Meet Our New and Promoted Faculty

This year, the College of Professional Studies welcomed 15 new faculty colleagues and celebrated 11 faculty colleagues who earned a promotion, whose accomplishments are listed below.

The faculty of the College of Professional Studies create exceptional learning experiences that are essential to our students’ success. Along with that demonstrated excellence, the faculty also share a commitment to exploring new ways of responding to the changing needs of our students. Our faculty members’ ingenuity, expertise, and creativity in program and curriculum development prove that education can persist and even flourish during difficult times.

New Faculty:

Heidi Liu Banerjee

EdD (Applied Linguistics), Teachers College, Columbia University

Heidi Liu Banerjee is an assistant teaching professor in the NU Immerse and Global Pathway programs. Dr. Banerjee’s research and teaching interests include developing game- and scenario-based assessment and implementing learning-oriented assessment in language classrooms. Her dissertation, which investigates the construct of topical knowledge in a scenario-based language assessment, received a TIRF (The International Research Foundation for English Language Education) Doctoral Dissertation Grant and as well as ETS TOEFL (Educational Testing Service Test of English as a Foreign Language) Small Grants for Doctoral Research in Second or Foreign Language Assessment, and it was selected as the finalist for the Jacqueline Ross TOEFL Dissertation Award. Previously, Dr. Banerjee was a lecturer in the NU Immerse and Global Pathway programs where she taught English for academic purposes to international students. She also taught second language assessment to students enrolled in the TESOL Certificate program at Teachers College, Columbia University. Dr. Banerjee lives in the greater Boston area and teaches in Boston and online.

Alex Fronduto

DHS (Health Sciences), Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences

Alex Fronduto is an assistant teaching professor in the Graduate School of Education, where he teaches on topics that include strategic leadership in enrollment management, assessment and accreditation and the foundations of higher education. Dr. Fronduto’s research has ranged from the lab-based study of “Kaposi’s Sarcoma-associated Herpes Virus and Yeast-Two Hybrid System” to an investigation of team-based learning in health professions education and its impact on student achievement. He has also served as a Teaching Fellow in biochemistry at Boston University and as a Teaching Assistant in biochemistry at Simmons College. Dr. Fronduto previously worked for a decade in admissions at Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences, where he became Associate Director of Admissions in 2017. His responsibilities included recruitment of students, supervision of staff and student workers, operations and data management, educating students on affordability and financial aid and managing events and marketing. He lives in the greater Boston area and teaches in Boston and online.

Susan Gracia

PhD (Educational Measurement, Research and Evaluation), Boston College

Susan Gracia is an assistant teaching professor in the Analytics program. She is also a former faculty member in the college’s Graduate School of Education, where she taught courses in learning analytics, data mining, data visualization, text mining and classroom assessment. For the past 20 years, Dr. Gracia has directed her own consultancy in educational research and evaluation. She previously served as a tenured associate professor at the Feinstein School of Education and Human Development at Rhode Island College, designing and teaching a variety of research and evaluation courses. She also served as the Director of Assessment at Rhode Island College and at Simmons College, where she assessed student learning outcomes and teaching effectiveness and evaluated programs at the graduate and undergraduate levels. She has been a visiting professor of evaluation and learning analytics at the Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú since 2013. Dr. Gracia lives in Providence, RI, and teaches in Boston and online.

Fareed Hawwa

PhD (Mathematics), Louisiana State University

Fareed Hawwa is an assistant teaching professor in the Foundation Year program. Before joining Northeastern, Dr. Hawwa worked in the financial industry, first as an equities and exchange traded funds trader in New York City, then as an analyst, partner and head of trading at a financial firm in Chicago. In these roles he provided technical analysis and risk management using logic, quantitative analysis, and expertise in the mechanics of capital markets, leading trading and strategy for funds valued at $250 million in assets under management. In the course of his graduate studies at Louisiana State University (LSU), Dr. Hawwa was a three-time recipient of the LSU Mathematics Department Teaching Excellence Award for his work with LSU students. He was also named one of eight National Science Foundation GK-12 Fellows. He managed workshops for high school students on the LSU campus and at nearby high schools and implemented technology such as video conference teaching and online learning. Dr. Hawwa lives in Rhode Island and teaches in Boston and online.

Sarmann I. Kennedyd

PhD (Strategy, Program and Project Management), SKEMA Business School of Lille, France

Sarmann I. Kennedyd is an assistant teaching professor in the Project Management program. With more than 20 years of experience in business process reengineering, information technology systems development, managing complex projects and data analysis, Dr. Kennedyd has served as a strategic financial and business analyst, consultant, and project manager with companies that include AOL, Fannie Mae, Charles E. Smith, Verizon, and USAC (Universal Service Administrative Company). He has provided corporate training sessions in project, program, and agile management to professionals from all backgrounds in many countries. Previously, Dr. Kennedyd served as an Assistant Professor of Management at Kean University – Wenzhou China and at Northern New Mexico College, where his responsibilities included teaching, research, and developing undergraduate curricula for courses in operations management and project management. His research is focused on agile project management, electronic commerce, virtual communication in projects and topics related to the connected workplace. Dr. Kennedyd lives in the greater Seattle area and teaches at Northeastern’s Seattle campus and online.

Varsha S. Kulkarni

PhD (Information Sciences), Indiana University Bloomington

Varsha S. Kulkarni is an assistant teaching professor in the Analytics program. Dr. Kulkarni has worked at the Harvard Business School as a researcher specializing as a statistician and in applied math areas, as a research affiliate at the Harvard Institute of Quantitative Social Science. Her research encompasses quantitative data analysis, mathematical modeling and socioeconomics, and she has lectured on data analytics in business, socioeconomics and applied mathematical sciences. Her research on topics of the evolution of social innovation, inflation and volatility and rising food prices is published in academic journals including the Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics Journal on Applied Dynamical Systems. She has received numerous awards and fellowships. An affiliate of Harvard University, Dr. Kulkarni conducts research in various fields. Her interests are in dynamic models in social networks, social innovation modeling, health, development, macroeconomic modeling, market volatility, financial markets, and analysis of socioeconomic systems.

