Please call (785) 532-6085 to connect with any of our faculty/staff.
Alphabetical Listing
| Lynda Bachelor | Coordinator, HandsOn Kansas State | bachelor@k-state.edu |
Read More She promotes leadership through community involvement. Her non-profit and for-profit experience brings a practitioner’s view to the School’s classes and programs. Involving students (and community members) in meaningful service through coursework, trainings, group activities and volunteer opportunities, benefits not only the community but help students develop the civic leadership skills to become community leaders. Top 5 Strengths: Ideation, Adaptability, Woo, Communication, Positivity Favorite Quote: “When I give, I give myself.” —Walt Whitman “Try not. Do, or do not. There is no try.” —Yoda EducationB.S. Kansas State University | ||
| Tamara Bauer | Instructor | tamara@k-state.edu |
Read More Top 5 Strengths: Learner, Achiever, Includer, Strategic, Woo Favorite Quote: “If you are irritated by every rub, how will you be polished? ” —Mawlana Jalal-al-Din Rumi EducationB.S. Kansas State University | ||
| Nidhi Bhandari | Instructor | nidhim@k-state.edu |
As an instructor in Leadership Studies, Nidhi teaches classes in the minor, serves in committees, works with class leaders and advises students. Read More In the past four years at the School of Leadership Studies, Nidhi has taught Introduction to Leadership Concepts, Culture and Context in Leadership Studies, Senior Seminar in Leadership Studies, Nonprofit Internship Seminar. She has also served as an advisor to the Nonprofit Leadership Student Association. Top 5 Strengths: Empathy, Developer, Relator, Harmony, Connectedness Favorite Quote: “Leadership is an opportunity to serve. It is not a trumpet call to self-importance. ” —J. Donald Walter EducationM.B.A. Kansas State University | ||
| Gov. John Carlin | Visiting Professor, Executive-in-Residence | jwcarlin@k-state.edu |
Read More John enjoys working with students and helping prepare them to be the agents of change that the world needs. “I'm thrilled to be a part of this program and particularly at a time with so much need for leadership and opportunities to succeed.” Top 5 Strengths: Learner, Achiever, Arranger, Responsibility, Connectedness Favorite Quote: “Citizens must understand the possibilities and limitations of leadership. We must know how we can strengthen and support good leaders; and we must be able to see through the leaders who are exploiting us, playing on our hatred and prejudice, or taking us down dangerous paths.” -John W Gardner EducationB.S. Kansas State University | ||
| Dr. Gilbert Davila | Assistant Professor, Academic Advisor | gdavila@k-state.edu |
Read More Previously, Dr. Davila was the coordinator for bilingual education/ English as a Second Language with the Midwest Equity Assistance Center at Kansas State University. Top 5 Strengths: Adaptability, Positivity, Empathy, Includer, Developer Favorite Quote: “An empowered organization is one in which individuals have the knowledge, skill, desire, and opportunity to personally succeed in a way that leads to collective organizational success ” —Stephen R. Covey EducationB.S. Texas Tech | ||
| Karey DeBardeleben | Sr. Administrative Specialist | kareyd@k-state.edu |
Read More Top 5 strengths: Arranger, Learner, Developer, Individualization, Communication Favorite quote: The challenge of leadership is to be strong, but not rude; be kind, but not weak; be bold, but not bully; be thoughtful, but not lazy; be humble, but not timid; be proud, but not arrogant; have humor, but without folly. - Jim Rohn | ||
| Sarah Donley | Graduate Research Assistant | sdonley@k-state.edu |
Sarah joins the School of Leadership Studies as a Graduate Research Assistant specializing in qualitative methodology. She is also a PhD Candidate of Sociology. Sarah's research interests center on gender and work. Read More Top 5 Strenghts: Input, Analytical, Strategic, Learner, Activator Favorite Quote: "Causes are only lost when people give up" -- Xena Warrior Princess EducationB.A. University of Nebraska-Omaha | ||
| Leigh E. Fine | Visiting Assistant Professor | fine@k-state.edu |
Read More While an undergraduate at Kansas State University, Leigh earned a minor in Leadership Studies. He completed his doctorate in Sociology at Ohio State University. He engages with students through teaching Introduction to Leadership Concepts and Culture and Context in Leadership. His scholarship primarily focuses on gender and sexuality’s effects on educational outcomes; other research interests include social construction, queer leadership, and social movements and change. Leigh is excited to contribute toward the mission of the School of Leadership Studies through work with students and collaboration with colleagues. Top 5 Strengths: Input, WOO, Achiever, Communication, Strategic Favorite Quote: “You can’t hate someone whose story you know.” –Anonymous EducationB.S. Kansas State University | ||
