Courses in the Nonprofit Administration Program are taught by full-time faculty and/or practitioners in the field.
Dani A. RobbinsDirector, Nonprofit Administrationnonprofit@jcu.edu
Dani Robbins is the director of Nonprofit Administration programs at John Carroll University. After serving in the nonprofit arena for over 25 years, primarily in executive leadership positions for social justice agencies, she has ascended to what she considers her dream job and the continuation of her life’s work: advancing social justice. Her education includes a M.A. in Public Administration from the Levin College of Urban Affairs at Cleveland State University, and a B.A. from Kent State University. She is also a graduate of Leadership Akron Class 22, and the Boys & Girls Clubs of America’s Advanced Leadership Program, offered in conjunction with the Ross School of Business at the University of Michigan.
Robbins founded and still leads Non Profit Evolution, a consulting firm dedicated to building capacity, board governance, and organizational development in small to mid-size nonprofit organizations. She has served as the chief executive of two domestic violence shelters and rape crisis centers, as well as two Boys & Girls Clubs. She introduced the Women’s Coalition – the prelude to the Women’s Center – at Case Western Reserve University.
Dani is also a speaker and trainer, and a former instructor at the John Glenn College of Public Affairs at The Ohio State University and fundraising coach for Network for Good. Robbins is the author of a blog on issues relating to nonprofit organizations, and the co-author, with Maureen Metcalf, of the Innovative Leadership Workbook for Nonprofit Executives.
Courses: Overview of Nonprofit Administration, Board and Executive Leadership, Cultural Diversity, Leadership and Management
Christina DeVoss, PhD Assistant Professor, Tim Russert Department of Communication and Theatre
Dr. DeVoss brings a blend of industry and academic experience to her teaching and research at John Carroll University. She has worked in public relations and marketing as an editor and copywriter, with a focus on nonprofit and mission-driven brands.
Broadly, her research explores how features of new media technology affect users, and how traditional communication concepts translate to the digital environment.
She holds a bachelor’s degree from Washington University in St. Louis; a master’s degree from the William Allen White School of Journalism & Mass Communications at the University of Kansas, and a doctoral degree from the University of Connecticut. Additionally, she holds a graduate certificate in nonprofit management from Washington University in St. Louis.
Courses: Nonprofit Marketing
Robert Giacolone, PhDRaymond and Eleanor Smiley Chair in Business Ethics, Professor of Management and Human Resources, Boler College of Business
For more information about Dr. Giacolone, click here.
Courses: Business Ethics and Corporate Social Responsibility
Walter Simmons, PhDAssociate Dean, Boler College of Business, Professor of Economics
For more information about Dr. Simmons, click here.
Courses: Economics for Nonprofit Managers
Sally Wertheim, PhDDean Emeritus & Professor Emeritus, Education Dr. Wertheim received her doctorate in the History of Education at Case Western Reserve University and has done research and published in refereed journals in her field. She has been active in professional organizations in teacher education on the local, state and national levels. She served as President of the Ohio Association of Colleges for Teacher Education and the Board of the American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education, where she chaired a major task force on Professional Development, served on the Ohio Teacher Education and Certification Advisory Commission which developed the teacher certification standards and has chaired numerous on-site college evaluation teams for the Ohio Department of Education.
At John Carroll University, Dr. Wertheim served as the Consultant on Special Projects to the Academic Vice President, Director of Planning and Assessment, and Dean of the Graduate School. She served as Academic Vice President during an interim period and chaired the Education Department for nine years and has been affiliated with John Carroll University since 1968 where she began as a part-time lecturer.
Dr. Wertheim teaches in the areas of Foundations of Education, multicultural education, Nonprofit Administration and human relations. She has offered many workshops on such topics as effective meetings, strategic planning and conflict resolution at John Carroll University, the Gestalt Institute of Cleveland and at many schools and not-for-profit organizations.
Additional Information Dr. Wertheim is or has been active on many community boards such as the County Board of Mental Health, the Center for Families and Children, Bellefaire/JCB, Jewish Family Service Association (past president), Montefiore Home for the Aged (past president), the National Conference, United Way Services, Jewish Community Federation (past president), Facing History, Milestones, The Mt. Sinai Medical Center, the Mt. Sinai Health Care Foundation, The Mandel Foundation, and others.
Thomas Babb, M.A., C.P.A. Chief Financial Officer, Constellation Schools LLC
Thomas F. Babb has served as the Chief Financial Officer and Treasurer of Constellation Schools since its’ inception in 1998. He has 38 years of experience as Chief Financial Officer, auditor and contract administrator in the public, not-for-profit and private sectors. Prior to joining Constellation Schools on a full time basis he served as Chief Financial Officer of the West Geauga Local School District, the Cleveland San Jose Ballet, and the Cleveland Housing Network. He also served as the fiscal officer for the Cleveland Empowerment Zone and as Controller for Help Foundation.
