Taft University System Faculty

Todd R. Becker

Todd R. Becker

Postsecondary Education:

Other Information:

Todd Becker is a senior associate with a large firm in Los Angeles County. His legal knowledge is in the areas of construction defect and general liability. Mr. Becker represents developers, general contractors, subcontractors, materials suppliers and insurance firms.

Mr. Becker was admitted to the State Bar of California in 1990. He is also admitted to practice in the United States District Court, Central District.

In 1990, Mr. Becker received his J.D. from Western State University School of Law, in Fullerton, California, graduating with honors. He previously earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Business Administration with an emphasis in Accounting from California State University, Fullerton.

Trade and Professional Associations/Credentials:

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Vivy Chao

Vivy Chao

Postsecondary Education:

Other Information:

Vivy Chao, Ed.D., an educator with a background in student affairs, has spent countless hours teaching, mentoring, scribbling over students' resumes, and learning about the psychology of the human communication. She attended the University of Southern California and UCLA for her master's and bachelor's degrees. Besides teaching at William Howard Taft University, she currently is an adjunct faculty member at the California State University, Long Beach and the CEO of Nanoogo.

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Lorraine Cleeton

Lorraine Cleeton

Postsecondary Education:

Other Information:

Dr. Cleeton presently is teaching online courses for Walden University (Research Methods II and Foundations for Doctoral Research) and Graceland University (EDUC Parental Support and Classroom Management) and mentor undergraduates at Aspen University and Ph.D. students in the Ph.D. program in Education Program at Walden University. Previously, she was an Assistant Professor in Special Education at St. Bonaventure University.

Dr. Cleeton has written articles on Cognition and Problem Solving; presented a paper on External Representations, Problem Solving and Working Memory in Rome, Italy; presented SNAPOUT and PACKOUT at the Hawaii Conference on Education; presented a paper on the need for assistive technology for students with disabilities in the transition phase from High School to work or further education.

Dr. Cleeton has also co-authored a book based on face to face and electronic discussion with current student teachers called ‘A Pocket Guide for Student Teachers’ published by Thomson Publishers.

Trade and Professional Associations/Credentials:

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Terrance L. Cusaac

Terrance L. Cusaac

Postsecondary Education:

Other Information:

Dr. Cusaac is a business faculty member at Orangeburg Calhoun Technical College, South Carolina. He has over 12 years of experience in higher education and a decade of work experience in Government. Dr. Cusaac is currently writing a book on Leadership in the 21st Century.

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A. Edwin Fahlen

A. Edwin Fahlen

Postsecondary Education:

Other Information:

Dr. Fahlen began to practice law in 1987 with litigation support for personal injury cases. His practice transformed into a successful real property litigation firm. With a real estate background as a California Real Estate Broker, sellers, buyers escrow companies, brokers and loan agents flowed to the firm for representation involving all aspects of transactional real property.

With his background in real estate law, he then incorporated family law into his practice as couples sought legal advise on real property involved in the dissolution process. Currently his practice includes Real Property, Family Law, Contracts and Personal Injury.

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Cynthia M. Geter

Cynthia M. Geter

Postsecondary Education:

Other Information:

Ms. Geter has been employed in the health care field for 15 years. She presently holds the position of Director of Managed Care for a corporation that owns three hospitals, a hospice center and a health care equipment center. In this position she is responsible for negotiating all payor contracts with health plans and physician groups that utilize their facilities. She is responsible for ensuring that all contracts can be administered operationally within the organization.

She previously served as Regional Manager for a healthcare delivery network providing services for 70,000 health care clients. She has functioned as a Principal Contract Administrator for a large health care facility.

Ms. Geter has management experience in the areas of supervision, department budgets, financial impact reports, forecasting, strategic planning, process improvement, utilization management, regulatory compliance, contract negotiations and operations.

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Deanna Gilbertson

Deanna Gilbertson

Postsecondary Education:

Other Information:

Ms. Gilbertson has been practicing law for over 10 years. Her expertise is in Civil Litigation. She also has extensive experience in the areas of workers compensation, insurance law, and real estate law. Before becoming a licensed attorney, Ms. Gilbertson worked as a paralegal and law clerk.

