Administration, Leadership & Governance

Muhammad Yunus

Chancellor Emeritus at Glasgow Caledonian

International anti-poverty campaigner and Nobel Peace Prize winner Professor Muhammad Yunus was installed as Chancellor of Glasgow Caledonian University in October 2012. As Chancellor, he provides leadership, advice and support to the University and has pledged his inspirational stewardship in support of GCU’s undertaking to harness its intellectual, social and emotional capital and collaborate with others to find solutions to some of society’s most pressing challenges.

Pamela Gillies CBE FRSE

President and Vice-Chancellor, Glasgow Caledonian University

Professor Pamela Gillies CBE, FRSE has been Principal and Vice-Chancellor of Glasgow Caledonian University since 2006. She is a Founding Member of the Global Advisory Council for the African Leadership University; a Trustee of the Grameen Scotland Foundation which has brought the Grameen model of microfinance to the UK in partnership with Tesco Bank; and the Caledonian College of Engineering which has been operating successfully for over 20 years in Muscat, Oman where 50% of our engineering graduates are women.

Jacqueline LeBlanc, Ph.D.

Vice President and Provost, Glasgow Caledonian New York College

Gastón de los Reyes, J.D., Ph.D.

Associate Professor and Director of the Center for Social Impact & Innovation

Jessica Chang-Russell

Director of Operations, Title IX Coordinator‌ 

Jessica Chang-Russell is GCNYC’s Director of Operations and Title IX Coordinator. She leads College operations and planning to deliver an efficient and effective working and learning environment. As a member of the leadership team, she supports strategic planning, operational planning and budgeting for student and academic services, policies, procedures and change management.

Dominique Studer‌

Director of Recruitment and Admissions

Dominique Studer works as the Director of Recruitment & Admissions at Glasgow Caledonian New York College (GCNYC). She is responsible for outreach, recruitment, and admissions processes, ranging from the development and establishment of practices to the direct recruitment of students to our three Master’s programs. Dominique also serves as the PDSO (Principal Designated School Official) and point of contact for all international students.

Prior to joining the GCNYC team, Dominique was the Assistant Director of Student Advising at Columbia University’s School of Professional Studies, overseeing and managing a team of Advisors, as well as being a primary point of contact for the Human Capital Management program and HBCU Fellowship Initiative. She was awarded the Dean’s Excellence Award, one of the highest honors that can be bestowed on a member of the Columbia community. Dominique also spent several years on the corporate side, specifically Goldman Sachs, where she first fell in love with recruitment, global investment research, and human capital management.

Dominique has a BS, magna cum laude, in Business Management, with a concentration in Marketing from Marymount Manhattan College, and an MS, summa cum laude, in Negotiation and Conflict Resolution from Columbia University. She wishes to pursue her Doctorate in Organizational Leadership & Development in the coming years.

Rebekah Chow

Director of Assessment and Institutional Effectiveness

Rebekah Chow is the Director of Assessment and Institutional Effectiveness at Glasgow Caledonian New York College. She holds a key role in developing the institution’s application for accreditation to the Middle States Commission for Higher Education (MSCHE) and in advancing our assessment and quality assurance program.  

Prior to joining GCNYC, Ms. Chow was the Manager for Institutional Effectiveness at Vaughn College of Aeronautics and Technology, where she led the creation of an institutional effectiveness and assessment framework, resulting in the removal of MSCHE Warning status for the institution. Rebekah worked diligently to remove individuals’ fears about data and help them develop an appreciation for using assessment data in decision-making. She worked in partnership with senior leadership, faculty, and staff to set goals that supported the institution and used data to improve processes and student learning. Outside of the scope of her role at Vaughn, Rebekah worked to bring the Starfish early-alert software application to the institution. From product testing and onboarding to faculty and staff training and motivating the campus to support the initiative, Rebekah was able to successfully launch the program. Since its launch, the institution improved student retention, intelligently collected data that has helped multiple departments understand how services are being utilized and how they can improve student outcomes, and has opened channels to what became a coordinated campus care network. Rebekah was nominated by her peers and received the Employee of the Year award in 2018. 

Ms. Chow earned her bachelor’s degree from Widener University and her M.A. in Higher Education Administration from SUNY Stony Brook, where she recently received the “Far Beyond” award by the Higher Education Administration Association for her exceptional service to her campus, students, faculty, staff, and other campus stakeholders.  Rebekah is currently a doctoral student at the University of North Dakota, where she is studying Educational Leadership and Practice. She began her professional career in luxury retail at Saks Fifth Avenue before transitioning into academia, and held previous appointments at The Art Institute of New York City and Long Island University.

Michael Cohen, Ph.D.

Director of Counseling, Disability Services Coordinator

Michael Cohen, PhD is Director of Student Counseling & Disability Services at Glasgow Caledonian New York College (GCNYC); and President of the Michael Cohen Group, LLC (MCG), an internationally renowned applied research and consulting firm. Dr. Cohen is a psychologist, clinician, researcher and educator with forty years’ experience in the areas of mental health and post-secondary, adult & life-span learning & education. Dr. Cohen is widely published, a member of the American Psychological & Counseling Associations (APA & ACA), and received his PhD in Developmental Psychology from the Graduate Center of the City University of New York.

Kerri Quinn, Ph.D.

Director of Academic Engagement 

Kerri Quinn is a member of the leadership team with responsibility for promoting student engagement and success, supporting faculty development, promoting teaching effectiveness, supporting GCNYC accreditation and developing and maintaining alumni relations. She monitors student progress, supports inductions and registration, and troubleshoots and resolves student academic issues.

Michelle Gabriel

Director of Career Services & Strategic Partnerships

Michelle Gabriel serves as the Director of Career Services & Strategic Partnerships as well as a faculty member, teaching Sustainable Fashion Strategy at GCNYC. In her roles at Glasgow Caledonian New York College, she brings her years of industry experience in social business strategy, design, branding, product development, supply chain, and operations for impact and sustainability-focused fashion brands such as Mara Hoffman, Old Navy, and Li & Fung. Michelle holds an MS in International Fashion Marketing from Glasgow Caledonian New York College and her BS in Design from the University of Cincinnati.

Stephen Lopez

Registrar

Stephen has over 25 years of experience in Higher Education administration, in a broad career that has included local faculty academic administration, to planning and implementing large scale organizational change.  As well as Registrar at GCNYC, Stephen is Academic Registrar at Glasgow Caledonian University with a wide ranging portfolio from academic technical support to responsibility for academic regulations, administration and Graduations.  Stephen has a particular interesting the advancement of sector engagements and sharing of good practice and has chaired various UK and Scottish academic administration related fora.