Todd Loeb

MBA, Boston University

Todd Loeb is an assistant academic specialist in the Project Management program. Professor Loeb is a consultant, speaker, author and blogger in the areas of project management tactics and strategy, communications and soft skills, and staff recruiting and development. In more than 30 years in the financial services industry, his professional roles have encompassed project management, leadership and technology. He has worked with organizations including State Street Corporation, Bank of New York Mellon, Thomson Financial, Barclay’s, and Liberty Mutual Insurance, where he managed the design, development, and implementation of several multi-million dollar technology platforms and helped clients improve project management practices. Currently a vice president and program manager at a large Boston investment management firm, Professor Loeb has been a certified Project Management Professional since 2003. In 2013, he published No Project Management by Powerpoint, a book on project management in the financial services industry. Professor Loeb lives in the greater Boston area and teaches in Boston and online.

Tim Mills

MBA (Global Management), Golden State University

Tim Mills is an assistant academic specialist in the Leadership and Project Management programs. He joined Northeastern as an associate professor in 2015. An executive management consultant, Professor Mills has led global projects with KPMG Consulting and IBM Global Services, focusing on information technology strategy and design, project management and e-commerce projects. He is a retired Lieutenant Colonel in the United States Air Force, where he managed acquisition and implementation of fighter aircraft, integrated telecommunications and ballistic missile programs. He also earned a Master of Science in Logistics Management at the Air Force Institute of Technology. Professor Mills has taught on topics including global project management, agile methods, and project portfolio management at Harvard University’s Division of Continuing Education, California State College Sacramento and as a guest lecturer at the US Naval Postgraduate School. He is a member of the Project Management Institute, a certified Project Management Professional, and an Agile Alliance-certified Scrum Master. Professor Mills lives in the greater Boston area and teaches in Boston and online.

Mikhail Oet

PhD (Designing Sustainable Systems), Case Western Reserve University

Mikhail Oet is an associate teaching professor and the faculty lead in the Commerce and Economic Development graduate program. Currently the Director of Analytics at Financial Network Analytics, a deep technology analytics innovator, Dr. Oet began his career with the Federal Reserve System, working to strengthen the resilience of risky and complex financial service organizations. He later led research, development and the extension of supervisory technologies and financial stability analytics at the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland. In 2016, he started the Economic Forecasting Group at the Bank of New York Mellon, the world’s largest asset servicing company. Dr. Oet has held teaching positions in economics, finance, and supervisory analytics at the Federal Reserve System, Cleveland State University, and Case Western Reserve University. He is the author of numerous articles in refereed journals including the Review of Finance and the European Journal of Finance. He lives in the greater Boston area and teaches in Boston and online.

Lindsay Portnoy

PhD (Educational Psychology), Fordham University

Lindsay Portnoy is a cognitive scientist and associate teaching professor in the Curriculum, Teaching, Learning, and Leadership concentration in the Doctor of Education program. Dr. Portnoy’s research focuses on the use of immersive technologies and systems thinking to enhance cognition and create a more equitable and authentic system of education. She is a former public school teacher and a co-founder of the National Science Foundation and Institute of Education Sciences funded learning-games company Killer Snails. Dr. Portnoy has been published in academic journals and popular media outlets including The Washington Post, World Economic Forum, and EdSurge. She is the author of Designed to Learn: Using Design Thinking to Bring Purpose and Passion to the Classroom and the forthcoming Game On? Brain On! The Surprising Relationship Between Play and Gray (Matter). A member of the World Economic Forum’s Expert Network, a former Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development Emerging Leader, and an Assessment Fellow at Hunter College, City University of New York, Dr. Portnoy lives in New York City and teaches online.

John Terpinas

JD, California Western School of Law

John Terpinas is a professor of the practice and faculty lead in the Homeland Security, Strategic Intelligence & Analysis and Criminal Justice programs. Professor Terpinas’ experience encompasses leadership, law enforcement, intelligence, and international diplomacy. His 21-year career as a Supervisory Special Agent in the FBI included serving as Director of the International Law Enforcement Academy in Budapest, Hungary, and as the FBI Chair and Assistant Professor of National Security Studies at the Eisenhower School of National Security and Resource Strategy at the National Defense University in Washington, D.C. Professor Terpinas held numerous managerial positions within the FBI’s National Security Division and Counterterrorism programs including serving as Director of Law Enforcement and Investigations in the White House. Previously, he was a counterterrorism specialist in the FBI Chicago Division. Before joining the FBI, he was an Assistant State’s Attorney in the Criminal Division of the Cook County State’s Attorney’s office in Chicago. Professor Terpinas lives in the greater Boston area and teaches in Boston and online.

Youngbok Ryu

PhD (Policy Analysis), Pardee RAND Graduate School

Youngbok Ryu is an assistant teaching professor in the Commerce and Economic Development graduate program and the undergraduate Management program. The recipient of numerous grants and awards, Dr. Ryu has conducted research with the New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology (NMT), the RAND Corporation, The National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine, South Korea’s Incheon Development Institute and other institutions. This work has included analyses of science, technology and environmental policy issues as well as the study of global special economic zones. Previously, Dr. Ryu was an instructor at NMT, where he taught courses including Business Policy and Corporate Strategy, Creativity, Innovation, and Entrepreneurship and Engineering Economics and served on thesis committees and as an advisor to independent studies and student clubs. At NMT, he founded the Tech Policy Group, the first science policy group in New Mexico affiliated with the National Science Policy Network. Dr. Ryu lives in the greater Boston area and teaches in Boston and online.

Adel A. Zadeh

PhD (Civil & Environmental Engineering), University of Cambridge

Adel A. Zadeh is an associate teaching professor in the Project Management program. A civil engineering and project management educator and consultant with more than 10 years of experience, Dr. Zadeh has managed complex public/private construction projects including planning, estimating, engineering, procurement and construction. He is a certified Project Management Professional, and accredited LEED BD+C (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design – Building Design and Construction). Dr. Zadeh’s research and teaching focus on organizational transformation, construction management, sustainability initiatives in green building construction, and how sustainability trends impact the building and construction industry. He previously served as program director and lecturer at a number of colleges in Ontario, teaching and supervising students in advanced project management and strategic leadership, construction management and engineering, and applied research. He is the director of the Toronto chapter of the Project Management Institute. Dr. Zadeh lives in the greater Toronto area and teaches in Toronto and online.

Lin Zhou

PhD (Second Language Studies), University of Hawai’i

Lin Zhou is an assistant teaching professor in the NU Global program.

An expert in pedagogical game design and innovative course design, Dr. Zhou promotes and practices teaching that revolves around experiential learning, project-based instruction and game-supported pedagogies using new online technologies. A frequent speaker at international conferences, she has presented papers on topics including Learning Chinese in Chinatown with an Augmented Reality Mobile Game, Translanguaging in Pedagogical Drama Gaming, and An Ecological Approach to an Online Second Language Writing Course.

