Meet The Faculty

Submitted by Summer Institute and Leadership Symposium Committee Co-Chairs Jennifer Schroeder, Program Coordinator at Iowa State University, and Stephanie Petsch, Assistant Director at Eastern Michigan University

Thinking about registering for Summer Institute or Leadership Symposium? We have an experienced and excited faculty lined up to teach at this year’s conference. Get to know a few of the faculty we have lined up. We would love to get to know you more in Kalamazoo this summer. If you would like register for Summer Institute or Leadership Symposium, visit masfaaweb.org/Summer-Institute.

Manda Riley

Manda is a Financial Aid Adviser at the University of Missouri-Columbia where she has been in financial aid for one year! She attended Summer Institute in 2018 and had a wonderful experience so she is now volunteering her time back by being a SI faculty member. Manda’s involvement with MASFAA began with attending SI last year. After that she applied for MASFAA’s scholarship in order to attend the annual conference last fall in Minnesota. This year, she is honored to present a session at the annual conference in Chicago. Manda also serves on MASFAA’s Financial Literacy Task Force. In MASFAP (MO’s association), she serves on the Professional Development Committee, Program Committee, and Research Committee. Manda will be teaching Application Process, COA, and Student Eligibility & Packaging. Manda hopes to inspire participants to take the financial aid world by the reins, ask a lot of questions, and absorb as much as possible during SI. Manda has a background in social work helping college students with mental health and suicide prevention. She is a beagle mom and loves all things Harry Potter – you should check out her office- it’s decked out in all things HP!

Kelsey Ryder

Kelsey is an Assistant Direct at the University of Iowa. Kelsey has been in financial aid for 5 years where she began working in financial literacy and recently moved to the AD role overseeing the Counseling & Financial Literacy teams. Kelsey has been involved in IASFAA from the beginning of her career. She has served IASFAA on the Program Committee, Chaired the Association Communication Committee and currently is serving as Secretary. Kelsey attended MASFAA’s SI in 2016 and helped with local arrangements when MASFAA was in Iowa in 2015. Kelsey is excited to expand her knowledge and find creative ways to engage participants. Kelsey is also looking forward to meeting more financial aid professionals. Kelsey will be teaching SAP, COA, Direct Loans, and Application Process. On a side note, Kelsey has a sheltie names Sheldon who (unfortunately) cannot come to SI with her but she would be happy to share pictures and videos with anyone who is interested!

Melissa Van Meter

Melissa is currently the Associate Director of Operations at Ohio University. Melissa started like many as a work-study student and was then hired full-time where she has been for 20 years. Melissa has attended several MASFAA conferences and served on the Conference Planning Committee for our 2017 and 2019 conferences. Melissa is also involved with NASFAA, participating in several Angoff Study Teams and the Rapid Response Network. She has participated in two NASFAA Certified Financial Aid Administrator task forces. Melissa has not attended MASFAA’s SI or LS but is looking forward to sharing her varied experience and knowledge with the Leadership Symposium group. Melissa will be leading sessions on Personality Assessment, Building a Strong Team, and Campus Involvement. Melissa is looking forward to a great event where we can share ideas and learn from one another.

Chad Olson

Chad has been with the Office of Student Financial Aid at Iowa State University for 17 years, currently serving as the Assistant Director for Counseling & Loans. Chad has been actively involved in IASFAA and MASFAA while he has been in financial aid. Chad has served as IASFAA President and was recently elected as the President-Elect of MASFAA for 2019-20. Chad also serves MASFAA as the Donor Development Committee Chair. Chad participated in the inaugural MASFAA Leadership Symposium and admits it had a powerful effect on his career. He is very excited to be faculty this year and hopes to be able to give back to this year’s participants. Chad will be teaching Leadership sessions on Building Leadership & Supervisory Skills, Building a Strong Team, Conflict Management, Change Management, and Association Involvement. Chad is married with three kids and a dog. In his spare time, Chad coaches youth sports like wrestling, baseball, and football.

Val Meyers

Val has been in financial aid for almost 34 years. She began her career as a file clerk back when paper records were the thing! Currently Val serves Michigan State University as the Associate Director of Financial Aid. As Val advanced in the office, she was given an opportunity to serve on MSFAA. Val has served MSFAA as editor of the Newsletter, Membership Co-Chair and President. Val has also served MASFAA in several ways including Secretary, Treasurer and as a member of Federal Issues (now Advocacy and Legislative Initiatives). Val has also participated with Negotiated Rulemaking by representing financial aid administrators in that process. Val has earned all 17 NASFAA credentials and has previously taught Summer Institute two other times. Val loves to interact with other aid administrators and talk about real-life applications of what we learn in the credentialing sessions. Val has several well-tested teaching tools and stories she is excited to share including the explanation of this picture…

Val will be teaching Consumer Information, COA, Packaging, Verification and SAP at SI this summer. Val encourages you to attend because there are prizes and it will be fun!

For more information about Summer Institute and Leadership Symposium and to register for the event, click here.