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Aggregate

or  Agrestal Child Goes to Work

Act I: Tryouts

  • Sales Clerk, Dress Shop, Midland, MI: FIRED

  • Burger Flipper, Midland, MI: FIRED

  • Silkscreen Technician, Midland, MI

  • Receptionist, New York, NY: FIRED

  • Executive Secretary, J. Walter Thompson, New York, NY

  • Administrative Assistant, French Sculptor, New York, NY

  • Welder/Enlarger/Artisan, Sculpture Foundry, Beacon, NY

  • Sales Rep, Milwaukee, WI: Should Have Been FIRED

  • Marketer, Milwaukee, WI

  • Secretary, Chevy Chase, MD/Bethesda, MD

  • Faux Painter, Washington, DC

  • Waitress & Short Order Cook,  Charles Town, WV

  • Admissions & Marketing Director, Strip Mall Computer School, Martinsville, WV
     

Act II: Salt Mines

 

Founder/Coordinator, Brown County/Indiana University Tutor Program Partnership

Brown County Literacy Coalition, Nashville, IN

 

  • Conceived, initiated, and implemented program for IU students to tutor at-risk Brown County elementary and intermediate students

  • Coordinated IU Center for Rural Engagement, IU Fleet Services/Motor Pool, faculty from IU School of Education and IU School of Public Health, IU service learning organizations, and IU sororities and fraternities to attract 1) participants and 2) support and funding for transportation to Brown County for IU students

  • Developed tutor training manual and presentation

  • Developed tutoring structure for the intermediate school with the goal of raising 20-40 children’s grades from Fs to no grade lower than a C.

  • Collaborated with the IU School of Public Health to integrate a career component into the tutoring program, to help children begin to connect academic excellence with life outcomes    

 

President Emeritus

Brown County Literacy Coalition, Nashville, IN
 

  • Guided Board of Directors through strategic planning to rethink the organization’s role in the community, considering where the greatest need is for literacy support

  • Introducing the board to the Baldrige Performance Excellence criteria and tools to help determine how the organization can most efficiently and effectively provide literacy support

  • Organized meeting with elementary, intermediate, and junior high school principals to understand the needs of their students and teachers

 

International Independent College Admissions Consultant, 2010-Present

Nashville, IN

 

  • Work with high school students and their parents to maximize middle school and high school outcomes and affect admission to competitive colleges

  • Help students develop interests, focusing on strategic extracurriculars and summer activities

  • Assist families in understanding higher education curricula, costs, financial aid, scholarships, and career pathways

  • Work with international students to help them understand the U.S. educational system and costs, as well as to find the appropriate pathway to a U.S. undergraduate or graduate degree program

 

Dean of Admissions & Marketing, 2/2008-8/2010 

Vermont State Colleges, Lyndon State College

Office of Admissions, Lyndonville, VT
 

  • Leader of admissions team at one of the five Vermont State Colleges

  • Participated in Project Compass, a grant overseen by NERCHE and Brandeis University intended to research and analyze the characteristics and needs of rural first-generation/low income college-bound students

  • Established a program whereby Lyndon increased its presence at the Vermont community colleges to attract transfer students

  • Analyzed and improved admissions communication methods for graduate education program which increased numbers in program from 4 to 30 in two years

  • Initiated SAT-optional strategy and wait list resulting in a 10% decrease in students enrolled in basic skills classes and improved retention from fall to spring from 62% to 72%

  • Worked with faculty and administration to restructure and redevelop curricula from marketing and trend perspectives

  • Established outreach program to engage out-of-state students

  • Initiated international recruitment plan and chaired international committee to educate staff, faculty, and administration regarding recruitment of international students, including unique academic and personal needs

  • Researched and encouraged administration to adopt flexible course offerings (including online, hybrid, weekend, and evening schedules) to attract adult and non-traditional students in order to offset the loss of first year students due to New England population downturn

  • Cultivated faculty buy-in to enrollment initiatives and increased faculty involvement

  • Increased total enrollment by 6% and incoming class by 10% to highest enrollment level in college’s history, via improved selectivity, rebranding, marketing, retention analysis and strategies, and development and implementation of statewide transfer student initiatives

  • Increased enrollment while decreasing recruitment travel by 50% and implementing targeted, innovative, cost-effective recruitment strategies

  • Collaborated with Office of Financial Aid to leverage a  $1.5 million scholarship fund

  • Initiated the renewable Lyndon Promise Scholarship that supports unmet need (Vermont’s college-bound population is 60% First Generation Low/Income); retention of these students was 82% fall to fall, 10-20% higher than the normal fall to fall retention

  • Directed college rebranding process, overseeing development of new logo, web site, marketing materials, admissions presentations, media campaigns, etc.

  • Developed a strategic communication plan including social media, the web site, print, radio, phone, publications, and travel marketing strategy based upon research regarding previous outcomes, present/future trends, and enrollment goals

  • Established and Chaired Enrollment Management Advisory Committee and guided team in development of intra- and cross-departmental technologies to reduce costs and improve efficiencies (Image Now)

  • Member of the following committees: 

    • Enrollment Management (Chair)

    • International Committee (Chair)

    • Strategic Planning

    • President’s Council

    • Transfer Committee (co-Chair)

  • Participated in the following:

    • All budget discussions regarding tuition and fee increases as they affect competitive marketing, including analysis of variable tuition concepts, competitor tuition and fees, pricing structures, etc.

    • Development and implementation of Lyndon’s strategic plan

    • Development of Lyndon’s first $10 million capital campaign 

    • Implementation of the Baldrige process of Performance Excellence, establishing Key Performance Indicators (KPIs), and managing the survey process

    • Operations Management analysis of college-wide processes, including billing options, curriculum development, redundancies, attitude-shifts, etc.

