle Mattson is presently the Provost at Carleton College. Prior to joining Carleton, she served as Provost at Wittenberg University in Springfield, Ohio. Before that, she had filled a variety of administrative appointments at Rhodes College in Memphis, Tennessee. She received her doctorate in German Studies and Humanities from Stanford University. After that she held faculty positions at Princeton, Columbia University, Iowa State, and Rhodes College. Dr. Mattson gradually increased her administrative responsibilities beginning at Iowa State and continuing at Rhodes College before moving finally into Academic Affairs.

As a scholar, Dr. Mattson’s research has covered such diverse topics as contemporary German drama, political representation in German television, questions of immigration and diversity in Germany today, issues of political subjectivity, and post-war women’s literature. In the summer of 2022, she stepped into her current role as Provost at Carleton College in Northfield, MN.

Brian Peterson

Provost and Vice President for Academic and Student Affairs, Briar Cliff University

Brian Peterson is Provost and Vice President for Academic and Student Affairs and Professor of Economics at Briar Cliff University in Sioux City, Iowa. He has a BBA in economics from University of Dayton, and an MA and Ph.D. in economics from Indiana University-Bloomington. Prior to his time at Briar Cliff, he spent 4 years as VPAA at LaGrange College in Georgia and 18 years as professor of economics and academic administrator at Central College in Pella, Iowa.

In his current role, Brian guides the implementation of Briar Cliff’s strategic plan in academics and student life, including the library, registrar, honors program, student success, student housing, student activities, health services and counseling, and mission and Catholic integration. He has published articles on economics education, advising, and faculty governance. He is currently a guest editor for the Journal of College Teaching. As a faculty member, Brian taught courses in economic research and quantitative methods, principles- and intermediate-level microeconomics, public finance, and environmental economics.

He has been a member of ACAD since 2017 and a member of the Board of Directors since 2022.

Jim Sloat

Senior Associate Provost, Colby college

Jim Sloat is Senior Associate Provost at Colby College in Waterville, Maine where he has served since 2012. While at Colby, he created the Colby Liberal Arts Symposium (CLAS), a celebration of undergraduate research with over 600 student presenters (making it the largest undergraduate research symposium at a liberal arts college).

He previously served at Washington & Jefferson College in Washington, Pennsylvania as Associate Dean for Assessment and New Initiatives. Jim came to W&J in 2001 to serve as the founding director of the Center for Learning & Teaching. He began his career as a faculty member in political science at Dickinson College in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, where he subsequently founded the Center for Public Speaking. His faculty research focused on Christian political philosophy (particularly Pauline conceptions of justice) and U.S. welfare policy. Jim did his undergraduate work at Washington and Lee University and his graduate work in political philosophy at Duke University.

Jim has been an active member of ACAD since 2007. He has facilitated over 20 workshops, roundtables, and panels at both the annual meeting and Deans’ Institute. He has focused his work on supporting assistant/associate deans. He initiated and continues to lead the New England Small College Associate Deans (NESCAD). More recently, he has created (along with two colleagues) the Associate Dean Leadership Accelerator (ADLA), an immersive orientation to the work of associate deaning. Working in partnership with ACAD, ADLA launched its initial cohort in 2025 and welcomed a new cohort in 2026. ADLA’s 41 alumni represent a diverse set of institutions across the country.

Jamie Frueh

Vice President for Academic Affairs and Dean of the College, Westminster College (PA)

Jamie Frueh is Vice President for Academic Affairs and Dean of the College at Westminster College in New Wilmington, PA.

Jamie was an American Council on Education Fellow for 2022-23, hosted by President Kim Cassidy and the Senior Staff at Bryn Mawr College. He serves as the Immediate Past Chair of the Professional Development Committee of the Council of Fellows Board. He has published widely on the pedagogy of International Relations and global politics and has conducted dozens of pedagogy workshops at home and abroad. He is the editor of Pedagogical Journeys through World Politics (Palgrave 2020) and co-editor of the Palgrave Handbook on the Pedagogy of International Relations Theory (2024). He co-edits the Political Pedagogies book series at Palgrave and hosts The Teaching Curve podcast, available through the International Studies Association (ISA) Professional Development Center. He is the 2019 recipient ISA’s Deborah Gerner Award for Innovative Teaching, and in 2024, his colleagues in ISA’s Education and Learning in International Affairs Section named him a Distinguished Scholar. He has a B.S. from the School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University and a Ph.D. from the School of International Service at American University.

Feng-Ling Margaret Johnson

Dean of Arts, Humanities, Social & Behavioral Sciences, Century College

Feng-Ling (Margaret) currently serves as the Dean of Arts, Humanities, Social & Behavioral Sciences at Century College. Previously she served as Dean of University College & Associate Vice President for Student Success at St. Cloud State University in St. Cloud, Minnesota from 2020 to 2025, and as Senior Dean of Academic Administration at University of Northwestern – St. Paul, Minnesota from 1996 to 2020.

