ASACCU PRESENTATIONS

Donna M. Carroll, EdD, Executive Director, Association for Catholic Colleges and Universities (ACCU)

Donna Carroll’s career began in student affairs — a young professional with an appetite for responsibility. Several moves and promotions later, including appointments as an academic dean and a chief advancement officer, Dr. Carroll returned to her home city of New York to work at Fordham University. In 1994, she became the 10th president of Dominican University in Illinois, the institution’s first lay leader and one of the youngest presidents in the country.

Dr. Carroll describes her current position as Executive Director of the Association of Catholic Colleges and Universities (ACCU) as an “unexpected blessing.” After 28 years as a president, including a year as interim president of North Central College, Dr. Carroll has the opportunity to contribute to Catholic higher education in a new role and at a national level.

Donna Carroll’s leadership legacy is punctuated by multiple accomplishments, strategic and financial, including the successful name change of Rosary College to Dominican University. However, it is her outspoken advocacy for the rights of undocumented and marginalized students that has defined her career and brought her national recognition. Dr. Carroll received the Strangers No Longer Award from the Archdiocese of Chicago, the Moral Courage Award from Faith in Public Life, and the Dominican Veritas Award, among others. In 2022, ACCU honored her with the Rev. Theodore M. Hesburgh, CSC Award for outstanding contributions to Catholic higher education.

Throughout her career, Dr. Carroll has balanced institutional responsibilities with active civic, association, and educational leadership. She has served on the boards of Interfaith America, Chicago Catholic Schools, Fordham University, The HistoryMakers, Abraham Lincoln Library, to name just a few, as well many regional and national higher education association boards. She is currently a trustee of Dominican Veritas Ministries, the sponsoring board for Dominican elementary and secondary education.

Dr. Carroll received her bachelor’s degree in English from Wellesley College and her master and doctoral degrees in higher education administration and counseling from the University of Cincinnati. In 2021, she received an honorary degree from Edgewood College.

Tshombe Brown, Director of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, University of Portland

Tshombé Brown is the inaugural Director of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion at the University of Portland, a Congregation of Holy Cross (CSC) institution.

Prior to his appointment to this position in April 2023, Tshombé served the University in multiple roles. At Moreau Center for Service and Justice, Tshombé coordinated community engagement experiences for students, developed off-campus partnerships, and designed and implemented training for student development and formation. He has served as a co-chair for the MLK Day On University-wide committee since 2019. Tshombé has been Hall Director for two dorm residences, where he has supported and formed students and colleagues in the tradition of our CSC charismatic sense of residentiality. The consistent thread woven through Tshombé’s work is his pastoral care, deep love for students, and his persistent commitment to equity and justice for all.  

Tshombé was co-writer of the 3rd Edition of Principles of Good Practice for Student Affairs at Catholic Colleges and Universities (2022), and he has served on multiple boards and committees on- and off-campus since coming to University of Portland. Tshombé studied Linguistics, Theatre, and Spanish at Western Washington University, and he holds certification in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL). Tshombé is currently pursuing an MEd with an ESOL emphasis at University of Portland.  

For fun, Tshombé enjoys working out, all that the great Pacific Northwest outdoors (hiking, backpacking, camping) has to offer, foreign film, cooking for others, and full-body-swing-your-head-back laughter.  

Manuela Hill-Munoz, MEd, Director of Social Justice and Changemaking at the Center for the Common Good, University of St. Thomas

Manuela Hill-Muñoz, M.Ed., is the Director of Social Justice and Changemaking at the Center for the Common Good at the University of St. Thomas. In this role since 2023, Manuela oversees visionary initiatives including the VISION program, the CEVEA-civic engagement efforts, and Changemaking education and programming. Manuela spearheads collaborative university-community partnerships enabling students, faculty, and staff to work with community organizations for mutual benefit.

Manuela has served the University of St. Thomas in various student affairs roles since 2014 before assuming her current Director position. She earned her Master of Education degree from the University of Virginia, focusing her studies on higher education administration, student development, and leadership. As a seasoned Latina professional, Manuela brings a commitment to empowering students and communities through engagement. Passionate about developing future leaders, Manuela engages students in leadership development, respectful dialogue, creativity, active citizenship, innovation, social innovation, and civic mindset. She is dedicated to advancing inclusive, mutually beneficial partnerships between the University of St. Thomas and the community locally, nationally, and globally.

