Speaker: Jennifer Barry

Jennifer Barry is the Campus Director for The American Women’s College at Bay Path University.  She has been working in the field of higher education since 2006 with the primary focus being on the adult, online learner population. Jennifer has held various leadership roles in both Academic Advising and Admissions departments and has online teaching experience.  

She is committed to encouraging and empowering students to pursue their dreams and reach graduation. Her work is largely focused on how to improve processes and student satisfaction through efforts that can be scaled for a growing institution. 

In addition to her contributions to higher education, Jennifer is involved in giving back to her community.  Jennifer is an Emerging Leaders Society member as well as a Regional Advisory Board member for the United Way of Central and Northeastern Connecticut.  She is also a member of The Town of Enfield’s Beautification Committee.

Jennifer received her Master of Science in Organizational Leadership in 2006 from Southern New Hampshire University.


Speaker:   Kate Beverage

Kate Beverage is the Associate Director of the Academic Technology Center at Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI). Kate's primary responsibility is to lead the ATC's outreach efforts to the WPI community with regards to the use of instructional technologies in teaching and learning. In her ten years at WPI, she has been supporting faculty development initiatives through the use of instructional technologies and other collaborative applications at WPI for use in campus-based, blended, and distance learning courses. Kate holds a B.A. in Instructional Technologies from the University of Connecticut and a M.S.Ed. in Educational Technology from Boise State University.


Speaker:  Heather Bushey

Heather Bushey is currently the Assistant Director of Advising and Student Support for the American Women’s College at Bay Path University. She previously held positions at Bay Path University in the One Day A Week Saturday and Graduate Admissions departments.

With a combination of transferrable skills acquired in her previous career as a social worker, and various advising models and tools, Heather supports adult women through their educational journey as they navigate the world of distance education. A major part of her role at the American Women’s College involves working with a team carrying out a research study supported by a grant awarded to Bay Path University to explore what influence adaptive learning has in the online environment.

Heather received a Bachelor of Science from University of Vermont, a Master of Public Administration from American International College, and is currently ABD in the Doctor of Higher Education Administration degree program at Northeastern University. Her research interest includes the social engagement of online learners as a method of increasing retention rates in distance learning programs.


Speaker:  Stacy Chiaramonte

Stacy Chiaramonte is the Director of Operations for WPI’s Corporate and Professional Education (CPE) division.  The CPE department administers WPI’s online graduate programs, which have been offered for more than 30 years, as well as corporate graduate programs and professional development programs.  Stacy is directly responsible for online strategy, program development, logistics and operations for WPI’s 14 current programs, as well as the logistics and operations for numerous corporate graduate programs.  During Stacy’s tenure, WPI Online has doubled the number of programs and enrolled students while increasing student support and quality.  Stacy holds a Bachelor’s in Business Administration from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst and a MBA from Babson College.


Speaker:  Julienne Cuccio Slichko

Julienne Cuccio Slichko is an Instructional Developer, part-time Lecturer, and a Doctoral Candidate at The University at Albany.  Julienne holds a MS in Special Education and Elementary Education from Mount St. Mary College, as well as, a CAS in School Building Leadership from The College of St. Rose.  With over fifteen years of experience teaching Special Education in the K-12 sector, she now teaches at UAlbany in the Division of Special Education.  She is published in several scholarly journals, has presented at educational conferences, and has facilitated professional development for teachers and faculty, at all levels.  Her research interests include instructional technology, mobile learning, and digital game-based learning. 


Speaker: Cathy Doherty

Cathy Doherty has been the SNHUconnect Community Specialist at SNHU Online since September 2013. She obtained her bachelor’s degree from Assumption College in 2013 in Organizational Communication with a minor in Information Technology. In January 2014, she began her Master of Arts in Communication, New Media, and Technology program at SNHU. Cathy has helped build and maintain SNHUconnect for nearly 15,000 student users.


Speaker: Tiffany Fifer

Tiffany Fifer has been the SNHUconnect Community Manager at SNHU Online since August 2014. She is a 2000 graduate of the SNHU 3Year Business Honors Program and a 2002 graduate of the SNHU MBA program. Tiffany worked in sales and marketing prior to returning to SNHU in 2004 as the Associate Director of Alumni Affinity Programs. In 2008, she transferred to the Student Affairs Division to work as the Director of Student Involvement. Tiffany transitioned to SNHUconnect to create unique online student experiences and advises the SNHUconnect Peer Leader program, co-advises the COCE Student Advisory Board.


Speaker:  Amanda Gould

Amanda J. Gould is the Chief of Operational Efficiency and Student Success at The American Women’s College and One-Day-A-Week College at Bay Path University in Springfield, MA. In this role, she oversees the entire online student experience from first student impressions through graduation, and is one of the six-member Executive Committee reporting to the President of the University.

Ms. Gould was a pivotal force behind a 2014 grant application that culminated in a $3.5 million grant to The American Women’s College to study the efficacy of adaptive learning on adult education. She oversees that four-year grant now.

Ms. Gould joined Bay Path in 2011 as the Director of Institutional Research and Data and has held the positions of Director of Analytics and Data and Deputy Chief of Operational Efficiency and Student Success prior to her current role. Previously, Ms. Gould held a number of increasingly responsible positions at Mt Holyoke College, culminating as Assistant Dean of Faculty. She also worked for Boston College Dean’s Office and Admissions earlier in her career.

Ms. Gould received her Master of Arts degree from Boston College.


Speaker:  Alaina Vinacco

Alaina Vinacco, M.Ed. graduated from James Madison University with a Bachelors of Arts in Psychology and later graduated from James Madison University with a Masters of Education in College Student Personnel Administration. After graduating with her Masters, Alaina went to the University of South Carolina (USC), where she worked as a Cross College advisor for three years, helping undergraduate student change their majors. Upon leaving USC, Alaina started working at Bay Path University as an Educator Coach with the American Women's College, where she works with adult women enrolled in online degree programs.