Continuing Education Faculty | Staging Site for higheredcoach

Faculty Philosophy

One of the defining features of the Coaching in Practice Series is the opportunity to learn from a diverse community of practitioners whose expertise extends beyond coaching alone.

Each course includes a guest expert conversation featuring an experienced coach, educator, researcher, leader, writer, creative practitioner, or subject matter expert whose work offers valuable perspectives on the topic being explored. Rather than formal presentations, these sessions are designed as conversations that invite curiosity, reflection, storytelling, practical application, and participant engagement.

The faculty for this series have been selected not only because of their expertise, but because of their commitment to learning, growth, and the development of others. Together, they represent a wide range of professional experiences, perspectives, and approaches that enrich the learning experience for participants.

We believe some of the most meaningful learning happens when practitioners come together to share what they have learned through experience, experimentation, success, challenge, and reflection.

Meet Your Convener

The Coaching in Practice Series is convened by Dr. Katie Linder, a long-time coach, coach educator, and higher education leader with more than two decades of experience supporting learning, leadership, and professional development. As the founder of Higher Ed Coach Training, Katie has helped higher ed professionals develop coaching skills and pursue coaching credentials while building a vibrant community of coaches committed to ongoing growth and learning.

The idea for the Coaching in Practice Series emerged from a question Katie has heard repeatedly from coach training graduates and experienced coaches alike: “What comes next?” Designed as a year-long continuing education experience, the Coaching in Practice series brings together expert practitioners, meaningful conversations, and a supportive learning community to help coaches deepen their practice, explore specialized topics, and continue growing throughout their coaching journey.

Meet Our Guest Experts

Anne Jamison

Assistant Professor

Anne Jamison is an Assistant Professor in the Department of International Economics, Government, and Business at Copenhagen Business School. She previously served as a Postdoctoral Research Associate at Princeton University’s Niehaus Center for Globalization and Governance. She holds a joint PhD in Political Science and Risk Management from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Her research examines how multinational corporations navigate political environments and, in turn, shape politics in the countries where they operate. Her work focuses on business-government relations, political risk, corporate political strategy, and the political economy of foreign direct investment.

Susan Hrach, PhD, ACC

Author, Speaker, Coach

Susan Hrach, PhD, ACC, is the author of Minding Bodies: How Physical Space, Sensation, and Movement Affect Learning (WVU Press), winner of a 2022 Silver Nautilus Award. As a 2022-23 Fulbright Canada Distinguished Research Chair and through on-going practice, Susan brings an embodied approach to faculty development, professional coaching for academics, and educational leadership. She has recently co-edited Transformative Coaching for Faculty and Staff in Higher Education (Routledge, 2026) and appeared on the TEDx stage in Columbus, Georgia, where she lives.

Kelli Frias Ph.D.

Provost Associate Professor of Marketing

Kelli Frias is a Provost Associate Professor of Marketing at the Kogod School of Business at American University. Her work centers on a single question: how do people and organizations make sense of complex decisions, and how can that understanding be turned into practical advantage? Her research applies this lens to healthcare markets, examining affordability, consumer behavior, and access to care. She brings the same thinking to marketing education, where she has become a leading voice on integrating AI into strategy and teaching, helping organizations and students alike navigate a rapidly shifting landscape of tools and decision-making. She extends this work publicly through content on AI, marketing, and brand strategy, translating research-level thinking into insight for a broad professional audience. In 2027, she will begin a new chapter as Marketing Department Chair at Kogod School of Business.

Marsha Lovett

Assistant Professor

Marsha Lovett, Ph.D. is Vice Provost for Teaching & Learning Innovation and Teaching Professor of Psychology, both at Carnegie Mellon University. A learning scientist by training, Lovett’s current work focuses on helping instructors create meaningful, inclusive, and demonstrably effective educational experiences – both in-person and online. She has published research on learning and instruction, including both real-world classrooms and laboratory studies. Her passion for combining teaching and research is exemplified in the book How Learning Works, which has been translated into seven languages and is now in its second edition. A theme running throughout Lovett’s work is leveraging data – from learning science research and in-course learning experiences – to improve student outcomes. Aligned with that theme, her personal mantra is “iterative improvement!”

Diane E. Boyd

Mary Seawell Metz Executive Director of the Faculty Development Center & Associate Dean Faculty Development at Furman University

Diane E. Boyd is the Mary Seawell Metz ‘58 Executive Director of the Faculty Development Center and Associate Dean of Faculty Development at Furman University. In this role she collaborates with colleagues to create innovative structures and programs for the ongoing professional growth of faculty and academic staff. Her research focuses on Threshold Concepts in the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning, leveraging course design insights for educational equity, and increasing agency, joy, and vitality via values-infused programming for colleagues navigating milestone evaluations and transitions.

Jorden A. Cummings

Ph.D., M.Ed.

Jorden Cummings (they/them) is a Professor in the Department of Psychology & Health Studies at the University of Saskatchewan, on Treaty 6 territory and the Homeland of the Métis. Originally from southeastern Ontario, they obtained an undergraduate degree from Queen’s University. They completed their Ph.D. at the University of Delaware, their pre-doctoral residency with the Royal Ottawa Health Care Group and are a registered doctoral-level clinical psychologist; they also completed an M.Ed. in Health Professions Education from the University of Saskatchewan. Their research interests broadly encompass how people are affected by trauma, stress, and burnout in higher education, as well as effective self-care practices for health and helping professionals. Dr. Cummings spends much of their professional time focused on developing sustainable, authentic, and decolonized approaches to postsecondary training. Outside of work, they enjoy spending time with loved ones, reading, creating art and pottery, and working on their relationship with nature.