Before working in the not-for-profit and government sectors, he was an auditor and contract administrator for The Standard Oil Company of Ohio (Sohio). He has successfully managed the financial activities of each organization he has worked with and has 31 years of experience in managing the financial portions of federal grants awarded by the U.S. Departments of Education, Housing and Urban Development, and Energy. Since the fall of 2014, he has been an adjunct instructor at John Carroll University teaching introductory accounting and non-profit accounting to graduate students. He is a Certified Public Accountant and holds a School Treasurer License in Ohio.
Courses: Accounting and Tax Issues for Nonprofit Organizations
Tasha R. Booker, M.EdVice President, City Year Inc. & Executive Director, City Year Columbus
As the Vice President for City Year Inc. and Executive Director to City Year Columbus, Tasha Booker merges her love of research with considerable professional experiences that she is especially effective as a nonprofit executive and education sector expert. Tasha joined City Year Columbus in 2014 and is credited with securing the first-ever school district contract in the organization’s 26-year history. With nearly two decades of nonprofit and K-12 education experience, Tasha is known as an authentic leader who’s been consistently successful navigating the intersection of innovation, social responsibility, philanthropy, and profitability.
Prior to joining City Year Columbus, Tasha enjoyed roles with increasing responsibility with organizations like, I Know I Can, United Way of Central Ohio, The Boy Scouts of America, and Nationwide Children’s Hospital. It is in those spaces where Tasha honed her ability to drive vision, strategy, and fundraising while mobilizing teams to accomplish levels of performance not known prior to her arrival.
“Deal with yourself as an individual worthy of respect and make everyone else deal with you the same way” is Tasha’s mantra and is evidenced in her passion for continuous learning, diversity, equity, and inclusion and as demonstrated by her commitment to community. Tasha can often be found as a panel member for speaking engagements with organizations like the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and The Columbus Metropolitan Club. She serves as a member of the Board of Directors for The Human Services Chamber of Franklin County and Board of Directors for Momentum Columbus. Tasha’s also a member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority Incorporated, The Columbus Chapter of the Links Incorporated and was a founding member of the National Coalition of 100 Black Women, Central Ohio Chapter. Tasha has been recognized by a number of organizations, including Business First’s class of Forty under 40, Columbus CEO, Smart Business Executive Directors, Women WELDing the Way, and Progressive Woman by Smart Women Columbus.
In addition to receiving an Honorary Doctorate for Community Leadership from Franklin University, Tasha holds a Bachelor of Science in Marketing from Franklin University and Master of Education and teaching licensure from Mount Vernon Nazarene University. She is married to Troy Fowler and is the proud mother of Logan, bonus son TJ, and Skittles – the family’s 5-pound poodle.
Courses: Strategic Decision Making
Nora Mackin Lally, MSW
As a Directing Analyst at Homebase, Nora provides solution-oriented technical assistance focused on helping communities end homelessness. Areas of specialization include: federal homeless, community development and affordable housing programs; public-private partnerships; qualitative analysis; and strengths-based implementation.
Prior to joining Homebase, Nora worked for the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, Office of Community Planning and Development. During her 20 years with HUD, she worked at both the national and field office levels, and was involved with policy and regulatory formation, implementation and compliance. Additionally, Nora has experience in the U.S. House of Representatives and as a case manager at homeless emergency shelters.
She has BA in English from John Carroll University and a MSW from the University of Pennsylvania School of Social Policy and Practice.
Course: Public Policy and Program Evaluation
Mary Paxton, M.A.
Mary A. Paxton currently serves as the Director of Development for the American Civil Liberties Union of Ohio. Mary has over 20 years of experience in the nonprofit sector from operations, fund development, board development and program development to strategic planning. Her experience ranges from working with a variety of ecumenical institutions, at-risk youth, homelessness, workforce development and basic needs programming to secondary education.
Mary received her Bachelor of Arts in Economics from Allegheny College and her Master’s in Nonprofit Administration from John Carroll University. Mary is a member of Zeta Phi Beta Sorority Inc., serves on Laurel School’s Development Committee, is a board member of the Association of Fundraising Professionals Greater Cleveland Chapter and serves as Co-Chair of the IDEA Committee.
