The Graduate College

Staff

Office Directory

Dean, The Graduate College 263 W-WAL 7-8202	Lewis Pyenson holds a BA Honors in physics from Swarthmore College, a MS in physics from the University of Wyoming, and PhD in history of science from Johns Hopkins University. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada and a Corresponding Member of the International Academy of History of Science (Paris). A volume coedited with Jean-François Gauvin, The Art of Teaching Physics, received the 2003-2004 Award for Outstanding Achievement in Research from the Canadian Museums Association. A book, The Passion of George Sarton, is in press with the American Philosophical Society.
Director, Graduate Center for Research and Retention 207 W-WAL 7-8249	Dr. Marianne Di Pierro currently directs the Graduate Center for Research and Retention at Western Michigan University. She received a Bachelor’s Degree in English from the University of Maryland, a master’s degree in English Literature from Vermont College, and a Ph.D. in English from the University of South Florida. She was awarded the William G. Bentley Memorial Award for Outstanding Academic Achievement for her undergraduate work at the University of Maryland. Her research interests are in graduate education, particularly in the areas of doctoral retention and attrition. She participates in three national research projects in graduate education that examine best practices.
Director, Awards and Special Projects 261 W-WAL 7-8208	Dr. Julie Scrivener earned a bachelor's degree in music at Coe College, a master's degree in music at Western Michigan University, and a doctoral degree in music at Michigan State University. Dr. Scrivener, a composer, organist, pianist, and choir director, has been employed at WMU since 1988, serving as Theses and dissertation coordinator in the Graduate College from 1990 to 2000 and as Production Editor in Medieval Institute Publications from 2000 to 2006. She returned to the Graduate College in August 2006 upon being named Director of Awards and Special Projects. In that position she oversees such graduate award programs as the Graduate Student Research and Travel Grant, the Dissertation Completion Fellowship, the Graduate Research and Creative Scholar Award, and the Graduate Teaching Effectiveness Award.
Associate Director, Graduate Student Recruitment and Retention	Tony has been at WMU since 1993.He holds a Bachelor of Science degree petroleum distribution and a Master’s degree in Educational Leadership from WMU Tony’s career in higher education began in 1990 working as an admissions counselor at Kalamazoo College. In 1993 he was hired as Assistant Director of Admissions and Orientation at WMU. In June of 1999 he was promoted to Director of Recruitment and Outreach Director/Student Services at Western Michigan University’s College of Aviation. Tony has recruited students throughout the United States and has played a significant role in recruiting some of the top underrepresented students in the country to attend WMU. He takes a great deal of pride in helping students with the college selection process. Tony has presented at a national level for the National Association of College Admissions Counselors (NACAC), NACAC as a Carl Brown Fellow at Loyola University in 1995, Michigan Association of College Admissions Counselors, and National Alliance of Black School Educators and at the Organization of Black Airline Pilots-Regional Airline Symposium, and frequently speaks at schools churches, and youth programs around the country. He truly enjoys helping students.
Coordinator, Graduate Appointments	Virginia Bowlby has been at WMU since 1981, previously working in: Registration, Graduation Auditing, The Graduate College, Graduate Admissions and now back to the Graduate College
Coordinator, Theses and Dissertations	Jennifer Wendling Holm is one of the last people graduate students meet in the final months before they graduate. As coordinator of theses and dissertations in the Graduate College, Jennifer is responsible for reviewing and clearing these culminating works, putting on formatting workshops to help students make sure these works meet WMU guidelines, and assisting students with scheduling and announcing their oral dissertation defenses. “I understand where the students are emotionally and academically at this final stage in the educational process,” she says. “I try to make it as smooth as possible by being accessible to them, answering their questions, encouraging them and lending a sympathetic ear when needed.” Jennifer revises and shepherds 25-35 dissertations and 30-40 theses through the system each graduation period. “It’s a lot of work in a short period of time, but I don’t ever want a student not to graduate on my watch,” she says. “It’s really rewarding to see them through to the end. I want to make sure they go out on a high note, with scholarly theses and dissertations and a good feeling about WMU.” Jennifer earned a bachelor’s degree in English from WMU and was hired full time as assistant to the vice president for research in 2000, then moved to the Graduate College as assistant to the dean. She was named to her current post in January 2005.
Office Manager, 260 W-WAL 7-8237	Linda has been employed in the Graduate College for 7 1/2 years. She holds a bachelor's degree in social work from WMU.
