Joan Mudge (Co-Chair)
Joan Mudge has been at the Garrison Forest School in Owings Mills, Md. for 38 years where she has taught history and art history, has been College Counselor for over 30 years, and has been Dean of Faculty. An active member in NACAC since the mid 1980's, Joan was Vice President for Professional Development from 1996-99.  She has served on various committees and taught in workshops, many of them focusing on ways to help counselors promote college counseling, particularly for students in disadvantaged areas. For almost ten years, Joan taught "Counseling the College Bound Student" in the guidance and counseling graduate program at Loyola College in Baltimore and served on the NACAC AD Hoc Committee that produced a "textbook" for counselors in similar programs.  Joan will be moving to Lexington, Ky. this summer and will be continuing her relationship with Garrison Forest as a consultant.

Gwen Bailey
Gwen Bailey retired as a guidance counselor from Beavercreek High School in Beavercreek, Ohio. with 36 years of experience in the state.  Following her retirement, in 2000, she moved to Greenville, S.C. where she worked as a guidance counselor at Eastside High School for five years.  A longtime active member of the Ohio Association for College Admission Counseling (OACAC) and the National Association for College Admission Counseling (NACAC), Gwen has been an Ohio delegate to NACAC and has also tellered for the last 10 years.  Since moving to South Carolina, she has become active with the Southern Association for College Admission Counseling (SACAC) as well.  In 2007, Gwen served as co-chair for the South Carolina Drive-In Workshop held at Furman University.

Teri Calcagno
Teri Calcagno is the College Counselor for Central Catholic High School in Portland, Ore.  She has worked at the school since 1991 and is also an alumna. Teri has been a member of the National Association for College Admission Counseling (NACAC) since 1995. In addition, she has been active with the Pacific Northwest Association for College Admission Counseling (PNACAC) and was elected to serve as President of the Association in the spring of 2004. She is serving a second term as Past President this coming year. Other professional affiliations include serving as the State Representative for Oregon for ACT, as well as assisting with the Portland Area College Counseling Consortium.  Teri became acquainted with the Center for Student Opportunity in the spring of 2006. With the help of their staff, she began volunteering with the “I Have a Dream”® Foundation-Oregon.

Latrice Harris-Collins
Latrice Harris-Collins serves as Admissions Counselor and Multicultural Community Outreach Coordinator at Marquette University in Milwaukee, Wis., where she has been on staff since 2004.  An active member of the National Association for College Admission Counseling (NACAC), Latrice is also the president of the NACAC African American Caucus. 

Kelly Farmer
Kelly Farmer is Assistant Director of Admissions at Villa Julie College, located just outside Baltimore, Md., where she has been on staff since 2002.  Kelly earned a B.A. in journalism from University of Maryland, College Park, and is currently a graduate student in Maryland's Higher Education Administration program.  As the first in her family to attend college, Kelly's research interests surround access and affordability for first-generation students.  She has served on multiple conference planning committees for the Potomac and Chesapeake Association for College Admission Counseling (PCACAC) and has been a conference presenter.  Kelly joined the Advisory Board following a temporary position as CSOs Program Coordinator for Counseling Outreach during summer 2007.
  
Mary Lee Hoganson
Bio Coming Soon

Diane Hoge
Diane Hoge retired in June after working as a school counselor for 19 years in the Whitefish Bay School District of Wisconsin.  In her retirement, Diane plans to divide her time between Milwaukee and the Fort Myers/Bonita Springs area in Florida and would like to help develop programs that assure college access to underrepresented students.  She will also consult in the areas of college and career planning.  Diane has been an active member of the National Association for College Admission Counseling (NACAC) serving on the local committee for the 2004 national conference. She also is an active member of her local Wisconsin ACAC where she served as Communications Chair.  Diane graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Madison with a degree in psychology and worked in the insurance industry before returning to the University of WI-Milwaukee to earn a master’s degree in Educational Psychology.  

Mary Alice Katon
Mary Alice Katon is originally from Fitchburg, Mass.  She received an A.A. in Business Management from Cazenovia College and a B.S. in Business Administration from Skidmore College.  She also has an M.S. in Counseling from Fitchburg State College, with a concentration in Secondary School Guidance.  She began her counseling career at Mount Wachusett Community College in Gardner, Mass. as a counselor for Educational Talent Search, and subsequently became Assistant Director of the Program until her move to Charlotte in December 2000.   She was hired by Communities In Schools in March 2001 as manager of their new ThinkCOLLEGE® & Career Center, becoming director of the Center in March 2002.  In August 2006, Mary Alice became director of College Access Programs for Communities In Schools, responsible for a newly funded Talent Search grant, and oversight of the ThinkCOLLEGE® & Career Center and the Kids to College program.

