Staff

Kenneth Pho

What are your hobbies?

Soccer, Biking, Being Outside!

Tell us about your favorite local eateries and things to do in Vermont:

Aromas of India (Williston), Saigon Kitchen (Burlington)

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Richard Pickering

Biography

Dr. Richard Pickering is an Assistant Professor and the Program Director for Technology here at Champlain College Online. Richard has a PhD in Teaching and Learning coupled with an MBA and numerous technology-related certifications.

Prior to Champlain, Dr. Pickering enjoyed a distinguished career blending pedagogical expertise with strategic leadership in program management and product development within the educational business sector.

Dr. Pickering also has held positions as Chief Executive Officer at Virtual High School Global Consortium, Chief Operating Officer at Victory Productions, various Program/Product Manager posts as well as Adjunct Professor appointments.

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Stephen Piela

Biography

Steve is a proud Champlain College graduate of the Class of 2011. His love for rugby began during his tenure as a founding member of the Champlain College Rugby from 2006-2011. Following his playing days, he transitioned into coaching, serving as an Assistant Rugby Coach from 2011 to 2015. Since then, he has proudly taken on the mantle of Champlain College Women’s Rugby Coach, guiding and mentoring a new generation of athletes with dedication and enthusiasm. As someone who became an athlete in college, his favorite part of coaching is witnessing a player find empowerment through being part of a team and discovering their abilities and fortitude, which are hallmarks of rugby culture. Beyond the rugby pitch, he works as a Treasury Management Sales Consultant at M&T Bank. He lives in Essex Junction with his wife Maggie and their 3 cats.

What are your hobbies?

Travel, dining, computer science

Favorite local eateries and things to do in Vermont:

El Gato, the Middlebury Tasting Trail, watching local rugby

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Mark Pierce

Biography

Mark earned his BA in Philosophy with Saint Michael’s College in 2008 and his MS in Education with Wheelock College (now Boston University) in 2014. Mark solidified his passion for education through a service year with an AmeriCorps non-profit in Chicago, IL where he acted as a tutor and mentor to students in a public high school. From there he found himself in various roles supporting young learners in achieving both core educational benchmarks and socioemotional well-being throughout Chicago, Boston, and Chittenden County, Vermont. Mark joined the higher education realm with Champlain College Online as an Academic Advisor and found tremendous value in supporting students’ personal development while they pursued their own educational and career goals. Mark now acts as the Academic Operations Manger for CCO. Mark is a nerd at heart who enjoys movies, reading, and sharing laughs with friends over video game and tabletop game sessions during his free time.

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Nicholas Pierce

Biography

Nick is the current Access Services Manager for the Champlain College Library at the Miller Information Commons, and has held a career in academic libraries for over 15 years. He’s worked at several institutions- Skidmore, Babson, UVM, and most recently, Yale. Nick loves leading and managing teams focused in access services and collections management, but he also has experience in interlibrary loan, preservation, and reference work. He lives in South Hero with his wife, Julia, who works as a wedding photographer, and their 3-year-old rescue pup Pickles. Nick is absolutely thrilled to be joining, contributing to and serving the Champlain community.

Hobbies

Hiking with my wife Julia & Pickles the pup, homebrewing, reading!

Favorite Local Eateries & Things to do in Vermont

Two Heroes Brewery, Winooski River Walk, Colchester Pond, Museum of Everyday Life!

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Hallie Pixley

Biography

Hallie Pixley is the Sustainable Transportation Coordinator with Campus Operations, where she passionately advocates for biking and active transportation. A 2024 graduate of Champlain College, Hallie holds a Bachelor of Science in Environmental Studies and Policy. Her dedication to promoting sustainable transportation solutions is driven by her commitment to environmental stewardship and community well-being.

What are your hobbies?

Hallie loves biking, skiing, playing guitar, going to see live music, and painting/drawing (as well as most things involving the great outdoors).

Favorite local eateries and things to do in Vermont:

Nothing beats The Grey Jay’s shakshuka followed by a bike ride down the Colchester Causeway!

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Michelle Platt

Biography

Michelle earned a BA in Political Science at Southern Illinois University in 2008 and a Master of Public Administration (MPA) at Southern Illinois University in 2014. Michelle began working in Higher Education in 2014 after a 15 year career in retail management. Michelle was previously the Director of Outreach and Recruitment at a College in Washington State. Michelle is passionate about access to education, removing barriers and promoting educational equity. Michelle looks forward to working with students throughout their educational journey through to completion. In her spare time, Michelle is a geek and a dog mom who enjoys; attending Comic-con, tabletop gaming, pop-culture, movies and tv, reading, traveling, and collecting fandom art and collectables.

