AAUA Appoints Five New Members to the Board of Directors
July 19, 2023
Bloomington, Indiana
The American Association of University Administrators Executive Committee appointed five new members to the Board of Directors to fill vacant positions. They include Ruma Chopra – Dean of the School for Cultural and Social Transformation, University of Utah; Junius Gonzales – Provost Montclair State University, Michael Mathews – VP of Innovation and Technology, Oral Roberts University; Barry Ryan – President of Woodbury University, and Joe Sallustio – Senior Vice President Lindenwood University.
“We are pleased and honored to welcome these new appointees to the Board of Board. Their vast experiences in higher education and enthusiasm will bring fresh views and perspectives to the board, and we appreciate their willingness to serve,” says President/CEO Dean Hoke. “The Executive Committee and I look forward to working together to advance the mission of AAUA.”
Left to Right: Ruma Chopra, Junius Gonzales, Michael Mathews, Barry Ryan, and Joe Sallustio
Biography of Appointments
Ruma Chopra
Dr. Chopra is the new Dean of the School for Cultural and Social Transformation at the University of Utah. Chopra is a professor of history, co-founder and director of the university-wide honors program at San Jose State University, and a 2021-2022 American Council on Education Fellow. She began her new role on July 1, 2023.
While at San Jose State University, Chopra served as associate dean of research in the College of Social Science, acting as the primary contact for retention, promotion, and tenure standards. In launching the HonorsX program at the university, she secured Adobe’s partnership to help fund the project. She continued to manage the program budget, supervise staff, lead marketing initiatives, and respond to faculty and student concerns. Before pursuing a doctorate degree and path toward higher education, Chopra worked for seven years in high-tech, holding consulting and managerial positions at Intel, Cisco, Bell Labs, and Google. She is a scholar of the American Revolution and American slavery and has authored three books on the subjects. She has appeared on C-Span, various Podcasts, and multiple essays and book chapters.
Dr. Chopra has previously served on the AAUA board and Professional Development Committee.
Junius Gonzales
Dr. Gonzales is the Provost and Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs at Montclair State University. He leads the university’s academic programs for teaching, research, scholarship, and creative inquiry and is responsible for academic planning, initiatives in teaching and learning, faculty and academic staff development. He served as New York Institute of Technology’s provost and vice president for Academic Affairs from 2018-2022. And prior was chief academic officer and senior vice president for Academic Affairs at the 17-campus University of North Carolina System from January 2015 through May 2018. Additionally, for four years, he served as provost and vice president of academic affairs at the University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP).
He is the recipient of numerous awards and recognitions. Recent examples include the NYC Hispanic Chamber of Commerce 2021 Educational Excellence Award, One of the NY State’s Responsible 100, the Diversity in Business Award, and the Long Island Hispanic Chamber of Commerce Award for Academic Excellence.
Gonzales is a member of the Executive Committee of the Council on Academic Affairs for APLU and of federal agency advisory councils (e.g., SAMHSA, AHRQ). He holds an A.B. from Brown University, an M.D. with honors from the University of Pennsylvania, and an M.B.A. with honors from the University of Maryland. He completed his residency at Massachusetts General Hospital and a post-doctoral fellowship at the National Institute of Mental Health.
Michael Mathews
Mr. Mathews is the Vice President for Global Learning and Innovation at Oral Roberts University. He has over 24 years of experience as a senior-level IT executive bringing creative solutions that value the end-users of technology and business process management. These solutions have benefited the end-users of higher education, manufacturing, and high-technology company products. Mike spent 12 years working at Cray Research, where he trained supercomputer engineers across major industry sectors, including the energy sector.
Michael has held positions as a VP of Innovation, chief information officer, general manager of CIOs, chief strategist for innovation, business development officer, trainer, teacher, and vice president of academic services for leading corporations and higher education. Mike has been a higher education and corporate training CIO for over 19 years. Michael has spoken on educational innovation at the White House on two occasions and the United Nations on three occasions.
Michael was named the 2022 Global Education 2.0 Award winner, 2021 Leading Global Leading Technologist, 2020 Top 20 Business Leaders by Industry Wired, 2019 Top Ten Innovators by Industry ERA, one of America’s Top 30 Education innovators in 2017, 2018 CIO 100 Award Winner—2015 Texas Education Star Award by the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board.
Barry Ryan
Dr. Ryan is President and CEO of Burbank, California-based Woodbury University. He has served as a tenured faculty member, department chair, dean, vice president, provost, and president at several institutions — in addition to being elected twice to the WASC (WSCUC) Accreditation Commission, serving the maximum six years.
A first-generation college student, he received his B.A. from Westmont College in Santa Barbara. Dr. Ryan earned his Ph.D. in History from UC Santa Barbara and a J.D. from UC Berkeley. He holds a post-graduate Diploma in Global Business from Oxford University. He has been a visiting doctoral scholar at Oxford University and the University of London. Beyond academia, Dr. Ryan has a long history of volunteer service, board membership, and leadership in numerous charitable organizations. He has been named a Fulbright Program Specialist with the U.S. Department of State.
Dr. Ryan also has an extensive legal and government background. Dr. Ryan served as the U.S. Supreme Court Fellow in the chambers of Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist and is a member of the Supreme Court Bar and multiple federal and state bars.
Joe Sallustio
Dr. Sallustio is Senior Vice President for Lindenwood Global at Lindenwood University. He was appointed to this role in 2022 after four years as Chief Operating Officer and Executive Vice President at Claremont Lincoln University. Dr. Sallustio has over 20 years of experience in higher education working for regionally accredited non-profit, regionally accredited for-profit, and nationally accredited for-profit institutions serving students from certificate to doctoral levels. He holds an EdD in organizational leadership from Northcentral University, an MS in organizational leadership from Regis University, and a BS in speech communications from the State University of New York College at Oneonta.
He is also co-founder and host of “The EdUp Experience,” the nation’s leading higher education podcast with over 300,000 listeners. Early after its founding, The EdUp Experience Podcast introduced its President Series and gave voice to what’s happening at the very top of the industry — how problems are solved, how students are served in new ways, how institutional visions are giving way to a collective re-envisioning of the entire industry. This led to writing the best-selling book: Commencement: The Beginning of a New Era in Higher Education – along with Kate Colbert, including contributions by Elvin Freytes.
The American Association of University Administrators is a non-profit organization for higher education leaders across the entire range of management (department chairperson through president) in all types of American higher education institutions (2-year, 4-year; public, private non-profit, private for-profit). AAUA’s mission is to advance superior standards for the profession of higher education administration.
To achieve these ends, the Association provides, through programs and services, opportunities for the professional development of its members, whether they be employed by colleges, universities, specialized institutions, or professional associations.
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For More Information:
Dean E. Hoke, President, and C.E.O.
AMERICAN ASSOCIATION OF UNIVERSITY ADMINISTRATORS
2412 N. Stonelake Circle │ Bloomington, Indiana 47404 – USA
phone: 502-257-1063 │ www.aaua.org