Dr. Zhou has taught in the Department of Second Language Studies and the English Language Institute at the University of Hawai’i at Manoa. Her research focuses on game and course design to empower educators and foster differentiated instruction. For her PhD dissertation, she created a game-supported critical writing course for second-language learners in which students could work with peers and game characters to explore socio-political issues.

Dr. Zhou lives in the greater Boston area and teaches in Boston and online.

Promoted Faculty:

Congratulations to 11 faculty members of the College of Professional Studies who have been promoted, effective May 1, 2020. The following faculty members have been recognized for their excellence in teaching and curriculum development. Promotion also recognizes their contributions to the college and university through their leadership, service, educational innovation, discovery and professional engagement in their fields.

Dr. Jacques Alexis

Jacques Alexis, PhD, has been promoted to Associate Teaching Professor in the Professional Programs.

Dr. Alexis joined Northeastern in 2012. He teaches in the Master of Science in Project Management program and has served as Principal Instructor for the “Foundations of Project Management” and the “Project Quality Management” courses. He developed a guide for innovation in teaching the latter, has revised existing courses and developed a new course in project finance. Dr. Alexis participates in recruiting, outreach, and orientation events, and is a founding advisor to a student network for the Project Management program. He has served on the Faculty Academic Council, on the Professional Standards committee of the Council and on a task force examining college practices in faculty merit review. Dr. Alexis previously worked in the manufacturing and power-generation industries. An active member of several management-oriented professional organizations, he earned his Doctor of Management degree from the University of Maryland in 2018. He lives in the greater Boston area and teaches in Boston and online.

Dr. Earlene Avalon

Earlene Avalon, PhD, has been promoted to Associate Teaching Professor in the Professional Programs.

Dr. Avalon designed and piloted both the Health Management Capstone and Public Health courses and has co-authored numerous conference presentations and articles, including one in the medical journal JAMA Pediatrics. Other collaborations with colleagues include a grant to map the opioid epidemic in Boston using geospatial technology. An advocate for first-generation student success and a co-founder and steering committee member of the First Generation, Undocumented, Low Income (FUNL) Network at Northeastern, Dr. Avalon also serves on faculty governance committees and has been an organizer and presenter at Northeastern’s Women of Color in the Academy Conference since 2018. Dr. Avalon’s career has included roles as a financial analyst for Partners Healthcare, as Director of Nursing Diversity Initiatives at Boston Children’s Hospital and in various leadership roles in higher education. She earned her PhD in Health Professions Education from Simmons University in 2009 and joined Northeastern as a lecturer in 2010. She lives in the greater Boston area and teaches in Boston and online.

Cynthia Baron

Cynthia Baron has been promoted to Full Academic Specialist in the Professional Programs.

Professor Baron has contributed uniquely to the development of the Digital Media program at Northeastern, recruiting faculty, serving as the program’s Academic Director and adapting it for changing student populations. She designed and implemented a bridge program, Connect, that prepares students without undergraduate backgrounds in digital media for success in the master’s program. Professor Baron has also served as Chair of the Academic Programs Committee of the Faculty Academic Council and is the former Chair of the Council’s Agenda Committee. The co-founder and former Executive Vice President of Serif & Sans, Inc., a Boston graphic design company, Professor Baron was a partner in LeWinterBaron Graphics Multitasking, Inc., and a principal in her own firm, Phoenix Design & Communications, and she has edited, authored, or co-authored more than a dozen books. She joined Northeastern in 1988 and earned her MBA in Marketing at the university in 1993. She lives in the greater Boston area and teaches in Boston and online.

Dr. Darin Detwiler

Darin Detwiler, LPD, has been promoted to Associate Teaching Professor in the Professional Programs.

Dr. Detwiler helped relaunch the college’s Regulatory Affairs of Food and Food Industries program and serves as its lead faculty member. The Assistant Dean of Academic and Faculty Affairs, he oversees Academic Quality Assurance across the professional programs. The 2016 recipient of the college’s Excellence in Teaching Award, Dr. Detwiler has advised the Department of Agriculture and is the author of two books on food safety. He consults internationally on food safety and regulation, serves on advisory and editorial boards, and received the 2018 Distinguished Service Award from the International Association for Food Protection. Dr. Detwiler earned the Doctor of Law and Policy degree from Northeastern in 2016 and joined the university the same year. Prior to completing his doctorate, he served in the US Navy’s Nuclear Submarine Force and was an award-winning teacher in Redmond, WA. He lives in the greater Boston area and teaches in Boston and online.

Constance Emerson

Constance Emerson, EdD, has been promoted to Associate Teaching Professor in the Professional Programs.

Dr. Emerson has served as Academic Quality Assurance lead for the Project Management program and as a Master Teacher, ensuring the risk management and capstone courses teach relevant curricula in innovative ways. She teaches a number of courses in the program. She contributed to the Project Management program’s reaccreditation in 2017, took a leading role connecting the Project Management program with the needs of regional businesses, and is working to build and implement the bachelor of science program in Project Management. She also served on a task force that evaluated instructor feedback and presence and the use of best practices in online and hybrid learning across courses in the college. The principal of her own project-management consultancy, Dr. Emerson joined the university in 2015. She earned her EdD from Northeastern in 2018 and previously worked with firms that included Inland Steel Company and Mitchell Management Systems. She lives in Sarasota, Florida, and teaches online.

Patricia Goodman

Patricia Goodman, EdD, has been promoted to Associate Teaching Professor in the Communications, Media and Human Resources Programs.

A faculty member since 2015, Dr. Goodman led the development and implementation of the concentration in Cross-cultural Communication for the Master’s in Corporate and Organizational Communication and has served as chair of the college’s faculty development conference and on its Task Force for Diversity and Inclusion. She worked with students and faculty across the university to generate definitions and expressions of global citizenship and organized the university-wide “Visions of Peace” event with Northeastern’s Center for Intercultural Engagement. She serves on the Faculty Academic Council and chairs the Faculty Development Support Committee. A frequent presenter at international conferences, Dr. Goodman earned her EdD from The George Washington University in 2004. She previously served as Human Resource Director at Florida mental health provider The Centers and in finance and program delivery at Harvard University’s Graduate School of Education. Dr. Goodman lives in the greater Boston area and teaches in Boston and online.