What are your hobbies?

Reading, Gaming, Listening to music, Travel, Film/Television, Comic-con and collecting fandom memorabilia.

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Isabella Poloes

Biography

Isabella is a Licensed Clinical Mental Health Counselor and has worked at Champlain College since 2020. Isabella strives to create a nonjudgmental and welcoming environment for students, where they can collaboratively work on the issues that are most important to them. In her work, she recognizes the impact systems of oppression have on our mental health and welcomes exploration of these themes. She appreciates humor and honesty within the therapeutic relationship and practices from an eclectic, trauma-informed lens- bringing in elements of narrative, feminist, and cognitive behavioral theories as appropriate.

Outside of the office, she enjoys cooking, hanging out with her dog, Oliver, and reading in hammocks.

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Ginger Pressey

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Hannah Puryear

Biography

Hannah is a versatile Systems & HR Specialist with a diverse background that encompasses roles ranging from Recruiting Administrator to Onboarding Specialist and HR Generalist. With a wealth of experience in the human resources landscape, Hannah’s expertise has been honed through her multifaceted career journey.

Having begun her professional journey as a recruiting administrator back in Oklahoma, Hannah quickly displayed a natural flair for nurturing meaningful connections. Her transition to an onboarding specialist role allowed her to ensure seamless assimilation of new hires into company culture, underlining her dedication to a positive employee experience.

She moved to Vermont at the beginning of 2021 and began a new role as an HR generalist. This allowed her to gain a comprehensive understanding of various HR functions such as, benefits, reporting, recruiting, and more.

Hannah has been with Champlain College since August 2022.

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Susan Ragusa

Biography

Sue joined Champlain’s Information Systems team as in 2024. Sue serves as the Canvas LMS administrator and provides academic technology support for the Center for Learning and Teaching. Prior to supporting instructional technology she spent many years as a design and technology instructor in higher ed. She holds an MFA from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and BA from Cedar Crest College.

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Linda Reid

Biography

Linda has been working at Champlain College Online since 2015. For five years, she worked directly with online adult students as a Senior Academic Advisor. Since 2020, she has been behind-the-scenes nerding out with Excel and other data tools to best support the success of all online students as the Senior Reporting Analyst. Linda has been working in higher education for over twenty years, starting with a Bachelor’s degree from the University of Massachusetts Amherst (2001) and followed up with a Master’s of Education degree (UMass Amherst, 2010). She has consistently worked either in an advising position or in a data position. People and data are her passions, except of course for her husband and son. She is focused on access needs for all students and has a particular interest in the needs of/support for neurodivergent students (youth and adults).

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Maggie Riley

Biography

Maggie is a Licensed Clinical Mental Health Counselor who has been a Counselor with the Counseling Center at Champlain since 2013. Maggie loves the small community here and appreciates that working with students and graduate interns challenges her thinking and introduces her to new ideas.

Maggie has many clinical interests including social psychology, navigating interpersonal dynamics and family of origin concerns, and exploring spirituality.

In her spare time Maggie enjoys spending time with family and friends, getting coffee in the Old North End and watching old movies.

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Anthony Rivers

Biography

Anthony Rivers is a Champlain alum who earned his B.S. in Psychology in 2018. After graduation, he applied his understanding of learning and the brain to teach people about their dogs’ behavior and ways to address it, earning certification in 2020. Anthony returned to the Champlain community in 2022 – first to the Compass Student Services team, before transitioning to his current role in the ODI in August 2022. Anthony was born and raised in the Cayman Islands, but often traveled to visit family in Vermont during the summertime. While his mom’s love for scuba diving is what initially drew her to Cayman Brac, Anthony’s love for hiking and nature has helped make Vermont his second home. Anthony is passionate about mentorship, Caribbean history and culture, his dog Chip (and other dogs), encouraging self-discovery and facilitating identity work. When he isn’t working or taking care of Chip, you may find Anthony playing intramural basketball with the Staff/Faculty & Alumni team, writing, doing some kind of outdoor activity, or enjoying some downtime with a video game.

What are your hobbies?

Hiking, basketball, gaming, writing

Tell us about your favorite local eateries and things to do in Vermont:

Cooking with fresh local produce from farmers markets, Island Passion, Harmony’s Kitchen

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Derek Roberts

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