Feng-Ling has served as an HLC (Higher Learning Commission) Peer Reviewer since 2016; she is passionate about assessment and accreditation, quality assurance, and teaching and learning. Her research focuses on the education of culturally and linguistically diverse learners, language acquisition and identity, and sociolinguistics. Feng-Ling enjoys reading and outdoor activities.

Benjamin Valdez

Provost and Chief Academic Officer, Jackson College

Dr. Benjamin A. Valdez serves as Provost and Chief Academic Officer at Jackson College, where he provides strategic leadership for academic affairs, including educational policy, academic programming, accreditation, institutional effectiveness, and student success initiatives. He brings more than two decades of higher education and K-12 leadership experience, having previously served as Vice President of Academic Affairs at Southeast Technical College, Executive Vice President and Dean of Academic Affairs at The Art Institute of Colorado, Dean at DeVry University, and Dean & Department Chair at the Community College of Aurora. Dr. Valdez holds a Doctor of Business Administration and has extensive experience in strategic planning, curriculum development, faculty leadership, accreditation, and workforce-aligned education.

Kim Davis

Dean, Arts and Humanities

Dr. Kim Davis, a 2023 ACAD Fellow, is the Dean of Arts and Humanities at Harford Community College (HCC) in Bel Air, Maryland. Prior to joining HCC, she served in a variety of roles at Oakland Community College, Michigan, that include English faculty member, program coordinator, interim associate dean, and finally Associate Dean of Communication, Arts and Humanities. Dr. Davis was also an English faculty member at Georgia Gwinnett College and Saginaw Valley State University. Before transitioning to higher education, she spent 10 years in corporate America in finance, public relations and marketing.

Dr. Davis’s teaching, research, conference presentations, and publications focus on student preparedness and success. Throughout her career in higher education, Dr. Davis has implemented data-driven initiatives that have helped students become college ready and achieve their academic goals. She earned her B.A. degree in Economics with honors from Rutgers University and received both her M.A. and Ph.D. in English from Wayne State University.

Sarah Tuskey

Dean of Faculty

Dr. Sarah Tuskey serves as Dean of Faculty at Miami Dade College’s Wolfson Campus. With a career at Miami Dade College spanning several years, she has served across multiple positions, from Associate Dean of Academic Affairs to Department Chairperson for Business at the Kendall and Homestead Campuses. Her academic leadership has been marked by a commitment to the enhancement of academic programs, pedagogical innovation, and the elevation of student success metrics resulting in the advancement of program offerings and an improvement in student persistence and academic achievement.

In addition to her administrative roles, Dr. Tuskey has contributed to the field of management through numerous publications and conference presentations. Her research, focusing on the intersection of technology, human resource management, and organizational behavior, has garnered widespread recognition and accolades, including prestigious awards at the Academy of Management Annual Conference. Beyond her scholarly and leadership endeavors, Dr. Tuskey is invested in community and professional service, holding key positions on several local educational and professional boards.

Dr. Tuskey’s academic credentials include a Doctor of Philosophy in Business Administration from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, a Master of Business Administration from Florida International University, and a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration with a major in Management Information Systems from the University of Central Florida.

Pamela MacRae

Associate Provost and Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, University of Maine at Augusta

Pamela S.D. MacRae was appointed Associate Provost in July 2024, following her previous appointments as Assistant Provost in January 2022 and Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences in July 2021 at the University of Maine at Augusta. In addition to her academic dean role, she oversees UMA’s Early College Program, Prison Education Partnership, Senior College Office, and leads the Transforming Lives objectives of the strategic plan. Prior to UMA, she served for one year as the Distance Education Dean of Environmental Conservation and Research at Unity College, Maine (now Unity Environmental University). Previously she served as the Dean of the School of Biodiversity Conservation for four years, and was the Director of the Honors Program for 5 years having joined the faculty at Unity College in 2013. She earned a Ph.D. in Oceanography and Coastal Sciences from Louisiana State University, a M.S. in Zoology from the University of Toronto and B.S. in Biology from Saint Mary’s University in Nova Scotia. She conducted her post-doctoral scholar research at Florida State University on the long-term patterns of fish population density in Florida springs, ponds and tidal marshes and she has published in scientific journals including Ecology, Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences, Environmental Biology of Fishes, Journal of Fish Biology and Copeia among others.

Pamela is a field-based fish community ecologist, and her research has focused on exploring the links between fish community structure and environmental variables in marine, freshwater and estuarine habitats. She has over a decade of teaching field-based ecology, fisheries and marine science classes. She has a record of including undergraduate students in her research and was awarded the Undergraduate Research Mentor Award just one year after beginning her faculty position at Unity College. Prior to joining the faculty at Unity College, she served as an Assistant Professor Biology and Coordinator of the Environmental Science Technology Program at Tallahassee Community College, Florida. Additionally, she has worked in the private industry serving as a Senior Environmental Scientist with the Engineering firm Post, Buckley, Schuh and Jernigan and as a Fisheries Biologist with the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources.

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