Leadership
Dr. Linda García
Dr. Linda García is the Executive Director of the Center for Community College Student Engagement (CCCSE) at The University of Texas at Austin. Linda never imagined she would one day lead CCCSE. In fact, she never dreamed of earning a doctoral degree. As children, Linda and her siblings constantly heard from their parents—a father who grew up as a migrant worker and a mother who immigrated to the United States from Mexico—that enrolling in college after high school graduation was the only choice to pursue. Even though she aspired to rise to the ranks of her favorite journalist, Diane Sawyer, little did she know that people and situations along her journey would become “turning points” that prepared her to become a community college leader.
Prior to her current role, Linda served as the Assistant Director of College Relations at CCCSE. She was Vice President of Community College Relations at the Roueche Graduate Center at National American University, and she has worked at Lone Star College, Maricopa Community Colleges, and The University of Texas at Brownsville and Texas Southmost College. Linda served as a coach for the American Association of Community Colleges (AACC) Pathways 2.0 and continues in this same role for the Texas Pathways Project.
Linda is an award recipient of the Terry O’Banion Prize for Inspiring Significant change to Teaching and Learning by the League for Innovation. She was also awarded the College of Education’s Leadership Excellence Award by The University of Texas at Austin. She is also serves on the AACC Board of Directors, New Directions for Community Colleges Editorial Board, National Alliance of Community and Technical Colleges (NACTC) Board, National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE) Board, Seal of Excelencia Advisory Council, Complete College America AI Council, and Texas Pathways Knowledge Development Steering Committee.
Linda earned a Bachelor of Journalism with a concentration in broadcast and a doctorate in higher education administration with a specialization in community college leadership from The University of Texas at Austin. Her Master of Arts in Interdisciplinary Studies degree is from The University of Texas at Brownsville.
Dr. Courtney Adkins
Courtney Adkins is CCCSE’s Director. She oversees CCCSE’s college relations and administrative teams, writes for publication, and manages all publication and website content for CCCSE. In addition, she represents CCCSE at various national conferences and workshops.
Courtney holds a bachelor’s degree in English education and a master’s in English literature from the University of Louisiana at Monroe. She earned a doctorate in English literature from the University of Louisiana at Lafayette. While in graduate school, she taught as an adjunct faculty member at South Louisiana Community College. Before coming to CCCSE, Courtney taught full time at Baton Rouge Community College and taught part time at Southern University in Louisiana. She has also taught as an adjunct faculty member at Austin Community College.
Dr. Alicia Betsinger
Alicia Betsinger is CCCSE’s Associate Director, Research. She holds a Ph.D. in Applied-Experimental Psychology, with an emphasis in Organizational Psychology from Saint Louis University. She is known as an authority in delivering innovative data analysis, reliable insights, and cost-saving solutions and strategies that streamline processes and drive research agendas to meet both long- and short-term strategic goals.
Before her return to CCCSE in 2024, Alicia held various positions within the institutional effectiveness arena including as Vice President of Institutional Effectiveness and Planning at St. Edwards University, Associate Provost of Institutional Research at Dartmouth College, Assistant Director of Business Intelligence at the University of Texas System , and Director of Institutional Research at Southwestern University.
Chris Cosart
Chris Cosart is CCCSE's Associate Director of Information Technology. He previously worked as a database developer and data manager at the British Educational Communications and Technology Agency and at MD Anderson Cancer Center. He has taught as an adjunct faculty member at Houston Community College and Lone Star College – Montgomery.
Chris has a B.A. from Rice University and an M.A. from The University of Texas at Austin.
Staff
Brooke Belsher
Brooke Belsher is a Senior Administrative Associate at CCCSE. She is a member of the Survey Ops team and oversees the day to day processes in productions, as well as the packing and shipment of the CCSSE and SENSE. She manages CCCSE’s student workers, and is involved in creating promotional materials for CCCSE’s web presence and online survey administrations.
Prior to working at CCCSE, Brooke earned her Associate of Arts in General Studies at Tarrant County College and is currently pursuing a degree in Visual Communication. Outside of work she enjoys hiking with her dog, reading, and gardening.
Amina Benchouia
Amina Benchouia is CCCSE’s Administrative Manager. In addition to providing comprehensive operational support to the Executive Director and leadership team, Amina manages pricing and invoicing for survey administrations and other services. She also coordinates activities related to CCCSE’s National Advisory Board. Amina has previously served as CCCSE’s College Relations Coordinator, among other roles.
Before joining CCCSE in early 2009, Amina worked as an editor, after having earned a Bachelor of Journalism in 2006 from The University of Texas at Austin. She appreciates being able to employ her journalism and editing background as part of CCCSE’s editorial pursuits, including national research reports and journal articles.
