Greg Amodio came to Quinnipiac as director of athletics in 2015. In his current role, he oversees all facets of our 21 Division I intercollegiate athletic programs, including overall management, strategic planning, budgeting, development, external relations and human resources.
Previously, he served as director of athletics at Duquesne University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; and associate director for athletics at Xavier University in Cincinnati, Ohio.
Amodio earned a master’s degree in education from Queens College and a bachelor’s degree in physical education and health from Davis & Elkins College.
Dr. Phillip Boiselle earned his bachelor of arts in chemistry and communications from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and his MD from the Duke University School of Medicine, followed by residency training at Yale University and a thoracic imaging fellowship from Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School.
Boiselle served on the faculty at Harvard Medical School from 1999 to 2016, during which time he held a variety of clinical and educational leadership roles while also serving as an NIH-funded researcher. He also was a professor of radiology at Harvard Medical School and served as its associate dean for academic and clinical affairs from 2012-16. In this role, he provided strategic oversight of the school’s educational and research centers and the implementation of a broad array of faculty development and diversity initiatives.
As dean of the Charles E. Schmidt College of Medicine at Florida Atlantic University from 2017-21, Boiselle enhanced the diversity of its medical student and graduate student populations, expanded graduate medical education programs, established FAU Medicine®, the college’s first faculty clinical practice plan, and launched the Marcus Institute for Integrative Health at FAU Medicine®. He was named dean of the Frank H. Netter MD School of Medicine in 2021.
Boiselle is recognized as an international expert in the field of thoracic imaging. His scholarship includes more than 250 research articles, review articles, editorials, book chapters and books. He served as editor-in-chief of the Journal of Thoracic Imaging from 2009-18.
Jennifer Gerarda Brown earned her bachelor’s degree from Bryn Mawr College in 1982 and her juris doctor from the University of Illinois College of Law in 1985.
Brown has taught at some of the most prestigious law schools in the country, including Yale, Harvard, Georgetown, Emory and the University of Illinois. She joined the Quinnipiac School of Law faculty in 1994 and became a full professor in 1996. In 1997, she was named director of Quinnipiac’s Center on Dispute Resolution. She served in that capacity until 2013, when she became dean of the law school. She served as interim executive vice president and provost of Quinnipiac University during the 2019-20 academic year.
Brown is co-author of the book, “Straightforward: How to Mobilize Heterosexual Support for Gay Rights.” She has contributed to numerous publications on the topics of marriage equality and the theory and practice of negotiation. She previously served as secretary on the board of directors for Freedom to Marry, a former national bipartisan nonprofit dedicated to winning marriage rights for same-gender couples in the United States.
She currently serves on the board of trustees for Connecticut Public Broadcasting Inc. and the board of trustees for Goodspeed Musicals in East Haddam, Connecticut. In 2020 she was elected to membership in the American Law Institute.
Janelle Chiasera earned her BS in medical technology from Bowling Green State University and her MS in allied medical professions and PhD in quantitative research, evaluation and measurement (education policy and leadership) from The Ohio State University.
Chiasera has enjoyed a long and distinguished career in higher education. After more than 20 years as a medical technologist and educator, she joined Quinnipiac as dean of the School of Health Sciences in September 2019. She previously served as director of the clinical laboratory science program at the University of Alabama at Birmingham from 2006-09, as chair of UAB’s department of clinical and diagnostic sciences from 2010-12 and as senior executive associate dean for UAB’s School of Health Professions from 2017-19.
Chiasera is a regional director for the American Society for Clinical Laboratory Science (ASCLS), and previously served on the Review Committee for Accredited Programs (RCAP) of the National Accrediting Agency for Clinical Laboratory Science (NASCLS). She has presented and published extensively on the subjects of clinical chemistry and leadership, receiving many commendations for her teaching and scholarship.
Anne Dichele earned her bachelor's degree in elementary education from Northeastern University, her master of education from the Harvard Graduate School of Education, and her PhD from the University of Connecticut.
Dichele has worked as a public school reading clinician and instructional consultant, taught at the University of Bridgeport, Fairfield University and the University of New Haven, and served as director of academic development at Albertus Magnus College. She joined the Quinnipiac faculty in 1999 and was named director of the Master of Arts in Teaching program for elementary education in 2000. In 2013, Dichele was named full director of the MAT program, overseeing all aspects of the elementary and secondary education program. She was appointed interim dean of the School of Education in 2016 and then dean in 2017.
Dichele is the founder of Side By Side Charter School, one of Connecticut's first state-funded charter schools, where she serves as chairperson of the board of directors. Her scholarship has appeared in numerous journals and publications. Her first book of original poetry, “Ankle Deep and Drowning,” was published in 2015.
