Our Co-leaders

David Arnold serves as the assistant vice president of health, safety, and well-being initiatives having joined NASPA in 2014 after 10 years working college substance abuse prevention. He has spoken at dozens of conferences regarding peer education, college substance abuse prevention, and health promotion. David administers two statewide coalitions for chronic disease and substance abuse prevention in Colorado and Montana. He also chairs the Coalition of Higher Education Associations for Substance Abuse Prevention and coordinates the NASPA Strategies Conferences focused on substance abuse prevention, sexual violence prevention, mental health, and well-being.

Hollie M. Chessman is a research fellow at ACE. She is responsible for building out ACE's portfolio of work on what college and university leaders need to know about student mental health and well-being. Prior to ACE, Chessman spent 17 years working in student affairs at Tulane University, Lake Erie College, Loyola University New Orleans, and George Mason University. Her research interests focus on well-being among students and student affairs professionals, graduate student choice, student success, and race and ethnicity in higher education. Chessman received her PhD from George Mason University and her MEd and BS from Kent State University.

Carlo Ciotoli, MD, MPA, is board certified in Internal Medicine and Pulmonary Medicine. Carlo serves as Vice President for Campus Health at New York University. He also oversees the NYU Student Health Center, which is comprised of a comprehensive and integrated set of medical, counseling, health promotion, and ancillary services; staffed by more than 225 FTE employees; and generates over 130,000 patient visits a year. Carlo has a track record of leadership and achievement in medical management and re-engineering of ambulatory care processes and outcomes, and improving access to preventive health services on college campuses. Under Carlo’s leadership, the NYU Student Health Center has received numerous national awards for increasing access to health care services; instituting a comprehensive and multidimensional approach to preventing high risk drinking; creating an integrated healthcare delivery system with preventive, medical, and mental health services; implementing a comprehensive approach for depression identification and management including universal screening for depression. Carlo has served as PI for federally and privately funded projects to support college health system redesign, improved population health of college students, and building improvement capability and capacity throughout the field of college health. He is co-director of the Network for Improvement and Innovation in College Health, National College Depression Partnership, NYS Higher Ed Immunization Collaborative, and National College Health Immunization Collaborative. He also serves as Co-chair of the American College Health Association (ACHA)’s Benchmarking Advisory Committee. Previously Carlo was a staff physician in Bellevue Hospital’s Chest and Asthma clinics and was part of the team that developed an Asthma Primary Care clinic that resulted in improved clinical outcomes for patients enrolled in the clinic.

Dr. Dannenbaum is board certified in Obstetrics and Gynecology and was in private practice in Tulsa, Oklahoma for 15 years before joining the world of college health at Texas A&M University in 2006. Since 2008, Dr. Dannenbaum has served as Director for Student Health Services, providing direction in the management of the health of almost 70,000 students; overseeing clinical operations and emergency medical services for the campus; participating on the university threat assessment team and emergency task force; and promoting health and well-being for all members of the Texas A&M family of faculty, staff and students. In addition to her administrative duties, she continues to provide office-based gynecologic care for the students at Texas A&M. Martha is also the Chair of the Wellness Needs of Military Veteran Students Coalition for the American College Health Association (ACHA) and member of the ACHA Benchmarking Committee. She has been married to Joe Dannenbaum for 36 years, is a proud mom to a son and daughter and has 6 grandchildren. Beyond her people family she has 4 dogs, a variable number of barn cats and a few goats on her little piece of paradise in Texas. My Networks: 20×30 Governance 20x30 Idea Share Pilot Testers 20x30 Network National College Depression Partnership National College Health Immunization Collaborative NCDP Governance Pursuing the Triple Aim in a Higher Education Setting: A Learning and Action Collaborative Texas A&M University

