Keynote Speaker: Dr. Kristin Austin

Dr. Kristin Austin (she/her) is a lover of learning and unlearning. Dr. Austin’s goal is to catalyze individuals and structures to question, “Who is at the table? Who is missing from the table? For whom was the table built? And who is unaware the table exists?” Dr. Austin has pursued answers to these questions via 23+ years of administrative and faculty higher education roles domestically and internationally, as well as by leading organizations and teams through equity, inclusion, and belonging-oriented education. Currently, Dr. Austin serves as Vice-President of I.D.E.As. (Inclusion, Diversity, Equity, and Access) at Rewriting the Code, Inc., a national not-for-profit organization dedicated to disrupting and dismantling racial and gender inequality in the technology sector by equipping and empowering college women in tech. Along with her professional work, Dr. Austin engages in speaking, teaching, and pushing visibility for many inclusion topics, especially those related to neurodiversity. Holding identities of ADHD and learning disabled, Dr. Austin loves to create and hold space for neuro-spicy brains, like hers, and maybe yours.

Dr. Austin holds a Doctorate in Higher Education Leadership and Administration, a Professional Certificate in Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, a master’s degree in counseling, and a bachelor’s degree (her favorite degree) in Social Work. She is also blessed to learn from 3 small, and forgiving professors ages 15, 13, and 9, and is married to a fellow education professional. For these reasons, her favorite get-a-way is to Target…. alone.

Opening Remarks: Dr. Michelle Kiec Provost and Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs Commonwealth University

A higher education innovator, Dr. Michelle Kiec is dedicated to enhancing opportunities for students to learn and faculty to teach. Her special interests include leadership planning and collaboration, student success programming, curriculum design, and faculty development. 

Commonwealth University announced the selection of Dr. Michelle Kiec as its next provost and senior vice president for academic affairs in July 2024. Kiec came to CU from Oklahoma City University (OCU), where she has served as provost and vice president for academic affairs since 2022. Prior to OCU, Kiec served as interim vice provost for extended and lifelong learning and dean of graduate studies at Kutztown University.

Over the course of her decade at Kutztown, she also held roles including dean of the College of Visual and Performing Arts as well as acting dean of the College of Education. Kiec holds a Master of Music and a Doctor of Musical Arts in clarinet from the Peabody Conservatory of Music at Johns Hopkins University. Prior to that, she earned bachelor’s degrees in music performance and German, both from the University at Buffalo.

A strong advocate for newly composed classical music, Kiec continues to perform chamber music as a clarinetist in various ensembles. In her spare time, she enjoys hiking, trail running, and traveling abroad.

Plenary Roundtable: Latha Ramakrishnan, Dean of the College of Health, Science, and Technology

Dr. Ramakrishnan comes to Bloomsburg after serving for more than 14 years in multiple roles at St. Cloud State University in Minnesota. Since July 2016, she has served as interim associate provost for research and dean of the school of graduate studies. As graduate dean, she oversaw more than 40 programs, including doctoral programs in higher education leadership and in educational administration. She managed operations and the program portfolio at St. Cloud State’s Twin Cities Graduate Center. She also led graduate enrollment management, strategically recruiting new students and implementing retention and student success initiatives.

As associate provost, she managed external grants, with annual awards ranging between $7 million and $10 million. Ramakrishnan also worked to diversify sponsorships and build equitable educational pathways at St. Cloud State. She supported faculty and staff efforts to secure the school’s first Department of Education funded TRIO SSS grant and the Robert Noyce STEM teacher scholarship grant funded by the National Science Foundation.

She joined St. Cloud State’s chemistry department in 2006 as a tenure-track assistant professor of biochemistry and was promoted to full professor in 2014. In 2013, she was elected co-chair of the Division of Chemistry in the Department of Chemistry and Physics and in 2014 became chair of the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry. Her experiences with professional society certifications include working with the American Chemical Society and the American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology. During her tenure as chair, the chemistry department developed and launched a new professional science masters in materials science and scientific instrumentation.

Ramakrishnan’s shared governance experiences include serving as a faculty association senate member, and working collaboratively with the faculty association leadership and faculty research grants and graduate education committees to advance scholarship and advocate for graduate education on campus.

During her tenure at St. Cloud State, Ramakrishnan secured over $6 million in external grants, including multiple grants from the National Science Foundation. She secured over $500,000 from the Major Research Instrumentation program at National Science Foundation to modernize the research instrumentation infrastructure and $5 million to award scholarships for at least 100 students aspiring to seek a degree in STEM and have a demonstrated financial need.

As an independent investigator, she established a research program in behavioral neuropharmacology testing anti-convulsive drugs using planarian flatworms as model organisms. She mentored over 50 undergraduate students in research and published research articles with multiple student co-authors.

Prior to arriving at St. Cloud State, she did post-doctoral research in biophysical chemistry at Cornell University. She was awarded the Epilepsy Research Foundation and Milken Family Foundation’s post-doctoral fellowship grant in 2003. Ramakrishnan earned her doctorate in chemistry from the Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru, India and her master’s degree in chemistry from the Indian Institute of Technology, Chennai, India.