Teresa "Terry" Nance, PhD, Vice President for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion and Chief Diversity Officer, Villanova University

Dr. Teresa Nance serves as the Vice President for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, and Chief Diversity Officer and as a Professor of Communication. In this role, she is leading the Office of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion. She is currently on sabbatical with plans to retire. 

Dr. Nance’s Villanova career spans more than four decades, during which time she has served as an administrator, teacher, scholar, activist and ‘support system’ for students, faculty, and staff at the University. In 2018, The National Association of Diversity Officers in Higher Education recognized Dr. Nance with the Frank W. Hale, Jr. Distinguished Service Award—an honor given to individuals who have “contributed substantially to diversity and inclusive excellence in higher education.”

Dr. Nance was the first Black tenure-track faculty member in the Department of Communication at Villanova, where she established an African American rhetoric course and created the highly sought-after multicultural leadership course. As a researcher, Dr. Nance has investigated the perceptions and stages of interracial relationship development, diversity and inclusion, and intergroup dialogue. She was the founding Assistant Vice President for the Center for Multicultural Affairs. In 2015—to further elevate the University’s commitment to diversity and inclusion—Villanova created the Office of Diversity and Inclusion making Dr. Nance its founding director and naming her named Associate Vice Provost of Diversity and Inclusion and Chief Diversity Officer.

Led by Dr. Nance, the Office of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (ODEI) supports Villanova’s continuing efforts to create a welcoming and diverse community at all levels, including students, faculty, administrators, and staff. The office works with academic, administrative, and other units of the University to develop strategies aimed at fostering a Villanova community where individual differences are acknowledged and appreciated.  Most recently Dr. Nance led the Aequitas Task Force on Race at the University.  The Task Force which involved over 100 Villanovans examined all aspects of university life as a means of striving toward assuring equity and justice for all.

Terry Nance received a Bachelor and Master’s degree from Emerson College in Boston and a Ph.D. from Temple University in Philadelphia. Terry currently lives in Center City Philadelphia with her husband Kermit Moore, a retired Communication professor. They have two wonderful grown sons named Christian and Jesse. 

Kristina Ruiz-Mesa, PhD, Associate Professor and Graduate Director of Communication, Fairfield University

Dr. Kristina Ruiz-Mesa is an Associate Professor and Graduate Director of Communication at Fairfield University. Prior to her arrival at Fairfield, Dr. Ruiz-Mesa spent more than a decade as the director of one of the largest oral communication programs in the nation and a full professor of Communication at California State University, Los Angeles. Before joining the Cal State LA faculty in 2013, Dr. Ruiz-Mesa worked in diversity, equity, and inclusion research at Villanova University where she founded the St. Thomas of Villanova Scholars (STOVS) pre-college bridge program; a program she directed for 10 years.

Dr. Ruiz-Mesa loves teaching and has designed and taught a variety of undergraduate and graduate-level courses on instructional communication, qualitative and critical research methods, organizational communication, equity, race, and feminism. Her research focuses on organizational and instructional communication practices to improve institutional diversity, equity, and inclusion. Her work has been presented at conferences throughout the United States and Europe and has been published in the Journal of Communication Pedagogy, The Hispanic Outlook in Higher Education, Management Communication Quarterly, Journal of Applied Communication Research, Communication Education, Basic Communication Course Annual, the Journal of Contemporary Ethnography, and in book chapters on a variety of issues related to public speaking, diversity leadership, higher education, race, and feminism. She is the lead author of Inclusive Public Speaking, a national textbook designed to help individuals communicate effectively, reflect on their intersectional identities, and connect with diverse audiences.

Dr. Ruiz-Mesa earned a B.A. and M.A. in Communication from Villanova University, and a Ph.D. in Organizational Communication from the University of Colorado at Boulder, where she took coursework in Communication, Ethnic Studies, and Higher Education and studied the communication practices of chief diversity officers in U.S. colleges and universities.

Dr. Ruiz-Mesa is a sought-after consultant and speaker on organizational communication, inclusion, and equity, and she has advised organizational leaders throughout North America. She actively contributes to various boards, including serving on the national board of advisors for the Association of College and University Educators, the Villanova University Alumni Association Board of Directors, and the Pacific Marine Mammal Center’s Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Board. Dr. Ruiz-Mesa believes in the power of communication to build community and create a more equitable and kinder world.