David Hagen

David Hagen, JD, has been promoted to Associate Teaching Professor in the Security Programs.

Professor Hagen serves as Special Assistant to the Dean for Veteran and Military Affairs, acting as a liaison to Northeastern’s Dolce Center for the Advancement of Veterans and Service Members, to external agencies, and to faculty and student veterans and members of service families. He has served on committees including the Professional Standards Committee, which he currently chairs; the Academic Policy Committee; the Ad hoc Grievance Committee; and the Academic Policy Committee of the Faculty Senate. In 2019, he received the college’s Excellence in Teaching Award. Professor Hagen earned his JD from the New England School of Law in 1984. His teaching appointment at Northeastern in 2016 followed a distinguished career in military service, and he volunteers in the military and veteran community. In 2016, he was Military Volunteer of the Year at Veteran’s Inc., a shelter in Worcester, MA. He lives in the greater Boston area and teaches in Boston and online.

Cristine McMartin-Miller

Cristine McMartin-Miller, PhD, has been promoted to full Teaching Professor in NU Global.

The program coordinator of the International Tutoring Center (ITC), Dr. McMartin-Miller recruits, trains and supervises tutors who collectively deliver more than 2,000 appointments per term. She is course coordinator of the courses “Writing for Graduate School,” “Advanced Listening and Speaking for Graduate School,” and “Foundations of Professional Communication,” and she has served on curriculum committees and university-level search committees. The Vice Chair of the Faculty Review and Promotion Committee of the Faculty Academic Council, Dr. McMartin-Miller is also a member of the university-wide International Student Academic Success Team. She regularly presents at conferences, and her team’s findings on student engagement with the ITC were presented at NAFSA: Association of International Educators meetings. She also serves as a manuscript reviewer for two journals in language learning.Dr. McMartin-Miller earned her PhD in English, with a specialization in Second Language Studies, from Purdue University in 2012, joining Northeastern the same year. She lives in the greater Boston area and teaches in Boston and online.

Dr. Pamela Wojnar

Pamela Wojnar, EdD, has been promoted to Associate Teaching Professor in the Professional Programs.

Dr. Wojnar’s contributions to the Master of Sports Leadership Program since 2016 have included curriculum development; supporting the Academic Quality Assurance assessment process; representing the program at the university’s Charlotte campus; helping maintain accreditation with the Commission on Sports Management Accreditation (COSMA); and engaging students in volunteering. She served on the planning committee for the college’s 2017 Faculty Development Conference, as Chair of an ad hoc Bylaws Review Committee for the Faculty Academic Council, and as co-chair of the Faculty Senate Full-Time Nontenure-Track Faculty Committee. She has also served on COSMA’s Nominating Committee and as Chair of the Program and Abstract Review Committee for COSMA’s annual conference. Dr. Wojnar earned her Doctor of Education from the United States Sports Academy in 2008. Previous professional roles included serving as Director of the Athletics at both Notre Dame of Maryland University and Rosemont College. She lives in the greater Boston area and teaches in Boston and online.

Dr. Xiamou Zhou

Xiaomu Zhou, PhD, has been promoted to Associate Teaching Professor in the Professional Programs.

As lead faculty member for the Informatics program, Dr. Zhou has expanded and restructured the curriculum in collaboration with colleagues to address cutting-edge technology needs, emphasizing academic honesty and incorporating real-world projects. Enrollment has risen under Dr. Zhou’s leadership, and she continues to guide the college’s work towards a cross-program integrated computing environment. Dr. Zhou served on the Professional Standards Committee of the Faculty Academic Council and currently serves on the Academic Program Committee and Faculty Development and Support Committee. She is a frequent journal referee, and her participation in Boston-area professional meetings on platform strategy and open data science support her leadership in the digital transformation of teaching and learning. Dr. Zhou earned her PhD in Information Science from the University of Michigan in 2010. Before joining Northeastern in 2016, she taught in the School of Communication and Information at Rutgers University. She lives in the greater Boston area and teaches in Boston and online.

Dr. Elizabeth Zulick

Elizabeth Zulick, PhD, has been promoted to Associate Teaching Professor in the Professional Programs.

A faculty member since 2016, Dr. Zulick is Faculty Director for Health Care and Biotechnology programs, Director of the Lowell Institute School, and Special Assistant to the Dean for Research, Innovation, Discovery and Entrepreneurship. In collaboration with faculty in the College of Science (COS), she designed the first “Plus One” pathway from the College of Professional Studies (CPS) into a degree in another college of Northeastern. She secured a $4.4 million National Science Foundation (NSF) grant to support students moving from a partner community college into CPS and COS earning both an undergraduate and graduate degree. She has collaborated with colleagues on another NSF grant assessing the efficacy of experiential learning in increasing the persistence of young women and underrepresented minorities in STEM careers. Dr. Zulick earned her PhD in Molecular Medicine from Boston University’s School of Medicine in 2015. She lives in the greater Boston area and teaches in Boston and online.

Fighting Fire with Information

In California, Rachael Brady’s Northeastern master’s capstone has yielded an award-winning method for identifying arson.

On her 18th birthday, Rachael Brady (right, CPS ’16) stared through the windshield of her mother’s Hyundai at a steadily growing plume of gray smoke. The family was headed directly toward the ominous cloud, on their way to celebrate at Red Lobster on the east side of Redding, California, but they weren’t fazed.

“It wasn’t close enough to be afraid of,” Brady says. It was just a fact of life: “Summers in California, smoke columns in the air. It’s just one of those things. As common as snowstorms in Massachusetts.”

That fire, dubbed the Bear Fire because it had been sparked near Bear Mountain, burned out of control for five days in 2004, scorching 11,000 acres and destroying 80 homes. It had started when a local resident, disregarding fire warnings, had decided to mow his lawn in 106-degree August heat. For his carelessness, he was later convicted of arson and sentenced to four years in state prison.

More than a decade later, Brady would devise a method to reduce the number of such disasters—and to help authorities catch some of those responsible for them. She grew up in Redding, a city of about 92,000 nestled into the foothills of the Cascades at the northern end of California’s storied Central Valley. It’s a place where wildfires are a constant concern, and one she describes as “very rural” and community-minded. 

“Where I grew up, one of the things when you got to be about 18 was you did some type of community service,” Brady says. “The day I turned 18 was the day the Bear Fire broke out, which was one of our more devastating fires around the Redding area, until last year and the Carr Fire. So that was how I got into it.”

