Advising Success Network Team

Hope Barrón is the program coordinator for network partnership and engagement for the Advising Success Network at NASPA–Student Affairs Administrators in Higher Education. In this role, she provides administrative, communication, and logistical support to the ASN team, emphasizing external partner engagement and internal team coordination. Prior to this position, Hope contributed to the Advising Success Network as a communications intern from 2023 to 2024, managing digital communications, developing toolkits, and creating content to enhance the network’s outreach. She also served as an account executive at OnWrd & UpWrd, a marketing and communication agency. Additionally, she was the Texas digital communications fellow at The Education Trust, helping amplify stories to advocate for educational equity for low-income students and students of color in Texas.​ Hope holds a master’s degree in Strategic Communications from American University and a bachelor’s degree in Journalism and Media Studies from New Mexico State University. She is also an alumna of El Paso Community College.​ Hope is passionate about using strategic communication and storytelling to foster inclusive environments that support students in higher education.

Taya Britten (she/her/hers) is assistant director for the Advising Success Network at NASPA–Student Affairs Administrators in Higher Education. Her work started with the ASN in the summer of 2023 and focuses on project management, writing grant reports, leading the efforts of ASN interns, and assisting with service assessments. Prior to joining the ASN team, Taya served as a graduate assistant for Leadership at the University of Georgia and has gained many other experiences within higher education including working with orientation, international students, and Greek life. She earned a master’s degree in College Student Affairs Administration from the University of Georgia and a bachelor’s degree in Interdisciplinary Studies from the University of Central Florida.

Alicia Garcia is the program coordinator of network services and development for the Advising Success Network at NASPA–Student Affairs Administrators in Higher Education. In this role, she provides administrative support, scheduling, oversees the ASN mailbox, and tracks key updates. With over six years of experience as an administrative professional in nonprofit and higher education, Alicia brings a strong background in organizational support and program coordination. She earned her bachelor’s degree in Social Work from Florida Atlantic University in Boca Raton, Florida. Passionate about community empowerment, Alicia finds fulfillment in supporting first-generation students and helping them succeed. In previous roles, she collaborated with local Florida community partners to expand services for first-generation and low-income students, ensuring they had access to the resources and guidance needed to thrive. She has also played an active role in organizing and participating in fundraising events, working to secure scholarship funds that help ease financial barriers and create more opportunities for students to pursue higher education. Family-oriented and dedicated to service, she is driven by her commitment to making a meaningful impact in the lives of students while continuing to grow and learn in her field.

Amy Geist is senior director of strategic initiatives & operations at NASPA–Student Affairs Administrators in Higher Education. Her work at NASPA focuses on supporting institutions in their efforts to remove barriers to student success. She began working with the Advising Success Network (ASN) team in early 2023, after leading NASPA’s emergency aid efforts and other projects since 2016. She is now principal investigator for the grant funding the ASN work and leads the team implementing and developing the strategic initiatives and network engagement of the ASN. Prior to her work at NASPA, she served in a variety of student affairs and university administration roles for 14 years at the University of Notre Dame and one year at California State University—Long Beach. She earned a master’s degree in Student Affairs Administration in Higher Education from Ball State University and a bachelor’s degree in Sociology from Jacksonville University.

F. Janelle Hannah Jefferson, Ph.D. (she/her/hers) is the director of network services and development for the Advising Success Network at NASPA–Student Affairs Administrators in Higher Education. Her work focuses on advancing equity in student success, building strong networks among advising professionals, and promoting best practices in academic advising. She brings a wealth of experience from her prior roles, including her most recent position as alliance engagement director for Complete College America, where she collaborated with institutions to drive strategies for increasing college completion rates. Before that, she served as the project lead/program manager at NACADA: The Global Community for Academic Advising, contributing to initiatives supporting ASN. Dr. Jefferson has deep roots in higher education through her extensive tenure at Jackson State University (JSU), where she earned her Bachelor’s, Master’s, and Doctoral degrees. At JSU, she served in various leadership roles, including Academic Ombudsman/Special Assistant to the Provost in the Division of Academic Affairs, Director of the University Academic Advisement Center, Coordinator of Advisement/Chief Academic Advisor, and the founding director of the Academic Enhancement Center for Student-Athletes. For over 17 years, she developed curriculum and taught University Success, a cornerstone course of the First Year Experience program, shaping the journeys of countless students. Her commitment to leadership and advocacy extends beyond her professional roles. She has served as the HBCU Advising Community Chair with NACADA  and was a site member for the Gates Foundation’s Frontier Set. Her leadership emphasizes the importance of equity, access, and inclusive support for all students.

