Dean The Graduate College 263 W-WAL 7-8212	Dr. Susan Stapleton received her Bachelor’s degree in chemistry from Juniata College and her doctoral degree in chemistry from Miami University. She completed post-doctoral work at the University of Wisconsin, Case Western Reserve University and the University of Iowa. Dr. Stapleton holds a joint appointment as professor of both chemistry and biological sciences and has been a faculty member at WMU since 1989. From 1997 to 2012 she served as associate dean of the College of Arts and Sciences before accepting the role of Graduate Dean. An internationally recognized scientist, Dr. Stapleton has a long history of research funded by the nation's top health science organizations. Stapleton's expertise is in the area of understanding the regulation of carbohydrate and fatty acid metabolism, including the relationship to metabolic disorders such as diabetes. In her work, she has served as mentor to scores of high school, undergraduate and graduate students. Her expertise and professional input is continually sought as she has served on review panels for various federal and private funding agencies as well as a reviewer or editorial board member for professional journals. Her recent accolades include the Michigan Society for Medical Research, Educational Leadership Award in 2007 and in 2010-11 she served as an American Council on Education Fellow.
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, Graduate Student Recruitment and Retention7-8214 (Walwood)7-1247(Seibert)	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 Appointments7-8259	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 7-8271	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.
Office Manager, 260 W-WAL 7-8237	Linda Comrie Office Coordinator
Web Author 260 W-WAL 7-8206	James Kison Web Author
Office Associate 260 W-WAL 7-8212	Carson Leftwich handles many duties in her position as Office Associate at the Graduate College. Carson is the first person most encounter when they contact the Graduate College via phone or in person. In this capacity, she assists students, faculty and staff members from across the University and throughout the community in answering questions about programs and procedures. If she doesn’t know the answer, she will find the person who does. In addition, she supports Tony Dennis, Director of Graduate Student Recruitment and Retention. She has many years of experience at Western, receiving a B.A. Magna Cum Laude in History in 1991 and an M.A. in 1997. She was a Presidential Scholar, an Undergraduate Research and Creative Activities Award winner, president of Phi Alpha Theta, and a Graduate Fellow. Carson has published several articles and reviews and teaches part-time at WMU.
Doctoral Associate	Adrienne Redding currently serves as the Doctoral Associate to the Coordinator of Theses and Dissertations, Jennifer Holm. Adrienne is a doctoral candidate with WMU’s English Department, specializing in early modern English Literature, Linguistics, and Critical Theory. She has taught sections of Western’s Shakespeare Seminar and the Development of Modern English as well as undergraduate writing courses and occasional courses with CELCIS. She earned her MA in English from Andrews University in 2005.
Doctoral Associate	Xiaojie (Jason) Hu is a doctoral student in the Evaluation, Measurement and Research Program at Western Michigan University. He recently graduated from the MA Educational Leadership program, core concentration on Organizational Analysis Leadership. His research interest is in Program Evaluation. Jason is a doctoral associate to Dr. Nemire, Director of Awards and Special Projects.
Doctoral Associate 260 W-WAL 387-8253	Haolai (Lincoln) Jiang is a doctoral student with the Department of Statistics at Western Michigan University (WMU). He holds the Bachelor of Economics degree in statistics, conferred by Renmin University, China. He was also awarded a Master’s Degree in statistics from WMU. Lincoln served as a teaching assistant with the Department of Statistics and later joined the Graduate Center for Research and Retention in 2009 as a consultant, providing one-on-one statistical consultation to WMU graduate students completing dissertation/thesis research. In addition to his consultation work, Lincoln teaches a variety of statistics seminars to graduate students: Overview of Statistical Concepts; Overview of SPSS; Overview of SAS. His research interests are statistical computing and data visualization. He is a soccer fan of the Arsenal Soccer Club. Watching a live Arsenal’s match at Emirates Stadium in London, England, is one of his greatest desires. Lincoln is a doctoral associate to Dr. Marianne Di Pierro, Director, Graduate Center for Research and Retention.
Doctoral Associate	Stefan King Doctoral Associate
Doctoral Associate	Jiangang Xia, Ph.D. candidate in Educational Leadership. Jiangang holds the BS in Mathematics and the MA in Education, both from East China Normal University. He began his doctoral program at WMU in 2007 and currently is working on his dissertation. Jiangang has worked as a research assistant and statistical consultant for the Department of Educational Leadership, Research, and Technology. He also worked as a teaching assistant for an advanced doctoral research seminar course and has also served as a guest lecturer. In addition, he has conferred with several faculty on a research project, the team jointly producing three journal manuscripts. In collaboration with his advisor, Dr. Jianping Shen, and a team of several student colleagues, the team has produced two manuscripts and four conference proposals. Jiangang has published one journal article in the International Journal of Leadership in Education and has presented three papers at annual conferences of AERA. Jiangang’s objective is to become a faculty member in educational leadership, policy, and research. Jiangang and his wife Zhenji Zhou have a boy of three and a girl of one.
Doctoral Associate	Baochun (JoJo) Zhou, a Doctoral Associate to Dr. Marianne Di Pierro, Director of Graduate Center for Research and Retention (GCRR), is a current doctoral student in Counselor Education and Supervision. Prior to joining GCRR, JoJo was a research assistant and a doctoral associate to the Unit Director of Counselor Education in the Department of Counselor Education and Counseling Psychology. JoJo received her master’s degree in Marriage and Family Counseling from Governors State University (GSU), University Park, IL. She was awarded the Student of the Year in 2011 from the Counseling Department at GSU. JoJo has dedicated her career to the counseling profession and has been developing her research interests on multicultural and diversity issues, doctoral advisory relationships, and social justice advocacy. JoJo was born and grew up in China. When she’s not working, she likes to travel, hang out with friends, read fashion magazines, and figure out how many stamps she has collected.
Graduate Assistant 260 W-WAL	Cheyla Milo, doctoral student in Counseling Psychology, hates the snow. She comes from Texas by way of Dillard University in New Orleans, and every time it snows she wants to crawl into her cave and hibernate. Of course she is much too busy to hibernate every time it snows in Michigan. She is Graduate Assistant to Tony Dennis, Director of Graduate Student Recruitment and Retention. In this capacity she assists Mr. Dennis in planning initiatives and programming for current and prospective graduate students.

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