Monique Drucker joined the Division of Student Affairs at Quinnipiac in 1996. She is responsible for managing the division, which includes the dean of students office; campus life; community service; counseling services; fitness; recreation and club sports; fraternity and sorority life; graduate life; new student orientation; religious life; residential life; and student health services. She also has served as the university’s Title IX coordinator and chaired the Community Assessment, Response and Evaluation (CARE) Team.
Drucker earned a bachelor’s degree in psychology from the State University of New York College at Fredonia, an EdM in college counseling and student personnel administration from the University of Buffalo and an EdD in educational leadership from Johnson & Wales University.
Tom Ellett, PhD, joined Quinnipiac as the chief experience officer in August 2020, overseeing all student-facing functions, including enrollment management, student affairs, registrar, bursar, public safety, veterans’ affairs and career services.
Prior to joining Quinnipiac, he served as senior associate vice president for student affairs at New York University. He oversaw student-facing functions and residential life for 11,000 students spread across New York City. He led the university’s logistical response to COVID-19, a complex undertaking in a city that was initially the country’s epicenter of the coronavirus.
Ellett brings deep expertise and a student-centered mindset, focusing on improving the student experience on the NYU campus as well as across its 14 global centers. He led the creation of living-learning communities to enrich students’ intellectual and personal growth, and lived with his family throughout his time at NYU in a student residence hall. He was instrumental in creating a new Center for Student Life, which integrated student activities and the student resource center into a single cohesive unit.
Ellett has an undergraduate degree in English from Fordham University, a master’s degree in fine arts from Catholic University, and a doctorate in educational leadership, administration and policy from Fordham.
Salvatore Filardi joined Quinnipiac in 2012. He oversees facilities management, campus planning, construction and real estate acquisitions for each of Quinnipiac University's three campuses. Previously, he was the associate vice chancellor at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth campus. In his 18 years in higher education, he has been involved in facilities management, energy management, campus planning, construction and building commissioning for dozens of colleges and universities across the country.
He holds a bachelor’s degree in mechanical and aerospace engineering from Cornell University and an MBA in finance, organizational management, and strategy and management from Northwestern University.
Taskin Kocak earned his PhD in electrical and computer engineering from Duke University.
Kocak previously served as dean of the Dr. Robert A. Savoie College of Engineering and a professor in computer and electrical engineering at the University of New Orleans. Prior to his time at the University of New Orleans, Taskin was a professor, department chair and dean of the College of Engineering and Natural Sciences at Bahcesehir University in Istanbul, Turkey. He has previously worked at Duke, the University of Bristol in England, and the University of Central Florida. Before entering higher education, he worked as a design engineer at Mitsubishi Electronic America’s Semiconductor Division in Raleigh-Durham, North Carolina.
His broad research interests and expertise span the areas of machine learning, computer networks and high-performance computing. He has over 130 peer-reviewed publications, including 46 journal papers. He served as an associate editor for the Computer Journal published by Oxford University Press as well as the sole guest editor for a special issue of this journal. He also served as the lead guest editor for a special issue of the Association for Computing Machinery Journal on Emerging Technologies in Computing Systems.
Debra Liebowitz is an innovative leader with an impactful record of creating partnerships and launching initiatives that enable university growth, promote diversity, strengthen shared governance, and immersive learning opportunities. She oversees all academic programs at Quinnipiac, the university’s nine schools, and all other academic units and centers. She is also a professor of political science at Quinnipiac.
Liebowitz most recently served as provost and dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Caspersen School of Graduate Studies at Drew University, where she led three schools with approximately 2,200 undergraduate and graduate students. Liebowitz joined Drew in 2000 as an assistant professor teaching international politics and gender studies. She assumed positions of increasing responsibility, including director of the women and gender studies program, and associate dean for curriculum in the College of Liberal Arts and associate provost, before her appointment as provost in 2017. Liebowitz earned the President’s Award for Distinguished Teaching, and the Center for Civic Engagement’s Faculty Leadership Award while at Drew. She currently serves on the editorial board of the Journal of Human Rights.
She holds degrees in political science — an undergraduate degree from the University of Oregon, and master’s and doctoral degrees from Rutgers University.
Lisa G. O'Connor earned her diploma in nursing from the Ona Wilcox School of Nursing at Middlesex Hospital: a bachelor’s in nursing, a master’s in nursing education and a doctorate in educational leadership from the University of Hartford.
She has extensive experience in medical-surgical and critical care nursing, along with 20 years in education — including hospital-based education and higher education. O’Connor, who has been associate dean of the School of Nursing since 2015, joined the Quinnipiac community in 2003 as an assistant professor. She served as director and chair of undergraduate nursing programs before ultimately being promoted to associate and full professor. She has served as a faculty senator, as an active member on the university education committee, the university assessment committee, and many other interprofessional committees and work groups.