She started as a volunteer at her local fire department, then applied for a job as a night dispatcher at the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, widely known as Cal Fire. She got the job, and she found she loved the industry and her colleagues at Cal Fire, and that she was good at staying calm while dispatching rescuers to help people in need. The hours, however, weren’t ideal.    

“About three or four years in,” she says, “I found GIS. And I figured out the night shift was not where I wanted to spend my life.”

Brady’s introduction to Geographic Information Systems came when a Cal Fire captain nearing retirement handed her responsibility for managing the department’s Computer Aided Dispatch (CAD) system, a tool that uses layers of GIS data to help users map the best response routes in emergencies. As new data and technologies come online, the system requires continual upkeep to ensure that help arrives as soon as possible. New to GIS and CAD, and with little other technical experience, Brady plunged in. 

“I teach GIS now to some of our new CAD people,” she says, “and I tell them, ‘I’ve been where you are.’ [For instance,] at first, I didn’t know that you could make a major road and a smaller road different colors. I lived in a black and white map for six months before somebody came along and said, ‘You know you can symbolize the roads, right?’ And I was like, ‘Wait, what?!’ But then I thought, ‘Well, what else can I do?’ And that’s kind of how I fell in love with it.”

The technology had captured her imagination, and she wanted to take it further. Based on her experience with GIS as a dispatcher, she gained a promotion—and a ticket out of the night shift—to Cal Fire’s Northern Region Office in Redding in 2013. Then, when she finished her bachelor’s degree in 2014 while working full-time, her husband suggested she continue her education. She searched the web, found the College of Professional Studies’ online offerings, applied and was accepted. Being able to complete the coursework remotely, she says, was critical.

“I think having the online option gives people who have an idea of what they want to do, or are already working, that opportunity to still do school, versus having to go to campus and be on-site,” Brady says. “I live in California. I would have had to move [to Boston] for two years. I’m married, and I have a job, you know? It just wouldn’t have worked.”

Brady’s coursework at Northeastern included classes on crime analysis and the use of open-source GIS software, as well as a “Crisis Mapping for Humanitarian Action” course in which she and other students used GIS technology to support relief efforts in Nepal following a devastating 2015 earthquake. What really brought her professional and academic worlds together, however, was her work on a capstone project with Professor Cordula Robinson, now a senior research scientist at Northeastern’s Kostas Research Institute. The idea for the project, which would crown Brady’s master’s degree in Geographic Information Technology, originated back in Redding.

“A couple of the chiefs and I were sitting around, probably about six months before I started the project,” Brady says, “and I said I need a good capstone project. It’s coming up. What are some ideas?”

They tossed a few thoughts around, and then someone suggested trying to find a way to identify cases of serial arson.

“I asked, ‘Well do you guys think we could identify serial arson using GIS?’” Brady says. “We all stared at each other. Then they said, ‘Well, that’s the question for you.’ And I said, ‘I think we could do it. I mean, it’s just human behavior—it should cluster. And that’s [something] GIS identifies. It identifies clusters. We should be able to make this work.’”

When Brady proposed the idea, Robinson saw its merit immediately, and in the months that followed, she provided expert coaching as Brady designed just such a system. As part of the testing process, Brady’s boss at Cal Fire had given her data on many past fires. Some had already been identified and adjudicated as serial arson cases, while other data described fires caused by lightning strikes, discarded cigarettes and other natural or accidental ignitions. Brady wasn’t told which were which.

“I really liked what her boss did,” Robinson says. “Rachael had to do her analysis and then go back and say, ‘this is where I suspect there is serial arsonist behavior, based on the patterns that we’re seeing in these data, and this is where I don’t think we are seeing serial arsonist behavior.’ Her boss looked at her work and found that there was a really high correlation.”

After that proof of concept, Brady was set loose on real data. Her analysis combined GIS with crime pattern theory (Brady also holds a certificate in crime and intelligence analysis) using techniques pioneered by Canadian criminologist D. Kim Rossmo. Whereas before, Brady says, between 30 and 50 fires would have to be lit before Cal Fire could conclude there was an arsonist at work, her innovative application of GIS has brought that number as low as 10.

“Our reaction times are getting better,” she says. 

The results in her first year were eye opening. 

“We had had three serial arson arrests in 2015 already,” Brady says, “So we had the data set, and we knew there were three already in there that we could easily identify as a baseline of whether we were on the right path or not. So, we ran the analysis. The system pulled out the serial arson groupings that we knew about already, but it also identified a bunch more.”

Stakeouts ensued, cameras were placed in areas of suspicion, and arrests soon followed. At least one suspect later pleaded no contest to setting four wildfires. In the years since, other cases have been opened, and Brady has been called to testify as an expert witness, preparing maps for courtroom exhibits and explaining her work to juries. She was recognized in June by the United States Geospatial Intelligence Foundation (USGIF), which honored her with its Government Achievement Award, and the most recent conviction stemming from her analysis was secured in October, when another California man was sentenced to nearly seven years in prison for lighting a series of fires.

For Brady, success in identifying the patterns of serial arsonists has been the culmination of a professional passion. It has also meant a boost in her career. In February, she was promoted to the role of Research Data Specialist. Officials from Cal Fire’s southern region have begun to embrace her approach, and in January, for the first time, she will have the opportunity to analyze data from the entire state of California. She also believes the techniques she has developed hold the promise of putting even more powerful tools in the hands of fire and law enforcement officials at a time when the imperative to stop fires before they start is more urgent than ever.

“One of the next questions that I want to see if GIS can answer is, can we predict where the offender will next light their fire?” Brady says. “We never know where the next one’s going to be, but that’s the next step. We’re always working backwards, and I want to try to work forwards. Can it be predictive? If I know what your pattern is to this point, can I take that and feed it in and have it tell me where you’re most likely to do it next?”  

Celebrating our Newest Graduates– Virtually

The college celebrated the achievements of undergraduate and master’s graduates in a virtual recognition ceremony on May 15.  Watch highlights from the ceremony below, and click here to watch the full ceremony, which includes candidates’ personalized messages and photos as well as messages from faculty members. Congratulations to our newest graduates! 

Mary Loeffelholz, Dean of the College of Professional Studies, welcomes students, families and friends to the virtual recognition ceremony. 

David Fields, Senior Associate Dean, Academic and Faculty Affairs and Professional Programs, introduces this year’s student speakers. 

Anh (Ann) Doan and Tien (Tiffany) Nguyen, this year’s student speakers, discuss their career goals and how the college has helped them on their journey to create a start-up that supports women’s development.  