Alauna Jones is the Marketing and Communications Intern for the Advising Success Network at NASPA–Student Affairs Administrators in Higher Education.  She supports the network with various projects to help improve marketing, branding and communication, and she’s co-authoring case studies for the 2024 Student Choice Award winners and finalizing resources from the Prison Education Program grant. Alauna is a recent graduate from Central State University, where she graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Business with an emphasis on Marketing. She has experience in Multicultural Marketing at the National Basketball Association as well as Rocket Mortgage. Currently, Alauna is a graduate student at Wright State University studying Higher Education/Student Affairs with an expected graduation date of May 2025. She also serves as the graduate assistant in the division of Inclusive Excellence at Wright State University.

Elise Newkirk-Kotfila is assistant vice president for strategy and partnerships at NASPA–Student Affairs Administrators in Higher Education. She focuses on student success partnerships and leads the Advising Success Network, which has the mission to help institutions build a culture of student success, with a focus on Black, Latinx/a/o, Indigenous, Asian, and Pacific Islander students and poverty-affected students, by identifying, building, and scaling equitable and holistic advising solutions that support all facets of the student experience. Prior to her work at NASPA, Elise worked as the director of applied learning for the State University of New York (SUNY), where she led SUNY’s 64 campuses through an applied learning initiative which culminated in providing at least one high-quality experiential learning opportunity to 460,000 students. Elise served for seven years as a board member for the Society for Experiential Education. Elise holds a master’s degree from the University at Albany where she studied Women’s Studies and Public Policy with a research concentration on community-university partnerships and a bachelor’s degree in Women’s Studies from The College of Saint Rose.

Isaac Portillo is the manager of network services and development for the Advising Success Network at NASPA–Student Affairs Administrators in Higher Education. His work focuses on supporting the critical function of the ASN team related to administrative support, project management, scheduling and reporting. This is a return to the work of ASN, as he had previously served as the graduate assistant for the Advising Success Network and Research at the National Resource Center for the First-Year Experience and Students in Transition, one of the key partner organizations within the network. He has participated in the development and production of research deliverables for the network and will now participate in the dissemination, organization, and maintenance of network services and projects. Prior to this return to ASN, Isaac served as a graduate assistant for Educational Assessment and Research at the University of Georgia. He is a doctoral student at the McBee Institute of Higher Education at UGA where his research focuses on how an institution’s physical, cultural, and social structures affect the sense of belonging for historically underserved student populations. He has also worked as a recruitment and expansion consultant for his fraternity, Pi Kappa Phi. Isaac holds a master’s degree in Higher Education, Student Affairs from the University of South Carolina and a bachelor’s degree in Art History from West Virginia University.

Sammi Scheiderman serves as the Marketing and Communications Intern for the Advising Success Network at NASPA–Student Affairs Administrators in Higher Education. She works on various projects to aid in improving ASN’s communications, branding, and marketing. Her projects include maintaining communications channels and a consistent brand throughout internal, external, and service materials. She’s also working to revise a practitioner engagement strategy and organize the way we connect with practitioners. Sammi is a senior at the University of Notre Dame pursuing a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in Visual Communication Design. Previously, she worked within communications, marketing, and design as an intern at companies such as STV, PowerStation Studios, and Gallery Media Group. During her time at Notre Dame, Sammi has been active within Student Government, serving as the Deputy Director of the Department of Diversity and Inclusion, First-Generation and Low Income Initiatives. In this role, she created programming and resources to empower first-generation, low income students to continue pursuing higher education. Sammi is excited to continue learning and growing in the area of student affairs.