Course: Advocacy and Nonprofit Administration
Arthur Frazier, MBA
Arthur Frazier teaches Economics for the Non-Profit sector at John Carroll University. He earned a B.A. in economics at Kent State University, a Juris Doctor at Cleveland Marshall College of Law, and an MBA from Strayer University. He is currently pursuing a PhD in Urban Policy and Development at the Maxine Goodman Levin College of Urban Affairs at Cleveland State University. His research interests include urban economics, critical race theory and public policy issues related to social inequality. In addition to John Carroll, he teaches macro and microeconomics at Baldwin Wallace University and Cuyahoga Community College. He also has served as Chair of the Political Science department at Ursuline College and helped launch that department in 2006. Other courses he has taught include Public Finance and Economics at Cleveland State and Economic Development at John Carroll. He has presented research papers on economic issues at several local and national conferences.
Course: Economics for Nonprofits
Pamela Davis, M.A.
Pam Davis offers a variety of industry knowledge in the classroom at John Carroll University with both corporate and nonprofit experience. She married into military life, so she has worked across the county in corporate retail communications and marketing as well as nonprofit operations and fund development.
Along with her profession, she has served on numerous nonprofit executive boards and committees focusing on branding, fundraising and organizational growth. Her focus most recently has been marketing the ReStore which serves as the retail operation of Habitat for Humanity in San Diego, California which funds the overhead and operations of the organization. She holds a bachelor's degree from Northwest Missouri State University and a masters degree from Park University. Along with working and teaching, she enjoys traveling, spending time with her family and honing her chef-wanna-be skills.
Courses: Nonprofit Marketing
Betsey Kamm, M.B.A., C.F.R.E.Director of Institutional Advancement, The Nord Center
Betsey Kamm, MBA, CFRE is the Director of Institutional Advancement for The Nord Center, a non-profit community mental health agency in Lorain, Ohio where she served from 2007 to 2009 and again from 2012 to the present. Ms. Kamm has also served as the Managing Director of the Hanna Perkins Center for Child Development in Shaker Heights and as the Executive Director of the Cleveland Psychoanalytic Center. Prior to these, she has served as a non-profit administrator in organizations as diverse as two battered women’s shelters, a municipal recreation department, a YMCA and two consortia of community mental health agencies. Ms. Kamm has been active as a Board member and Chapter President of the Greater Cleveland Chapter of the Association of Fundraising Professionals. She has served on numerous nonprofit and civic organization boards. She is a graduate of Leadership Lorain County Class of 2013 and is a member of the Lorain Rotary Club. She received her BA in Government from Cornell University and her MBA from Mount Saint Mary’s University.
Courses: Fundraising for Nonprofit Administrators
Earl Pike, B.A. Executive Director, University Settlement
Earl Pike is the Executive Director of University Settlement, a multi-service family support agency in the Broadway-Slavic Village community. Previously he served for over ten years as a consultant providing services in the areas of strategy; leadership; government, media, and foundation relations; change management; facilitation; organizational assessment and design; advocacy and public policy; research; writing and editing; and community engagement. Clients included a wide range of organizations and individuals from the nonprofit, government, philanthropy, and private sectors. He also served for nearly a decade as Co-Director of an NIH-funded project on health disparities at Case Western Reserve University.
Pike has been a nonprofit leader for 30 years, most recently serving (11 years) as the CEO at the AIDS Taskforce of Greater Cleveland, then Ohio’s oldest HIV/AIDS organization. Under his leadership the AIDS Taskforce received numerous awards, including the Human Rights Campaign, Cleveland Chapter Equality Award; a Center for Community Solutions Anisfield-Wolf Award; the American Jewish Committee, Cleveland Chapter Isaiah Award; and the Mandel School Nonprofit Innovation Award.
Pike is the recipient of numerous personal awards, including, most recently, the 2011 Eleanor Gerson Award for Social Justice Leadership, from Community Shares of Greater Cleveland; a 2009 Upstander Award from Facing History, Facing Ourselves, for a commitment to social equality and human rights; and the 2008 Homer Wadsworth Award from The Cleveland Foundation, given to a single northeast Ohio individual annually who embodies courage and conviction in innovative leadership.
Pike has published numerous books and articles, including (as co-author) Case Studies in Ethics and HIV Research, reviewed in the Journal of the American Medical Association as an essential contribution to the field, and a number of research articles in peer-reviewed journals. He is also widely published in creative writing, and is the winner of the Washington Prize for Fiction; the Tamarack Award; the Anna B. Janzen Poetry Award; the Giralt Short Fiction Award; and a Hackney Literary Award. He is currently under contract through Springer Publishing to complete a textbook on Community-Based Participatory Research (CBPR), to be published in the summer of 2019.
Pike has served as adjunct faculty at the Case Western Mandel School of Applied Social Sciences, and has been a guest lecturer at numerous area colleges. He serves on four community nonprofit boards, and regularly assists other local nonprofits on a pro bono basis.
Courses: Strategic Decision Making, Capstone