Staff of Academic Enhancment

Below is information about each staff member working for Academic Enhancment in The Study. Email us anytime with general questions: thestudy@uky.edu. Or call us: 859.257.1356!

Graduate Teaching Assistants

	Jessica Christian Graduate Teaching Assistant Academic Enhancement 859.257.1356 Jessica.Christian@uky.edu
Jessica is originally from Dayton, Ohio, and has attended UK for the last four years. She graduated with a BS in Biological Sciences in May of 2009. She is planning to continue her education by beginning the Physician Assistant Masters program in the spring of 2010 at UK. She is currently taking classes as a post baccalaureate graduate student. Jessica has worked for Academic Enhancement since the fall of 2006 and has held roles as a Peer Tutor, Peer Presenter Intern, and Student Program Coordinator. She was able to attend a National Conference on the First Year Experience in 2008 to present research on monthly academic residence hall programming. She has a strong background in public speaking and study strategy assessment. Jessica lives in Lexington with her fiancé Dan and two goldendoodles, Oswald and Benji.

	Dan Friedlander Graduate Teaching Assistant Academic Enhancement 859.257.1356 Dan.Friedlander@uky.edu
Dan grew up in Englewood, Ohio, a northern suburb of Dayton, Ohio. During high school Dan was involved in many clubs and was also a part of the varsity football team as an outside linebacker. Dan decided to attend the University of Kentucky for his undergraduate work and graduated May of 2009 with a bachelor of arts in Exercise Science. He is attending UK’s Doctoral Physical Therapy Program beginning in August of 2009. Dan lives with his fiancé and thier two goldendoodles, Oswald who is a standard size and a year and a half old and Benji who is a miniature size and is 10 months old. He is happiest when outside doing something active. Dan is also very passionate about his golf game and enjoys getting out to the course whenever possible. This will be Dan's third year being a part of the Academic Enhancement staff and he looks forward to a fun and rewarding academic year.

	Travis McDearmon Graduate Teaching Assistant Academic Enhancement 859.257.1356 tmcdearmon@uky.edu
Travis is currently working on his Ph.D. in Higher Education through the Department of Educational Policy Studies & Evaluation. He is a 2004 graduate of UK with a BA in Psychology and also holds a Master's in Student Affairs Administration in Higher Education from Ball State University. Since 2004, Travis has accumulated many experiences both working directly with college students and higher education administration. Before returning to work on his doctorate, Travis served as the Assistant Director or Annual Giving at Purdue University. He also worked as a Career Assistant at Ball State and as a Educational Leadership Consultant for the Lambda Chi Alpha Fraternity. His current research interests include university development, college student success theories and college program marketing. Travis happily lives in Lexington with his beautiful wife Julie and their three cats, Kramer, Sammy, and Whiskey.

	Angie Owczarzak Graduate Teaching Assistant Academic Enhancement 859.257.1356 amowcz2@uky.edu
Originally hailing from Toledo, Ohio, Angie received her Bachelor's in Applied Health Science from the Bowling Green State University in Northwest Ohio in 2007. After spending a year working in Human Resources as a Seminar Training Assistant at The Employers' Association in Sylvania, Ohio, she found herself moving to Lexington to pursue a Masters in Higher Education. Her research interests deal with the issues of Retention of Transfer Students from Community Colleges to 4 Year Institutions, and Comparative Education Systems. Angie lives in Lexington with her fiancé, Charles, beagle puppy Rudy, and two bunnies Cinci and Bailey.

	Leslie Sweeney Graduate Teaching Assistant Academic Enhancement 859.257.1356 laswee3@uky.edu
Leslie hails from Chillicothe, OH and is working towards a Ph.D. in higher education. She is also a participant in the Preparing Future Faculty program and will be completing her College Teaching and Learning certificate in December 2009. Leslie is new to the education field and possesses a background in communication. She received her Bachelor of Arts in applied (speech)/interpersonal and organizational communication from Morehead State University in May 2006 and her Master of Arts in communication from Morehead State in May 2008. Her research interests revolve around community college milieus. More specifically, she is interested in researching the community college context and its' impact on faculty, staff, administrators, and students. Also, Leslie is intrigued by the distinct differences between rural, urban, and suburban community college contexts. During her spare time, Leslie enjoys reading, hiking, bowling, and spending time catching up with family and friends.

	Steve Wise Graduate Teaching Assistant Academic Enhancement 859.257.1356 srwise3@uky.edu
Steve is a doctoral student in Higher Education seeking to enhance his skills as an administrator and educator and his ability to better serve students. His diverse interests has resulted in a variety of life experience ranging from live-in residence hall work to automobile sales and dealership management, computer sales, construction, academic and career advising, adult education, teaching, and academic administration. He most recently served as associate dean for residence life at a small private college. His research interests are equally as varied but he has been focusing recently on the impact of gender differences as they relate specifically to student development during the college years. He and his wife Becky currently live happily in Wilmore, Kentucky. (They just celebrated their 37th wedding anniversary.) Their family includes three wonderful daughters, three significantly above average sons-in-law and three fantastic grandchildren. Steve enjoys reading, thinking, and sharing ideas with other people—especially students.


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