Emilio Delboy
Emilio Delboy is CCCSE’s Program Manager, Operations. In this role, he oversees the survey operations team and helps colleges through the survey administration process and in working with their results. Prior to joining CCCSE, he worked for the CUNY Start program at the Borough of Manhattan Community College as part of a random assignment study team to evaluate the program’s impact. Before this, Emilio worked in field research for a statewide health survey and in data collection at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where he also earned a B.A. in Political Science. Emilio also holds a master’s degree in educational psychology from the University of Texas at Austin.
Megan Estrada
Megan Estrada is a College Liaison at CCCSE. In this role, she assists member colleges in the survey administration process.
Prior to joining CCCSE, Megan worked as a graduate assistant for the academic success center at St. Mary’s University in San Antonio, Texas. While working in this role she grew a passion for mentoring and coaching students to further develop their academic skills. Megan graduated from St. Mary’s University with her Master of Science in Industrial-Organizational Psychology. During this program, she developed interests in leader-member exchange, statistical analysis, and survey development. Before receiving her master’s, Megan graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Psychology from the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley in Edinburg, Texas.
Reyna Flores
Reyna Flores is a Graduate Research Assistant for CCCSE. She is a doctoral student in the Program in Higher Education Leadership in the Department of Educational Leadership and Policy at The University of Texas at Austin. She is a first-generation student, Mexican American, and daughter of migrant and seasonal farmworkers who grew up in the Rio Grande Valley, the southern border region of Texas.
Reyna earned a bachelor’s degree in psychology from St. Edward’s University and master’s degree in Counseling and Guidance with an emphasis on Student Affairs in Higher Education from Texas State University. Through her participation in the College Assistance Migrant Program (CAMP) at St. Edward’s, Reyna gained interest in educational inequities that led her to pursue a career in higher education. Outside of work and school, Reyna enjoys life with her partner and dogs and visiting her family in the Valley.
Alicia Garza
Alicia Garza is the Business Manager for CCCSE. Previously she has worked for the University of Texas in the Office of the Dean of Students and in Executive Education in the Red McCombs School of Business. Additionally, she has taught American history, contributed to The New Handbook of Texas, and organized fund raisers for her favorite charities.
Alicia earned her M.A. in history at The University of Texas—Pan American and her M.B.A. in finance is from St. Edward’s University.
During her free time Alicia enjoys gardening, hiking and martial arts.
Dr. Marisol Garza
Marisol Garza serves as the Program Manager for Institutional Engagement and Capacity Building at CCCSE. In this role, she works with community college teams to leverage data insights and build institutional capacity to strengthen student engagement.
The daughter of migrant workers who believed in the value of education, Marisol aspired to attend college and work in the medical field; however, she struggled in school and was not equipped with the proper information or tools to navigate higher education. Attending community college changed the trajectory of her life and set her on the path of becoming a postsecondary education leader. At the community college, the power of student engagement and caring professionals facilitated her journey by helping her strengthen her inherent abilities, develop essential skills for success, and ignite her passion for helping students. Her personal experience drives her work and centers on examining educational systems, practices, and processes to advance equity, strengthen transfer pathways, and facilitate educational attainment for minoritized students.
As a long-time community college professional, Marisol began her service as a work-study student at Lone Star College-Tomball, then held several positions in financial aid, academic advising, and student services at Lone Star College-CyFair, Austin Community College, University of Houston-Downtown, and Houston Community College, respectively. Most recently, Marisol worked to support minority-serving institutions as an institutional support consultant for Trellis Strategies. Marisol also previously served as a Community College Research Fellow for the Texas Success Center and graduate research assistant for the Texas Transfer Project and CCCSE.
Marisol earned an A.A. from Lone Star College, a B.S. in psychology from the University of Houston, and an M.Ed. in counseling and guidance from Texas State University. She also earned a Ph.D. in educational leadership and policy from The University of Texas at Austin. Her doctoral research examined academic advising strategies for Latinx community college students.
Kyle Lovseth
Kyle Lovseth is a Research Associate for CCCSE. He earned his B.S. in Psychology from the University of Kansas, where he studied language and emotion processing in general and special populations. He then studied at McGill University in Montreal, where he investigated language processing and earned a Master’s Degree in Experimental Psychology. In addition to his research at McGill, he developed a passion for statistics and statistical programming, which he now utilizes at CCSSE.
Mandi Mobley
Mandi Mobley is a Marketing Coordinator at CCCSE. In this role, Mandi supports the College Relations team with marketing, recruitment, and membership services. If you've received an email from CCCSE, there's a good chance it was sent by Mandi. She also acts as the organization’s graphic designer, crafting everything from in-house publications and website elements to tools, resources, and presentations. Additionally, she provides administrative support, coordinating logistics for meetings and special events.
Mandi began her career with CCCSE in 2010 as a student worker. Prior to that, she worked with non-profits based in San Diego and Washington D.C. Outside of work, she loves exploring creative hobbies, listening to audiobooks, spending time with friends and family at board game nights, and loudly cheering at her niece's basketball games.
