Institute Faculty
Meet the faculty members for our Institute on Peer Leaders, held March 4-5, 2027 in
Columbia, SC.
Meet the Institute Faculty
Nii Kpakpo Abrahams
Nii Kpakpo Abrahams serves as the inaugural Senior Director of Student Experience
and Engagement at Butler University, where he leads efforts focused on student transitions,
persistence, retention, and engagement. Working across university divisions, Nii helps
cultivate relationship-rich, high-impact, and seamless student experiences that foster
belonging and help students discover, develop, and deploy their gifts and passions.
Throughout his work in higher education, he is particularly interested in how intentional
transitions, thoughtful leadership, and meaningful communities can shape the overall
student experience. Nii holds bachelor's and master's degrees in Communication from
Missouri State University. Outside of higher education, he serves in a volunteer pastoral
role at his local church and enjoys spending time with his wife and daughters, playing
Monopoly Deal, and searching for the best donut shops in Indianapolis.
Bryce Bunting
Dr. Bryce D. Bunting is an associate clinical professor in Counseling and Psychological
Services, the Assistant Dean of Undergraduate Education, and Director of the First-Year
Experience at Brigham Young University (BYU). He oversees all first-year programming
at BYU, including New Student Orientation, a required first-year seminar course, and
one of the largest peer leader initiatives in the country, involving 200 peer leaders
and 300 tenured faculty members at BYU each academic year. Bryce has spoken and written
about peer leadership extensively over the last 15 years and regularly consults with
institutions about how to design and implement high-impact peer leader initiatives
on their own campuses. He co-edited (with Dr. Dallin George Young) the 2023 research
report on the International Survey of Peer Leaders (Toward Peer Leadership as a High-Impact
Practice); is the former editor of the Journal of Peer Learning; and served previously
on the faculty for the Institute on Peer Leaders in 2014, 2016, 2019, and 2021.
Bryce is a member of the national advisory board for the National Resource Center
for the First-Year Experience and Students in Transition; a member of the Editorial
Review Board for the Journal of The First-Year Experience & Students in Transition.
His research agenda is focused on practical strategies for helping students adopt
productive learning mindsets; using instructional design to inform the development
of high-impact and transformative learning experiences in college; the impact of peer
leadership on those who serve as peer leaders; and the application of learning theory
to rethinking and redesigning college transitions. He co-authored, with Dr. Dallin
George Young, the 2024 best-selling book Rethinking Student Transitions: How community,
participation, and becoming can help higher education deliver on its promise.
Sandy Greene
Within University 101 Programs at the University of South Carolina, Dr. Sandy Greene
oversees four areas including campus partnerships, peer leadership, course development
for non-UNIV 101 courses, and communications. Sandy also serves as an instructor for
the leadership development course, EDLP 520: The Teacher as Manager, as well as the
first-year seminar course, UNIV 101: The Student in the University.
Prior to coming to University 101 Programs, Sandy served as an AmeriCorps*VISTA at
the University of South Carolina. In this role, she was responsible for helping to
mobilize the student population to serve the Columbia community.
Katie Murray
Dr. Katie Murray is the Director of Student Orientation and Transition at the University
of Maryland, College Park. She oversees new student orientation, the UNIV 100 and
362 transition courses, and the staff and student leaders that support these programs.
She is a dedicated higher education professional with a keen interest in outreach
to special populations including, but not limited to, first-year students, transfer
students, and their families. She is committed to the holistic development of all
college students through curricular and co-curricular experiences.
She has worked in higher education since 2006 in positions focused on college student
admissions, orientation, transition, and retention. She worked at Goucher College
coordinating all first-year programs; at George Mason University in orientation and
family programs; at UMBC directing admission recruitment, events, and new student
orientation; and at Towson University as director of new student and family programs
before arriving at the University of Maryland.
She holds a bachelor's degree in English from Frostburg State University; a Master's
degree in Higher Education and Student Affairs from the University of South Carolina;
and doctoral degree in Educational Leadership from Frostburg State University. Her
dissertation is on the sense of belonging of first-generation college students through
the orientation experience.
Casey Tullos
Dr. Casey Tullos currently serves as an Associate Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs
at UNC Charlotte where she is responsible for the strategic development of a Housing
and Residence Life organization supporting 6,248 residential students, 150+ full-time
staff, and 250+ student staff and earning annual revenues exceeding $62M. Since beginning
her career at Charlotte, Casey has served in a variety of roles including Residence
Coordinator, Coordinator of Conference and Guest Housing, Assistant Director for Academic
Initiatives, and Director of Residence Life.
In addition to earning degrees at the University of South Alabama, the University
of Georgia, and North Carolina State University, Casey has enhanced her knowledge
and skills by completing the UNC System Executive Leadership Institute (2023) and
ACUHO-I Senior Housing Officer Institute (2018). These experiences and others continue
to inform her ongoing initiatives to enhance the campus housing workplace as a rich
site for student and staff learning and growth.
A life-long learner, Casey enjoys helping students and professional staff leverage
their talents and skills for effective use in their careers. She is an associate member
of UNC Charlotte’s graduate faculty and teaches a course designed to help first-generation
graduate students navigate their graduate experience. She is also a co-creator/facilitator
of UNC Charlotte’s Student Affairs Supervisor Institute designed to support new and
mid-level managers. Casey has most recently served on the ACUHO-I Executive Board
as the 2024-2025 Residence Education Director and is currently an ACUHO-I Leadership
Academy mentor.
Dallin George Young
Dr. Dallin George Young is an Associate Professor in the College Student Affairs Administration
and Leadership programs at the University of Georgia. Dallin’s research focuses on
theoretical and practical understandings of students in transition, peer leadership,
and graduate preparation in higher education and student affairs. He has worked supervising
and mentoring peer leaders through roles in housing at Virginia Tech, California College
of the Arts, University of South Carolina, and Utah Tech as well as an instructor
in first-year seminars at the University of South Carolina and University of Georgia.
He has been the principal investigator on two administrations of the International
Survey of Peer Leaders, and his research on peer leaders has been published in Research
in Higher Education, Journal of College Student Development, Journal of First-Generation
Student Success, Journal of Leadership Education, and the Journal of Peer Learning,
among others. He is the co-editor of the recently released research report Toward
Peer Leadership as a High-Impact Practice: Insights from the U.S. Data in the 2023
International Survey of Peer Leaders, along with Bryce Bunting.