Dave Hagen, Associate Teaching Professor, announces this year’s Excellence in Teaching award winners:  Dr. Margaret Gorman and Dr. Wendy Crocker. 

Dean Loeffelholz introduces the recognition ceremony speaker. Speaker of the Massachusetts House of Representatives, Robert DeLeo, AS’72, gives his address to graduates.  

Dean Loeffelholz introduces the ceremony’s alumni speaker. Clifford Harrison, CPS’15, addresses graduates as this year’s alumni speaker. 

Congratulations to all of our newest graduates! Click here to watch the full ceremony, which includes graduates’ personalized messages and photos as well as individual messages from faculty members.

Faculty Promotions

Congratulations to 11 faculty members of the College of Professional Studies who have been promoted, effective May 1, 2020. The following faculty members have been recognized for their excellence in teaching and curriculum development. Promotion also recognizes their contributions to the college and university through their leadership, service, educational innovation, discovery and professional engagement in their fields. 

Dr. Jacques Alexis
Dr. Jacques Alexis, Assistant Teaching Professor of Project Management in the College of Professional Studies, has been promoted to Associate Teaching Professor.


Dr. Earlene Avalon
Dr. Earlene Avalon, Assistant Teaching Professor of Health Management in the College of Professional Studies, has been promoted to Associate Teaching Professor.


Cynthia Baron
Cynthia Baron, Associate Academic Specialist of Digital Media in the College of Professional Studies, has been promoted to Full Academic Specialist.


Dr. Darin Detwiler
Dr. Darin Detwiler, Assistant Teaching Professor of Regulatory Affairs for Food and Food Industries in the College of Professional Studies, has been promoted to Associate Teaching Professor.

Dr. Constance Emerson
Dr. Constance Emerson, Assistant Teaching Professor of Project Management in the College of Professional Studies, has been promoted to Associate Teaching Professor.


Patricia Goodman
Patricia Goodman, Assistant Teaching Professor of the Communications and Media programs of the College of Professional Studies, has been promoted to Associate Teaching Professor.


David Hagen
David Hagen, Assistant Teaching Professor in the Security programs of the College of Professional Studies, has been promoted to Associate Teaching Professor.


Cristine McMartin-Miller
Cristine McMartin-Miller, Associate Teaching Professor of NU Global in the College of Professional Studies, has been promoted to full Teaching Professor.


Dr. Pamela Wojnar
Dr. Pamela Wojnar, Assistant Teaching Professor of Sports Leadership in the College of Professional Studies, has been promoted to Associate Teaching Professor.

Dr. Xiamou Zhou
Dr. Xiamou Zhou, Assistant Teaching Professor of Informatics in the College of Professional Studies, has been promoted to Associate Teaching Professor.

Dr. Elizabeth Zulick
Dr. Elizabeth Zulick, Assistant Teaching Professor of the Biological Sciences Biotechnology programs of the College of Professional Studies, has been promoted to Associate Teaching Professor.

U.S. Army Veteran Running 150 Miles Through Sahara Desert

Ryan Vanderweit, a U.S. Army veteran who earned his master’s degree in sports leadership at Northeastern University’s College of Professional Studies, is running the Marathon de Sables to raise money for organizations that support veterans.

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Experiential Excellence Celebrated—Students and Employers Both See Benefit

With experience-driven learning a cornerstone of a Northeastern education, the College of Professional Studies presented its annual Experiential Excellence award to 10 students in June. Students, and the employers and sponsors who supervised their work and nominated them for recognition, gathered with faculty and other academic leaders to celebrate the power of applied learning at the undergraduate and graduate levels. All student winners engaged in meaningful professional experience in the form of co-op positions (working full-time for an employer), a sponsored project in their course or capstone, or an experiential project at their current place of work. Students’ experiences were directly aligned with their academic work, complementing the body of knowledge in their chosen field with an industry-embedded perspective.

Notably, the Excellence award winners demonstrated outstanding commitment to the university partners they partnered with on experiential opportunity. These opportunities are broad and representative of the global reach Northeastern and its student benefit from. This year, the students’ work included planning and implementing a talent acquisition strategy for an education organization, strengthening digital engagement for an arts and advocacy organization, and creating and managing a quality assurance program in the regulatory affairs unit of a contract development and manufacturing organization, among other outstanding experiences. The common thread though all of the students’ work is their enthusiasm for their chosen industries and their demonstrated ability to connect their academic learning to practice in the workplace, ultimately producing incredibly valuable work for their sponsors and employers.

One award winner, Michel Jennings, is a spring 2019 graduate of the Master of Education in eLearning and Instructional design program. She traveled from Denver, where she attended the program as an online student, to participate in the awards ceremony and celebrate her new job in instructional design over lunch with Melissa Fristrom, leadership development consultant and CEO of Core Allies, Inc., Jennings’ project sponsor. In her project for Core Allies, Inc., Jennings turned a Career Transition Lesson Plan into a 10-class interactive course, essentially creating a new product and revenue stream for Core Allies. Fristrom praised Jennings’ strategic approach to the project: “She asked the right questions to help me be creative and innovative. She demonstrated a desire to understand what I was looking for as a business person.” Jennings notes that another ingredient to the success of the project was her own interest: “It helped that I was super-passionate about this topic.” Jennings said that the two reasons she chose the Northeastern Master of Education in eLearning and Instructional Design program were the opportunity to create an ePortfolio of her work, which she saw as critical to landing a good job upon graduating, and the opportunity to undertake an experiential project.

Indeed, Northeastern faculty and staff in attendance were moved by each award winner’s sentiment on the importance of experiential work alongside their academic curriculum; all students remarked on the lasting impact their experience has had on their professional skillset and career trajectory.

Following are the 2019 Experiential Excellence Award winners:

Mariella Hidalgo Del Alamo—Master of Science in Leadership

• Sponsor: Kathleen Egger, Learnwell
• Project: Talent Acquisition Strategy
• Award: Co-Curricular XN Award
• The project with LearnWell served to support the human resources unit with the primary function of growing talent acquisition with home instruction tutors. Del Alamo presented tangible quantitative and qualitative goals, one of which was to grow the number of teachers hired in 2019. Through the course of her Experiential Network project, she was successful in hiring 16 teachers and provided a deep dive analysis on recruitment engagement and best practices to attract talent. 

