Frances A. Boyce, MA is a lecturer in the School of Business at SUNY Empire State University.  As an economist, she has spent three decades working on a range of SUNY wide racial and social justice initiatives (most recently PRODiG) to reduce institutional barriers to a college education (especially in relation to underrepresented students) as well as increase access for racialized faculty; as a racialized woman, she is committed to ensuring that people of color not only have access to higher education but earn credentials that will support them in improving their socioeconomic status. She views CPL as a powerful tool to close racial outcome gaps when equity minded practices are applied to the practice. She holds a BA in economics from SUNY at Buffalo and an MA in economics from Fordham University.

Dana Brown is the Senior Director of Enrichment and Opportunity Programs.  She currently oversees the Office of Opportunity Programs (OP), which houses the SUNY Educational Opportunity Program (EOP), the Empire State Opportunity Program (ESOP), and the Empire Promise Program (EPP).  Before starting OP she was a Mentor and Pre-enrollment Advisor at the College since 2008. Her previous professional experience includes administration of pipeline programs and programs supporting underrepresented and underserved students and communities, as well as enrollment management.  She has an master of education in English and middle/secondary education for professional licensure, a Bachelor of Science in English Literature and Middle School Education.   Although she mentors across the disciplines, Ms. Brown’s specialty is advising students who have the goal of becoming teachers, She holds a teacher certification in English Language Arts for Middle and Secondary Education.  She has taught and developed courses in the humanities area, such as Children’s Literature, Exploring Freedom, Independent Learning Strategies, English Composition, and Writing for the Workplace.  Aside from her academic work, she runs a non-profit 501c3 organization that works to bridge the gap between home, school, and community for K-12 students.

Ashley Frank is Project Coordinator for the Center for Leadership in Credentialing Learning at SUNY Empire State University.  The Center focuses on research, policies and practices of the recognition, validation, and credentialing of learning.  She is also a Project Lead for the national Credential As You Go initiative focusing on professional development for states engaged in rapid prototyping of Incremental Credentials, Research, and a National Campaign.  She is also working on a subaward for a Lumina Foundation grant REACH, which is exploring learning recognition and credentialing from an equity and inclusion lens, and just completed another Lumina Foundation grant, All Learning Counts, which focused on evaluating competency-based workplace learning for college credit and embedding into micro-credentials that lead to degrees. Previously, she coordinated the Individualized Prior Learning Assessment portfolio process for the Institution’s largest Center.

Nicholas “Nico” Mendez, MHEA, is dedicated to fostering an environment where learners are encouraged to gain autonomy in becoming self-directed learners. He has over ten years of experience in higher education, having held positions in recruitment and academic advising. As Assistant Director of the Empire Promise Program at Empire State University, he is passionate about closing the achievement gap. Nico earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from the Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts in English Literature and a Master of Science from Southern New Hampshire University in Higher Education Administration.

Dr. Susan Oaks is a professor at SUNY Empire State University.  She received a B.A. from Elmira College, M.A. from SUNY Albany, and Ph.D. from New York University in American Literature.  She develops and teaches online courses in writing and literature, and has created many OERs in these areas.  She also co-authored many of the university’s online writing resources.  Susan has been involved with credit for prior learning as an advisor, evaluator, instructor, and course developer; she regularly teaches and updates the CPL course that she developed.  She co-authored student guides to credit for prior learning in Business Communication, College Writing, and Public Speaking. She has received SUNY and national awards for innovation and excellence in teaching, and is currently a SUNY Online Teaching Ambassador.

Bhuwan Onta is an assessment specialist in the Office of Prior Learning at SUNY Empire State University. In this role, he works with faculty, students, and evaluators in managing the evaluation of prior learning requests. He has been involved in individualized degree planning, training faculty and evaluators, and advising students on individualized degree planning and credit for prior learning since he joined the University in 2006. He has a master’s degree in Educational Psychology with a focus in College Counseling and Student Development. In addition to his main role, he also enjoys teaching and leading meditation and stress management sessions to the University community.

Marie Pennucci is a lecturer in the School of Social and Behavioral Sciences. She has over 30 years of experience serving students in various administrative, advising and teaching roles and conducts training related to communication and conflict resolution. She is an instructor for the university’s Prior Learning Assessment course and has co-authored prior learning guides in the area of communication. Marie holds a Master of Arts degree in Interpersonal/Intercultural Communication from the University at Albany, a Certificate of Advanced Study (CAS) in Instructional Design Foundations from Syracuse University and a Bachelor of Science degree in Communications from SUNY Fredonia.

Dr. Margaret Sithole is an Associate Professor in the School of Business at SUNY Empire State University. She has several years of experience guiding students in the CPL process and in evaluating CPL. She is passionate about social justice issues in Higher Education, especially regarding the provision of equal opportunities to underrepresented students.  She is committed to issues of equity in CPL and higher education curriculum and instruction in general. She holds a BA in English and History, an MBA in Management, and an Ed.D in Higher Education administration.

Dr. Lynette Nickleberry Stewart is faculty within the School of Community and Human Services and Chair of the Department of Child and Family Studies. She holds a BA in Psychology from Stephens College (MO) and a MA and PhD in Human Development and Family Studies from the University of Missouri. Her research primarily adheres to an intersectionality perspective, which centralizes the role of racial, socioeconomic, sexual and other social identities in family functioning and human development.

Dr. Nan Travers, Director, Center for Leadership in Credentialing Learning at SUNY Empire State University, focuses on research, policies and practices of the recognition, validation, and credentialing of learning. Currently, she is the PI and co-lead for a U.S. Department of Education grant Credential As You Go: Transforming the Credentialing System of the U.S. She was the PI for a subaward for the Lumina Foundation grant REACH, which explored learning recognition and credentialing from an equity and inclusion lens, and the Lumina Foundation grant, All Learning Counts, which focused on evaluating competency-based workplace learning for college credit and embedding into micro-credentials that lead to degrees. She previously led the development of the Global Learning Qualifications Framework to assess college-level learning, served on the board for the Prior Learning International Research Consortium, was a lead contributor to the Learning Recognition Collaborative, and served on the core team for the national Connecting Credentials initiative. Travers serves as founding co-editor for the journal: PLA Inside Out (www.plaio.org). She has a Ph.D. in Adult Learning from the University of Connecticut, a M.A. in Curriculum Development from Johnson State College in VT, and a B.S. in Biology from Ramapo College in NJ.

A special thanks to Dr. Natasha Jankowski and Dr. Gianina Baker for contributing to an earlier version of the Learning Recognition website.