High Impact Practice Statewide Conference

Shanna Smith Jaggars is Assistant Vice-Provost of Research for Undergraduate Education at The Ohio State University in Columbus, where her research focuses on improving student outcomes, including issues around technology-enabled learning, online and distance learning, online student support services, curricular and transfer pathways, and other topics related to access, affordability, and time to degree.

At CCRC, Jaggars leads the American Honors study. Jaggars served as CCRC Assistant Director from 2012 to 2016. Together with Thomas Bailey and Davis Jenkins, she is the author of Redesigning America's Community Colleges: A Clearer Path to Student Success (Harvard University Press, 2015).

Jaggars received her doctorate in 2002 from the University of Texas at Austin in human development and family science, where she focused on the methodological and statistical issues inherent in the analysis of individual and dyadic change across time. Prior to joining CCRC in 2008, Jaggars ran the statistical consulting unit at the University of Texas at Austin, where she collaborated on studies involving information technology usage in the postsecondary setting, the mental and physical health of college students, and a range of other topics.

Dr. Vijay Pendakur serves as the Robert W. and Elizabeth C. Staley Dean of Students at Cornell University.  Prior to this appointment, he worked on campus-wide student success initiatives for underserved populations as an Associate Vice President for Student Affairs at California State University – Fullerton.  Before joining the team at Fullerton, Dr. Pendakur served as the Director for the Office of Multicultural Student Success at DePaul University in Chicago.  He is the editor of the recent book, “Closing the Opportunity Gap: Identity-Conscious Strategies for Retention and Student Success,” as well as numerous chapters on racial identity development, and critical leadership pedagogy, and student affairs administration. Dr. Pendakur serves on the institute teaching faculty of the Center for Race and Equity at the University of Southern California and as a faculty member for the “High Impact Practices Institute” through the American Association of Colleges and Universities.  He currently serves on the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Working Group on Diversity, which advises the Director of the NIH on inclusion and equity strategy in the field of biomedical research. He holds a bachelor's degree in history and East Asian studies from the University of Wisconsin, Madison, a master's degree in U.S. history from the University of California, San Diego, and a doctorate in education from DePaul University.