She received the Outstanding Faculty Award presented by the Student Government Association in 2015. Her leadership at the state level was recognized in 2014 when she received the Nurse Leadership Award from the Connecticut League for Nursing.
Elicia Spearman is a highly accomplished labor and employment attorney and human resources executive who has worked for several Fortune 500 companies. She was appointed the university’s general counsel and vice president for human resources in April 2020. Before joining Quinnipiac, she served as vice president and chief human resources officer at General Dynamics Electric Boat in Groton, Connecticut. In that role, Spearman led the human resources function for the company’s 17,000 employees and managed a budget of $24 million.
Previously, she held executive-level positions at Hubbell Incorporated, where she was chief employment counsel and, later, vice president for human resources. Prior to that, she practiced law as an employment lawyer for several years at Aetna before transitioning to human resources to lead the Employee Relations Center of Excellence and manage a team of human resources business partners. Prior to returning home to Connecticut, Spearman practiced law in the District of Columbia and worked for Children’s National Medical Center and the Federal Bureau of Investigation. She is licensed to practice law in four states and before the U.S. Supreme Court. Spearman has earned several awards for her professional accomplishments and community service.
Spearman earned her juris doctor degree from Case Western Reserve School of Law, where she was appointed by the dean of the law school as the chief justice of the honor court, and earned a bachelor’s degree in political science and psychology from Wellesley College.
Holly J. Raider has more than 20 years of experience developing and leading global business education, and spearheading strategic learning partnerships with corporations, government, health care systems, professional sports organizations and international universities. From 2006-11, she worked in executive education at the University of Chicago’s Booth School of Business, where she oversaw its strategic business leadership program, and designed and taught in global learning initiatives for senior executives and Executive MBA students.
Raider joined the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University as a clinical professor of management in 2011. She served as associate dean of academic and faculty initiatives from 2016-18 and as managing director of executive education from 2014-21. In these roles, she led the implementation of Kellogg’s first fully online, non-degree approach to graduate business education, designed and spearheaded Kellogg’s Advanced Management Program, and developed SPARK, an innovative teaching incubator.
Raider earned her BA from Barnard College and her PhD in sociology from Columbia University. She was named dean of the School of Business at Quinnipiac in 2021.
Otoniel (Tony) Reyes was appointed chief of public safety in 2021. In his current role, he oversees the Public Safety Department and is responsible for developing and implementing policies and procedures governing the safety of Quinnipiac’s three campuses. In addition, he is responsible for ensuring compliance with all Public Safety reporting requirements; collaborating with faculty, staff and students to provide educational programs and public safety services; and serving as a liaison with federal, state and local law enforcement agencies. He also manages patrol services, communications and information services for the department, facilities and residential security, investigations, victim assistance, crime prevention programs and emergency and disaster preparedness.
Before joining Quinnipiac, Reyes served as chief of police in New Haven. A graduate of the FBI National Academy, Reyes is certified by the FBI as a hostage negotiator and has FEMA certifications from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. He holds a master of public administration from the University of New Haven and a graduate certificate from the University of Virginia.
Matt Romeo, MBA '97, joined Quinnipiac in 1997 as assistant coordinator for information services, and was appointed chief information officer in 2022.
In his role, Romeo is responsible for overseeing the university’s broad array of technology management initiatives, providing leadership to optimize data and information in support of the university’s academic and strategic priorities. He has more than 25 years of experience in IT roles at Quinnipiac, providing an invaluable perspective to the integration of technology across all academic and administrative units at the university.
Throughout his career at Quinnipiac, Romeo has continued to teach management and computer information systems classes in the School of Business, where he earned his MBA. He also has a bachelor’s degree in international business from Albertus Magnus College.
Adam David Roth’s expertise spans rhetorical theory and criticism, persuasion and society, communication studies, and rhetoric of science. He has earned several prestigious honors, including the Douglas Ehninger Award for Teaching. His research on the central role of rhetoric in the evolution of Western medicine has been well received in the United States, Greece, Cyprus, Russia and China.
Throughout his career, Roth has developed and launched numerous interdisciplinary programs and collaborative strategic initiatives, beginning as director of the Communication Across the Curriculum program in the College of Arts and Sciences at the University of Pittsburgh from 2006-07. From 2007-21, he held a range of administrative positions at the University of Rhode Island, including communication course director for the general education program from 2007-14, interim director and director of the Harrington School of Communication and Media from 2014-20, and associate dean of the College of Arts and Sciences from 2017-20. Roth was named Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences at Quinnipiac in 2021.