Helen Matusow-Ayres has been a Student Affairs professional for 41 years. She served as the Vice President for Student Affairs at the Pratt Institute since 2004 until her retirement in 2021. Prior to working at the Pratt Institute, Helen served as the Dean of Students and the Interim Vice President for Student Development and Campus Life at Montclair State University. She has earned a Doctorate of Education in Higher Education Administration from Teachers College, Columbia University, a Masters of Science in Student Personnel Administration from Indiana University and a Bachelors of Science in Student Personnel Administration from Alfred University. Helen has taught Higher Education at NYU and Montclair State University. Helen is a member of the Governing Board of the 20X30 Learning Network. She served as the Regional Vice President for National Association of Student Personnel Administrators (NASPA) Region II in 2007-08 and chaired the NASPA 2014 Alice Manicur Institute. Helen has served on the NASPA Board of Directors, the NASPA Center for Woman Advisory Board and the Board of Trustees for the Unitarian Society of Ridgewood, NJ. In 2014, Helen was selected as a NASPA Pillar of the Profession. Helen has written and presented on social justice training, strategic planning, first year experience, student conduct, mental health issues and crisis management. Helen Matusow-Ayres has been a Student Affairs professional for 41 years. She has served as the Vice President for Student Affairs at the Pratt Institute since 2004. She has earned a Doctorate of Education in Higher Education Administration from Teachers College, Columbia University, a Masters of Science in Student Personnel Administration from Indiana University and a Bachelors of Science in Student Personnel Administration from Alfred University. Helen has taught Higher Education at NYU and Montclair State University.

Over 30 years in leadership for health promotion and wellness programs and initiatives at Arizona State University. History of active leadership in several national, state and regional associations: NASPA, ACHA, PCCHA, Network Addressing Collegiate Alcohol, Other Drugs and Related Violence Prevention, Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics. Interested in supporting student success by creating opportunities for students to flourish in the university setting. Optimistic that students who value and work towards personal and community well-being in college will provider leadership for wellness in their families, communities and workplaces in their future lives.

Erin O'Sullivan is Director of Advocacy & Strategic Partnerships with NIRSA: Leaders in Collegiate Recreation. In this role, she contributes to growing NIRSA's external networks, advocating for the profession, and helping equip NIRSA members to best tell their story. Erin holds an MFA in Creative Writing from Oregon State University, where she then spent several years teaching writing courses. Additionally, she holds BA degrees in History and Psychology from the University of Illinois, as well as an MA in History, with a focus on women's agency and narratives, from University College Dublin.

David has been a higher education administrator for the past fifteen years, with a focus on campus-wide health, wellbeing, and equity initiatives that advance student success and career opportunity. Before serving as the current Director of Counseling and Psychological Services at Rochester Institute of Technology, he served as the Director of Counseling Services at Aurora University and Hanover College. Across these distinct educational settings, his leadership focused on more efficient and effective service practices to reach a broader range of students with campus-wide collaborations and training on prevention and early intervention strategies.

He speaks on building campus-wide wellbeing communities with a particular focus on engaging faculty and addressing equity gaps among underrepresented students. He served as President of the Association for University and College Counseling Center Directors (AUCCCD). Additionally, he serves as a governing board member of the 20x30 Learning and Action Network, a national network initiative across all disciplines in higher education to improve the wellbeing and academic outcomes of 20 million college students by the year 2030. For four years he was the lead researcher for the AUCCCD Annual Survey, the largest on-going database on college mental health policy, practice, and service delivery trends. he also served as an advisory board member for the Center for Collegiate Mental Health (CCMH), a national network that connects practice, research and technology to benefit college students, mental health providers, administrators, researchers, and the public.

David is a first-generation college student. For him, that meant attending college was not expected and there was little knowledge on how to get through. Education is powerful and transforms lives in deep ways. He cannot image working in any other area. His work with the entire RIT community has been the highlight of his career.

