Melissa Baker

Assistant Vice Provost, Institutional Research and Analysis, Carnegie Mellon University

Learn More About Melissa Baker

Melissa Baker joined CMU's Division of Budget and Planning in 1999, moved to Institutional Research (IR) when it was created in 2005, and now serves as Assistant Vice Provost of Institutional Research and Analysis. She oversees all aspects of the university's IR functions, including assessment and internal and external analyses and reporting on students, faculty, staff, finances, research, space, and alumni. She is innovative in producing solutions to new and old questions through her knowledge of experiencing many iterations of CMU data, processes, and systems over her 24 years at the university.

As part of Institutional Effectiveness and Planning, Baker is fortunate to be part of a cohesive team working towards elevating the university's thoughtful use of data to make informed decisions and assist stakeholders with all facts of institutional planning.

Angela Blanton

Vice President for Finance and Chief Financial Officer, Carnegie Mellon University

Learn More About Angela Blanton

Angela Blanton was appointed CMU’s Vice President for Finance and Chief Financial Officer in 2017 after serving as interim vice president and CFO in 2016. As CFO, Blanton provides strategic leadership for the university’s business and finance functions and the management of its financial and capital resources.

Blanton oversees Budget and Financial Planning, Business Applications Development and Support, the Controller’s Office, Procurement Services, the Treasurer’s Office, Finance Training and Communications, and University Audit Services. Within those units lie critical business functions, including (but not limited to) payroll, financial reporting, accounts receivable and payable, sponsored projects accounting, international operations, and financial systems. She is highly collaborative across all functions to support the university’s vision of transformative impact on society through continual innovation in education, research, creativity, and entrepreneurship.

Blanton has over two decades of experience in finance, project management and engineering disciplines within the higher education, financial services and manufacturing industries; prior to joining Carnegie Mellon, she was CFO for PNC Investments. Blanton serves on the board of the global asset management firm GCM Grosvenor, which became a public company in 2020. She is chair of Pittsburgh Public Theater’s Board of Trustees, and volunteers on several other non-profit boards, including the Black Economic Advancement Mobility (BEAM) Collaborative and the National Association of College and University Business Officers (NACUBO). Additionally, Blanton serves on the Inclusive & Equitable Economy Committee for the Pennsylvania Economy League of Greater Pittsburgh (PELGP).

Gina Casalegno

Vice President for Student Affairs and Dean of Students

Learn More About Gina Casalegno

Gina Casalegno was appointed Carnegie Mellon University’s first vice president for Student Affairs in 2016, building upon her role as Dean of Students, which she assumed in 2010. Casalegno oversees Carnegie Mellon’s Division of Student Affairs, which is committed to supporting student success and enhancing the CMU Experience.

Casalegno and her team serve as the principal architects of the meta-curriculum. She leads 20 departments that engage students in every facet of their Carnegie Mellon education. Current priorities for Casalegno and her Student Affairs colleagues include implementing recommendations of the Task Force for the CMU Experience, building a new health, wellness, and athletics center to enhance the student experience, and executing a master plan for residential facilities and neighborhood concepts.

Casalegno joined Carnegie Mellon University in 2002 and served in a variety of leadership roles before being named Dean of Students. Prior to her tenure at Carnegie Mellon, She worked in residence life at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Casalegno holds a bachelor’s degree in Psychology from the University of California at San Diego and earned her master’s in Counseling with an emphasis in Higher Education from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Mark Chimel

Assistant Director for Institutional Research and Analysis, Carnegie Mellon University

Learn More About Mark Chimel

Mark Chimel joined Carnegie Mellon’s institutional research team in November 2021 and is now an assistant director in the office. Since joining CMU, he has worked on various assessment and analysis projects, including working with the Mastercard Foundation Scholars Program at CMU-Africa, Tartan Scholars, the Academic and Professional Engagement Survey, and efforts to centralize graduate data. He has been the project manager for the Graduate Applications and Admissions Data (GRAAD) project, which has brought together graduate admissions data from sixteen different systems in a centralized data set.

Before joining CMU, Mark worked in higher education in several roles, from baseball coach to academic advisor to leading an online and continuing education unit. The knowledge gained from serving in these varied roles across institutions has been beneficial in understanding the diverse areas he now partners within institutional research. Mark’s interests in expanding access to high-quality education and breaking down silos to deliver solutions have also been integral to the projects he has worked on at CMU.