Web Author 260 W-WAL 7-8206	James Kison has been with Western Michigan University since October of 1999. While taking classes at the University James had access to the internet for the first time. "It was fascinating and addictive, the instant access to anything you would want to know about. After a few weeks of intense surfing and loss of sleep, I became intrigued as to how information was displayed online. So with this new technology I taught myself how to build simple web sites with notepad and html from online sources like webmonkey and xoom." James graduated from WMU with a Bachelor of Science degree in December of 2002. He enjoys spending time with his family, composing and recording music, and learning new tips & techniques in web design and computer graphics.
Assistant to the Dean 260 W-WAL 7-8212	Carson Leftwich
Graduate Assistant 260 W-WAL	Natalie Giarratano is a southeast Texas transplant but prefers the greenery of Michigan to the humid swamps of home. She recently graduated from WMU with an M.F.A. in Poetry and won the first Herbert Scott Award in Poetry for her achievements. She is in her first year of the Ph.D. program with a concentration in poetry. She teaches composition on the side and was recently the layout editor for New Issues Poetry & Prose. She believes that Prague is underrated, her husband is a computer genius, and her cat and dog are actual children. At the Graduate College, she is the assistant to Jennifer Wendling Holm.
Doctoral Associate assigned to Dr. Marianne Di Pierro, Director of the Graduate Center for Research and Retention. 260 W-WAL 7-8267 home page	A full time Ph.D. student in the Evaluation, Measurement, and Research Program at Western Michigan University. Julien obtained a BA in Interpersonal/Organizational communication from Manchester College, Indiana, USA. He has also earned a BA in Marketing and advertising from the EST-Loko, Ivory Coast. Julien is a public health professional with a M.P.H. obtained from Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia. He worked at Grady Health system as health communication specialist, at the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) as research assistant and with the Atlanta Public School as a French Teacher. Julien's evaluation projects include the Evaluation of Health Worker Performance in the Treatment of Pneumonia Among Children Seen at Outpatient Facilities in Ouémé, Southeastern Benin: a Longitudinal Study of Patient Register and Evaluation of HIV/AIDS Vaccination Trial Information Cards and Their Effectiveness in Increasing Participation Among Members of the African American Community.” Julien's expertise in personal and organizational communication, multi-cultural, public health and teaching are his strongest professional contribution.
Ms. Cheyla Milo Graduate Assistant 260 W-WAL	Ms. Cheyla Milo
Ms. Brandi Pritchett Graduate Assistant 260 W-WAL	Brandi received a Bachelor of Arts in psychology from Clark Atlanta University in the winter of 2004. She is currently fulfilling the last requirements of her Masters in counseling psychology and holds high hopes of beginning the doctoral program in counseling psychology during the fall of 2007. She is currently a Western Michigan University GEAR UP Counselor and President of Future 4 Teens. Her ultimate fantasy is to open the Future 4 Teens Counseling and Education Center for Youth. She enjoys community involvement with the Minority Business Alliance of Southwest Michigan and Big Brothers Big Sisters of Kalamazoo. She is the graduate assistant to Mr. Tony Dennis.
Mr. Dell Rodrigo Doctoral Associate assigned to Dr. Marianne Di Pierro, Director of the Graduate Center for Research and Retention. 260 W-Wal	Del Rodrigo joined the Graduate Center for Research and Retention as a statistical consultant in the Fall 2007 term. He is a doctoral student with the Department of Statistics at Western Michigan University (WMU) and earned his bachelor's and master's degrees in statistics from the University of the Philippines (Diliman). There, he worked as a statistics instructor for three years and was also a member of the Statistical Consulting Center. At WMU, Del taught College Algebra, Finite Mathematics, Excursions in Mathematics and Statistics, and Data Analysis. He completed a summer internship at Pfizer Global Research & Development, located on the Kalamazoo Campus, and was a member of the Non-clinical Biostatistics Midwest Group. Currently, he is working on his doctoral thesis and is teaching Business Statistics at WMU and Introductory Applied Statistics at Grand Valley State University.
Graduate Assistant 260 W-WAL 7-8208	Shankaar G. Thiagarajan (Gana) is a graduate student pursuing his Master’s in Business Administration. He hails from Chennai(Madras), India where he completed his Bachelor of Engineering in Computer Science and Engineering from University of Madras. He will also be graduating with a Master’s degree in Computer Science from Western Michigan University in Fall-2006. He enjoys working with computers 24x7 and loves to enjoy watching snow through his apartment windows. In the Graduate College, he works as an assistant to Ms.Julie Scrivener maintaining Microsoft Access Databases.
Ms. Yazmine Watts Doctoral Assistant	Yazmine is a Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Political Science at Western Michigan University. She is currently writing her dissertation on family planning policy in Senegal. Yazmine earned her Master’s degree in Political Science in Canada at the University of Windsor. She also holds a Bachelor’s degree in both Political Science and French Language and Literature, which she earned at Kalamazoo College. She is a doctoral assistant to Dr. Julie Scrivener where she assists with activities related to the administration of graduate awards and appointments across the University.

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