about the authors

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Paul A. Gore

Paul’s efforts to promote college and career readiness, high school and college student persistence, and academic success are informed by more than 20 years of research, program development, implementation, evaluation, and teaching. Paul currently serves as the dean of the College of Social Sciences, Health, and Education at Xavier University in Ohio. Paul earned his Ph.D. in Counseling Psychology from Loyola University–Chicago with an emphasis in student career development, academic success, and transition. He has held academic and administrative responsibilities at the University of Missouri–Kansas City, Southern Illinois University–Carbondale, ACT, Inc., and the University of Utah.

Paul’s research and practice efforts focus on noncognitive and motivational aspects of academic and career success. In particular, he is interested in how secondary and postsecondary institutions use data describing the noncognitive strengths and weaknesses of their students to promote student success and retention. He regularly consults with secondary and postsecondary institutions in the United States and abroad on developing and evaluating student academic and career success programs.

Paul has authored more than 50 peer-reviewed journal articles and book chapters. He is the past chair of the Society for Vocational Psychology, served as an Advisory Board member for the National Resource Center for the First-Year Experience and Students in Transition, and is the current editor of the Journal of the First-Year Experience and Students in Transition. During the 2013–2014 academic year, Paul was the recipient of an American Council on Education Emerging Leadership Fellowship.

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Wade Leuwerke

Wade is an associate professor of Counseling and Chair of the Leadership and Counseling Department at Drake University. He earned his Ph.D. in Counseling Psychology from Southern Illinois University–Carbondale. Wade has authored over 50 journal articles and book chapters, as well as national and international conference presentations. One of his areas of research is the assessment and development of student and employee noncognitive skills. He cocreated the Student Strengths Inventory, a measure of noncognitive skills used with secondary and postsecondary students to identify students’ skills and drive interventions for students at risk of academic failure or dropout. Wade also studies factors that predict college retention, the impact of computer-assisted career guidance systems on academic planning and career exploration behaviors, and the role of technology in career development processes.

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Wade has experience examining school counselors’ roles and working with professional school counselors to positively impact students’ academic development, career and college exploration, and the acquisition of personal and social skills that will prepare them for college and life beyond. He has worked with dozens of secondary and postsecondary institutions on a range of factors related to student success and persistence, including evaluation of institutional practices, use of data to drive student interventions, creating individualized student success plans, training, strategic planning, resource allocation, and collaboration to promote student success. He has also worked as a research project manager focusing on academic and career development research for Kuder, Inc.; ACT, Inc.; Career Cruising; and intoCareers. Wade provides executive and career coaching to corporations and the federal government.

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A.J. Metz

A.J. is an assistant professor in the Department of Educational Psychology at the University of Utah. She earned an M.Ed. in Vocational Rehabilitation Counseling in 1997 and a Ph.D. in Urban Education (specialization in Counseling Psychology) in 2005 from the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee. Her research examining factors related to academic and career success in underrepresented and underserved student populations has led to numerous journal articles, book chapters, conference presentations, workshops, and faculty in-service trainings.

A.J. has extensive teaching, counseling, and career advising experience in high schools, community colleges, and four-year public and private institutions of higher education. She is passionate about mentoring students and recently received a University of Utah Early Career Teaching Award. She is the head Core Values judge for the Utah FIRST LEGO League and has been on the board of directors of the Utah Psychological Association for six years, most recently serving as president.