HESA Program Faculty

Deborah E. Hunter | Kathleen Manning | Shametrice Davis | Robert Nash | Jill Tarule

Jackie M. Gribbons (retired)

Deborah E. Hunter 

Associate Professor

Dr. Hunter joined the UVM HESA faculty in 1985 after serving as a student affairs administrator at the University of Louisville and the University of Indianapolis. She served as the Coordinator of the HESA program from 1987-1997 and after a stint as Associate Dean of UVM’s College of Education and Social Services, she again assumed the role as HESA Program Coordinator from 2002 until 2010.  In addition to her involvement with the HESA Program, she is currently in her second year as Chair of the Department of Leadership and Developmental Sciences, one of three departments within UVM’s College of Education and Social Services.   She teaches The (Un) Changing Academy and Controversies of the Academy, as well as a course in the doctoral program, Leadership and the Creative Imagination. The University of Vermont honored Professor Hunter with the 1998 Kroepsch-Maurice Award for Excellence in Teaching Award and the Jackie M. Gribbons Award for Extraordinary Service to the College of Education and Social Services in 2007. In addition, Dr. Hunter has been honored with various professional awards including: The Annuit Coeptis Senior Professional Award from The American College Personnel Association; a Distinguished Accomplishment Citation from the National Association for Student Affairs Administrators; and the Dorothy Truax Award and the Ruth Strang Research Award from the National Association for Women in Education. Dr. Hunter has held leadership positions from each of these professional associations: Chair of ACPA's Commission on Professional Preparation; NASPA's Advisory Board and National Conference Committee; Chair of the 1997 NAWE National Conference, and Chair of NAWE'S Division on Teaching and Research. Professor Hunter's most recent research explores the careers of women faculty and how they’ve crafted fulfilling personal and professional lives.  Her scholarship has been published in the Journal of Higher Education, Journal of College Student Development, Journal of Counseling and Development, Review of Higher Education, and NASPA Journal. She co-authored NASPA monograph on student affairs research. In addition to her teaching responsibilities, Dr. Hunter has juggled responsibilities as Associate Dean of the College of Education and Social Services, President of the Faculty of the College of Education and Social Services, and two terms as Co-Chair of the President's Commission on the Status of Women.   Her Ph.D. with a double major in Higher Education and Educational Inquiry Methodology and her master's degree in Student Affairs were earned at Indiana University, which honored her with the Elizabeth Greenleaf Distinguished Alumnus/a Award.
 
After growing up in the New York City suburbs, I never anticipated living on a dirt road in a farmhouse  that was built in 1810 with my husband and twin 17 year old sons, complete with a big red barn and   sheep, a peacock, 2 huge dogs, 4 cats and 60 trout named “Fred”! No wonder I am so happy when I am on campus: I am not surrounded by strange animal noises, mud, and mess! I love to welcome my UVM colleagues to my home to enjoy Vermont’s beautiful countryside.

Kathleen Manning

Professor and HESA Program Coordinator

Dr. Manning has experienced student affairs from the perspectives of an administrator and a faculty member. Prior to 1989, she worked in residence life, student union management, campus activities, orientation, and judicial affairs. Since 1989 she has served as a professor in the Higher Education and Student Affairs Administration program. From 1999 to 2003, she served as the HESA Program Coordinator. In the spring 2003, Dr. Manning received a Fulbright Fellowship to teach higher education classes at Beijing Normal University in Beijing, China. In 2004, she was accepted into the Fulbright Senior Specialist Program.

Dr. Manning's research and writing interests include campus cultures, qualitative research methodology, and cultural pluralism. She published Organizational Theory in Higher Education (2013), Where I Am From: Student Affairs Practice from the Whole of Students’ Lives (2007, with Susan Borrego), One Size Does Not Fit All: Traditional and Innovative Models of Student Affairs Practice (2006, with Jillian Kinzie and John Schuh), Research in the College Context: Approaches and Methods (2003, co-edited with Frances Stage); Rituals, Ceremonies, and Cultural Meaning in Higher Education (2000); Enhancing the Multicultural Campus Environment: A Cultural Brokering Approach (1992, with Frances Stage); and Giving Voice to Critical Campus Issues (1999). With HESA alumnus F.M. Munoz, Dr. Manning is also a chapter author in Harper, Schuh, and Jones's Student Services:  A handbook for the profession (2010) and Stewart's Building bridges, re-visioning community: Multicultural student services on campus (2010). She has chapers published in Diverse Methods for Research and Assessment of College Student (1992) (edited by Frances Stage), Cultural Perspectives in Student Affairs Work (1993) (edited by George Kuh), and Spirituality and Campus Life (2002) (edited by Margaret Jablonski). She publishes in the NASPA Journal, Journal of College Student Development, and Review of Higher Education. Recent research projects include a study of white social justice allies with Garrett Naiman of University of California at Berkeley and Project DEEP with George Kuh of Indiana University and a team of national recognized researchers.