Roth graduated from the University of Pittsburgh’s business dual-major program with a bachelor’s degree in communication and rhetoric, and business administration. He pursued his graduate studies at the University of Iowa, where he earned his master’s degree and PhD in communication studies and rhetoric, and a graduate certificate in interdisciplinary inquiry. He also completed the management development program at Harvard University’s Institutes for Higher Education.
Chris Roush earned a master’s degree in mass communication from the University of Florida and a bachelor’s degree in history and journalism from Auburn University. Before coming to Quinnipiac, he was the Walter E. Hussman Sr. Distinguished Professor in Business Journalism at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and director of its Carolina Business News Initiative.
Previously, Roush taught business journalism at Washington and Lee University and the University of Richmond. The Scripps Howard Foundation and the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication named him “Journalism Teacher of the Year” in 2010. He also was chosen the “North Carolina Professor of the Year” by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching and the Council for Advancement and Support of Education.
Roush has worked for various publications, including the St. Petersburg Times, the Sarasota Herald-Tribune, the Tampa Tribune, BusinessWeek, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution and Bloomberg News.
He served on the board of the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication from 2014 to 2018 and edited a book, "Master Class," for journalism and mass communication educators.
He has authored or co-authored 10 books, including the leading textbook in business journalism education.
Don C. Sawyer III joined Quinnipiac in 2012 as an assistant professor of sociology in the College of Arts and Sciences. He was promoted to associate professor and tenured in 2018. He currently serves as vice president for equity and inclusion. In addition, he oversees the Department of Cultural and Global Engagement, which is responsible for global education, international student services, multicultural education, Title IX, and the Peter C. Hereld House for Jewish Life.
Sawyer develops and implements initiatives and strategies to monitor and evaluate institutional-wide progress toward our goal of inclusive excellence. He teaches courses on race, education, social research methods, and popular culture, including the university’s first course dedicated to the sociological study of hip-hop culture. He also founded the #HipHopHeals Project, a community-based recording studio for Haitian and Dominican youth living in the Dominican Republic. Sawyer is an applied sociologist and ensures most of his projects are in partnership with local communities.
With over 20 years of higher education experience, he has held positions in residence life, admissions, multicultural affairs, fraternity and sorority affairs, student activities, experiential learning, student leadership, and STEM retention.
He earned his PhD in sociology and MS in cultural foundations of education from Syracuse University, and a BA in psychology from Hartwick College.
Todd Sloan joined Quinnipiac as vice president for development and alumni affairs in October 2019. Most recently the assistant vice president for development at American University, he is widely lauded as a fundraising professional, bringing years of expertise leading development and alumni outreach at major universities across the United States.
Prior to American University, Sloan worked in executive-level development positions at The Pennsylvania State University, where in his last role he served as executive director of fundraising across multiple colleges. He previously served as senior director of development for its Smeal College of Business. He also served in senior fundraising roles at Le Moyne College and Keystone College.
Sloan earned his bachelor's degree in political science from The Pennsylvania State University.
Mark Varholak was appointed vice president for finance and chief financial officer in July 2015, after serving as associate vice president for budget and financial planning since July 2013. Prior to that he was the university's associate controller for 10 years.
Varholak earned his MBA with concentrations in finance and international business from New York University. He also has a bachelor’s degree in accounting and international business from Pennsylvania State University.
Bethany Zemba joined Quinnipiac as vice president and chief of staff in December 2018. Previously, she served as a senior associate dean, chief of staff and senior adviser to the dean of the faculty of arts and sciences at Yale University. Before that, she worked at the Yale School of Forestry & Environmental Studies. Zemba brings a range of strategic higher education leadership and expertise to her role at Quinnipiac, where she is responsible for working closely with the senior management team to direct the formulation and execution of the university’s strategic plan; coordinate institutional research; oversee community relations; and serve as the primary liaison to the board of trustees.
Zemba earned a bachelor of science and a master of public administration from the University of Rhode Island, and a doctorate in education, with a focus on higher education administration, from Johnson and Wales University.
Annalisa Zinn was appointed Vice President for academic innovation and effectiveness in July 2015, after serving as an associate vice president in academic affairs since July 2012. Prior to that she served the College of Arts and Sciences as an associate dean.
In her current role, Zinn provides leadership and support for a range of academic matters, including academic assessment and research; academic budgets and resource planning; library; sponsored programs and research; learning commons; honors program; academic integrity; pre-health advising; and pre-law advising. She also serves as the accreditation liaison officer with the New England Commission of Higher Education and the Connecticut Office of Higher Education.
Zinn earned a PhD in political science and a bachelor’s degree in ethics, politics and economics from Yale University. She also earned an MBA from Quinnipiac. Her areas of teaching and scholarship include international human rights, ethics of war and peace, political violence, public policy and international relations.