Sonja Montiel
Sonja Montiel founded College Confidence in 2002.  She earned her M.A. in Education from the University of California, Santa Barbara with an emphasis in educational leadership and organizations. Sonja became an admissions counselor for UC Santa Barbara from 1999-2002 during the controversial transition of moving college admissions to a more “comprehensive review” process. She has had extensive experience in reading and editing applications, producing college publications, coordinating recruitment efforts, and facilitating incoming college students to their new college life. Sonja has served on the Executive Board of the Western Association of College Admissions Counselors (WACAC) and is an active member for the National Association of College Admission Counseling (NACAC). She is also a member of the Higher Educational Consultants Association (HECA), and conducts numerous seminars and workshops to families about the college admissions process.

Candace Powell
Bio Comming Soon

Linda Shapiro
Linda Shapiro has a Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology from Harvard and worked for sixteen years as Chair of the Counseling Dept at Newton North High School in Newton Mass.  She is presently an independent college counselor.  A former president of the New England Association for College Admission Counseling, Dr. Shapiro is active and well known in the college admissions field. In working with students and families her goals are to make the process a growth experience, to lower anxiety, and to find colleges that fit the students’ needs and goals.  She has been a volunteer consultant to the Dudley Street Neighborhood Initiative in Roxbury, helping the agency provide information and support to low income and minority students as they apply to college.  

Kalith Smith
Kalith Smith started his career in college admission at Texas Tech University where he worked with Top Scholar students.  After completing his M.A. in Higher Education Administration at Texas Tech, he served as a Peace Corps Trainee in Vanuatu.  Kalith worked at Avila University in Kansas City, Mo. as Assistant Director of Admission and at Saint Louis University as Associate/Acting Director of Admission.  Kalith is currently serving as an Academic Counselor at New Mexico Military Institute, a college prep boarding school in Roswell, N.M.  Working with local organizations, he is in the preliminary stages of beginning a college preparation program geared toward first-generation college students.

Lynn Stewart
Lynn C. Stewart currently serves as a college counselor at Lake Highland Preparatory School in Orlando, Fla.  A graduate of Stephens College (Mo.), Lynn earned a bachelor's degree in Political Science.  She later earned a master's degree in Counseling from Saint Louis University (Mo.).  Lynn began her career in education as an admissions representative for Harris-Stowe State College.  In 1996 she joined the admissions team at Saint Louis University as the Coordinator for Multicultural Recruitment and later became Assistant Director of Admissions.  After 10 years in college admissions, her interest in secondary education brought her to Lake Highland Preparatory School.  A long time member of the Southern Association for College Admission Counseling (SACAC), Lynn co-chaired the SACAC Mentor Program and most recently served on faculty for Camp College.  This fall she is coordinating registration for the Central Florida College Fair sponsored by the Central Florida Consortium of Private School Counselors (CFLPSC).

Amy Takayama-Perez
Amy Takayama-Perez is currently the Guidance Specialist for Loudoun County Public Schools.  In this role she supports the office of Guidance Services in K-12 initiatives and directs the county’s college access program, CAMPUS (College Achievement Minority Program for Unique Students), which serves underrepresented college bound students.  Prior to moving to the secondary side, Amy was the Director of Recruitment for George Mason University in Fairfax, Va., her alma mater, where she worked for 10 years.

Amy is active with the Potomac and Chesapeake Association for College Admission Counseling (PCACAC), co-chairing the Professional Development Committee and working on several conference planning and ad-hoc committees.  Amy has served as a NACAC assembly delegate and presenter and held a two-year faculty appointment with the NACAC Guiding the Way to Inclusion/Counselor of Color Workshop.  She was honored with the PCACAC 2005 Counselor of the Year Award for her work.

Pat Walters
Pat Walters has had a rich and varied career in education – as an English teacher, Student Activities Director, Counselor in public high schools in Virginia, California, and Texas, and now as a Certified Educational Planner.  Her educational credentials include an M.Ed. in Counseling and Development from George Mason University and a B.S. in Education from Texas Christian University.  In 1997 she was awarded a Certificate in College Admissions Advising from UC Berkeley Extension.  For the past decade, her focus as an educator has been academic and college advising.  From 2004 – 2007 she was the College/Career Counselor and AP Testing Coordinator at Westlake High School in Austin, Texas.   Pat retired from public education in June, 2007.  She plans to continue her work with high school students, promoting the value of a college education and providing them with the information they need to navigate the college admissions process.