Dr. Manning's national and local awards include NASPA's Outstanding Contribution to the Literature or Research (2007), NASPA's Pillar of the Profession, Fulbright Fellow (2003), Fulbright Senior Specialist (2004-2009), NASPA's Faculty Fellow (2007-2010), ACPA's Annuit Coeptis Senior Scholar (1997), and Kroepsch-Maurice Award for Excellence in Teaching (1992).

Prior to her work in Vermont, Dr. Manning served as the Assistant Dean of Students at Emerson College/MA, Executive Assistant to Student Life at Trenton State College/NJ, Director of Student Activities at Curry College/MA, and a Residence Director at SUNY Albany/NY, Syracuse University, and Mount Holyoke College.

Dr. Manning has a doctorate in Higher Education and Student Affairs with a minor in anthropology from Indiana University and a masters degree in Counseling and Student Personnel from the State University of New York at Albany. During the 1994-95 academic year, she served in an administrative assignment as the Chair of the Commission on Racial Equality and Multicultural Education. She served as the Executive Editor of the Journal of Student Affairs Research and Practice from 2009 - 2012 and Program Chair for the 2002 NASPA National Conference in Boston.

As an avid sailor and skier, I truly enjoy living in Vermont. I can never decide which I prefer, the Vermont summers or winters (yes, I love the snow and the cold). I don’t consider myself a great outdoors-person, but I get re-charged by walking along the lake, sailing on Lake Champlain, or just being outside. I live in this terrific condo near the lake and the bike path.

Shametrice Davis

Henderson Post-Doctoral Fellow


Dr. Davis joined the HESA faculty as a Henderson Postdoctoral Fellow in the fall of 2012. Her previous degrees include a B.S. in Public Health from the University of Maryland, College Park and a Master’s in College Student Services Administration from Oregon State University. Dr. Davis finished her doctoral studies at the University of Denver, where she completed her dissertation research on the success of historically Black colleges and universities in the 21st century. Her distinguished accomplishments include an Outstanding Ph.D. Student award and participation in the notable Barbara Jackson Scholars Program. Through her research, Dr. Davis hopes to expose underlying systemic injustice leading to individual inequity or oppression and give voice to non-dominant communities that are under-represented in the extant literature and scholarship. Also integral to her research is a strengths-based approach to empowering underrepresented communities and leaders. In the HESA program, Dr. Davis teaches Introduction to Research Methods in Higher Education and co-teaches Cultural Pluralism in Higher Education with Kathleen Manning. Dr. Davis has 5 years of experience in higher education in the areas of advising, admissions, and academic counseling.



I am so excited to begin a new journey in the beautiful state of Vermont. After living in Colorado, Washington, and Oregon, it is time to finally embrace the beautiful outdoors by enjoying everything that the stunning landscape of water and mountains has to offer.

Robert J. Nash

Professor


Robert J. Nash has been a professor in the College of Education and Social Services, University of Vermont, Burlington, for 39 years. He specializes in philosophy of education, ethics, higher education, and religion, spirituality, and education. He holds graduate degrees in English, Theology/Religious Studies, Applied Ethics and Liberal Studies, and Philosophy/Educational Philosophy. He holds faculty appointments in teacher education, higher education administration, and interdisciplinary studies in education. He administers the Interdisciplinary Master’s Program, and he teaches ethics, religion, higher education, and philosophy of education courses, and scholarly personal narrative writing seminars across four programs in the college including the doctoral program in Educational Leadership and Policy Studies. He has supervised over 100 theses and dissertations.

He has published more than 100 articles, book chapters, monographs, and essay book reviews in many of the leading journals in education at all levels. He is a member of the editorial board for the Journal of Religion & Education, and one of its frequent contributors. Since 1996, he has published a number of books, several of them national award winners: “Real World” Ethics: Frameworks for Educators and Human Service Professionals (2002, 1st and 2nd editions);  Answering the “Virtuecrats”: A Moral Conversation on Character Education (1997); Faith, Hype, and Clarity: Teaching About Religion in American Schools and Colleges (1998); Religious Pluralism in the Academy: Opening the Dialogue (2001); Spirituality, Ethics, Religion, and Teaching (2001); A Professor’s Journey; Liberating Scholarly Writing:  The Power of Personal Narrative (2004); How to Talk About Hot Topics on Campus: From Polarization to Moral Conversation (2008) with DeMethra Bradley and Arthur Chickering; Me-Search and Re-Search: A Guide for Writing Scholarly Personal Narrative Manuscripts (2011) with DeMethra LaSha Bradley; and Helping College Students Find Purpose: The Campus Guide to Meaning-Making (2010) with HESA alumna Michele C. Murray and Sharon Daloz Parks.   Dr. Nash completed a book with Professor Penny Bishop, Middle-Level educator, called Teaching Adolescents Religious Literacy in a Post-9/11 World (2009).

