The 2023-2025 Center for Engaged Learning Seminar will be led by Ashley Finley, Sabrina Thurman, and Titch Madzima:

Ashley Finley is the Vice President of Research and Senior Advisor to the President for the American Association of Colleges and Universities (AAC&U). She was previously the senior director of assessment and research at AAC&U and also national evaluator for the Bringing Theory to Practice Project. Most recently she served as the associate vice president for academic affairs & dean of the Dominican Experience at Dominican University of California, where she implemented a comprehensive framework for student learning and success centered around high-impact practices, including holistic advising and ePortfolios. She has published a number of articles, book chapters, and monographs, including Assessing Underserved Students’ Engagement in High-impact Practices (with co-author Tia McNair), Civic Learning and Teaching, and “Well-Being: An Essential Outcome for Higher Education.”

Sabrina Thurman is Associate Professor of Psychology at Elon University. As a first-generation college student from a low-income background, she is highly invested in working to increase access to higher education opportunities for historically underserved or excluded persons. She is committed to diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives that build belonging, while maintaining a strong sense of personal identity, and that improve experiences for all people of varied intersecting identities. She currently serves as Co-Supervisor for First Phoenix: A First-Generation Student Peer Mentoring Program. Her disciplinary research focuses on infant motor development.

Titch Madzima is Associate Professor and Chair of Exercise Science at Elon University. He routinely mentors undergraduate research, has collaborated on multiple diversity and inclusion grant projects to support curricular and co-curricular innovations, and was recognized with the Elon College, the College of Arts & Sciences, Excellence in Teaching award in 2021. His disciplinary research involves investigating the efficacy of exercise and dietary interventions to counteract the physical and psychosocial adverse effects of both cancer and cancer therapies.

CEL Student Scholars Partnering with the Seminar Leaders and Participants

Azul Bellot, 2023-2026 CEL Student Scholar

Major: Psychology

Tiffanie Grant, 2023-2026 CEL Student Scholar

Major: Exercise Science

Minor: Psychology