Donald Coffelt

P.E. Associate Vice President for Facilities Management & Campus Services

Learn More About Donald Coffelt

Donald Coffelt is the Associate Vice President for Facilities Management and Campus Services and Associate Vice President for Enterprise Space Strategies at Carnegie Mellon University. His 400-member team provides facility services, infrastructure management, utility operations, and auxiliary services required to support the university’s 150-acre Pittsburgh campus. Coffelt, who reports to the Vice President for Operations, is also responsible for coordinating university-wide sustainability practices.

From 1995 to 2003, Coffelt was a Pittsburgh area facility services and technology firm executive with nationwide program management responsibilities. From 1985 through 2013, he served in various leadership assignments across the United States as an officer in the U.S. Coast Guard before completing a 28-year career at the rank of Captain in the U.S. Coast Guard Reserve.

In addition to his doctorate from Carnegie Mellon University, Coffelt is a United States Coast Guard Academy graduate in New London, CT, and the University of Illinois. He is a Fellow of the American Society of Civil Engineers and licensed as a professional engineer in Alaska and Pennsylvania. His published works include a graduate-level textbook, Fundamentals of Infrastructure Management. Dr. Coffelt is active in community service and serves on several boards, including the United States Coast Guard Academy Alumni Association.

Amy Coutu

Assistant Vice President, Enterprise Applications, Carnegie Mellon University

Learn More About Amy Coutu

Amy Coutu is the assistant vice president of Enterprise Applications. In her role, Coutu works with the ClO, the Senior Management Team (SMT), and many Business Partners across the campus, providing leadership throughout the strategic planning, development, and support phases of essential university enterprise applications and data solutions. Along with the expertise of our partners, she helps drive the university toward more efficient business and IT solutions. She also drives change to improve practices in enterprise application and data solution development, support, and architecture.

Before coming to CMU, her past roles included developer, business analyst, software architect, director, and VP of IT. She has worked in various industries, including IBM, CA Technologies, and OnLogic, and consulted for local Vermont government agencies. During her career, she has recognized the importance of building strong teams and focusing on user experience to drive positive business outcomes. Technology is only as successful as its adoption. Her personal philosophy is that IT should be an enabler of growth for a business, not a cost of doing business.

Josephine Dru

Senior Data Analyst and Dashboard Developer, Computing Services, Carnegie Mellon University

Learn More About Josephine Dru

Josephine Dru joined Carnegie Mellon University in 2022 as a senior data analyst and dashboard developer on the Enterprise Information Systems team. Attracted by CMU’s commitments to collaboration and sustainability, Josephine enjoys working with colleagues from multiple areas of the university, designing and documenting datasets and dashboards to meet enterprise decision-making needs, mutually improving facility with Tableau and Snowflake, and learning from CMU’s Green Practices Committee and Digital Accessibility Office.

In prior contexts, Josephine studied ancient languages, taught history and theology, worked in museum curation and digital humanities, and provided data management for a website of racial equity resources. She is an avid reader, devoted cat mom, and long-time pianist (trained at CMU in childhood). Her favorite hobbies include accompanying fellow musicians, browsing data visualization galleries, organizing life with spreadsheets, and admiring clever 404 pages.

James H. Garrett Jr.

Provost and Chief Academic Officer, Carnegie Mellon University

Learn More About James H. Garrett Jr.

James H. Garrett Jr. was named CMU’s provost and chief academic officer in January 2019. In this role, Garrett is responsible for leading CMU's schools, colleges, institutes, and campuses and is instrumental in institutional and academic planning and implementation.

A faculty member since 1990, Garrett became dean of CMU's College of Engineering in 2013. Prior to that, he headed the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering for six years.

Garrett is Carnegie Mellon plaid through and through, having received his B.S. ('82), M.S. ('83), and Ph.D. ('86) degrees in Civil and Environmental Engineering from the institution. He joined the college faculty as an assistant professor in 1990 and was promoted to full professor in 1996. Garrett has served in other administrative roles, including associate dean for Graduate and Faculty Affairs (2000-2006), acting dean (2004), and faculty co-director of the Smart Infrastructure Institute, a research center aimed at developing sensing technology for construction and infrastructure systems.

Rana Glasgal

Vice Provost for Decision Support, Northeastern University

Learn More About Rana Glasgal

Rana Glasgal has nearly 25 years of experience in higher education data and analytics. She is currently the Vice Provost for Data and Analytics at Northeastern University, where she facilitates institutional decision-making by providing integrated analysis and research. Her team, University Decision Support, provides analytics, institutional research, data governance, data literacy, and survey research for the university.

