Project RISE Profiles

Tracy Parkinson
Executive Vice President and Provost

Dr. Tracy Parkinson provides overall management, support, and advisement for Project RISE. Tracy joined MHU as provost in 2020. He has served as co-PI on grants to include a National Science Foundation S-STEM project, “Institutional Collaboration to Recruit, Retain, and Graduation Low-Income Students in Biology” (award 1742366), and a Teagle Foundation “Liberal Arts and the Professions” project. He has presented frequently in venues such as the Council of Independent Colleges on matters related to student success, including “Reforming the Gateway Experience to Promote Equity in Student Success” with John Gardner and Drew Koch of the Gardner Mars Hill University Institute for Excellence in Undergraduate Education (2020) and “Inclusive Pedagogy and Inclusive Teaching” at the 2022 Institute for Chief Academic Officers. He is a first generation college graduate, having served 9 years at Coker University (SC) and 12 years at King University (TN) prior to joining Mars Hill University. He holds a Ph.D. in modern foreign languages and literatures from the University of Tennessee.

Chris Cain
Project Director

Dr. Chris Cain provides overall project management, budget monitoring, facilitating activity leader meetings, review of data, progress, coordination between administration and project staff, and reporting to US Dept. of Education. Dr. Cain is a tenured professor in the Education Department at Mars Hill University where he holds the positions of coordinator of M.Ed. Programs, Integrated Education Program, and the AIG program. He has authored/co-authored/taken lead roles in research/teaching grants totaling $18M. Additionally, he has served as principal investigator/director of three national grants and is the lead author of the mathematics professional development modules for the National Dynamic Learning Maps (DLM). Dr. Cain earned a bachelor’s degree from MHU in elementary education, a master’s degree in cross-categorical (mild and severe) special education from ETSU, and a doctoral degree with an ELPA concentration in research design on assistive technology from the University System of Tennessee.

Joanie Grimm
Project Coordinator

Joanie Grimm provides overall project coordination, budget monitoring, facilitation of management meetings, collection, and reporting of grant outcome measures. Joanie joined MHU in 2023 as the Deputy Title IX Coordinator. She holds a bachelor’s degree from Illinois State University, a master’s degree in clinical psychology from The Chicago School of Professional Psychology, and is a Licensed Professional Counselor in the state of Illinois.

Roderica Williams
Associate Vice President for Student Success

Dr. Roderica Williams provides overall management support, advisement, and supervision for the Male Achievement Program. Dr. Williams has worked in the field of education for more than 20 years. She has held administrative roles in higher education for more than six years including Director of Student Support Services at colleges in Oklahoma and Illinois. Dr. Williams holds a bachelor’s degree from Georgia State University and master’s and doctoral degrees from Mercer University.

Lisa Wachtman
Coordinator of Academic Success Coaching

Lisa Wachtman oversees the contract with InsideTrack and the hiring of the first two full-time Academic Success Coaches. Lisa is the Senior Director of Student Success. Having been a first-generation college student herself, she has a passion for helping college students navigate college successfully. She started her career at Mars Hill as the academic coordinator for the TRIO Student Support Services program in 1988 and spent 20 years with that program. After that, she spent two years as the director of the Center for Community Engagement where she worked with campus and off-campus partners to provide services for students. She earned both her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in education from Western Carolina University.

Ryan Bell
Coordinator of Proactive Advising

Ryan Bell oversees Proactive Advising approaches, attends NACADA conferences and regular trainings for academic advisors; implements advising scheduling platform Penji, monitors advising task completion, and prepares summary data. Ryan is the Director of Academic Advising, he administers services to support new traditional first year and transfer students. He coordinates and teaches First Year Seminars FYS 111 and FYS 112 and instructs other General Studies courses. He collaborates with the offices of admissions, registrar, and academic departments to enroll and assign academic advisors and coordinates the Majors and Minors Fair. He holds an MA from St. John’s College and BA from University of Maryland.

Michael Foster
Male Achievement Program Coordinator

Michael Foster recruits and maintains a cohort of 48 students annually; identifies peer coaches and assigns 16 participants per peer coach; develops success plans in collaboration with senior director of student success; meets with cohort of 48 students weekly for progress checks and program updates; monitors academic progress of each student through Colleague and LionTrax alerts; refers students to additional resources as needed; collaborates with faculty and staff to identify potential cohort members each year and to resolve academic issues; acts as liaise with community partners to schedule weekly MAP whole group sessions; and participates in professional development opportunities. Michael holds a bachelor’s degree in business administration with a dual focus on management and marketing from Mars Hill University.

Kris Pack
Director of Institutional Reporting and Research

Kris Pack serves on the leadership team, gathers, and reports data relevant to the project outcomes, provides statistical support and expertise to assess quality, implementation, and effectiveness of program. Kris has served MHU since 2000, previously serving as a business manager/programmer/analyst using various software applications to perform data ETL activities, assisting with software installations, integrations, testing, and perform data analytics services as requested. She has an associate degree in computer programming from AB Tech.