Meet-and-Greet Planned for New Directors
The campus community is invited to meet the new directors for admission, the Center for Academic Excellence and the Center for Diversity and Inclusion from 8:30-10 a.m. March 23 in the Student Union Building Alumni Room.
Vanessa Alexander, is the new director of the Center for Diversity and Inclusion. She has spent her career in higher education in admissions-related positions focused on programming, student experience and financial aid, most recently with the University of Pennsylvania Graduate School of Education and Drexel University College of Medicine. She previously worked for Truman as an admissions counselor before taking a similar position with A.T. Still University where she also served as the school’s Diversity and Inclusion Liaison. During her time at Truman, Alexander was a Multicultural Affairs student intern and participated in the Minority Ambassadors Program for four years. She has served the University as a Diversity Fellow and as a member of the Strategic Plan Committee in 2021.
Allison Gus is the new director of admission. She comes to Truman from the University of Colorado Denver where she served in the capacity of graduate program coordinator, admissions and recruitment coordinator, graduate admissions specialist and most recently as the director of admissions management and outreach. She has experience working with community college and high schools to establish and maintain programmatic relationships, articulation agreements and memoranda of understanding that develop student pipelines. She is also familiar with the Slate CRM platform and its use for implementing a standardized communication plan for prospective students. Gus is a graduate of Iowa State University with Bachelor of Arts degrees in advertising and art and design.
As the director of student success, Ashleigh Harding oversees the Center for Academic Excellence. An alumna of the University, she most recently, she worked in the CAE as an academic advisor and coordinator of University tutoring. Harding has also served Truman as a graduate teaching and research assistant for the Department of English and Linguistics, was a student assistant for the Special Collections and Museums Department, an academic professional development tutor for the McNair Scholars Program and a traveling admission counselor. She is a member of the National College Learning Center Association and the Missouri College Learning Center Association, and served on Truman’s Living-Learning Community Steering Committee and the Department of English and Linguistics’ Antiracist Committee.
Refreshments will be provided. No RSVP is necessary.