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Michael A.S. Guth

Michael A.S. Guth

Postsecondary Education:

Other Information:

Dr. Michael Guth has conducted extensive tax research as part of both his law practice and his risk management consulting practice. Through both his law and management consulting practice, Dr. Guth has obtained an in-depth study of tax research methodology. His work includes identifying tax questions, locating and assessing potential authority and communicating research results.

Dr. Guth has extensively advised individual clients on federal tax issues. One major aspect of his tax law practice concerns explaining to corporations the tax advantages to the individual of being employed as an independent contractor instead of an employee. Dr. Guth examines tax research from two different aspects: the legal side and the economic perspective.

As an attorney he has advised clients on conventional negotiated acquisitions, leveraged buyout techniques, and legal issues involved in the principal defensive strategies. As a management consultant he provides a combination of strategic planning and corporate financial advisory services.

Dr. Guth, graduated Summa Cum Laude, University of Tennessee, College of Law, December 1997, and was awarded Order of the Coif, ranking 2nd out of a class of 139. He is a licensed attorney in the State of Tennessee.

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Ryan A. Jacobsen

Ryan A. Jacobsen

Postsecondary Education:

Other Information:

Ryan A. Jacobsen is an attorney licensed in Washington and California. He owns his own law practice, Jacobsen Law Office, P.S., located in Olympia, Washington www.jacobsenlawoffice.com. Ryan is a litigation and transaction lawyer, and his practice focuses on real estate, probate, guardianship, estate planning, contracts, and personal injuries.

Ryan has been an adjunct law professor at Taft Law School since 2009. He is also an assistant professor at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University teaching undergraduate and graduate law courses. Prior to law school, Ryan taught history and geography as a middle school teacher, and spent two years in Croatia as an English teacher and missionary.

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Michael R. James

Michael R. James

Postsecondary Education:

Other Information:

Mr. James is presently a Senior Management Consultant for the international consulting firm of BearingPoint, Inc. (Formerly KPMG Consulting.) He has extensive knowledge and experience working with start-up businesses. These functions include the drafting of business plans, sales forecasts, venture capital establishment, stock issuance, and other start-up related functions.

While in the corporate accounting field he was involved with mergers and acquisitions to aid in determining fair asset valuation and attracting merger candidates.

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Neil A. Johnson

Neil A. Johnson

Postsecondary Education:

Other Information:

Dr. Neil A. Johnson has 35 years of experience in higher education and corporate executive management. He has taught at the undergraduate and graduate levels, owned his own international training company and held executive positions in both the corporate and government sector. After receiving his Ph.D. in Experimental Psychology from Colorado State University, Dr. Johnson served seven years with the US Army and Department of Defense. Since then, he has held positions as Manager of Flight Operations Training Development for United Airlines, Executive on Loan to the NASA Space Shuttle Program, Member of the Space Station Advisory Board, and Vice-President of Safety and Regulatory Compliance for two regional airlines. Most recently he has served as National Director of Education for Westwood College of Aviation Technology and Chief Academic Officer for Aspen University. His International business experience includes the Americas, Europe, Asia, the Middle East, and Russia. Dr. Johnson is the recipient of two Outstanding Achievement Awards from United Airlines for his work on Crew Resource Management, and two Official Commendations from the U.S. Army for flight test of the Advanced Attack Helicopter. He is internationally recognized for his work on human factors in aviation and space and he is a past editor of the Journal of the Human Factors Society.

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Melody L. Jolly

Melody L. Jolly

Postsecondary Education:

Other Information:

Dr. Jolly both lectures and conducts tutorials in all subjects tested on the California General Bar Examination and has over a decade of experience in the field of legal education. She has also represented Taft Law School at bar examination calibration sessions conducted by the California Committee of Bar Examiners.

Prior to entering the legal education field, she was in private practice. Her main emphasis in her law practice was real estate and family law.

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Michael W. Jones

Michael W. Jones

Postsecondary Education:

Other Information:

Michael Jones' work history over the last 9 years has included higher education, project controls, and information systems management. For project controls and information systems management, he worked in construction management for various clients like Merck, International Paper, and 3M. For project controls, he managed cost, quality control, safety, and office functions for major contracts. His experience in information systems included database management and office management functions which used many applications to support construction management to include standard Microsoft Office applications, AutoCad, Microsoft Project, Primavera, Maximo, and Microsoft Access.