Prior to holding this position, Rana spent over 18 years at Stanford University as Assistant Vice President for Workforce Analytics, designing and promoting the use of analytics for decision-making in academic human resources, and as Associate Vice Provost for Institutional Research and Decision Support. Before Stanford, she was a consultant with Decision Focus Incorporated. Rana is active as a volunteer for her alma mater, Cornell University, serving as an alumni-elected trustee on the Cornell Board of Trustees and as a lifetime member of the Cornell University Council. Rana holds her B.S. and M.Eng. from Cornell in Operations Research. Outside of work, Rana enjoys playing tennis and ice hockey, reading good books, and making friends with other people’s cats.

Alexandra Hiniker

Director, The Sustainability Initiative, Carnegie Mellon University

Learn More About Alexandra Hiniker

As director of the Sustainability Initiative at Carnegie Mellon, Alexandra Hiniker spearheads the university's commitment to centering equity across education, research, and practices to make the world more sustainable for all using the framework of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), also known as the Global Goals. Additionally, she serves on the steering committee of the university’s Artists and Scholars at Risk program and the U.S. steering committee of Scholars at Risk.

Hiniker’s approach to sustainability is informed by 20 years of experience advocating for, creating, and implementing equitable policies and programs at local and global levels.

Before joining Carnegie Mellon in 2020, she oversaw New York City’s Global Goals program at the Mayor’s Office for International Affairs. She previously led humanitarian disarmament initiatives in Cambodia, Laos, and Lebanon and then established and directed the United Nations office for the peace organization PAX. She began her international development career implementing pandemic preparedness projects in Africa, Asia, and Eastern Europe. Before that, she was a Princeton Project 55 Fellow with the Center for Neighborhood Technology.

Matthew Hoolsema

Associate Director, Data Science and Advanced Analytics, Carnegie Mellon University

Learn More About Matthew Hoolsema

Matthew Hoolsema joined CMU in 2015 and now serves as associate director of data science and advanced analytics in the Office of Institutional Effectiveness and Planning. He oversees data modeling and dashboarding projects for university leadership and the campus community and the development of new predictive analytic models to support early interventions with students. He has extensive experience leading data and analytical projects on student persistence and graduation, academic advising, participation in high-impact educational practices, peer benchmarking, and university carrying capacity and constraints. Prior to working in higher education, Matthew was a K-12 teacher and continues to promote data-informed strategies and policies that promote student access and success in education.

Theresa Mayer

Vice President for Research

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Theresa S. Mayer is Carnegie Mellon University’s Vice President for Research, providing leadership for the University’s research enterprise and advocating for the role that science, technology, and innovation play nationally and globally.

Theresa holds joint faculty appointments in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering and the Department of Materials Science and Engineering in the College of Engineering. She was previously Purdue University’s executive vice president for research and partnerships and a professor of electrical and computer engineering, where she oversaw Purdue’s research enterprise.
Mayer served as vice president for research and innovation and a professor of electrical and computer engineering at Virginia Tech. Prior to her role at Virginia Tech, she was at Pennsylvania State University for more than 20 years, where she served as a distinguished professor of electrical engineering, associate dean for research and innovation in the College of Engineering, the site director of the National Science Foundation’s National Nanotechnology Infrastructure Network, and the director of the Materials Research Institute Nanofabrication Laboratory.

She is internationally recognized for her research in applications of nanotechnology to electronic and photonic devices with new and previously unexplored functions. Her work in directed and self-assembly of nanoparticles has been used to expand the types and complexity of materials that can be integrated into devices beyond standard lithographic approaches, enabling a wide range of novel structures from low-power integrated nanosensor circuits to nanostructured gradient index optical components.

Alexis Parker

Data Analytics Development Manager, Computing Services, Carnegie Mellon University

Learn More About Alexis Parker

Alexis Parker is the data analytics development lead in CMU's Computing Services Division. With a strong dedication to effectively leveraging data, Parker collaborates closely with campus partners to lead cross-functional teams in collecting, analyzing, and delivering actionable insights that drive informed decision-making. Her expertise and guidance contribute to the success of Carnegie Mellon's enterprise data services.

Prior to joining CMU, Parker held a position as a Product Architect and consultant at Jacobson Consulting Applications, where she developed and implemented Business Intelligence (BI) products and integrations for museums, zoos, and amusement parks worldwide. Parker attributes her success to the collective knowledge shared by clients throughout her career as a consultant, trainer, and technical writer. She is committed to enhancing business performance through collaborative knowledge building and effectively implementing data sharing strategies.

