Executive Board
President
Katie La Vecchio (she/her)
Area Coordinator
University at Buffalo
108 Lehman Hall, Buffalo, NY 14260
(716) 645-2135
presidents@cspanys.org | klavecch@buffalo.edu
Katie La Vecchio is currently an Area Coordinator for Governors Complex at University at Buffalo in Residential Life. Katie has worked previously as Complex Director in Residence Life at SUNY Buffalo State College and Assistant Director of Alumni Relations at Adelphi University. Katie is a dual alumna of SUNY Buffalo State obtaining a B.S. in Childhood Education and Reading in 2012 and an M.S. in Higher Education and Student Affairs Administration in 2014. Since returning to student affairs in 2018, Katie has been involved with CSPA-NYS and has held various roles such as Silent Auction Committee Chair, Virtual Conference Committee, VP of Membership, and most recently serving as the 2023 Annual Conference Chair. Her personal interests include bargain shopping (She loves a good deal!), and spending time with her son, Joey, and husband, Mike.
President Elect
Joshua Bishop (he/him)
Director of Community Values & Conflict Resolution
Hobart and William Smith Colleges
300 Pulteney Street, Geneva NY 14456
315-781-4749
educationalpartners@cspanys.org | bishop@hws.edu
Joshua Bishop is currently the Director of Community Values and Conflict Resolution at Hobart and William Smith colleges. Joshua has worked previously at SUNY Geneseo, Monroe Community College, and Edinboro University of Pennsylvania. Joshua has a B.S. in Mental Health Psychology ('17) and a M.A. in College Counseling and Student Affairs ('19), both from Edinboro University of Pennsylvania. Joshua has been involved with CSPA-NYS since attending his first conference as a new professional in 2019. Joshua has been involved with helping on the conference planning committee as well as serving on the executive board. Outside of work, Joshua has been a volunteer firefighter since 2011 and enjoys hiking and exploring the region with his wife, Brianna, and their dog, Toby.
Past President
Megan W. Lennon (she/her)
Associate Chief Student Affairs Officer
Amherst College
220 South Pleasant Street, Amherst, MA 01002
(413) 542-2000
presidents@cspanys.org | meganwyett@gmail.com
Bio coming soon…
Vice President for Professional Development
Frank Parsons (he/him)
Area Coordinator
SUNY Geneseo
1 College Circle, Geneseo, NY 14454
585-245-5785
prodev@cspanys.org | fparsons@geneseo.edu
Bio coming soon!
TBD
Vice President for Communications
Taylor Gale (she/they)
Assistant Director for Student Living - North Neighborhood
Syracuse University
111 Waverly Ave Syracuse, NY 13244
315-443-9674
communication@cspanys.org | tagale@syr.edu
Taylor Gale works as the Assistant Director of Student Living for the North Neighborhood. Taylor has a B.A. in History (’15) from St. Lawrence University and a M.S. in Higher Education Administration (’17) from the Warner School of Education at the University of Rochester. Taylor attended their first CSPA-NYS conference as a first-time professional in 2016. This is Taylor’s first role in CSPA and she is excited to give back to an organization that has made them feel welcome and grow professionally. When their not doing work things, Taylor enjoys watching RuPaul’s Drag Race, hanging out with her dog Tucker, listening to True Crime Podcasts, or reading - either True Crime or Romance (email them recommendations!)!
Vice President for Communications Elect (Vacant)
TBD
TBD
TBD
TBD
TBD
communication@cspanys.org | TBD
Bio coming soon!
TBD
Vice President for Membership
Matt Briars (he/him)
Residence Hall Director
Stony Brook University
450 Circle Rd, Stony Brook, NY 11794
(631)-632-1318
membership@cspanys.org | matthew.briars@stonybrook.edu
Matt Briars currently serves as the Interim Assistant Director for Housing & Residence Life at Monroe Community College. Matt has previously worked in residence life and housing at Stony Brook University, Monroe Community College, SUNY at Fredonia, and SUNY Geneseo. Matt received his B. S. in Biology at SUNY Geneseo in 2014, and his M. S. in Higher Education and Student Affairs Administration from SUNY Buffalo State in 2017. Matt is a longtime CSPA-NYS member and presented at the CSPA-NYS Conference in 2016 and 2023. Matt’s hobbies include spending time with friends, antiquing, reading, listening to music, and playing with his cat, Sir Chubbs.