Mr. Jones continues researching the following areas and is not limited to:

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Arthur S. Leahy

Arthur S. Leahy

Postsecondary Education:

Other Information:

Dr. Leahy presently is employed as a Senior Industry Economist with the U.S. Department of the Treasury. He previously was a Senior Economist with the U.S. Department of Transportation, Federal Aviation Administration.

Dr. Leahy has taught both for the SUNY system in the State of New York and for the Keller Graduate School of Management. He has several publications to his name, and has also written book reviews for various scholarly publications.

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Karen L. Ledbetter

Karen L. Ledbetter

Postsecondary Education:

Other Information:

Karen (Kary) Ledbetter is currently the Executive Director of Lemhi County Crisis Intervention. She has been a college dean, information management consultant, and program manager in past positions. Kary serves on the boards of a number of nonprofit organizations.

Dr. Leahy has taught both for the SUNY system in the State of New York and for the Keller Graduate School of Management. He has several publications to his name, and has also written book reviews for various scholarly publications.

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Aleta Ledendecker

Aleta Ledendecker

Postsecondary Education:

Other Information:

Aleta Ledendecker has a Ma.Ed. in Adult Education with a focus on distance learning from the University of Phoenix. She also has Montessori diplomas from St. Nicholas Montessori Training College in London, England, for both Early Childhood and Elementary levels. She has worked in Montessori schools since 1077 and has been a teaching administrator of New Horizon Montessori School since 1978.

In 1981, Ledendecker became a teacher trainer for St. Nicholas. Soon after, she was invited to be their North American representative for the Elementary level, continuing in those capacities until helping to found Montessori Educators International (MEI) in 1990. She is the program director and serves as a lecturer for MEI. As part of her duties, Ledendecker acts as a consultant for Montessori schools (both public and private) throughout the country.

Ledendecker has also served as the secretary/treasurer of the International Association of Montessori Educators (IAME) and the Montessori Teacher Educators Associate (MTEA). Until recently, MTEA had corporate oversight of the Montessori Accreditation Council for Teacher Education (MACTE), which accredits Montessori teacher training programs.

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Donna M. McGovern

Donna M. McGovern

Postsecondary Education:

Other Information:

Ms. McGovern started her career as a financial analyst. After moving to California she became the controller of a company and completed her MBA at USC. Thereafter, she began to attend William Howard Taft University where she earned her J.D. Ms. McGovern was admitted to the California Bar in 2003. Mc. McGovern teaches part-time for Golden West College. She is the founder and President of Custom Business Results, Inc., a consulting firm providing a variety of services to businesses.

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Maple Melder Crozier

Maple Melder-Crozier

Postsecondary Education:

Other Information:

Dr. Maple Melder Crozier is presently a professor at the University College of the Fraser Valley (UCFV). She currently teaches several upper division courses in the Child and Youth Care BA Program. Dr. Crozier has also written and taught courses for online delivery at the UCFV where she has been a faculty member for 14 years. This opportunity has provided me with the instructor perspective of online learning.

Dr. Crozier has extensive program development and curriculum development experience from her work at UCFV. This includes the Child and Youth Care Degree Program and the Teacher Education Program.

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Laurie Nalepa

Laurie Nalepa

Postsecondary Education:

Other Information:

Dr. Laurie Nalepa is currently Dean of Career and Technical Education at Los Angeles Valley Community College. Her responsibilities include workforce development, curriculum development, and grant management. She has also been involved in student enrollment and retention, faculty assessment, placement, teaching, community relations, and outreach. As an educational consultant she developed customized training programs in leadership for industry and academic partners. Past clients include The Ritz, Santa Monica Place, and the Marina Marriott. Prior to this, she was a senior executive in marketing and management positions.

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Casey S. Reason

Casey S. Reason

Postsecondary Education:

Other Information:

Casey Reason, PhD, has worked with leaders from all over the world on breakthrough strategies designed to improve performance and overcome resistance to change. His first book was Leading a Learning Organization: The Science of Working With Others. Several years ago, he co-facilitated a three-hour leadership training session entitled, Leading at a Higher Level. Casey has worked with public and private schools all over the United States, Canada, New Zealand and Switzerland. He’s also consulted with numerous large, corporate clients including American Express and General Dynamics. He currently is a featured leadership scholar and on the Executive MBA Advisory Board for Colorado Tech University.

