Dr. Phillis George

Chair and Associate Professor of Higher Education

130-A Guyton Hall

(662) 915-3411

plgeorge@olemiss.edu

Dr. George serves as Chair of the Department of Higher Education and is a higher education scholar-practitioner with a background in academic and student affairs administration, faculty development, program assessment and evaluation, and institutional accreditation processes. She earned her Ph.D. in Educational Leadership & Policy Analysis from the University of Wisconsin-Madison as well as her MSc in Sociology from Oxford University (United Kingdom) and is an American Council on Education (ACE) Fellow. Dr. George is deeply committed to critical processes of institutional transformation designed to promote equity and excellence in student access and success. As such, she conducts focused research on social justice and policy issues related to access, affordability, and accountability in higher education, and she specializes in curriculum design / reform, college teaching and learning, community engaged learning, student access and success, and faculty development and diversification. Dr. George teaches a variety of courses within each of the Higher Education degree programs, including: Advanced Education Policy Analysis, College Teaching, Organization & Governance, Program Evaluation & Assessment, and Recent Developments in Educational Practice.

B.A., University of Wisconsin-Madison

M.Sc., Oxford University

Ph.D., University of Wisconsin-Madison

dr. Macey EdMondSon

ASSISTANT PROFESSOR OF HIGHER EDUCATION

Graduate ProGram Coordinator

FACULTY DIRECTOR OF ED.D. PROGRAM

213 Guyton Hall

(662) 915-6819

MACEYE@OLEMISS.EDU

Macey Edmondson is an Assistant Professor of Higher Education and Graduate Program Coordinator for the Department of Higher Education. Dr. Edmondson also serves as the Faculty Director of the Online EdD Program. Before joining the Department of Higher Education, Edmondson served as the Assistant Dean for Students at the University of Mississippi School of Law. At the law school, she was chosen by the student body as the recipient of the Joan K. Murphy Outstanding Law School Staff Member Memorial Award. She also served as co-director for the Council for Legal Education Opportunity (CLEO) for four years. In 2015, she was chosen to serve as Chair of the Executive Board for the Student Services Committee of the Association for American Law Schools. Also in 2015, she was chosen as one of Mississippi’s 50 Leading Businesswomen by the Mississippi Business Journal. In 2016, she co-founded the National Association for Law Student Affairs Professionals (NALSAP) and was elected as President of the organization in 2019. She also serves on the Mississippi Advisory Committee to the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights. As a PhD student, she received the Frank E. Moak Memorial Award.

Education

B.S.B.A., UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN MISSISSIPPI

J.D., UNIVERSITY OF MISSISSIPPI SCHOOL OF LAW

PH.D., UNIVERSITY OF MISSISSIPPI

dr. GEORGE MCCLELLAN

PROFESSOR OF HIGHER EDUCATION

FACULTY DIRECTOR OF ONLINE M.A. PROGRAM & Ph.D Program

103 Guyton Hall

(662) 915-4995

GSMCCLEL@OLEMISS.EDU

Dr. McClellan joined the UM community in 2017 following 35 years of service as a student affairs professional (including 14 years as a senior student affairs officer) at a variety of institutions. He is a frequent author, editor, and presenter on topics related to student affairs and higher education. He was named Pillar of the Profession by the NASPA Foundation in 2010 and Annuit Coeptis Senior Scholar by ACPA in 2017. Dr. McClellan received the George D. Kuh Award for Outstanding Contribution to Literature and Research Award from NASPA in 2020. His research interests include supporting students who are Native American, issues of access and attainment, the impact of computer-mediated communication on the student experience and student development, college student employment, professional identity and professional development in student affairs, student affairs as teaching and learning, and budget and financial management in higher education.

Education

B.A., NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY

M.A.ED., NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY

PH.D., UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA

Twitter

@GSM4STUDENTS

dr. Ty MCNamee

ASSISTANT PROFESSOR OF HIGHER EDUCATION

107 GUYTON HALL

(662) 915-2520

TCMCNAME@OLEMISS.EDU

Dr. Ty C. McNamee is an Assistant Professor of Higher Education in the Department of Higher Education at The University of Mississippi.