Dr. Nash consults throughout the country for a number of human service organizations and colleges and universities. He makes major presentations at national conferences and universities on the topics of ethics, character education, religious pluralism, scholarly personal narrative scholarship, and moral conversation. He is a frequent, featured speaker at the national level. In 2003, he was named the Official University Scholar in the Social Sciences and the Humanities at The University of Vermont, only the second faculty member in the history of the College of Education and Social Services to be so honored.

Jill Tarule

Professor


Dr. Jill Tarule brings her expertise as a professor in human development and leadership to the HESA program.  She is currently coordinating the practica program, a well-established aspect of the HESA curriculum.  Her emphases as a faculty member are on leadership, organizational development, and qualitative research.  Dr. Tarule’s is a coauthor of Women's Ways of Knowing, The Development of Self, Voice, and Mind, a book that has recognized by the Association for the Study of Higher Education and the Association of Women in Psychology.  She also co-edited Knowledge, Difference and Power: Essays Inspired by Women’s Ways of Knowing in 1996.

Dr. Jill Tarule joins the HESA faculty after service as an administrator in a variety of positions. She came to the University of Vermont as the Dean of Education and Social Services in 1992, after holding various faculty and administrative positions in Vermont and elsewhere. Under her leadership, the College for Education and Social Services developed innovative programs for professionals statewide, saw significant growth in graduate education, created new professional development schools, and played a major role in education and social services policy.  After 13 years as the Dean of CESS, in 2005 Dr. Tarule became an Associate Provost, a position she held for four years.  Before coming to UVM, she was a Dean and Special Assistant to the President at Lesley College (now Lesley University), and a Dean of Graduate Studies at Goddard College.  She is also a former chair of the board of the American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education and of the New Dean's Institute of that organization.

Tarule is a champion for collaborative learning and social justice as well as a human-strengths perspective in the professional education of leaders and educators. Committed to the land-grant mission, she and the CESS faculty worked with the Vermont State Department of Education, Vermont State Colleges, and Agency of Human Services in a vast array of projects and research focused on serving the children, adults, families and communities of Vermont. 

Her early research and scholarship focused on adult learners. Among her publications in the 1980’s, she coauthored (with Rita Weathersby) Adult Learners: Implications for Higher Education, an ERIC/AAHE Monograph and a chapter called “Steps Toward Change:  The Process of Transition” in Greenberg, O’Donnel, and Berquist, (Eds.)  Educating Learners of All Ages.  Her current scholarship focuses on leadership, with two strands: women and leadership and moral leadership.  Recent publications include three book chapters (with Jane Applegate and Penny Early) on women as leaders, and an article in 2010 (with Judy Cohen, Betty Rambur, and Carol Vallett) on “The Moral Cascade: Distress, Eustress and the Virtuous Organization” and, with the same authors, a chapter on “Theories/Models of Organizational Stress.”

She was honored with the Jackie M. Gribbons Leadership Award in 1999 and holds an honorary doctorate from University of New Hampshire for her work on adult learners. She also received the American Association of Colleges of Teacher Education Gender Equity Award and the Pomeroy Award for Outstanding Contributions to Teacher Education.  Tarule, a native of Vermont, attended Bennington College and earned degrees from Goddard College and the Harvard Graduate School of Education.

I grew up in a small Vermont town, and have been delighted to be in Vermont as a professional.  My passions are focused on ensuring that higher education – where I have worked for nearly my entire professional career – and to some extent all institutions continue to develop in ways that further and ensure equity, justice and reflective thinking and practice.  The chance to engage with HESA students as they experiment with different parts of the academy in the practicum experiences is a delight, providing an opportunity to support new professionals as they work, themselves, and learn about how the academy works and what they care about and can do within it.

Jackie M. Gribbons (retired)

Professor Emerita


Professor Gribbons was a faculty member of the HESA program since its inception in 1970 until her retirement in 2007. As the previous Coordinator of the Practicum Internships, she developed over 200 credit internships and provided the leadership, organization, and quality control for this nationally acclaimed practicum program. When she took early retirement in 1993 following 27 years of service as an administrator at UVM, she continued her faculty assignment with the HESA program as an advisor to HESA students. In 2007, she retired from the HESA faculty but continues her contact with HESA alumni. She also continues to serve on several University committees.

Professor Gribbon's areas of scholarly and professional interest include staff development and training, strategic planning, women in higher education, leadership development, and staff supervision and recruitment. Professor Gribbons developed and taught a year-long career development seminar to assist second-year students in their professional preparation.

A national leader in higher education, she was the President of the National Association for Women in Education (NAWE), Vice President for Association Advancement and Director of Planned Giving. She served as the Vermont State Coordinator for the American Council on Education's National Identification Program for the advancement of women in higher education. Her leadership and contributions have brought her numerous national and state awards and citations, including three leadership and service awards which carry her name at the UVM, State of Vermont, and Bowling Green State University. Professor Gribbons holds a M.A. degree in Counseling and Physical Education from Case Western Reserve University.  

Last modified January 04 2013 11:12 AM