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Front row: Nicholas Warcholak, Ellen George, Louise Sandmeyer, Barbara Sherlock
Second row: Joan Pecht, Michael Dooris, Nittany Lion, Ginny Hosterman, Marianne Guidos, Daniel Nugent

Louise Sandmeyer, Executive Director

Louise Sandmeyer is the Executive Director of the Office of Planning and Institutional Assessment at The Pennsylvania State University. The office facilitates the University’s planning, improvement, and assessment initiatives by using quality principles to help administrative and academic units develop strategic plans, improve key processes, and assess performance. Penn State has one of higher education’s longest continuous experiences with strategic planning and quality improvement.

Ms. Sandmeyer has been a member of the Operating Committee of the Juran Center for Leadership in Quality. She is a founding member and past president of the National Consortium for Continuous Improvement and received the 2007 NCCI Brent D. Ruben Award. She has served as the coordinator of the Committee on Institutional Cooperation (CIC) Academic Leadership Program, and as co-convener of the Kellogg Leadership for Institutional Change Initiative at Penn State. She staffed the University Strategic Planning Council, which developed Penn State’s new 5-year strategic plan, and is a member of the Coordinating Committee on University Assessment, which was charged to develop a university-wide assessment plan.

Ms. Sandmeyer is a frequent presenter at national conferences and often consults with colleges and universities about organizational effectiveness and institutional change. In 2008 she coauthored Assessing the Impact of the Spellings Commission – The Message, the Messenger, and the Dynamics of Change in Higher Education, a NACUBO publication.

She has a B.A. in English from Penn State and an M.A. in higher education administration from the University of Denver.

Michael Dooris, Director of Planning Research and Assessment

Michael Dooris is Director of Planning Research and Assessment in Penn State’s Office of Planning and Institutional Assessment. He supports university-level planning and decision making with analyses on topics such as strategic performance, instructional workload, faculty demographics, access and affordability, and student progress. He has been at Penn State since 1981 in a variety of positions, including in the university budget office and in undergraduate education. Previously, he worked as a statistician at the U.S. Census Bureau and in industry.

He is an affiliate associate professor in Penn State’s higher education graduate program, teaching courses on planning and budgeting and on organization theory, and serving on masters and doctoral student committees. He created and taught the first course in Penn State’s World Campus graduate certificate program in institutional research.  He has contributed over two dozen journal articles and chapters on planning and institutional research, and was co-editor of Successful Strategic Planning published by Jossey-Bass in 2004. He has served on four Middle States accreditation evaluation teams at other universities, is a Fulbright grantee, and has been professionally active throughout the U.S. as well as in Europe, Africa, and South America.

Mike was a CIC Academic Leadership Fellow in 1997-98. He has a Ph.D. in higher education from Penn State, an M.B.A from the University of Rhode Island, and a B.S. in economics from Penn State.

Marianne Guidos, Quality and Planning Research Associate

Marianne Guidos is the Quality and Planning Research Associate in the Office of Planning and Institutional Assessment. In this position, she consults with academic and academic support units on projects to enhance organizational effectiveness and provides analysis of outcomes and other data for selected projects.

Ms. Guidos has worked in research and program evaluation for over fifteen years. She has conducted performance auditing for a joint legislative committee of the Pennsylvania General Assembly, program evaluation at the Penn State Hershey Medical Center, institutional research at Harrisburg Area Community College, and market research for the Penn State Alumni Association. In the academic environment, she has much experience in research methodology, institutional assessment, survey design and administration, and data analysis.

Ms. Guidos is a graduate of Penn State three times over with an A. Eng. in solar heating and cooling technology, a B.S. in sociology, and an M.A. in sociology/demography.

Daniel Nugent, Management Information Associate

Daniel P. Nugent is a Management Information Associate in the Office of Planning and Institutional Assessment. In this role, he is responsible for preparing data for a variety of reports such as an analysis of the Faculty Exit Survey and Interviews for the Vice Provost for Academic Affairs and the Report on Faculty Salaries for the Faculty Benefits Committee of the University Faculty Senate. Mr. Nugent is also responsible for producing the
University's "Strategic Indicators" report, a companion to the University's strategic plan that gauges Penn State's progress toward the goals outlined in the strategic plan.

Mr. Nugent began his Penn State career as a staff assistant in the Center for Quality and Planning supporting the University's Continuous Quality Improvement and strategic planning initiatives. Prior to joining Penn State, Mr. Nugent worked as a program development specialist with Counseling & Care
Services, a private foster care agency in Pennsylvania, and then for Recruitment Management, Inc., a foster care consulting firm, as a professional recruiter and business manager.

Mr. Nugent is a graduate of Penn State with a B.S. in health policy and administration.

Barbara Sherlock, Planning and Improvement Associate

Barbara Sherlock is a planning and improvement associate in Penn State University’s Office of Planning and Institutional Assessment. She provides consulting and facilitation services to University teams and work units addressing planning, innovation and improvement initiatives, and coordinates, and presents quality improvement and planning programs for University faculty and staff.

Ms. Sherlock previously served in the United States Navy including as executive officer of Penn State’s NROTC unit, as a consultant in the Navy’s organizational development program, and in command, attaining the rank of Commander. She co-edited To Get The Job Done: Readings in Leadership and Management (2nd ed.) for Naval Institute Press.

She served as a Pennsylvania Quality Examiner, and as an Examiner and Judge for the Central Pennsylvania Quality Award. Ms. Sherlock is also a Credentialed Facilitator of Essential Lifestyle Person Centered Planning. She has shared her experiences and approaches in facilitating planning and improvement at conferences sponsored by the National Consortium for Continuous Improvement in Higher Education (NCCI), Society for College and University Planning (SCUP), and International Association of Facilitators (IAF). Most recently, Ms. Sherlock edited Integrating Planning, Assessment, and Improvement in Higher Education, a collection of Penn State’s Office of Planning and Institutional Assessment’s Innovation Insights published in 2009 by NACUBO, the National Association of College and University Business Officers.

Ms. Sherlock earned a B.A. in psychology from Wellesley College, an M.B.A. from Pepperdine University, and an M.S. in computer science (with distinction) from the Naval Postgraduate School.

Nicholas Warcholak, Analysis and Planning Associate

Nicholas Warcholak is the Analysis and Planning Associate. He is responsible for providing analytical support, and conducting institutional research using both quantitative and qualitative information relevant to strategic planning, institutional assessment, and improvement.

Prior to his current appointment, Mr. Warcholak served as a research assistant to various faculty members in the University while working on large-scale assessment projects for government agencies such as Pennsylvania's Department of Public Welfare and the National Center for Education Statistics. In the academic environment, he has significant experience researching assessment and methodology issues.

Mr. Warcholak has an M.S. in educational psychology from Penn State. He also has an M.S. in health education and a B.S. in psychology from East Stroudsburg University. He is a doctoral candidate in educational psychology at Penn State.

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