| Mike Finnegan | Instructor, Academic Advisor | mikefinn@k-state.edu |
Read More Finnegan is extremely dedicated to teach leadership concepts that students can learn in the classroom and apply to their personal-development, student organizations, and living groups. “We teach a value based curriculum and students enjoy learning about themselves and learning from the life experiences of their classmates. We are just as much in the business of relationship building as we are leadership.” Top 5 Strengths: Woo, Communication, Maximizer, Adaptability, Positivity Favorite Quote: “When you come to the end of your rope tie a knot and hang on ” —Franklin D. Roosevelt EducationB.S. Kansas State University | ||
| Trisha Gott | Assistant Director for Service Learning, Instructor | tcgott@k-state.edu |
Read More Top 5 Strengths: Connectedness, Strategic, Ideation, Empathy, Intellection Favorite Quote: “The daughters of lions are lions, too. ” —Swahili Proverb EducationB.S. Kansas State University | ||
| Marcia Hornung | Coordinator of Partnerships, Instructor | hornung@k-state.edu |
 Marcia coordinates partnership development initiatives for the School of Leadership Studies, both across campus and in the community. She also teaches courses in the nonprofit focus and serves as advisor for the nonprofit student organization. Read More Top 5 Strengths: Learner, Adaptability, Ideation, Input, Deliberative Favorite quote: "How far you go in life depends on your being tender with the young, compassionate with the aged, sympathetic with the striving and tolerant of the weak and strong. Because someday in your life you will have been all of these." - George Washington Carver EducationB.A. Kansas State University | ||
| Lori Kniffin | Advisor of Academic Programs | lkniffin@k-state.edu |
Read More Top 5 Strengths: Learner, Discipline, Achiever, Focus, Consistency Favorite Quote: “If you always do what you’ve always done, you’ll always get what you’ve always got”. —Dan Hayes EducationB.S. Kansas State University | ||
| Chance Lee | Instructor | chance@k-state.edu |
Read More Top 5 Strengths: Individualization, Developer, Harmony, Arranger, Adaptability Favorite Quote: “Perceptions are portraits, not photographs, and their form reveals the artist’s hand every bit as much as it reflects the things portrayed” -Daniel Gilbert EducationB.S. Kansas State University | ||
| J.R. Love | Graduate Teaching Assistant | jrlove51@k-state.edu |
Read More J.R. is a firm believer in student leadership on a college campus. A former student body president while at Mississippi State University, he is now completing his doctoral degree at K-State in the College of Education. Top 5 Strengths: Developer, Belief, Adaptability, Relator, Context Favorite Quote: “Do all the good you can. By all the means you can. In all the ways you can. In all the places you can. At all the times you can. To all the people you can. As long as ever you can.” — John Wesley EducationB.A. Mississippi State University | ||
| Kristin Marsh | Administrative Officer | tin@k-state.edu |
Read More Top 5 Strengths: Individualization, Achiever, Learner, Maximizer, Activator EducationB.S. Kansas State University | ||
| Josh Mosier | Executive Director, Kansas Campus Compact | joshuamo@k-state.edu |
Read More Top 5 Strengths: Communication, Relator, Individualization, Consistency, Woo Favorite Quote: "The joy of life comes from our encounters with new experiences and hence there is no greater joy than to have an endlessly changing horizon, for each day to have a new and different sun." ― Christopher McCandless EducationB.S. Kansas State University | ||
| Irma O'Dell | Senior Associate Director, Associate Professor | irmao@k-state.edu |
Read More Irma O'Dell eagerly embraces the opportunities she encounters in her charges of teaching, program assessment, and scholarship. She is pleased to collaborate with colleagues in their endeavor to develop a portfolio system for the students enrolled in the minor. Program assessment is what we faculty members can do in order to demonstrate to ourselves that we actually do what we say we do and satisfies the demands for accountability. Program assessment is an undertaking that involves all faculty members and she is pleased to facilitate this process. Top 5 Strengths: Learner, Harmony, Deliberative, Analytical, Individualization Favorite Quote: “We must always attempt to lift as we climb. ” —Angela Davis EducationB.S. George Williams College | ||