Dr. Coral Noonan-Terry
Coral Noonan-Terry is CCSSE's Program Manager, Special Projects. Prior to joining CCCSE, she was the Vice President and Dean of the Roueche Graduate Center at National American University (NAU), overseeing NAU’s master’s programs. She also served as the Interim Director, Associate Director, and Conference and Partnership Coordinator at the National Institute for Staff and Organizational Development (NISOD). Under her leadership, NISOD’s Conference was the largest conference to focus on community college issues in the country for six years consecutively. She directed the Technology Leadership Academy, a Preparing Tomorrow’s Teachers to Use Technology Catalyst grant. Under her leadership, the Technology Leadership Academy was recognized as a model online learning community by the U.S. Distance Education Report.
Dr. Noonan-Terry is a teacher at heart and has taught bilingual special education through graduate levels, and her expertise is in working with limited English proficient students with disabilities. She started her teaching career as a Developmental Communications (ESL) instructor at Austin Community College.
Dr. Noonan-Terry earned her Bachelors of Science degree in elementary bilingual special education; Master of Arts in Multicultural Special Education; a Doctorate of Philosophy in Educational Administration, in the Community College Leadership Program (CCLP) at The University of Texas at Austin and was named a Distinguished Graduate of the CCLP; and a graduate of the Executive Leadership Institute hosted by the League for Innovation in the Community College.
Fazia Rizvi
Fazia Rizvi is CCCSE's Webmaster. Besides the website, she also provides technical support to CCCSE staff and is involved in many of the audio and video projects.
Prior to joining CCCSE, Fazia served at Texas State University as their first University Webmaster. While growing the university’s web presence, developing policies and procedures and the university’s initial guidelines for web accessibility, her role eventually included training, documentation, quality assurance, working with software development teams and change management teams. Before that she served as a web developer and software training specialist for University of Houston and as a web developer for a telecommunications company.
An actor appearing in independent short and full-length feature films, Fazia spends her free time spinning wool and weaving on one of her five looms. She currently serves as Vice President and Program Director for the Weavers and Spinners Society of Austin (WSSA). She has a B.A. in Anthropology from Texas State University.
Hailey Sullivan
Hailey Sullivan is an Administrative Assistant at CCCSE. In this role, Hailey assists the production team with survey operations and maintains contact databases in support of communication efforts and publication distribution.
Hailey earned her Bachelor of Science in Animal Science at Sam Houston State University and her associate degree in 3D Animation at Austin Community College. In her free time Hailey enjoys reading, exploring restaurants, and nature walks.
Myndi Swanson
Myndi Swanson is a College Liaison at CCCSE. She assists member colleges in the survey administration process.
Myndi also served as a College Liaison at CCCSE during 2012 and 2013. Prior to re-joining CCCSE, Myndi lived and worked overseas for four years. While overseas, Myndi consulted with an international NGO and a local consulting firm. She has also worked on two other research projects at the University of Texas at Austin, including the Institute for Organizational Excellence. Myndi earned her BA in English and MS in Social Work, both at The University of Texas at Austin.
Jasmine Venzant
Jasmine Venzant is the Accounting and Finance Associate at CCCSE. She is a part of the administrative and accounting teams. In this role she assists the business manager in her many duties and also supports the administrative team in keeping the Center functioning smoothly.
Jasmine earned her Bachelors of Science in Applied Learning and Development at The University of Texas at Austin. She joined CCCSE as a student worker in 2011 while earning her degree and participating in a variety of extracurricular activities. Outside of work, Jasmine likes to play sports and spend time with friends and family.
Jiaying Xu
Jiaying Xu is a Graduate Research Assistant for CCCSE. She is a second-year master's student in the Higher Education Leadership and Policy Program in the Department of Educational Leadership and Policy at The University of Texas at Austin.
Jiaying, an international student from China, earned her bachelor's degree in economics. She was selected as an Outstanding Graduate of Zhejiang Province. During her undergraduate studies, she served as a student government leader, community worker, financial assistant, and assistant counselor at a vocational college. Through these experiences, she became deeply aware of the gaps caused by educational inequality, which sparked her interest in higher education. Outside of work, she enjoys exploring food, cooking, sharing meals with friends, and reading novels.
Dr. Hongwei Yu
Hongwei Yu is a Research Associate at CCCSE. His work centers on data management and cleaning, web-based data reporting and analysis for national surveys such as Community College Faculty Survey of Student Engagement (CCFSSE).
Hongwei’s work at CCCSE centers on data management and cleaning, as well as web-based data reporting and analysis for CCCSE’s national surveys (CCFSSE, etc.). Prior to joining CCCSE, he worked as Associate Researcher and Survey Director of the National Survey of College Internships (NSCI) at the Center for Research on College-Workforce Transitions (CCWT) at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Before CCWT, he worked as a Research Associate at CCCSE, and he held postdoctoral fellowships at Baylor University and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
Hongwei obtained his Ph.D. in Higher Education Administration and Policy from the University of Florida. Hongwei specializes in analyzing large-scale datasets using multivariate analysis techniques. His research focuses on student learning and engagement, academic transfer, college internships, and institutional policies.