Directors

JoAnn Canales, Ph.D.

JoAnn Canales, senior scholar-in-residence emerita at the Council of Graduate Schools in Washington, D.C., served as senior dean-in-residence and dean-in-residence and founding dean of the College of Graduate Studies at Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi. She holds degrees from the University of Houston, Laredo State University, and The University of Texas at Austin.  During her more than 20-year tenure at A&M-CC, she served in numerous roles both at the college and university levels, received the 2005-2006 TAMU-CC Excellence in Teaching Award and was a 2002-2003 American Council of Education Fellow.

She has extensive experience in accreditation, group facilitation/mediation, strategic plan development, and program evaluation. Her portfolio includes working in school districts, state departments, state/national organizations, and domestic and international institutions of higher education. She was the inaugural chair of the American Association of Hispanics in Higher Education Board of Directors and has also served on the boards of the Graduate Record Examination (GRE) and Phi Kappa Phi.

Click here for a video statement from JoAnn Canales.

John Wesley Emert, Ph.D.

John Wesley Emert, dean of the honors college and a professor of mathematics at Ball State University, holds three degrees from The University of Tennessee. He’s held numerous posts at Ball State during his long career there, including service as chair of the math department, director of the university’s Worchester Center, and associate dean of the honors college. Emert has earned many awards for his teaching, including the Warren Vander Hill Award for Distinguished Teaching in Honors Education, the Access Award, Ball State University Disabled Student Development, and the Dorthea and Edger D. Eaves Outstanding teaching Award from the University of Tennessee. He is a life professional member of the National Collegiate Honors Council, where he has served on several committees. Emert has also served as a reviewer for the National Endowment for the Humanities and the National Science Foundation. His service to Phi Kappa Phi includes a term as chair of the Fellowship Committee and as a member of the Budget and Program Review Committee.

Click here for a video statement from John Emert.  

Mattia M. Migliore, Ph.D.

Mattia Migliore is a pharmacologist and educator with nearly 14 years of classroom experience at the undergraduate and graduate levels.  She holds leadership positions as the president of the MCPHS University Chapter of Phi Kappa Phi, secretary of the Massachusetts Department of Public Health Board of Registration in Naturopathy, and co-chair of the Service Award Committee for Faculty Senate, and Chair of the Pharmacology/Toxicology Faculty Search Committee.  A Massachusetts licensed registered pharmacist, Migliore has 25 years of experience working at a Harvard Medical School-affiliated teaching hospital, where she specializes in outpatient anticoagulation management.  Her research interests and efforts have included the treatment of Parkinson’s disease, drug delivery to the brain via the intranasal route of administration, and autism spectrum disorders.  Her work in the field of neuroscience has led to the awarding of two Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s disease Research grants, and the donation of valuable laboratory reagents by Amgen (GDNF protein) and by Copernicus Therapeutics Inc. Web of Science.

Click here for a video statement from Mattia Migliore.

Philip Phillips, Ph.D.

Philip Phillips served on the Phi Kappa Phi Board of Directors from 2018-2020. As a director, he served on the Bylaws Committee. During the 2016-2018 biennium, he was a member of the Fellowship Committee. Phillips holds both master’s and doctoral degrees in English from Vanderbilt University, and a B.A., also in English, from Belmont University. He is associate dean of the University Honors College and professor of English at Middle Tennessee State University, where he was elected to membership as a faculty member in 2011. At MTSU, he has served as graduate advisor and admissions director for the English department and implementation coordinator for the academic master plan. He serves as the immediate past president of his chapter. Outside the university, he has been a member of both the diversity and research committees of the National Collegiate Honors Council, a member of the editorial board of The Edgar Allan Poe Review, and founder and director of the Great Books in Middle Tennessee Prisons program.

Click here for a video statement from Philip Phillips. 

Ronald V. Shaklee, Ph.D

Ronald V. Shaklee is professor emeritus of geography at Youngstown University, where he headed the geography program. He served with the U.S. Army in Vietnam. After his discharge Shaklee attended the University of Kansas, where he earned B.A., M.A. and Ph.D. degrees in geography. His geographic specialties have included remote sensing, urban geography and Latin American geography. While at the University of Kansas, Shaklee was involved in the first NASA-funded efforts to develop civilian applications for the Earth Resources Satellite System, forerunner to the Landsat series of earth resources satellites. He has been recognized as a Distinguished Professor for University Service on three occasions. He also earned a Distinguished Professor Award for Teaching as well as a Distinguished Chair Award for Teaching. Shaklee has served on the Phi Kappa Phi Fellowship Committee.

Click here for a video statement from Ronald Shaklee.

Ron Tulley, Ph.D.

Ron Tulley is dean of the College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences and professor of English at the University of Findlay. He has served Phi Kappa Phi as divisional vice president, Division IV, after serving as both member and chair of the Fellowship Committee and a member of the Love of Learning Committee. At Findlay, he was a founding member of the Phi Kappa Phi chapter. Tulley holds a Ph.D. in English from Case Western Reserve University, master’s degrees in English, curriculum and instruction, health informatics, and business administration, and bachelor’s degrees in both English and history. He was initiated as a student at Southern Illinois University in 1994. At Findlay, he has served as department chair and academic coordinator for online delivery. Outside the university, Tulley has served as a peer reviewer for the Higher Learning Commission and for Quality Matters, and a member of the Northwest Ohio American Heart Association executive leadership team.

Click here for a video statement from Ron Tulley.

Leslie Zenk

Leslie Zenk has served on the 2020-2022 Phi Kappa Phi Board of Directors and president of the Phi Kappa Phi chapter at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, where she serves as assistant provost and associate graduate faculty in the department of educational leadership. She holds both master’s and doctoral degrees in educational policy and administration from the University of Minnesota Twin Cities, and a bachelor’s in communications from the University of Minnesota Duluth. She was initiated as a faculty member by the UNC Charlotte chapter in 2015. Zenk previously worked as an administrator at two University of Minnesota campuses. At UNC Charlotte, she directs academic policy and collaborates with faculty on curriculum development and student success initiatives. She has served on the North Carolina Association of Research in Education board. Beyond the academy, Zenk is a member of the Mecklenburg County Nursing Home Community Advisory Committee. She was a presenter at the Phi Kappa Phi 2019 student leadership summit.