| Kerry Priest | Assistant Professor | kerryp@k-state.edu |
Read More A lifelong student of leadership, before returning to K-State, Kerry served as the Interim Director for the Residential Leadership Community at Virginia Tech. Her experience outside the classroom includes working in both for-profit and non-profit organizations, specifically in the areas of leadership training for youth and adults, curriculum design and development, and program/project management. Her research interests include constructionist perspectives on leadership and learning, leadership identity, and the use of learning communities as a strategy for student leadership development in higher education. Top 5 Strengths: Individualization, Connectedness, Input, Learner, Intellection Favorite Quote: “There is no power for change greater than a community discovering what it cares about." -Margaret Wheatly EducationB.S. Kansas State University | ||
| Mary Kay Siefers | Senior Associate Director, Assistant Professor | marykay@k-state.edu |
Read More One of Siefers’ goals as an instructor is to create a learning community that values each member’s experiences and life stories so that students can discuss pertinent leadership issues and learn from one another. In addition to her teaching duties, Siefers coordinates curriculum issues for academic minor such as scope and sequence, course scheduling, and teaching assignments. Top 5 Strengths: Empathy, Adaptability, Positivity, Woo, Includer Favorite Quote: “It is not our differences that divide us; it’s our judgments about each other that do. ” —Margaret Wheatley EducationB.S. Kansas State University | ||
| Monica Strathman | Business Manager | monicap@k-state.edu |
Read More Monica Strathman is passionate about serving students and providing them quality opportunities to serve in the community. She also plays a key role in keeping the School of Leadership Studies in line, on track, and moving forward – and having developed relationships across campus over her 23 years at K-State, Strathman keeps us all connected. Top 5 Strengths: Woo, Empathy, Communication, Positivity, Activator Favorite Quote: “And when we think we lead, we are most led." — Lord Byron EducationB.S. Kansas State University | ||
| Mary Hale Tolar | Director, Assistant Professor | mtolar@k-state.edu |
Read More Tolar teaches LEAD 502 Ethical Dimensions of Leadership, Women and Leadership, directs the Coffman Leadership Institute, and partners with K-State’s Institute for Civic Discourse and Democracy and Center for Engagement & Community Development. Tolar is a Rhodes Scholar, Truman Scholar, founding member of the National Association of Fellowships Advisors, and co-author/editor of The Lucky Few and the Worthy Many: Scholarships and the World’s Future Leaders (2004). Research interests focus on the art and practice of civic leadership development, women’s pathways to public service leadership, and undergraduate leadership development through applied learning. Tolar considers developing students as scholars and citizens the civic purpose of higher education, and essential to a vital democracy and a healthy society. “The major challenges we face today are not simple matters of resources. They are not technical problems, but rather challenges that require new ways of thinking, marshalling resources in new ways to adapt to changing circumstances – challenges that call each of us to exercise leadership. Top 5 Strengths: Ideation, Strategic, Input, Context, Learner Favorite Quote: “A community is like a ship; everyone ought to be prepared to take the helm. ” —Henrik Ibsen EducationB.A. Kansas State University | ||
| Kyle Van Ittersum | Graduate Research Assistant | kwvan@k-state.edu |
Read More Top 5 Strengths:Harmony, Consistency, Learner, Intellection, Input Favorite Quote: “And when we think we lead, we are most led." — Lord Byron EducationB.A. Truman State University | ||
| Andy Wefald | Assistant Professor, Academic Advisor | wefald@k-state.edu |
Read More Andrew’s research focuses on the fields of leadership, organizational behavior, and positive psychology. Specifically, he researches engagement in the work place, job attitudes, leadership, personality, and discrimination in hiring decisions. Top 5 Strengths: Consistency, Input, Context, Learner, Discipline Favorite Quote: “If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader. ” —John Quincy Adams EducationB.A. Iowa State University | ||
| Steve Williams | Custodial Specialist | |
Custodial Specialist | ||
Tamara is teaching LEAD 212 Intro. to Leadership Concepts this semester.
