Dr. Michael A. Boulus, Executive Director
E-mail: mboulus@pcsum.org

 

Mike has served as the executive director of the Presidents Council, State Universities of Michigan since January, 2003. The Presidents Council is the coordinating body for the state’s 15 public universities. Prior to joining the Presidents Council, Mike served as deputy state treasurer for the Michigan Department of Treasury, overseeing the Bureau of Student Financial Assistance, the Michigan School Bond Loan Program, Local Government Services, Office of Revenue and Tax Analysis, the state educational assessment program for K-12 education and the Michigan Merit Award. Mike is the former executive director of the Middle Cities Education Association and former deputy executive director of the Michigan Association of School Administrators. He is founder and first president of the Michigan Schools Energy Cooperative and serves on the board of directors for Next Energy, a business incubator for energy related start up companies. Boulus is also on the board of Your Child, a statewide coalition committed to improving the conversation around the culture of education in Michigan. Mike holds a doctoral degree from Michigan State University, a master's degree from Eastern Michigan University and a bachelor's degree from the University of Notre Dame. He is the recipient of several awards, including the National Leadership Award for Educational Leadership, in recognition of his contributions to the improvement of American education; the University of Notre Dame Exemplar Award, in recognition of outstanding service to country, education and church; and the Michigan State University College of Education Distinguished Alumni Award.

 

Dr. Patricia L. Farrell, Director, University Relations and Policy Research

E-mail: pfarrell@pcsum.org

 

Patricia L. Farrell, who received her ph.d. in higher, adult, and lifelong education from Michigan State University (MSU), will be joining PCSUM this December. Currently, she is the Executive Director for the Association for the Study of Higher Education (ASHE), which is based in the College of Education at MSU.In 2004, she was one of nine first-time recipients of the ASHE/Lumina Dissertation Fellowship Award, and her advisor was Dr. James Fairweather and her mentor was Dr. Don Heller (Pennsylvania State University). Her dissertation was titled, Evaluation of State Non-Need, Merit-Based Scholarship Programs, and she wrote an article based on her dissertation for the Harvard Civil Rights Project’s State Merit Scholarships and Racial Inequity.Currently, she is writing an article on the criticality of staff professional development for NEA’s Higher Education Almanac and is co-editing a New Directions for Community Colleges on ethics with Dr. Clifford Harbour from Colorado State University. She has presented research papers at ASHE, AERA, CSCC, AAHE, and AIR, and has published articles in Education, Finance and Policy, Journal of Student Development, and Community College Journal of Research and Practice. Her research interests are access and retention, equity, financial aid, community colleges, and organizational development.During her doctoral studies, Patricia worked full-time as an outside evaluator for the Michigan Department of Agriculture and MSU Extension, and University of Michigan/MSU NSF Wireless Integrated MicroSystems Engineering Summer Programs. Prior to moving to Michigan for graduate school, she was an organizational development specialist at Intel where she worked with the manufacturing and engineering departments on team and leadership development, and new employee orientation and retention. Her master’s degree was from the University of New Mexico in adult education and organizational learning, where she received an opportunity in 1994 to conduct her literature review and research at the U.S. Olympic Training Center. Her bachelor’s degree was in economics and political science. Before returning to her alma mater for her master’s degree, she worked in Chicago for the National Futures Association, handling its cash and risk management.

 

Ms. Robyn Cline, Executive Assistant
E-mail: rcline@pcsum.org

 

Robyn is the office's most senior professional, now serving in her fourteenth year as executive assistant at the Presidents Council. Robyn assumes responsibility for performing a variety of accounting and clerical functions. Prior to joining the President’s Council she served in secretarial capacities in both the public and non-profit sector. She is a graduate of Lansing Community College and Davenport University with a B. A. in business management.