Growing up as a gay, poor and working-class student on a farm/ranch in Wyoming greatly influenced Ty’s research interests. He uses critical, sociological, and anthropological lenses to conduct qualitative research on higher education access, success, and equity for rural students, particularly those from poor and working-class backgrounds and those who are queer, as well as college teaching and learning and faculty development at rural postsecondary institutions. His research has been funded by national organizations, such as the ECMC Foundation, College Student Educators International (ACPA), the Association for Orientation, Transition, and Retention in Higher Education (NODA), and the National Resource Center for the First-Year Experience and Students. It has also been published in Peabody Journal of Education, New Directions for Student Services, and Journal of Education Human Resources.

Outside of his research, Ty co-founded and ran the Rural Education and Healthcare Coalition, a Teachers College, Columbia University student, faculty, and staff network focused on rural education and healthcare programming and research. He also actively serves in professional organizations, including the Association for the Study of Higher Education (ASHE), the American Educational Research Association (AERA), and College Student Educators International (ACPA).

Ty received his doctorate in Higher and Postsecondary Education from Teachers College, Columbia University in 2022, his Master of Arts in Higher Education and Student Affairs from the University of Connecticut in 2015, and his Bachelor of Arts in English from the University of Wyoming in 2013. He also completed in 2022 a Graduate Teaching Certificate from Colorado State University.

dr. Kerry Brian Melear

Professor of Higher Education & Affiliate Faculty, School of Law

Faculty Director of residential M.A. Program

108 Guyton Hall

(662) 915-5016

kbm@olemiss.edu

Dr. Melear’s areas of expertise are college and university law, finance, and public policy. He is a former member of the Board of Directors of the Education Law Association and a member of the editorial board of West’s Education Law Reporter and the Journal of Cases in Education. He is also the book review editor for the Journal of Law and Education and a contributing editor to the Higher Education Law Blog. He was the editor or co-editor of The College Administrator and the Courts, a quarterly publication briefing legal cases of interest to university attorneys, administrators, and legal researchers, for seven years. He teaches courses in higher education law, finance, human resources, and international higher education. Dr. Melear has worked as a higher education policy analyst for the Florida Legislature, a research associate for the Florida Postsecondary Education Planning Commission, and practiced in audit for a Big Six accounting firm. He was honored to receive the University of Mississippi School of Education’s Outstanding Researcher Award in 2007, 2010, and 2013, the Outstanding Teacher Award in 2015, and was selected to membership on the Fulbright Specialist Roster in 2012.

dr. Whitney Webb

Assistant Dean and Assistant Professor of Higher Education

107 Guyton Annex

(662) 915-7906

whitdt@olemiss.edu

Dr. Webb serves as assistant dean, certification officer and Director of the Student Advising and Field Experience Office for the School of Education. She primarily teaches in the Ed.D. in Higher Education program.

dr. Amy Wells Dolan

Associate Dean & Professor of Higher Education

Faculty Co-Director of Ph.D. Program

217 Guyton Hall

(662) 915-5710

aewells@olemiss.edu

Dr. Wells Dolan’s background includes student affairs administration and fundraising. She has worked at seven different types of postsecondary institutions, including a land-grant university, a women’s college, and a community college. She teaches History of American Higher Education and Qualitative Research Methods among other courses. Her research focuses on the history of higher education in the South with attention to philanthropy, race, class, and gender. She is a Principal Investigator for the Carnegie Project on the Education Doctorate initiative at the University of Mississippi.

dr. JOHN HOLLEMAN

CLINICAL ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR OF HIGHER EDUCATIOn—Emeritus

Dr. Holleman served a Director of Graduate Studies in the School of Education, Clinical Associate Professor and Program Coordinator for the Department of Higher Education. Dr. Holleman has worked in higher education for over 25 years as a faculty member and administrator in addition to being a Licensed Professional Counselor since 1991.

EDUCATION

B.A., STEPHEN F. AUSTIN STATE UNIVERSITY

M.S., TEXAS A&M UNIVERSITY AT COMMERCE

M.A., UNIVERSITY OF MISSISSIPPI

ED.S., UNIVERSITY OF MEMPHIS

ED.D., TEXAS A&M UNIVERSITY AT COMMERCE