Carlin teaches a masters level leadership seminar course and an undergraduate course in practical politics. Both courses focus on the practical rather than theoretical aspects of leadership.
Gilbert teaches two of the program’s core courses: LEAD 350 Culture and Context in Leadership Studies and LEAD 405 Leadership in Practice. Davila also collaborates with colleagues to insure that a “uniformed” curriculum is in place to meet the demands of accountability, and provides needed research to support the program.
Karey joined us from the Chemical Engineering Department, and now serves as Sr. Administrative Specialist for the school of Leadership Studies. Her time is spent managing the building, reserving rooms, and managing the student staff in room 103, as well as helping with event planning for the school.
A graduate of the Leadership Studies minor at Kansas State, Leigh Fine is now a faculty member with the School of Leadership Studies. He teaches LEAD 212 Intro. to Leadership Concepts this semester.
Mike Finnegan is primarily responsible for teaching LEAD 212 Introduction to Leadership Concepts. He also directs the 
Trisha serves as the Program Coordinator for the Alternative Breaks and International Service Teams programs. She also teaches the Women in Leadership Course.
Lori works to serve students through supporting the recruitment, retention, and alumni efforts at Leadership Studies. She also greatly enjoys advising the School of Leadership Studies Ambassadors. She also teaches the third core course in the minor, LEAD 405 Leadership in Practice.
Chance serves as the instructor for two sections of LEAD 350 Culture and Context in Leadership and LEAD 420 Theories of Nonprofit Leadership elective course. 
J.R. has been involved in teaching each of the core classes in the School of Leadership Studies. This semseter, he is teaching two sections of LEAD 450 Senior Seminar.
Kristin serves as administrative officer for the School of Leadership Studies. Her time is spent providing administrative support for the faculty, assisting the director in various projects and communications while also acting as personnel specialist for the department.
Josh directs the Kansas Campus Compact organization housed in the School of Leadership Studies. 
O'Dell teaches the capstone course, LEAD 450 Senior Seminar in Leadership. O'Dell is also excited to engage in scholarship in the areas of leadership theory and development.
Kerry is teaching LEAD 212 Intro to Leadership Concepts, as well as working with the Soaring with Eagles Foundation.
Mary Kay Siefers currently teaches LEAD 350 Culture and Context of Leadership. During her tenure with the School of Leadership Studies, Siefers has taught all of the core courses as well as an elective course, Women and Leadership. 
Strathman provides fiscal management for the School of Leadership Studies.
As Director of the School of Leadership Studies, Dr. Mary Tolar works with faculty and staff to provide learning experiences aligned with the mission of “developing knowledgeable, ethical, caring, inclusive leaders for a diverse and changing world.”
Kyle Ittersum is a Graduate Research Assistant at the School of Leadership Studies.
Andrew teaches the capstone course, LEAD 450 Senior Seminar in Leadership Studies and LEAD 502 Theories of Leadership, as well as various other courses.