    • Reaccreditation process (NEASC)

  • Established holistic admissions criteria and oversaw all admissions decisions, events, and recruitment travel

  • Established and conducted team retreats to teach, develop, and maintain best enrollment practices to ensure transparency of communications across teams and to provide professional development

  • Managed strategic identification of and communication with prospects to provide the greatest ROI, including developing potential national feeder programs and state-wide and national marketing plans 

 

Assistant Director of Admissions, Marketing & Communications Team, 8/1998-1/2008
Rutgers University, Office of University Undergraduate Admissions, New Brunswick, NJ

 

  • Member of admissions team at public university comprised of 13 internationally ranked, selective professional and liberal arts colleges

  • Coordinated data and managed surveys for submission to rankings publications (Peterson’s Guide to Colleges, U.S. News and World Report, etc.) for NJ-wide university system

  • Member of 5-person Marketing & Communications team responsible for overseeing the development of content and writing/editing for all communications (web site, email, viewbooks, and all mailed correspondence) with prospective students for the entire state-wide university system

  • Responsible for applying complex entrance parameters to 2000+ students per year, taking into consideration issues of socioeconomic and ethnic diversity and educational background

  • Counseled students and families from all educational backgrounds and 180 countries

  • Worked with the Rutgers Office of Financial Aid on admissions decisions regarding students from lower socio-economic brackets (New Jersey’s Educational Opportunity Fund)

  • Developed and implemented a front-line counseling team to interface with the public

  • Assisted in implementation of ARTSYS, the first state-wide transfer credit articulation program in the U.S.

  • Developed communications plan from search and recruitment to yield

 

Act III: Do Gooder

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  • Initiator, Brown County Human Rights Commission, 2020

  • President, Brown County Literacy Coalition, directing strategic planning initiative, 2015-2018

  • Tutor, Brown County Literacy Coalition, 2019-2020

  • Substitute Teacher, Brown County High School 2013-2017

  • Co-Leader, Steering Committee, Indiana College Success Coalition, Brown County Chapter, 2014-2015

  • Member, Scholarship Committee/Lilly Foundation Scholarship, Brown County Community Foundation, 2014-2015

  • Member, Reaccreditation Steering Committee, Brown County School Corporation, 2014

  • Member, High Ability Committee, Brown County School Corporation, 2014

  • Founder/Community Mentor, Youth Education Community Team (YECT), 2014

  • Community Mentor, Gay/Straight Alliance, Brown County High School, 2015-2016

  • Founder, President, Brown County Homeless Teen Task Force, 2015-Present

  • Community Mentor, Brown County High School Gaming Club, 2015

  • Initiator/Chaperone, Brown County High School GenCon trip, Summer 2015

  • Columnist, Brown County Democrat/Your Parent Magazine (Southern Indiana)

 

Keys to the Character

General Badassery & Shit Stirring
 

  • Teported Brown County High School Special Ed department to the Indiana DOE for willful violations of IEPs, neglect, and abuse; this reporting resulted in four years of retraining for the special ed department; got fired, but still receives general hero worship from the special ed paraprofessionals throughout the school system, as well as the new school superintendent

  • Moved from small Michigan town to New York , the University of the Streets, with no job, knowing only one person, with a place to stay for only two weeks, where for ten years I made every mistake possible but learned about ethnicity, cultures, theater, jazz, blues, sound engineering, art world bullshit, food, wine, museums

  • Nurtured teenagers, helping them find their way to an expansive, fulfilled future

  • Refused to get up at 6:00 on a Saturday morning to go rollerskate-bonding with  fellow burger-flippers in a town 45 minutes from home; got fired, yay

  • Secretly admitted one inadmissible student each year at Rutgers; got written up every time, never got fired, yay
     

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Proclivities

  • I saw what you did, and I'm telling everyone

  • That elephant in the middle of the room is you

  • Screw your boundaries

  • Malbec forever and ever and ever

  • Get outta my way, weiner dog

  • Let's get this shit done

  • Just watch me

  • When in doubt, do it anyway, then porch drinks

  • Trump Republicans better be in Hell when I show up

  • Life is short, so do your fucking job & change shit

  • Snowflakes own guns too, motherfucker

  • Boom

  • Let's party

​

 

Swordsmanship

  • Making a Web Thing

  • Creating Something Sensical Out of a Teenager

  • Putting Stuff on Twitter

  • Scanning a Line

  • Writing a Play

  • Coming Up with a Plan

  • Yelling at Republicans on Facebook

  • Being a Mensch

  • Finding Stuff Buried in the Google Machine

  • Raising Disagreeable Subjects at the Dinner Table

  • Looking in the Mirror and Shouting, "No more! Stop!"

  • Using Excel, Numbers, Word, Pages

  • Falling Asleep After Two Glasses of Malbec

  • Dancing Like a Maniac to You Dropped a Bomb on Me, Baby

  • ...and more, as occasions arise. 
     

 

Illumination
 

  • College Application Boot Camp, Brown County School Corporation

  • Freshmen English, Brown County School Corporation

  • College & Career Prep, Brown County School Corporation

  • Freshman Seminar, Lyndon State College

  • Dramatic Writing, New York, NY 
     

 

Beglaubigungsschreiben

  • Indiana English Language Arts License Test — Passed

  • Master Class, Chicago Dramatists, Chicago, IL

  • B.A., M.F.A., Creative Writing/Playwriting, Goddard College, Plainfield, VT

  • Recording Engineering, School of Visual Arts, New York, NY

  • Criminal Justice & Drama, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ

  • Fine Art & Graphic Design, Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo, MI/Delta College, Midland, MI

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