Abhishek Jaiswal—Master of Professional Studies in Analytics

• Employer: Allison Ruda, Northeastern University as an Analytics Solutions Advisor
• Co-op Award
• Jaiswal designed a database architecture that not only supports—but fundamentally accelerates—Northeastern’s ability to make powerful connections between industry needs, learner goals, and academic content and experiences. Abhishek worked to understand the curriculum design principles and program development approaches, as well as the human and technological processes and systems needed to support them. He then brought this knowledge together with the technological and analytical skill sets he is honing in the Analytics program to develop a functional database prototype and Tableau visualizations.

Sanchi Jain—Master of Science in Regulatory Affairs of Drugs, Biologics and Devices

• Employer: Jeffery Pistor, Paragon Bio Services Inc. as a Quality Assurance Co-op
• Award: Co-op Award
• Jain created a quick search MS Access Database for Change Control records which improved employee efficiency by conserving 70% of their time consumed in finding paper records. Jain generated, analyzed and tracked the trends of raw material management process of the company, streamlined it and improved the process by 20% and digitized paper records. She conducted a 3-day Internal Audit of Facilities and Engineering department and drafted an Audit Report.

Suwarna Kale, Weipeng Zhang, Yiyi Zhang, Jaspreet Kaur Sawhney—Master of Professional Studies in  Informatics

• Sponsor: Sebastien Mannai, ADS
• Project: Cloud Development
• Award: XN in Curricular Group
• Each of the students contributed their unique skills to help the company develop advanced and comprehensive IT solutions, including AWS Cloud infrastructure architecting, Internet of Things device set-up, data storage and management, data streaming, analytics, and visualization (dashboard). Each of them worked on different perspective of the project (Weipeng even applied his earlier computer hardware training), but jointly they delivered a project that represents the cutting-edge IT applications. 

Amanda Nolan—Bachelor of Science in Health Management

• Sponsor: Dedham Medical Associates
• Project (self-developed): Improve Health Information Management/Electronic Health Record System to improve overall efficiency
• Award: XN at Work
• Nolan scheduled meetings with numerous individuals in different departments to learn more about some of the challenges others faced when entering and accessing information in the electronic health record (EHR).   Nolan not only identified challenges to the timely entry of vital medical information into the EHR, but also valued the ripple effect it had on the provider/patient relationship.  

Molly Chase—Master of Science in Corporate and Organizational Communication

• Sponsor: Andy Short- Improbable Players
• Project: Digital Marketing Strategy
• Award: XN in Curricular- CMN 6940 Projects for Professionals
• Chase developed a set of recommendations for this innovative nonprofit which wanted to leverage its digital outreach more effectively. Her project addressed three key components of a digital strategy. The first component was to improve the web content by effectively and creatively telling the stories of actors, in an effort to attach relatability and empathy, and by better showcasing what Improbable Players does. The second component was to increase audience awareness of Improbable Players through various social media outlets and content. The third component was to experiment and take controlled risks with e-mail marketing in order to engage the donors and prospective partners who are on the current mailing list. Her final report to the client was exceptional in terms of depth of research, creativity, and practicality of the implementation steps. She fully incorporated the consultative process that is embedded in the capstone course and developed a strong relationship with the sponsor.

For more information on experiential learning opportunities, please visit: https://cps.northeastern.edu/experiential-learning.

‘All Progress Scrapes and Claws Before It Glides and Soars’

by Greg St. Martin —

Forty years ago, Billy Starr founded the Pan-Mass Challenge, a charity bike ride across Massachusetts that raises money for cancer research. He said that a 400-mile hike on the Appalachian Trail and a 120-mile bike ride a couple of years earlier had helped him to discover what he wanted to do with his life: build a business that “serves a vast public need.”

On Friday, Starr urged graduates of the College of Professional Studies at Northeastern to find a way to nurture their own most fervent interests in life.

“Find a way somehow, utilizing all the skills and knowledge that you have acquired, to nurture that passion and maintain it as a central driving force in your life,” said Starr, who served as the graduation speaker at a ceremony for students who earned their bachelor’s and master’s degrees this year. “That pursuit does not come with guarantees. But I stand before you as a testament to its uniquely, exhilarating power on the path to success and happiness.”

Starr, who earned his master’s in education from Northeastern in 1978, traced back his job today as the executive director of the Pan-Mass Challenge to the early 1970s, when his mother, uncle, and cousin died of cancer. He also shared how the death of a rider in the fifth year of the event challenged him, recalling how he struggled to cope with the tragedy and pain that it caused the rider’s family.

But Starr said he never doubted the mission of his organization. Over the past 40 years, nearly 200,000 cyclists and volunteers have participated in Pan-Mass Challenge, and $654 million has been donated to the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute.

“Triumph and tragedy often walk hand in hand,” Starr said. “To cope efficiently, it is essential that you have a clear grasp of who you are and why you set out on a particular path.”

Starr congratulated the graduates for earning their degrees. He told them to remember that most success is born of failure, and that “all progress scrapes and claws before it glides and soars.”

“That is why having a genuine passion for your work is so vital,” he said. “It is what keeps you going in the face of the inevitable obstacles on the road ahead.”

In opening remarks, Mary Loeffelholz, dean of the College of Professional Studies, told graduates that they represent “Northeastern’s global network of learners.” She said many students had earned their degrees online and through the university’s network of campuses in Charlotte, North Carolina; Seattle; the San Francisco Bay Area; Toronto; Vancouver; and London.

“You graduate already having begun to build a national and global network of your own making,” Loeffelholz said. “You have experienced learning without boundaries.”

Loeffelholz highlighted the diversity and accomplishments of the graduating class. She asked graduates to stand and be recognized if they had studied at Northeastern’s campuses outside of Boston, had come to Northeastern from another country, have served in the military, or attended the Lowell Institute School, through which students with previous college experience finish their bachelor’s degrees in the fields of science, technology, engineering, or business.

The College of Professional Studies offers 95 undergraduate, master’s, graduate certificate, and doctoral programs, many of which are available online or through a combination of online and in-classroom learning. More than 1,600 students from 42 states and 44 countries received bachelor’s, master’s, or doctoral degrees from the College of Professional Studies this year, including over 200 students who were recognized for receiving their doctorates at a ceremony on Thursday.

Philomena Mantella, senior strategic advisor to the president at Northeastern, told the graduates that their education has positioned them well for a “lifetime of growth, discovery, and learning.”

“Learning will never cease, nor will your relationship with your university and those who comprise it,” Mantella said. “As you continue to grow, we are here to remind you that the Northeastern network will always be accessible to you.”

