Advisory Board

Decision Partners is pleased to have the following industry professionals serving on our Advisory Board.

Patricia Bogart
Senior Associate Director of Financial Aid
Duke University

Ms. Bogart serves as our financial aid advisor. She is Senior Associate Director of Financial Aid at Duke University and has over 30 years of experience administering financial aid programs and counseling students.

Ms. Bogart is an active member of the National Association of Financial Aid Administrators and the Southern Association of Financial Aid Administrators. Prior to working at Duke, Ms. Bogart worked at Hobart and William Smith Colleges in Geneva, NY, and at Keuka College in Keuka Park, NY.

Ms. Bogart is a graduate of Hobart and William Smith Colleges.

Michael Massagli, PhD
Research Scientist
PatientsLikeMe Inc.

Dr. Massagli serves as our data and assessment advisor. He is currently research scientist at PatientsLikeMe, the leading online community for people with life-changing medical conditions.

Prior to his current position, he was research scientist in the Division of Population Sciences at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. From 1997-2001 he was the Research and Development Director at the Picker Institute, Boston, a non-profit dedicated to improving health care "through the patients' eyes". He has also served as a senior research fellow at the Center for Survey Research at the University of Massachusetts at Boston and as an assistant professor of sociology at the Pennsylvania State University. Dr. Massagli has recently served as a statistical consultant to the Harvard Program in Refugee Trauma at Massachusetts General Hospital and the World Bank and has written and spoken extensively on subjects including the measurement of knowledge of cancer risks, patient assessment of health care quality, and racial attitudes and residential segregation.

Dr. Massagli holds a PhD from the Department of Sociology from the University of Wisconsin at Madison, a MA in sociology from the University of Maryland at College Park, and a BA from Purdue University.

Dr. George S. McClellan
Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs
Indiana University - Purdue University Fort Wayne

Dr. McClellan has been referred to as the "godfather of college gambling." He is co-editor Gambling on Campus, a monograph in the Jossey-Bass New Directions in Student Services series. He served as co-chair of the National Association of Student Personnel Administrators National Gambling Task Force and has presented at numerous regional and national conferences on campus gambling. Most recently Dr. McClellan authored an invited commentary for the Chronicle of Higher Education on what colleges can do to address campus gambling and appeared on ESPN2 in a feature addressing college gambling.

Erin Meenan, MPA, GCDF
Career Advisor
Champlain College

Mrs. Meenan has experience with volunteer coordination, collegiate coaching, work-study coordination, and career advising. She is currently a career advisor at Champlain College and recently completed her Career Development Facilitator certification. In addition, Erin is qualified to administer the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator and Strong Interest Inventory.

Mrs. Meenan is a member of the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE), the National Career Development Association (NCDA), Association for Psychological Type International (APTI), and the Career Resource Managers Association (CRMA).

Mrs. Meenan is a graduate of Hamilton College and received a Master of Public Administration degree from the University of Vermont.

Thom Rakes, MEd, NBCC, NBCCC, MCC
Director of Career Services
University of North Carolina Wilmington

Mr. Rakes serves as our career services advisor. He is the Director of Career Services at the University of North Carolina at Wilmington and has over 25 years of experience serving the career needs of students. Prior to working at UNCW, Mr. Ranks worked for 20 years at the University of Missouri at Columbia.

Mr. Rakes is an active member of the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE) and its Southeast and North Carolina associations. He is also a member of the American Association for Employment in Education (AAEE), National Society for Experiential Education (NSEE), the National Association of Student Personnel Administrators (NASPA) and the American College Personnel Association (ACPA).

Mr. Rakes is a graduate of the University of Arkansas and received a Masters degree from the University of Missouri at Columbia.