He's also is currently serving as the core content curriculum manager for the Graduate School for Educational Administration program at Trine University in Angola, Indiana.

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Lisa D. Reason

Lisa D. Reason

Postsecondary Education:

Other Information:

Dr. Lisa Reason is a former high school English and journalism teacher and has been teaching and designing instruction/courses at the graduate level since 2004 and chairing dissertation committees since December of 2006.Her dissertation focused on transformational and teacher leadership studies and she presented two papers on these topics at the University Council for Education Administration (UCEA) national conference in November of 2006. She also presented on these topics at the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development (ASCD) conference in California. Over the last several years, Lisa has been actively studying the impact of brain research and learning theory on leadership. She has been a featured speaker on this topic at the annual conferences for the National Association of Secondary School Principals, and the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development. Dr. Reason also co-presented a number of important lectures on this topic in New Zealand for their National Principals Association. This work allowed her to collaborate with educators throughout the Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch regions. She also had the opportunity to present on the topic of the collaborative learning strategies to a group of teachers in Leysin, Switzerland.

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Tracy R. Reinmiller

Tracy R. Reinmiller

Postsecondary Education:

Other Information:

Ms. Reinmiller is the founding member of Reinmiller Law Firm. Ms. Reinmiller’s practice areas include estate planning, real estate law, transactional law, business formation and bankruptcy. Ms. Reinmiller worked 5 years as a parole revocation panel attorney for the State of California, Board of Prison Terms.

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Scott Resnick

Scott Resnick

Postsecondary Education:

Other Information:

Mr. Scott Resnick currently serves as a financial analyst for Ayco/Goldman Sacs. His legal expertise includes Fraud, liability, and legal research.

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Edward J. Romano

Edward J. Romano

Postsecondary Education:

Other Information:

Mr. Romano graduated from Boston University with a degree in European and American History, graduating Magna Cum Laude. He was elected to the Phi Beta Kappa honor society after his junior year. He was the recipient of several academic scholarships, namely, the Augustus Howe Buck Scholarship, and was the University nominee for a New York City Urban Fellowship. After completing his Juris Doctor from Suffolk University Law School, he attended Franklin Pierce Law Center and earned a Masters in Intellectual Property. Franklin Pierce Law Center is one of the nation’s leading institutions for the study of Intellectual Property. In addition to its renown master’s program, Franklin Pierce Law Center sponsors the Intellectual Property Summer Institute, the Advanced Licensing Institute, and IP programs in China and Ireland.

Mr. Romano is a seasoned civil litigation attorney in the Rhode Island State and Federal Courts. Mr. Romano’s most extensive areas of expertise are in the federal law areas of intellectual property and bankruptcy. He has argued and briefed more than 50 cases in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First and Second Circuits. He has also briefed and argued numerous cases in the Rhode Island Supreme Court and the Massachusetts Appeals Court. Most recently, served as co-counsel in the landmark case of United States vs. Vincent A. Cianci, Jr., et al. (the former Mayor of Providence) in the United States District Court for Rhode Island.

He has teaching experience in Business Law, Government and Business Regulations; he also holds a state Real Estate Brokers license.

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Terry W. Shorey

Terry W. Shorey

Postsecondary Education:

Other Information:

Mr. Shorey is presently an Education Program Consultant for the California Department of Education, in which he works directly with school districts and classroom teachers. He delivers high-quality professional staff development, provides technical assistance to schools and partnerships, and provides online and onsite intervention assistance.

Mr. Shorey has also been on faculty with National University San Diego (Online) and Chapman University College (Online).

Mr. Shorey is an experienced K-12 field practitioner with success as a classroom teacher, curriculum specialist and school administrator.

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Joan L. Slavin

Joan L. Slavin

Postsecondary Education:

Other Information:

Dr. Slavin serves as Director of Student Services for the University. She has served as a faculty member for the past twenty years.

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Carole A. Smith

Carole A. Smith

Postsecondary Education:

Other Information:

Dr. Smith has worked for over 30 years in education. Her work experience includes 25 years as a special education teacher.