Vice President for Membership Elect (Vacant)
TBD
TBD
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membership@cspanys.org | TBD
Bio coming soon!
TBD
Vice President for Educational and Strategic Relationships
Ashlee Downing-Duke (she/her)
Senior Associate Director of Campus Activities & Residential Engagement
St. Lawrence University
Sullivan Student Center 328 | 23 Romoda Drive Canton, NY 13617
315-229-5135
educationalpartners@cspanys.org | adowning@stlawu.edu
Ashlee Downing-Duke is currently the Senior Associate Director of Campus Activities and Leadership at St. Lawrence University (SLU). Ashlee has worked at SLU for ten years serving as Coordinator of Volunteer Services and Associate Director of Student Activities. She has a B.A. in Political Science from Fairfield University and a M.A. in College Student Personnel Administration from James Madison University. Ashlee has been involved with CSPA-NYS since attending her first conference back in 2018. She then served as the VP of Membership for two years and was excited to return to the board in November of 2023 as the VP of Ed Partners. In her spare time, Ashlee enjoys spending time with her wife and their three lovely children.
VP for Educational and Strategic Relationships Elect
TBD
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membership@cspanys.org | TBD
Bio coming soon!
TBD
2024 Annual Conference Chair
Laura Dulski (she/her)
Director of Campus Life
Keuka College
141 Central Avenue, Keuka Park, NY 14478
(315) 279-5412
membership@cspanys.org | ldulski@keuka.edu
Bio coming soon!
Learn more about Laura on LinkedIn
Member at Large | Communications
Denise Dawkins
Internship Coordinator, Division of Business Administration
Dominican University
470 Western Highway Casey 104, Orangeburg NY 10962
914-768-3778
mal@cspanys.org | denise.dawkins@dc.edu
Denise Dawkins is a Higher Ed Professional with over 10 years of experience and counting. She’s originally from North Carolina with Jamaican heritage. Denise has held various positions for HBCUs, Minority owned-businesses, private HIED institutions, State funded agencies, grant funded organizations, and health disparity programs.
She relocated to NY to advance her career in Higher Ed. Currently she holds a BS in Human Resource Management from Winston Salem State University and a MS in Adult Education – HIED Administration from North Carolina A&T State University. She is in her second year of Educational Leadership doctoral program at Manhattanville University.
Currently employed at Dominican University, where she serves with great aspiration to create more efficient opportunities of office administration, build long term rapport with the student body, but emphasize on creating a forging relationship with the brown and black student body of Dominican, continue marketing for the Business Administration program and most importantly providing student advocacy to the body.
Member at Large | Professional Development
Spencer Cottman (he/him)
Student Conduct Coordinator
Buffalo State University
Bengal Hall 14 | 1300 Elmwood Ave, Buffalo, NY 14222
716-878-3051
mal@cspanys.org | cottmast@buffalostate.edu
Spencer Cottman is currently the Student Conduct Coordinator at Buffalo State University. Spencer is an alumnus of SUNY Brockport and the University at Buffalo, earing his B.S. in Adolescent History Education (’18) and M.Ed in Higher Education Administration (’20) respectively. Spencer has been with CSPA since 2019 and has served on various Conference Committees in Accessibility & Inclusion and Logistics & Volunteers sub-committees. Spencer is a lifelong WNY-er, a proud cat parent, and drinks too much coffee for his own good.
Member at Large | Membership
Robin Wang (she/her)
Residence Hall Director
Stony Brook University
450 Circle Rd, Stony Brook, NY 11794
631-632-6832
mal@cspanys.org | TBD
Robin Wang is currently a Residence Hall Director in Campus Residences at Stony Brook University. As a proud Stony Brook alumna, Robin earned her undergraduate Bachelor of Science degree in Psychology and later earned her Master of Arts degree in Higher Education Administration. Driven by the passion to create a better living community for college students living on campus, Robin continued to serve and support residential students as a professional staff member with a specific focus on the upper-division student population. Her role also focuses on advising students to promote engagement, learning, respect for diversity, and student success for various student groups such as Student Hall Council and Introduction to SBU class. In her free time, Robin customizes computer keyboards and collects and plays board games. Robin also serves on the CSPA-NYS executive board as the Member-At-Large for Membership.
