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NASPA Executive Director Gwendolyn Dungy  

An accomplished speaker, leader, and educator, Gwendolyn Jordan Dungy has been executive director of NASPA since 1995. In her capacity as a national advocate for students and the primary spokesperson for student affairs administrators and practitioners, she draws on more than 30 years of experience in higher education.

Before joining NASPA, Dr. Dungy was associate director of the Curriculum and Faculty Development Network and coordinator of the National Diversity Network at the Association of American Colleges & Universities. Previously, she was a senior administrator at the County College of Morris (NJ), Montgomery College (MD), and Catonsville Community College (MD), and a counseling faculty member at St. Louis Community College (MO).

Dr. Dungy represents NASPA in national forums such as the Washington Higher Education Secretariat, which includes the leaders of approximately 50 higher education associations. While at NASPA, she has pursued a number of initiatives designed to enhance the association's role in public policy, research, professional development, and student learning and assessment, with a particular interest in the increasing veteran student population. Dr. Dungy is called on frequently to speak on a wide range of topics at conferences nationally and internationally.

In the international arena, Dr. Dungy has increased alliances and collaborations between NASPA and associations and non-profit groups in other nations. At the behest of the Department of Education and the State Department, she traveled to Jordan in order to represent student affairs and moderate a panel addressing community colleges in the Middle East and North Africa. She also served as a consultant to the Center for Higher Education Transformation in South Africa in its work to facilitate the establishment of a national association for student services professionals in that country. She spent several months in Mexico creating strategic professional relationships and exploring how NASPA can learn from international communities and provide unique value to the lives of students abroad. After Mexico, she represented US student affairs at the 50th anniversary of the National Academy of Education Administration in Beijing, Peoples Republic of China.

Dr. Dungy has served as a member of the board of directors of HEADS UP – A University Neighborhood Initiative in Washington, DC, the Association Mutual Health Insurance Company, Berkeley College-New York and New Jersey, the American Association of University Women's Legal Advocacy Fund, the AAUW Educational Foundation, the Morris Shelter and Morris Museum, and as a trustee of the California Institute of Integral Studies and Gettysburg College.

Dr. Dungy is the author of numerous articles in higher education books, journals and magazines, including the oft-cited Learning Reconsidered: A Campus-Wide Focus on the Student Experience, which she also initiated. She is also a contributing author of Learning Reconsidered II: A Practical Guide to Implementing a Campus-Wide Focus on the Student Experience. She consults regularly for colleges, universities, corporations, and government agencies on strategic planning and leadership and has given frequent presentations at national association meetings, institutes, conferences, and professional development events.

A licensed psychologist and a nationally certified professional counselor and career counselor, Dr. Dungy earned B.S. and M.S. degrees from Eastern Illinois University, a M.A. degree from Drew University in New Jersey, and a Ph.D. from Washington University in St. Louis.