In addition to the graduates, Friday’s ceremony honored professor of the practice Baktybek Beshimov and assistant teaching professor David Hagen for receiving the college’s 2019 Excellence in Teaching Award.

To see more pictures from the college’s 2019 graduation, visit the photo gallery. 

Student Spotlight: Sunny Rodrigues

How an idea that started as a way to gather a couple dozen CPS students over coffee turned into an event with over 250 attendees.

Sai (Sunny) Rodrigues came to Northeastern from India in January, 2017 to complete a Master of Science in Project Management. “I looked up Northeastern and it came up as one of the most innovative schools. For project management, you require innovation to come up with different ideas,” Sunny said when asked why he chose Northeastern. “I hate redundant work. I really felt that Northeastern was the most compatible with my own views.”

Sunny’s decision was soon validated—he found he loved both Northeastern and his studies. But he also noticed an opportunity for more student events, and was determined to help grow that community.

The College of Professional Studies, where Sunny is a student, is known for its flexibility and diversity. Students of all ages take courses online, on-ground on the Boston campus, or through Northeastern’s regional campuses—meaning the student body is spread out across the country, and beyond.

Additionally, with a large international population, many students are starting a new phase of their life in a new country. And due to limitations on international students working in the U.S., Sunny found that many of his peers had more free time between classes and coursework than they expected.

Northeastern offers myriad extracurricular events, and lectures, among other things, for students to attend. These are all open to CPS students, but Sunny felt that CPS students weren’t always aware of these events, something he wanted to help remedy. He also saw an opportunity to organize events geared towards the unique population of CPS.

Sunny decided to work toward creating more opportunities for CPS students specifically to gather on the Boston campus. He took a position on campus as a Community Ambassador for Off Campus Student Services. He went to every department on campus asking what they offered CPS students in terms of events and extracurriculars. He then began a WhatsApp group called “What’s Happening Around Where,” or WHAW. Using this platform he began sharing posters of campus events with other students.

Thanks to Sunny’s role as a Community Ambassador, he also started meeting many more students, broadening his network around Northeastern and eventually growing his WhatsApp group to over 1,800 students.

He continued his mission when he started a new position as program assistant at the Northeastern Center for Intercultural Engagement in January 2018. He believed that this role would give him the ability to help grow the community for students even further. To that end, Sunny had a meeting with Karin Firoza, director of Center for Intercultural Engagement and told her his goal of organizing more CPS community events.

He also went to a trusted professor, Mary Ludden, an assistant teaching professor in project management, who told him to follow his gut. “She told me I have a great position right now [at Center for Intercultural Engagement] and that I should turn my ideas into actions.” Ludden’s support gave him the push he needed to start making strategic moves for change. “I went back to Karin and she agreed that Center for Intercultural Engagement needed to host an event for CPS students.”

While Sunny was planning what he wanted the event to look like, he was also meeting with Kristen Lee, an associate teaching professor in behavioral science at Northeastern. Professor Lee agreed to spearhead the event now titled “Coffee and Convos” and speak about imposter syndrome, or the feeling that you are a fraud, despite evidence to the contrary. It was a topic that hit home for Sunny and one to which he felt that many of his peers could likewise relate.

Sunny created a flyer, sent it to his 1,800 contacts via WhatsApp, and placed flyers around CIE and Nightingale Hall. The turnout for the first Coffee and Convos was significantly beyond what they expected. “There were more than 280 people standing in Center for Intercultural Engagement —that was such a great moment for me,” Sunny recalled. The turnout validated that this population of students was thirsty for more opportunities to gather together and learn.

Sunny Rodrigues has spent his time at Northeastern helping to grow the CPS community around the Boston campus. Coffee and Convos turned into a series, where professors, faculty and students could get together to discuss imposter syndrome and what that means to the CPS population. The sessions became gatherings where students could make connections and become a part of the larger community.

While Sunny set out to come to the U.S. and complete his Master’s in Project Management, he has achieved far more than just a degree. He has built a network of students that has coalesced around common interests and backgrounds.

Sunny is graduating December 2018, but plans to continue to be a part of the Northeastern community as an active alumnus and hopes to return one day as a faculty member.

Human Resources Professionals Offered NU Graduate Credit

In recognition of the rigorous program of study required to earn human resources certifications from the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM), Northeastern University College of Professional Studies will offer students who have earned the SHRM-CP and SHRM-SCP certifications the equivalent of up to two courses of academic credit (6 quarter hours) toward a Master of Science in Corporate and Organizational Communication or a Master in Leadership and 3 quarter hours toward a Graduate Certificate in Human Resources Management.

“As a program for working professionals in the human resources field, we recognize the powerful combination of skills earned in the workplace and knowledge acquired through professional development programs such as those offered by SHRM,” said Carl Zangerl, PhD, faculty director, graduate communication and human resource management programs.  “The SHRM certifications align with our Human Resource Management curriculum because they both emphasize the application of theory to practice and recognize the importance of lifelong learning in a rapidly changing field.  Our shared aim is to equip human resource professionals with expertise that crosses industries and borders.”

Society for Human Resource Management Certifications

SHRM has created a rigorous, relevant and competency-based learning process that culminates in an examination that tests key areas of human resource knowledge, skills, and abilities.

“The SHRM-CP and SHRM-SCP certifications represent the global standard in competency-based credentials for HR and this initiative provides a great opportunity for Northeastern students to demonstrate their proficiency,” said Alexander Alonso, senior vice president of knowledge development and certification at SHRM.

Applying to Northeastern
Successful applicants to the Master’s program in Corporate and Organizational Communication or the Master’s program in Leadership, who hold either the SHRM-CP or SHRM-SCP certifications will enter with what is called “advanced standing.”  The advanced standing transfer credit for the SHRM-CP is 3 quarter hours and for SHRM-SCP is 6 quarter hours, enabling students to complete an advanced degree in a shorter timeframe at an approximate overall tuition cost reduction of between 7% and 13%, depending on the certification. Applicants with SHRM certifications for the Graduate Certificate in Human Resources Management will receive 3 quarter hours of advanced standing transfer credit.

Northeastern University College of Professional Studies offers the Master of Science in Corporate and Organizational Communications and Master of Science in Leadership 100% online or on campus in Boston, Mass..  This provides flexibility for working professionals in a practice-oriented curriculum, taught by professionals in the field.

Husky Proud

From supportive faculty, to the convenience of online classes. Find out why CPS Students are Husky Proud!