Many leaders hope to inspire dramatic change for themselves and their teams but don't have the time to do it all on their own. Through coaching, team development, and speaking, Claire guides leaders to clarify their vision, build awareness and cultivate transformation at work so they can love the legacy they leave. Claire draws experience from leadership roles in education, non-profit, and health care settings.
Claire is a Professional Certified Coach (PCC), accredited by the International Coaching Federation and is the owner and lead coach of Claire Becker Coaching. Claire has partnered with institutions in higher education, academic medicine as well as non-profit and corporate sectors, offering coaching for a spectrum of high potential to established, executive leaders.
In coaching, Claire leverages Positive Intelligence Coaching™ and Core Energy Coaching™ to support leaders in fostering the insight and actions needed to live, love and lead their lives through conscious choice. Claire graduated from University of Wisconsin-Madison with a Bachelor of Arts in Sociology and Spanish. She then attended Cardinal Stritch University and received a Master of Urban Education and completed a thesis on metacognitive learning in 2012. Claire specializes in cutting-edge, personalized coaching, learning and development. Her past experiences include leading as a bilingual educator, adjunct faculty, and as a coach for teachers, professionals and leaders.
As a servant-leader committed to providing growth opportunities for learners of all ages, Wendy believes in the strengths, gifts, and talents of every individual. She desires to journey alongside individuals and teams, supporting them in accessing these inner qualities to propel themselves forward into their futures with renewed purpose and joy. With a deep passion for teaching, learning, and coaching, Wendy brings over 25 years of experience, including leadership roles in K-12 school environments, community settings, and institutions of higher education. She has professional coaching training in Student-Centered Coaching and Cognitive Coaching™ and also employs Transformational Coaching skills and techniques in her coaching practice.
Through her work with both educational and non-profit organizations, Wendy has developed strong relationships in a number of schools and in the community. She has facilitated large- and small-group professional learning through workshops and seminars, as well as through individual and team coaching. Wendy graduated from Carroll College with a Bachelor of Science in Early Childhood and Elementary Education. She went on to attend the University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee and received a Master of Science in Educational Psychology with a Community Counseling emphasis. Wendy then continued her academic career at Christian Leadership University, earning a Doctorate in Leadership and Ministry. Her professional experiences include opportunities to lead in Pre-K through Grade 12 educational settings as an educator and coach, as well as her work as an adjunct instructor, consultant, and coach at the university level. Wendy is also the owner and CEO of Believe LLC, which specializes in coaching, counseling, and educational consulting.
Jonathan Little, Ph.D.
Health Humanities Badges and Certificate Instructor
Health Humanities Badges and Certificate Instructor
Jonathan Little is a professor of English at Alverno College where he has taught since 1989. A published author of two books, short stories, and over fifteen scholarly articles, Little teaches a range of topics including American literature, composition and creative writing, world literature, film studies, short stories and novels, and Japanese anime and manga.
Little recently developed a health humanities course which teaches students, particularly nursing students, ways to ease stress and reduce burnout through reading and writing. Students in healthcare majors also learn how to take a more holistic approach toward patient care, which results in better overall care for the patient and their loved ones. He is currently working on a book manuscript entitled, Healing Fictions: Reading Through the Body.
Little earned his Bachelor of Arts in English from the University of Virginia, his Master of Arts in English from City University of New York (CUNY), and his doctorate in American Literature from the University of Wisconsin - Madison. He is a member of the Association of Literary Scholars, Critics, and Writers (ALSCW) and the Mid-West Modern Language Association (MMLA).
Samantha Maldonado, MBA
Pivot Your Skills, Leading for the Future Pathway Instructor
Pivot Your Skills, Leading for the Future Pathway Instructor
Samantha Maldonado is principal at Chaska Consulting.
She serves as a mentor for Rotary Milwaukee and commits her time to many community organizations. Her other board activities include vice chair for MobiliSE, board director and development chair for the Milwaukee County Parks Foundation, co-chair of the Diversity Leadership Council for United Way of Greater Milwaukee & Waukesha County, social responsibility committee for the YMCA, The Opportunity Center, VISIT Milwaukee and Alverno College.
John C. Savagian is Professor of American History at Alverno College and Director of its History Department. He is a member of the Alverno Accelerate design team and a faculty coach. During his 30 years at the College, he has consulted with numerous colleges and universities on curriculum and assessment design, including a semester as a visiting scholar at Lingnan University in Hong Kong. A relevant publication of his is, “Toward a Coherent Curriculum: Teaching and Learning History at Alverno College,” published in the Journal of American History (March, 2009). He also authored a chapter in the Alverno publication, Feedback Is Teaching (2015). Most recently he co-authored a chapter on the Alverno Accelerate program in New Models of Higher Education: Unbundled, Rebundled, Customized, & DIY (publication forthcoming). Dr. Savagian is a contributor to the American Historical Association’s Tuning Project, which is dedicated to improving history teaching at universities and colleges across the United States. He recently served as Board Chair of the Wisconsin Humanities. Dr. Savagian earned his Ph.D. in American History from Marquette University in 1998. Aside from the scholarship of teaching and learning, his scholarly areas include early American history and Critical Indigenous Studies.
Paul Smith, Ph.D.
Co-creator of the Measurement and Evaluation online certificate program
Co-creator of the Measurement and Evaluation online certificate program
Paul Smith is a Professor of Psychology at Alverno College. He came to Alverno in 1987 with a background in statistics and research design which he has put to use teaching the full range of statistics and research courses and as Chair of the Institutional Review Board for the protection of human participants in research. He has also done consulting in design and analysis both at Alverno and in the business community.
As a cognitive Educational Psychologist Paul has used his experience to develop an understanding of the conceptions and misconceptions that students bring to the learning of research design, sharing that understanding in a number of professional publications and presentations.
Kris Vasquez, Ph.D.
Co-creator of the Measurement and Evaluation online certificate program
Co-creator of the Measurement and Evaluation online certificate program
Kris Vasquez, Ph.D., is a professor of Psychology at Alverno College. In addition to graduate degrees in psychology, she holds degrees in economics, business administration, and user-experience design.
She has taught at the graduate and undergraduate level in psychology, nursing, education, and business, largely on issues related to measurement and statistical analysis. She consults with graduate students across the Midwest on thesis/dissertation method design and with corporations and nonprofit organizations on behavioral economics, measurement, and assessment.
Her academic research interests include prejudice, culture, and morality. In Alverno’s School of Adult Learning and New Initiatives, she teaches prerequisite courses for the direct entry Master’s in Nursing program, serves as a School of Education doctoral dissertation advisor, and is the co-creator of the Measurement and Evaluation online certificate program.
