Evelyn T. Stone College of Professional Studies

Organizational Leadership

Evelyn T. Stone College of Professional Studies


Fast Track Degrees for Adults
The Bachelor of Professional Studies in Organizational Leadership

Debra Orr is an Assistant Professor of Organizational Leadership in Evelyn T. Stone University College.  She holds a Bachelor’s degree in Fine Arts, a Master’s degree in Organizational Leadership and a Ph.D. in Organization Development.  Her research has focused on the use of aesthetic epistemology in organizational settings and how art influences thinking and behavior.  An award-winning writer, ongoing researcher in leadership and organization development, business consultant and frequent academic presenter, Debra is a scholar-practitioner concentrating her efforts on bringing the newest academic research to life within the context of organizations, specifically within the Healthcare arena.

Kyle Courtaway is a performance consultant with over 10 years' experience in organizational development, coaching and professional skills training. He holds a BS in public relations/business administration and an MS in communication and specializes in organizational development, facilitation, and interpersonal/intercultural communication. Much of Kyle's background has been focused on performance improvement in global organizational settings, most recently with Andersen LLP, where he worked in a performance coaching, organizational development, and instructional design capacity. His work has taken him to four continents. Kyle's interests include rock climbing, canoeing, backpacking, backcountry travel; he spent 25 days backpacking and canoeing the Yukon Territory in 2003 and 30 days mountaineering and canoeing in the Pacific Northwest in 2004. He is an avid reader and traveler and enjoys intellectual challenges and good conversation.

 

Nick Trongale was born in Chicago, IL. He attended Dominican University, Naval Postgraduate School, Stanford University, Harvard University and the RAND Corporation in Santa Monica, CA where he was Federal Executive Research Fellow. He has an Ed.D. in leadership studies from the University of San Diego. Nick is a retired Navy captain who flew carrier aircraft and drove deep draft ships. His last assignment in the Navy was as Chief of Staff, Abraham Lincoln Battle Group and Task Force 50 where he was responsible for in excess of 30 ships in the Persian Gulf and Red Sea.  Since retiring from the Navy, Nick was the Director of Strategic Programs at the University of San Diego, President, College of Oceaneering in Los Angeles, and he worked for NASA as its Unmanned Air Vehicle Flight Integration Planning Team Lead. He is currently the Dean of the College of Professional Studies at National University of Health Sciences in Lombard, IL.  His hobbies include recreational hard hat diving and playing the bass.

 

With more than 15 years of experience in the organizational development arena Leesa Drake has developed expertise in the areas of change management, organizational strategy, leadership/employee development, performance management and organizational behavior.  "Working as an Organizational Development Consultant has given me the opportunity to work on projects in these areas with a variety of types of organizations.  I really enjoy working with people and helping their organizations to succeed,"  says Drake. 
Leesa has an undergraduate Bachelor of Science in Psychology from Iowa State University and an MBA with a concentration in Organizational Development from Keller Graduate School of Management. When she manages to find free time she enjoys running, travel and teaching her dog silly tricks.

Tim O’Malley.  Starting his career in the banking/finance industry, Tim gravitated towards work in diversity during the early 1990s to help companies address overt and subtle discrimination in the work place.  After spending 7 years as an internal diversity consultant in both finance and telecommunications, Tim began external diversity consulting in 1998.  Working externally he’s had the opportunity to assist for profit, not for profit, government, and educational organizations in developing ways to recognize, understand, value and utilize the diversity of their work force, customer base, and the communities in which they operate.  Tim is a graduate of the University of Notre Dame and holds a master’s degree in organizational development from American University.  He also teaches courses in Diversity, Leadership, and Training and Development at Roosevelt University. 

Sid Barsuk [photo only]

Keith Snow-Flamer is presently serving as Assistant Vice President for Learning and Student Support Services at McHenry County College. He has served as the Executive Dean of Enrollment Development and Director of Enrollment and Student Development, also at at McHenry. Keith Snow-Flamer began his higher education career at Eastern Washington University serving in the Admissions and Orientation departments in various positions with increasing responsibilities as well as in the private sector with Kraft Foods and Mobile Oil and in service to my country as an officer in the Marne Corps.