David joined Bringing Theory to Practice as Director in July 2018, following the retirement of Don Harward. For twenty years, he has worked to advance the democratic purposes of higher education. especially through the integration of public engagement with liberal education and the inclusion of underserved students. From 1989 to 2005, he taught American Studies, U.S. cultural history, and architecture at the University of Michigan; in 1998, he founded UM Arts of Citizenship program, which fostered public work and community projects in the arts, humanities, and design. He has served as Director of the Harward Center for Community Partnerships at Bates College (2005-10), the inaugural Executive Dean of the School for Public Engagement at The New School in New York City (2010-2014), and Senior Scholar for The Graduate! Network, which supports college access and success for adult learners (2014-2018). He has a Ph.D. in American Studies at Yale University and is the author of Empire City: The Making and Meaning of the New York City Landscape (Temple University Press, 2002), as well as other studies of U.S. cultural and urban history. He also writes extensively on the recent history of and current issues in higher education.

Allison J Smith, M.P.A., is the director of health strategy and outcomes at New York University. Additionally, she co-leads the Action Network for Equitable Wellbeing (anew.nyu.edu).

Allison has an extensive background in designing and leading networks, igniting innovation, building capability and capacity for continuous improvement, facilitating equity-centered co-designed approaches, and guiding diverse teams toward outcomes-driven systemic change. Allison has led several groundbreaking national improvement collaboratives, which have engaged over 100 institutions of higher education and achieved measurable improvements across various indicators. She also developed the Wellbeing Improvement Survey for Higher Education Settings (WISHES).

In addition to Allison’s network leadership, she has a track record of guiding local systemic change at NYU, earning national recognition for innovation and excellence. Her recent accomplishments include facilitating university-wide efforts to address equity gaps among NYU students and developing strategies to activate students to be engaged in their own wellbeing and contribute to the wellbeing of their community.

Allison is an appointed member of the ACHA-NCHA Advisory Committee, served as Chair of the ACHA Healthy Campus 2020 Coalition, co-authored revisions to the Council for the Advancement of Standards in Higher Education (CAS) Health Promotion Standards, and is a frequent speaker at national and regional conferences. Previously, Allison developed a nationally recognized school based asthma education curriculum, and she testified before a United States Congressional Committee about the importance of passing H.R. 2023—Asthmatic Schoolchildren’s Treatment and Health Management (ASTHMA Act) of 2004.

Megan Brown is the Director at the McDonald Center for Student Well-Being, the health promotion department at the University of Notre Dame. Her background is counseling psychology and she has practiced at the Notre Dame University Counseling Center and the University of Alaska Fairbanks Student Health and Counseling. Megan received her Ph.D. in Counseling Psychology from Andrews University in Michigan. Megan is passionate about the application of Positive Psychology, which is the scientific study of flourishing lives, communities, and organizations.

Dr. M. Dolores Cimini is a New York State licensed psychologist and Director of the Center for Behavioral Health Promotion and Applied Research and Senior Research Scientist in the Department of Educational and Counseling Psychology, School of Education at the University at Albany, SUNY. She is also the Director Emerita of the nationally recognized Middle Earth Peer Assistance Program. Dr. Cimini has led comprehensive efforts in research-to-practice translation at the University at Albany since 1990 years with over $10 Million in support from the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA), National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), U.S. Department of Education, U.S. Department of Justice Office on Violence Against Women, and New York State Office of Addiction Services and Supports. The screening and brief intervention program developed by Dr. Cimini, the STEPS Comprehensive Alcohol Screening and Brief Intervention Program, has earned 13 national awards for best practices and innovation in behavioral health care. Dr. Cimini has co-edited two books, including a volume focused on college student health and well-being entitled Promoting Behavioral Health and reducing Risk Among College Students: A Comprehensive Approach (2018) and Screening, Brief Intervention, and Referral to Treatment for Substance Use: A Practitioner’s Guide 2020). Dr. Cimini has served as a member of the National Advisory Council of the Center for Substance Abuse Prevention, Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration from 2015-2019 and is currently a member of the Commission on Accreditation of the American Psychological Association. She served on the governance board of the American Psychological Association, where she is a former Chair of the Board for the Advancement of Psychology in the Public Interest; in this role, she has had leadership for reviewing and disseminating APA’s practice standards focused on serving diverse and underrepresented groups and the addressing of issues related to psychology and social justice. In 2012, Dr. Cimini was recognized by President Barack Obama and the White House for her work in promoting access to Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) for women with disabilities and for serving as a role model as a person with a disability. In 2014, she received a Presidential Citation from the American Psychological Association for her contributions to the psychology field and her advocacy on behalf of persons with disabilities in the STEM sciences. In 2018, Dr. Cimini earned a Presidential Award for Excellence in Science, Mathematics, and Engineering Mentoring (PAESMEM).