Since 1997 Dr. Smith has been the Director of Special Education for Maine Administrative District #35. In this position, she provides supervision of programs that provide services to students requiring special education, students with gifts and talents and to students for whom English is a Second Language.

Dr. Smith also serves as the district liaison for homeless youth.

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Randall E. Stone

Randall E. Stone

Postsecondary Education:

Other Information:

Professional background in banking, investments, insurance, and public accounting. Professor of Accounting at Rose State College, National University and William Howard Taft University.

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Catherine A. Strouse

Catherine A. Strouse

Postsecondary Education:

Other Information:

Ms. Strouse graduated cum laude from Gonzaga University, School of Law. During law school, Ms. Strouse participated on a Moot Court Team, was a member of Gonzaga's Journal of International Law, and served on the boards of the Moot Court Honors Council and Women's Law Caucus.

Ms. Strouse has experience in the area of Elder Law.

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Robert K. Strouse

Robert K. Strouse

Postsecondary Education:

Other Information:

Mr. Strouse has over two decades of experience in private postsecondary education having previously held executive positions in two institutions and has provided legal and consulting services to numerous others.

Since 1989, Mr. Strouse has been a primary resource for the drafting and implementation of statutes and regulations related to postsecondary education in California. During the last 15 years, Mr. Strouse has served on several state committees, which have drafted regulations related to the California Education Code. He has also drafted legislation, position papers and testified before the legislature regarding numerous statutes and regulations in California on behalf of the school industry. Mr. Strouse is the Chief Legislative Counsel for the California Association of Private Postsecondary Schools and is the principal author in the private postsecondary school reauthorization bill passed in the legislature in 2004.

He has served as General Counsel, for the American Institute of Hypnotherapy. In this capacity he presented seminars on “Hypnosis and the Law.” He has also practiced law as a partner in the law firm of Matsen & Strouse.

He has been a member of the California Bar since 1980. He has been admitted to practice in the Federal 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, Southern, Central and Northern Federal District Courts in California. He received honors in law school for his participation with the National Moot Court Honors Board, Trial Advocacy Team and as a Community Legal Services Team Leader.

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William J. Tetu

William J. Tetu

Postsecondary Education:

Other Information:

Dr. Tetu’s doctorate degree is in Educational Leadership with major coursework in quantitative and qualitative research design and theoretical and applied statistics. His dissertation was a research study that investigated the relationships between mathematics anxiety, test anxiety, and mathematics performance in adult college students.

Dr. Tetu spent almost thirty years in the US Army and served many years commanding military organizations in the United States, Asia, and Europe. Prior to studying for his doctorate, he worked for Honeywell Corporation as a business manager in South Florida. Most recently he worked at the United States Special Operations Command at MacDill Air Force Base applying statistical analysis and processes to evaluate military programs designed to combat global terrorism.

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Margaret A. Trester

Margaret A. Trester

Postsecondary Education:

Other Information:

Margaret Trester has over 10 years of experience in the field of law. She is well versed in Bankruptcy law as well as litigation. She has worked in private practice as well as for the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office.

In addition to her work with Taft Law School, Ms. Trester helps prepare students to sit for both the California Bar Exam as well as the California Baby Bar Exam.

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Nathan Wente

Nathan Wente

Postsecondary Education:

Other Information:

Nathan D. Wente has been with Taft since 2009. He is licensed to practice law in California and Oregon. He is a former prosecutor and currently works in private practice doing criminal defense and various civil litigation matters.

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Eileen L. Yantz

Eileen L. Yantz

Postsecondary Education:

Other Information:

Dr. Eileen Yantz has taught in various capacities for over twelve years; kindergarten through college, exceptional education and regular education tracks. During those times, she has also been a literacy and math curriculum specialist, character education coordinator, demonstration teacher, and finally an assistant principal. She has won numerous awards, including teacher of the year twice and demonstration teaching excellence.

For the past three years, she has been a full-time faculty member at a community college and this past year was promoted to Program Coordinator for Early Childhood Education and Lateral Entry Teaching. Dr. Yantz also serves on the North Carolina Association for the Education of Young Children Board of Directors; having completed a term on the Curriculum Improvement Project for the State of North Carolina.

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