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Presenters

James C. Black, Jr., Ph.D.

President and CEO, SEM WORKS

Dr. Black has delivered keynote addresses and conducted training workshops for business leaders and educators worldwide. His areas of expertise include leadership, organizational change, customer service, strategic enrollment management, marketing, recruitment, and retention. He has served as a consultant for AACRAO, the National Association of Student Personnel Administrators, more than 300 colleges and universities, as well as companies such as Microsoft and SAS. He is the 2005 recipient of the AACRAO Distinguished Service Award.

He has been interviewed by publications such as The Chronicle of Higher Education, Converge Magazine, The Enrollment Management Report, The Lawlor Review, and was interviewed for AACRAO's Data Dispenser. Black also was featured in an international teleconference on enrollment management sponsored by The Center for the Freshman Year Experience at the University of South Carolina, and a PBS broadcast on "Blending High Tech and High Touch Student Services." Since 1999, Jim Black has been an IBM Best Practices Partner, one of only twenty-three in the world. Higher education clients have included two-year, four-year, public, and private institutions.

Dr. Black has published four books: Navigating Change in the New Millennium: Strategies for Enrollment Leaders, The Strategic Enrollment Management Revolution—considered to be a groundbreaking publication for the enrollment management profession—GEN Xers Return to College: Enrollment Strategies for a Maturing Population, and Essentials of Enrollment Management: Cases in the Field. He has also written numerous book chapters and articles including articles as a feature writer for The Greentree Gazette.

Jim Black earned a bachelor of arts in English education and a master of education in higher education student personnel services with a cognate in counseling from the University of South Carolina. He holds a Ph.D. degree in higher education curriculum and teaching with a concentration in business administration from The University of North Carolina at Greensboro.

Laura Kelley

Project Manager, University of North Carolina at Greensboro

Laura has over ten years of experience in technology in enrollment services. Prior to her current position, Laura served as the Associate Registrar for Technology with responsibility for the implementation of degree audit and scheduling systems as well as general responsibility for technical support and enhancement of the student information system. As Project Manager for Academic Systems and Student Achievement, she analyzes business needs, creates requirement specifications, and develops technical solutions to advance the goals of the division and improve system capabilities and effectiveness. Laura provides advanced consultation, support, training, and project management in collaboration with UNCG information technology personnel, vendors, and outsourced technology resources.

Laura holds a bachelor of arts in English and American studies from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and a master of project management from Western Carolina University. She has presented at numerous professional conferences on topics related to the use of technology and student services.

The office of Academic Systems and Student Achievement (ASSA), a member of the Enrollment Services division of Academic Affairs, supports the UNCG campus community through the evaluation and initiation of systems that enhance service and promote student success.

Ellen Robbins

Director of Academic Systems and Student Achievement, University of North Carolina at Greensboro

Ellen Robbins has spent the last thirty years in higher education, working in areas of student development and enrollment services. In her current role as Director of Academic Systems and Student Achievement at The University of North Carolina at Greensboro, she is involved with evaluation of current systems and programs designed to contribute to student achievement, and collaborates with the campus community to initiate programs and services that promote student success. An added focus of her position includes responsibility for advancing technology within Enrollment Services and Academic Affairs, particularly as it relates to the student information system.

Ellen was formerly the University Registrar at UNCG, and served as Registrar in a community college in North Carolina for ten years. Throughout her work in higher education, she has enjoyed analyzing data and promoting technology for meeting student needs and enhancing their success.

She earned a BA in psychology from UNC Chapel Hill and an MEd from UNCG in higher education administration. Her interests in the field of higher education have included student enrollment behavior, involvement and success, and streamlining enrollment processes.

Ellen has been a long time member of AACRAO and regional and state organizations, and has presented many times at professional conferences on use of data and technology, and their contributions to student success.

Thomas W. Shaver

President and CEO, Ad Astra Information Systems

Tom Shaver is the President, CEO and Founder of Ad Astra Information Systems. He founded Ad Astra in 1994. He has been responsible for the strategic direction of much of the development of Ad Astra’s software and reporting systems that have been licensed to over 600 College and University campuses. In 2004, Tom authored a United States business process patent application to protect Ad Astra’s inventions in the scheduling software market including: student-specific course demand analysis, high-impact schedule refinement, parking and energy zone aware scheduling, capacity bottleneck resolution, and ERP system integration.

Tom graduated Phi Beta Kappa from the University of Kansas in 1987. He is the third generation of the Shaver family associated with The Shaver Partnership, the consulting and architecture firm from which Ad Astra was formed. His grandfather, Charles Shaver, was a prominent architect in the early and middle 1900's and was also the first registered architect in the state of Kansas. His father, John Shaver, is an innovative educational architect and planner who has designed over 300 educational facilities, won national design awards, and has been featured in several national publications.

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