About
Jan is a psychologist who studies collegiate mental health issues and depression among African American women. She is a Senior Advisor for The Steve Fund and retired Senior Associate Dean of Students for Wellness and Personal Success at Pomona College. Previously, Jan was the Director of the Michigan State University Counseling Center. Her focus has been in the area of developing programs that promote psychological wellness and support academic success. Jan completed her PhD, Ed.S, and MA degrees in the Combined Program of Education and Psychology at the University of Michigan. She is active nationally in professional organizations such as the American Psychological Association, and was chair of the Section for College and University Counseling Center in Division 17 and contributed on a national report about college student mental health. She served on the accreditation board of the International Association of Counseling Centers. .

Julie Edwards is the Director, Skorton Center for Health Initiatives at Cornell University. She is passionate about public health and all it entails, from assessing the needs of communities to implementing evidence-informed strategies to evaluating the impact on overall populations. Julie enjoys bringing diverse people together to work towards shared goals and she thrives when collaborating with others. She feel systems-level work is critical to support campus well-being. Julie previously served as the Director of Health Promotion and Wellness at the University of Chicago where she led the efforts of well-being initiatives on campus. She has extensive experience in and out of higher education working with diverse partners to conduct community health needs assessments to not only identify the top needs of their respective communities, but to develop collaborative programs to address those needs.

Dr. Jim Lange comes to the Higher Education Center from San Diego State University, where he remains the Coordinator of Alcohol and Other Drug Initiatives. His expertise in campus prevention efforts is based upon over 16 years at SDSU, and over 20 years of prolific research in the field of AOD prevention. He’s credited with over 60 peer-reviewed publications, and over 120 conference presentations. Dr. Lange has also spearheaded statewide and local coalitions and major prevention initiatives. He’s served the collegiate prevention field as the executive committee co-chair of The Network Addressing Collegiate Alcohol Other Drug Issues, and served as the Region IV NASPA AOD Knowledge Community Representative.

Chris Woods (he/him) serves as the senior director of inclusive policy and director of the LGBTQ+ Center within the Office of Global Inclusion, Diversity, and Strategic Innovation at New York University. He is the primary point of contact for inclusive policies, practices, and initiatives for LGBTQ+ students, faculty, staff, and alumni. Additionally, he collaborates with University partners and leadership on inclusive policy development and operational work to advance the University's core mission in support of global inclusion, diversity, belonging, equity, and access. Prior to this role, Chris served as the associate director of multicultural affairs and LGBTQ+ outreach at Columbia University and as the program administrator for the NYU LGBTQ+ Center. He is a former board co-chair and racial justice chair for the Consortium of Higher Education LGBT Resource Professionals and was a chapter contributor in the 2017 book, Queer People of Color in Higher Education. He has dedicated much of his academic and professional life to LGBTQ+ inclusion and diversity, equity, and inclusion in higher education and given talks on the topics of queer and trans people of color, racial justice and intersectionality, bi/multiracial identities, and the intersections of faith, race, and sexuality at conferences, colleges, and universities across the nation. Chris received his Bachelor of Arts in English and Religious Studies from New York University and his Master of Arts in Higher Education and Student Affairs from The Ohio State University. He is currently pursuing a PhD in Sociology of Education at NYU’s Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development.