Snow-Flamer holds a Bachelors degree in History, a Masters in Public Administration from Eastern Washington University and a Ph.D. in Educational Leadership from Gonzaga University. Additionally, Keith serves as an Associate Consultant for the Center for Organizational Reform (COR). COR promotes personal and organizational transformation, the vital role of community, principles of social justice, and the creation of healthy and effective institutions. Grounded in contemporary organizational scholarship, COR conducts original research, and provides educational services and technical assistance to individuals and organizations facing complexity and change.

 

Ken Trzaska brings comprehensive leadership experience as a community college administrator, corporate consultant, educator, curriculum developer, change agent, and facilitator. He has taught with Roosevelt University since 2000.

Ken has lead in the role of Dean of Continuing Education and Community Engagement since 2004 at a community college in St. Louis, MO. Prior to moving to St. Louis in 2004, he spent nearly five years as Director of the Business and Industry Training Center at the College of Lake County in Grayslake, Illinois. He has also worked in corporate as a product developer and training education manager and continues to consult companies, colleges and universities on organizational leadership and development.

Through collaboration with organizations such as Abbott Laboratories, Volkswagen, Baxter Healthcare, and Pfoodman Ken led the development and implementation of strategic organizational development plans and training curriculums in leadership, communication, values, goal clarification, and strategy.

Ken brings an energy and passion to learning and leadership and challenges you to “think beyond the obvious" and challenges you to "step out of comfort zone.”

Ken is currently a Doctoral Candidate at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. His research interests include strategic planning and organizational learning. His dissertation focus is examining strategic planning as a process for organizational learning. Ken anticipates defending his dissertation in Spring, 2009.

In his free time, Ken enjoys high mountains, skiing, hiking, traveling and hanging with his wife, daughter, and Leo (the Shih Tzu). An interesting fact about Ken is that he grew up in Europe and in 2004 visited India with his wife of 12 years.

 

Shirley Washburn, an expert in organizational communications, presentation skills, and message development, founded The Washburn Group in 1998. The Washburn Group is a communications consulting and training company that works with individuals and organizations to improve both written and spoken communications.  The Group was founded on Shirley’s belief that, “In today’s business community, your success or failure rests on your ability to communicate”.

 Her 35-year career has focused on marketing and sales, organizational communications, presentation skills training, and training for in-bound call centers. She teaches marketing, management and communications at Chicago-area colleges and universities including Robert Morris College (undergraduate) and Roosevelt University (on-line and graduate).  During her 25-year banking career, she was a vice president of sales and marketing at Continental Illinois National Bank (now Bank of America) in Chicago and Bank One (now JP Morgan Chase) in both Chicago and Columbus, OH. She also spent several years with a spoken communications training company.  She is a docent for Pleasant Home (the John Farson historical home designed by George W. Maher.
 Shirley has a bachelor’s degree from Purdue University and an MBA from Loyola University-Chicago.

 

Laura Evans is a Professor of Organizational Leadership in the Evelyn T. Stone College of Professional Studies.  An expert in adult learning and academic program development, Laura served as dean of Roosevelt University’s Evelyn T. Stone University College for 9 years, from 1997-2006; she also served as dean at the State University of New York at Purchase and Southern Connecticut State University in New Haven.  Laura’s academic interests include adult learning; personal and organizational leadership; marketing, business management and planning strategies, and training in higher education as well as counseling and social work.  She has earned numerous grants from public and private agencies including the National Endowment for the Humanities, the NYNEX Corp. and an award for $500,000 from the McCormick Tribune Foundation to establish Roosevelt University’s online learning program.  Laura’s degrees include: B.A. from the State University of New York at Oswego; M.Ed. from the University of Maryland; M.S.W. from Fordham University; and Ed.D. from Indiana University.