Keynotes

Thursday, September 12th

1:45pm - 2:30pm

Madrigrano Auditorium

Ben serves as a member of the National Leadership Team aimed at advancing the concept of Appreciative Advising. In addition to teaching the Appreciative model at the annual summer institute since 2012, Ben has provided multiple training workshops and retreats to teach the model. Ben has the capacity to adapt the framework to all offices within student affairs, including student involvement, orientation, registration, residence life, athletic success, academic coaching, to name a few.

Ben is very passionate about the role Appreciative Advising plays in the relationship between a student and advisor. He is an advocate of technology in advising and the positive relationship effects, specifically the use of virtual advising, mass communication, social media, and automated systems. Combining these two practices has enabled Ben to connect with his students in a deeper, more meaningful and intentional method. His incorporation of technology stems from his undergraduate work in Visual Communication Technology. Further, most technology innovations typically require a certain level of expertise and funding. Ben possesses the ability to find inexpensive and simple ways to implement technology, that you can start implementing immediately on your campus.

Ben currently serves as the Director of Student Affairs for The Patton College of Education at Ohio University. In this role, he supervises six professional academic advisors, who utilize Appreciative Advising as their advising philosophy. He is responsible for many college initiatives, rooted in Appreciative Advising, which focus on recruitment and retention. He began furthering his education in fall 2017, in the higher education doctoral program at Ohio University. Early research interests include Appreciative Advising, advising assessment, social media, first-generation students, and student-athletes, to name a few. Ben previously served at The Ohio State University as the Coordinator for Advising Communication in the College of Education and Human Ecology. In 2010, Ben earned his M.Ed. at the University of South Carolina in Higher Education and Student Affairs.

In his spare time, he enjoys woodworking, photography, and spending time with his wife, Mandy, and their beautiful children, Charlotte, Sadie, and Milo.

Friday, September 13th

8:15am - 9:00am

Madrigrano Auditorium

Joyce is a national coach for the American Association of Community Colleges Pathways Project which was launched in 2015 with thirty leading community colleges around the country. She was first involved at Broward College and in this work in Florida in 2013 at the state level after the legislation drastically changed the way developmental education could be offered.

She has participated in presentations within Florida at State meetings at the Council of Academic Affairs representing Broward College as the Associate Vice-President of Academic Affairs. She has also presented at the Moving the Needle conference at St. Petersburg College and as a co-presenter with Complete College America at Florida State College at Jacksonville. She has participated on panels in a number of state meetings addressing Pathway initiatives including New Hampshire, New Jersey, Indiana, Texas, Michigan and Oregon. She is currently working with AACC Cohort 2 colleges, Milwaukee Area Technical College and Gateway Technical College as their assigned Pathways coach.

Joyce holds an MBA; and earned her doctorate in Higher Education Administration at Florida International University. She is a fulltime Professor of Business Administration at Broward College, an endowed teaching chair recipient and a NISOD award of excellence winner. She is passionate about student success in the classroom and beyond. She is married and has an adult son.