Learn more about Robin on LinkedIn (coming soon)
Member at Large | Educational & Strategic Partnerships
Makenna Payton (she/her)
Assistant Director of Student Engagement
Hobart & William Smith Colleges
300 Putteney St. Geneva, NY 14456
(315) 781-3880
mal@cspanys.org | payton@hws.edu
Makenna Payton (She/Her) is the Assistant Director of Student Engagement at Hobart and William Smith Colleges in Geneva, NY. Through this role she gets to advise club sports, student run clubs, and provide on and off campus programs. Makenna completed her bachelor’s degree at Hilbert College with a major of Criminal Justice and obtained her Masters of Higher Education and Student Affairs at Canisius College. She is excited to be newly involved with CSPA. In her free time, she likes to spend time with family and friends and travel.
Coordinator of Finance and Administration
Troy Norton (he/him)
Resident Director
University at Binghamton
4400 Vestal Parkway E, Binghamton NY 13902
(607) 777-7461
administration@cspanys.org | tnorton@binghamton.edu
Troy (he/him) is currently a Resident Director at Binghamton University. In this role, he has supervised up to 18 paraprofessionals; helped lead the programmatic expansion of the University's Health and Wellness Community and co-recreational athletic traditions; and served on a variety of committees, including Residential Life Operations and Resident Director Selection. Previously, Troy worked as a Residence Hall Director at the University at Albany from 2018-2019, during which time he initially joined CSPA-NYS. In 2021-2022, after reentering student affairs administration, he rejoined CSPA-NYS, who welcomed him with open arms. Troy is excited to serve CSPA-NYS in this administrative capacity. In his spare time, Troy enjoys working out, reading, watching WWE, and playing Mario Kart.
Faculty Liaison
Susan Iverson (she/her)
Professor and Director, Doctoral Program in Educational Leadership
Manhattanville University
School of Education, 2900 Purchase Street, Purchase NY 10577
(914) 798-2712
susan.iverson@mville.edu
Dr. Susan V. Iverson is Professor of Higher Education Leadership, and Director of the EdD Program, at Manhattanville University. Iverson's research interests include equity, diversity, status of women, leadership in higher education. Before her current position, Iverson served as faculty of Higher Education Administration & Student Personnel at Kent State University where she was also an affiliated faculty member with both the Women’s Studies and LGBT Studies Programs. Prior to becoming faculty full-time faculty in 2006, Iverson worked in student affairs administration for nearly 15 years at institutions in Massachusetts, Virginia, and Maine. Iverson holds a B.A. in English from Keene State College (NH), a M.A. in Higher Education Administration from Boston College, a M.Ed. in Counseling from Bridgewater State College (MA), and earned her doctorate in higher educational leadership, with a concentration in women’s studies, from the University of Maine. Iverson's daughter was born while she was a doctoral student, and developed her critical consciousness of being a mother in higher education.
Learn more about Susan on LinkedIn and follow Susan on Twitter @susaniverson1
Historian
Peter Smith (he/him)
Assistant Director of Residential Life
University at Buffalo
123 Richmond Quad, Buffalo, NY 14261
(716) 645-6304
historian@cspanys.org | ppsmith@buffalo.edu
Peter Smith is currently the Assistant Director of Residential Life at the University at Buffalo in Buffalo, NY. Peter has previous experience from Appalachian State University, Rochester Institute of Technology, Eastern Illinois University and Queens University of Charlotte, NC. Peter has an B.A. in Fine Arts from St. Lawrence University and an M.S.Ed. in College Student Affairs from Eastern Illinois University. He is currently working on his PhD. in Educational Culture, Policy, & Society at the University at Buffalo. Involved in CSPA-NYS since 2001, Peter has held many roles including President, Conference Chair, and Member at Large as well as his current role as Historian. Peter’s professional interests include: professional staff supervision, men’s development, spirituality and faith development, leadership, and presentation and workshop development. His personal interests include: his Faith, travel, movies, cooking, the outdoors, gardening & landscaping, and spending time with his wife and two children.
