Deborah Moeckel (SUNY System Administration)
Assistant Provost for Assessment and Community College Education
Dr. Deborah L. Moeckel has been Assistant Provost for Assessment and Community College Education at SUNY System Administration since June 2010. Since the beginning of her tenure at SUNY, she has served as the liaison from SUNY System to the Middle States Commission on Higher Education. She has conducted a study of system-wide accreditation results, and incorporated these into the SUNY Council on Assessment (SCoA) Institutional Effectiveness Rubric. Dr. Moeckel has served as the SUNY Liaison on an average of four accreditation visits to SUNY institutions annually. She is a staff liaison to SCoA and an ex-officio member of the Assessment Network of New York Board of Directors. Prior to her position at SUNY System Administration, she served as Chief Academic Officer at Cayuga Community College, where she was also engaged in accreditation activities at the campus, and participated as a team member on Middle States visiting teams. Dr. Moeckel has a Ph.D. in Reading/Writing/Literacy from the University of Pennsylvania. Melinda Whitford (SUNY - University at Buffalo)
Associate for Institutional Research
Melinda received her PhD in Science Education at the University at Buffalo in 2016. Since then, she has been a research analyst within the University at Buffalo’s Office of Institutional Analysis. Her areas of interest include retention modeling with engagement data, survey design and analysis, bibliometric analysis and STEM student and course analysis. She recently was a National Center for Education Statistics Data Institute Fellow and has presented at the Association for Institutional Researchers (AIR), American Educational Research Association (AERA), National Association for Research in Science Teaching (NARST), and the European Science Education Research Association (ESERA). Melinda is also a graduate of Niagara University and SUNY Brockport and also continues to be an adjunct professor in statistics, physical science and science education. She is also the current treasurer of SUNY AIRPO. Cephas Archie (SUNY - College at Brockport)
Chief Diversity Officer
Dr. Cephas Archie is the Chief Diversity Officer at SUNY College at Brockport. He holds a Doctoral degree in Educational Leadership (Ed.D.) from the University of Houston, Clear Lake and is certified in both Basic Mediation Training and Diversity Management. Prior to his current appointment, Dr. Archie served as the Diversity & Inclusion Program Director for Houston Community College (HCC), where he assisted in the development and implementation of the college’s 7 + campus Diversity & Inclusion Plan. Dr. Archie has extensive experience with both qualitative and quantitative assessment program evaluation with over 11 years of experience in higher education administration and instruction (faculty).
Laura Harrington (Syracuse University)
Associate Director for Institutional Effectiveness and Assessment
Laura Harrington is an associate director for institutional effectiveness and assessment at Syracuse University. She collaborates with faculty and staff to develop and implement campus assessment efforts to enhance learning and the student experience. This includes all aspects of the assessment process from articulating goals, outcomes, and/or objectives to collecting evidence and using results to inform decision-making. Laura is also focused on building professional development and recognition opportunities and reconceptualizing the University’s course feedback framework to increase engagement in the assessment process. Laura started at Syracuse University in 1996 in the Center for Instructional Development (CID), which later became the Center for Support of Teaching and Learning (CSTL). She joined Institutional Effectiveness and Assessment upon its creation in summer 2017. Laura received her BA in History from Allegheny College and MS in Instructional Design, Development, and Evaluation from Syracuse University.