Bo Powers

AI Architect, Computing Services, Carnegie Mellon University

Learn More About Bo Powers

Bo Powers first joined CMU as a graduate student in the Department of Psychology. Their research combined empirical studies with computational simulations to explore how first-hand action experience can influence how we perceive others' actions--even in early infancy. After defending their dissertation in 2019, Bo switched paths and became a data scientist and consultant, working with clients across various industries to use machine learning and generative AI to solve real-world business problems. In 2024, Bo rejoined CMU in the newly created AI Architect role in Computing Services. In this role, Bo has been involved in several outreach initiatives, including creating a GenAI Community of Practice and organizing a GenAI workshop. They are excited to play a role in shaping the University's AI Strategy and are passionate about educating others to use AI safely and effectively.

Richard Scheines

Dean, Dietrich College of Humanities and Social Sciences

Learn More About Richard Scheines

Richard Scheines is the Dean of Carnegie Mellon University's Dietrich College of Humanities and Social Sciences. Scheines, a professor of philosophy, built his career on crossing academic disciplines and bringing that approach to the Office of the Dean. Before becoming dean of the Dietrich College in July 2014, Scheines served as head of the Department of Philosophy since 2005. In that role, he led the department to distinction, focusing on research that directly connects to various other fields, including computer science, math, statistics, brain science, medical ethics, and psychology.

Scheines joined the CMU faculty in 1990 and has additional appointments in the Machine Learning Department and Human-Computer Interaction Institute (HCII). His research focuses on causal discovery, the philosophy of social science, and educational technology and online courses. With CMU's Peter Spirtes and Clark Glymour, Scheines pioneered the development of the modern theory of statistical causal models, successfully applied in fields from genetics to climate modeling, brain imaging to social psychology, and educational research to economics. Their project, TETRAD, received a 2020 Super Artificial Intelligence Leader (SAIL) award at the World Artificial Intelligence Conference held in Shanghai. He led the design of the undergraduate major in human-computer interaction, and, with the late Steven Klepper, he redesigned a core methods course in social and decision sciences that received an honorable mention in the American Statistical Association's Causality in Statistics Education Awards.

Stan Waddell

Vice President for Information Technology and Chief Information Officer

Learn More About Stan Waddell

Stan Waddell serves as CMU’s vice president for information technology and chief information officer. Waddell provides vision, leadership, and management to CMU’s computing enterprise, including developing and implementing a university-wide IT strategy.

Waddell also serves as a member of the university’s executive management team, providing support and counsel regarding the role of technology in advancing university-wide priorities and leading the development of a comprehensive technology and data management strategy that meets CMU's long-term goals.

Before joining CMU, Waddell was the associate vice president for information technology and CIO at the University of New Hampshire. He was the assistant vice chancellor and chief technology officer at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and spent nine years at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center. Waddell also served in the U.S. Navy as an aviation electronics technician for nine years.

Henry Zheng

Vice Provost for Institutional Effectiveness and Planning, Carnegie Mellon University

Learn More About Henry Zheng

Henry Zheng is CMU's inaugural vice provost for institutional effectiveness and planning. Zheng oversees institutional research and analysis, data science, and advanced analytics functions. He oversees internal and external reporting of the university’s assessment plan and plays a leading role in strategizing and leading the development of a data culture at CMU. Zheng provides strategic guidance for planning, evaluation, data analysis, and research methodologies that support key planning initiatives and stakeholders across the university.

Prior to joining CMU, Zheng served in various leadership positions, including as an associate vice president for strategic analytics at The Ohio State University (OSU), vice provost for institutional research and strategic analytics at Lehigh University, and assistant vice president at the Office of Academic Affairs at OSU. Zheng was co-editor of Big Data on Campus: Data Analytics and Decision Making in Higher Education, a Johns Hopkin University Press publication. Earlier in his professional career, Zheng was a research fellow with the National Center for Education Statistics in Washington D.C. Zheng currently serves as the guest editor for Wiley’s Publishing’s New Direction for Higher Education focusing on artificial intelligence and machine learning.

Zoraya Cruz-Bonill, MPA

Data Quality Analyst, Institutional Research and Analysis, Carnegie Mellon University

Learn More About Zoraya Cruz-Bonill

Zoraya Cruz-Bonilla has worked in higher education for over 17 years and has a master’s degree in public administration from Binghamton University. Throughout her career in analytics, colleagues have often relied upon her to transform large volumes of data into meaningful insights or visual representations that are easier to interpret. As a Data Quality Analyst in the Office of Institutional Research and Analysis at Carnegie Mellon University, her work involves extracting, transforming, and wrangling with structured or unstructured data to maximize the value of data assets.