Tes Slominski, PhD

Editor/Coach, The Feral Freelancer

Tes Slominski, PhD (she/they), has enjoyed a nonlinear career trajectory shaped by their interests in music, writing, and teaching. After teaching music, gender studies, and environmental humanities at Beloit College and then serving as Administrative Director of the Mellon-funded Society of Fellows in Critical Bibliography at Rare Book School, Tes started The Feral Freelancer, an editing and writing coaching business that helps music scholars transform excellent research into published work. A fiddler, Tes founded the Blue Ridge Irish Music School in 2000 and continues to teach, perform, and write about Irish traditional music. Their book, Trad Nation: Gender, Sexuality, and Race in Irish Traditional Music (Wesleyan, 2020), was the first monograph about Irish traditional music to focus on gender in the genre. Tes’s current research explores the experiences of neurodivergent musicians in Irish traditional music and argues that neurodiversity-informed “trad pedagogies” have much to offer mainstream music education.

Kerry Callahan Mandulak, PhD, CCC-SLP

Professor, School of Communication Sciences & Disorders, Pacific University

Dr. Kerry Mandulak is a Professor in the Pacific University School of Communication Sciences and Disorders and an aspiring higher education coach. Late-diagnosed with ADHD at age 30, Kerry brings a unique blend of lived experience and professional expertise to her work. Throughout her career in higher education, she has navigated executive dysfunction while maintaining a record of high achievement. By practicing radical vulnerability and openly sharing her diagnosis, she fosters safe spaces for students and mentees to embrace their own challenges. Kerry is dedicated to helping individuals in academia dismantle systemic myths, work with their unique brains, and unlock their innate strengths to build sustainable paths toward radical self-trust.

Kim Burns

Coach & Consultant

Through one-on-one and group coaching, strategic planning processes, leadership development programs, and team retreats, Dr. Kim Burns supports clients in achieving their professional and personal aspirations while navigating the complexities of academia. With more than 26 years of experience as an administrator in Massachusetts community colleges, including her role as dean of academic innovations and professional development at Northern Essex Community College, Kim brings a wealth of knowledge to her coaching and consulting practice. She is an Associate Certified Coach (ACC) with the International Coaching Federation, a certified DiSC facilitator, and a certified appreciative inquiry facilitator. Kim’s academic credentials include a Doctor of Education in Higher Education Administration from the University of Massachusetts Boston, a Master of Arts in Community/Social Psychology from the University of Massachusetts Lowell, and a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology from the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth.

Charisse Burden-Stelly

Associate Professor of African American Studies

Dr. Charisse Burden-Stelly is an Associate Professor of African American Studies at Wayne State University. She is the author of Black Scare/Red Scare: Theorizing Capitalist Racism in the United States, the co-author of W.E.B. Du Bois: A Life in American History, and the co-editor of Organize, Fight, Win: Black Communist Women’s Political Writings and of Reproducing Domination: On the Caribbean Postcolonial State. Dr. Burden-Stelly’s writings appear in peer-reviewed journals including Small Axe, Souls, Du Bois Review, Socialism & Democracy, International Journal of Africana Studies, CLR James Journal, and American Communist History. Her public scholarship can be found in publications such as Essence magazine, The Nation, Monthly Review, Teen Vogue, Boston Review, Hammer & Hope, Jewish Currents, and Black Agenda Report. She is a member of the Anti-Imperialist Scholars Collective and training for her ACC certification through the ICF.

James Corazzo

Associate Head Sheffield Creative Industries Institute

James is an academic leader, researcher, award-winning educator, designer, and an ICF ACC-certified coach. With over 25 years of experience in teaching and leading creative subjects, he views design as the art of making possibilities real and challenging assumptions to foster equitable and flourishing futures. Currently, he serves as the Associate Head of the Sheffield Creative Industries Institute at Sheffield Hallam University in the UK.

James’s research focuses on creative education, and he recently published “Studio Properties: A Field Guide to Design Education.” He has provided consultancy to various institutions across the higher education sector and holds a prestigious National Teaching Fellowship, which recognizes his contributions to educational design in the UK.

Since 2022, he has also been practicing as a coach, working with academics from creative disciplines and other fields. His coaching helps clients integrate the often-conflicting aspects of their academic identities, reconnect with their purpose, set goals, unlock their potential, and achieve balance.

Karen Gonzalez Rice

Art Historian, Professor, Higher Ed Coach

Karen Gonzalez Rice is an art historian, professor, and higher ed coach. She has taught at Duke University, Beloit College, Connecticut College, and Gallaudet University. Gonzalez Rice holds an Associate Certified Coach (ACC) certification from the ICF. In her coaching practice, she works with individual faculty, staff, and senior administrators, and she partners with institutions to design programming for developing wellbeing, expanding leadership, and building caring communities within and across campus contexts. Her podcast “The Good Enough Professor” explores how we can humanize higher ed by interrupting academic grind culture and re-imagining success on our own terms.