Great Lakes Colleges Association, Strengthening Education in the Tradition of the Liberal Arts
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About Us

Mission

The Global Liberal Arts Alliance is an international partnership of colleges and universities advancing liberal arts education within the contexts of its member institutions. The Alliance fosters a community of institutional leaders, faculty, staff, and students to address the pressing intellectual, social, political, educational and cultural issues of the highly globalized twenty-first century.

The Alliance fulfills its mission by:

  • Strengthening the ability of our liberal arts institutions to operate effectively and globally; and,
  • Facilitating global course, curricular, co-curricular connections and scholarly activities among our institutions, and the mobility of students, faculty, staff, and leadership within the Alliance network.

GLCA Management

The Great Lakes Colleges Association (GLCA) is the founder and administrator of the Global Alliance. Chartered in the state of Michigan (USA) and incorporated as a 501(c)(3) non-profit in 1962, it has been governed since its founding by a Board of Directors and charged with working on behalf of its member institutions, a consortium of thirteen private liberal arts colleges located in Indiana, Michigan, Ohio and Pennsylvania.

Advisory Group

The advisory group of presidents and chief academic officers provides feedback and advice to the GLCA president and staff in between GLAA leadership meetings.

Member Title Institution
Celeste Schenck President The American University of Paris
Rock Jones President Ohio Wesleyan University
Leonard Cheng President Lingnan University
Haifa Jamal Al-Lail President Effat University
Ahmed Legrouri Provost and Vice-President of Academic Affairs International University of Grand-Bassam

Alliance Liaisons

Each Alliance campus has an Alliance Liaison. The Liaison’s primary role is communication between the GLCA office and the campus. This includes being a strong and visible advocate for the Alliance and a source of timely information to faculty, staff, and students of the Liaison’s home institution. The Liaison also has responsibility for sharing Alliance news with the campus’ president and chief academic officer.

InstitutionLiaisonTitleEmail
Al Akhawayn University in IfraneVioletta Cavalli-SforzaAssistant Vice President of Academic Affairs[email protected]
Albion CollegeMidori YoshiInternational Studies Program[email protected]
Allegheny CollegeTerry BenselAssociate Provost, Director of The Allegheny Gateway, Professor of Environmental Science[email protected]
Antioch CollegeLuisa BieriAssistant Profess or Cooperative Education[email protected]
Ashesi UniversityStephen ArmahDepartment Head, Business Administration[email protected]
Bratislava International School of Liberal ArtsDagmar KusaProfessor of Political Science[email protected]
Denison UniversityTaku SuzukiAssociate Professor of East Asian Studies; Director of International Studies[email protected]
DePauw UniversityDavid AlvarezAssociate Professor of English[email protected]
Earlham CollegeKari KalveProfessor of English[email protected]
Effat UniversityHaifa Jamal Al-LailPresident[email protected]
Flame UniversityRenu DhadwalAssociate Professor of Mathematics[email protected]
Forman Christian CollegeGloria CalibAssociate Vice Rector for Academic Affairs[email protected]
Franklin University SwitzerlandKate RoyModern Languages and Literatures (German)[email protected]
Hope CollegeDeirdre JohnstonAssociate Dean of Global Education; Professor of Communication[email protected]
International Christian UniversityChristopher BondySenior Associate Professor of Sociology; Coordinator for Japan Studies[email protected]
International University of Grand-BassamAhmed LegrouriVice President for Academic Affairs[email protected]
John Cabot UniversityMary MervaVice President and Dean of Academics[email protected]
Kalamazoo CollegeChristine HahnAssociate Provost and Associate Professor of Art and Art History[email protected]
Kenyon CollegeIrene LopezAssociate Professor of Psychology and Women and Gender Studies[email protected]
Lingnan UniversityShalendra SharmaAssociate Vice President[email protected]
Oberlin CollegeTania BosterDirector, Bonner Center Curricular Initiatives; Director Bonner Center and Gertrude B. Lemle Teaching Center; Assistant Professor of History[email protected]
Ohio Wesleyan UniversityNancy ComorauAssociate Professor of English[email protected]
The American College of GreeceGeorgia GiannakopoulouDepartment of Sociology[email protected]
The American University in BulgariaRobert WhiteDean of the Faculty[email protected]
The American University in CairoDahlia El TayebDean of Cooperative, Experiential, and International Education[email protected]
The American University of NigeriaTBD  
The American University of ParisRussell WilliamsDirector of Faculty Development[email protected]
Universidad San Francisco de QuitoAlexandra VelascoInternational Programs Office Director[email protected]
The College of WoosterSarah SobeckAssociate Professor of Chemistry[email protected]
Wabash CollegeAgata Szczeszak-BrewerAssociate Professor of English[email protected] 

GLCA Staff

Mickey McDonald

Simon J. M. Gray

Colleen Monahan Smith

Derek S. Vaughan

Gregory R. Wegner

Charla J. White

Mickey McDonald

President

Michael (Mickey) McDonald is the president of the Great Lakes Colleges Association. He joined the GLCA staff on July 1, 2018. Just prior to joining the GLCA, Mickey served ten years as Provost of Kalamazoo College, including one term as Acting President, and before that he was a professor of mathematics and served in various administrative roles at Occidental College in Los Angeles. Mickey earned a B.S. from Davidson College and a Ph.D. in mathematics from Duke University.

Simon J. M. Gray

Program Officer, Global Liberal Arts Alliance

As Program Officer, Simon’s primary responsibility is programming for the Global Liberal Arts Alliance and currently oversees the Global Crossroads grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. He also works with GLCA faculty and staff groups. Prior to joining GLCA in July 2015, Simon taught Computer Science at The College of Wooster. Simon earned a B.A. in anthropology and philosophy and an M.A. in anthropology from the University of Virginia, then a Ph.D. in computer science from Kent State University.

Colleen Monahan Smith

Assistant to the President

Colleen is assistant to the president and works on event planning for the Global Liberal Arts Alliance, Board of Directors, Deans’ Council, special summits and other meetings. She also is a coordinator of the New Writers Award. Previously, she worked as a Legislative Director on Capitol Hill in Washington D.C. Colleen earned her BS from Santa Clara University in Northern California where she studied Political Science with minors in Spanish and International Studies. Colleen joined the Great Lakes Colleges Association in 2012.

Derek S. Vaughan

Vice President for Finance and Administration

Derek S. Vaughan is the Vice President for Finance and Administration where he serves as the chief financial and operating officer. He also serves as the program officer for several groups including Chief Financial Officers, Institutional Researchers, HR Officers, Chief Information Technology Officers, and Tuition Remission Exchange Officers. Additionally, Derek serves as the administrator for the consortial Tuition Remission Exchange (TRE) program and the primary data sharing officer. Derek earned a BS in math and a BBA in quantitative business analysis from Ohio University, an MS in student personnel services and an MBA in organizational behavior from Miami University, and a PhD in higher education administration from the University of Michigan. Prior to joining the GLCA in 2004, Derek held positions in student affairs at Northwestern University, University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire, and Miami University.

Gregory R. Wegner

Director of Program Development

As a program officer, Greg has helped develop, refine, and oversee several faculty development programs since joining the GLCA in January 2003 – including the Mellon-funded Expanding Collaboration Initiative, the GLCA Academic Leadership Institute (GALI), and the Teagle-funded GLCA/GLAA Consortium for Teaching and Learning. Previous positions included Associate Director of the Pew Higher Education Roundtable, based at the University of Pennsylvania. He is co-author (with Robert Zemsky and William F. Massy) of Remaking the American University: Market-Smart and Mission Centered. He studied English and American literature, with a B.A. from Alma College, M.A. from the University of Michigan, and Ph.D. from the University of Pennsylvania.

Charla J. White

Program Officer, Controller

Charla White is a program officer and controller at the GLCA. Charla works closely with administrative and diversity groups, secures logistics for domestic meetings, helps the VP for Finance and Administration monitor and enforce policies and procedures, and assists in the auditing process. Charla was previously employed at Earlham College where she worked in the Student Life area and the grant funded Odyssey Program for rural, first-generation, college-bound students. Charla holds a Master’s Degree in Education with a focus on assessment and evaluation (American InterContinental University, 2010) and a Bachelor of Arts in English (Earlham College, 2008). Charla came to GLCA in 2002 following her work at Earlham College.