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National Association of Presidential Assistants in Higher Education

2026 Conference General Sessions

Conference Information

The National Association of Presidential Assistants in Higher Education is pleased to present the line-up of plenary presentations for the 39th Annual National Conference and Business Meeting.

General Session #1: Wednesday, March 11, 2026, at 4:30 PM

"The Landscape of Higher Education" Panel Presentation

The Landscape of Higher Education will explore contemporary issues facing higher education, including building trust in institutional leadership in today’s political climate, navigating financial and enrollment pressures, and reframing the value proposition of higher education. 

Panelists

Dr. Charlie McCormick

President, Schreiner University

Dr. Charlie McCormick is the 6th President of Schreiner University in Kerrville, Texas.  He assumed the presidency in January 2017 where he has focused on enrollment growth, endowment growth, and expanding programmatic offerings.

Prior to becoming President, Dr. McCormick served as the Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs at Schreiner, beginning in 2009.  In this role, he worked extensively on faculty development, new program development (including the revision of the general education program), and a variety of student success initiatives.

Dr. McCormick serves as past chair of the Independent Colleges and Universities of Texas, and he has been a frequent participant in a variety of off-site and on-site reaffirmation reviews and level change reviews for SACSCOC. His publications include a co-edited, three-volume encyclopedia of folklore and folklife, a co-edited English composition reader, and articles on a variety of popular culture topics.

Dr. McCormick earned his Ph.D. in Folklore and Folklife from the University of Pennsylvania, his M.A. degree in Anthropology from Texas A&M University, and B.A. degree in English from Abilene Christian University.  He also attended the SALT Institute for Documentary Study in Maine.   

Marta Diffen

Special Assistant to the President, Schreiner University, and NAPAHE member

Marta Diffen serves as the Special Assistant to the President at Schreiner University in Kerrville, Texas, and has been in that role since 2021. Prior to becoming Special Assistant to the President, Marta was the Director of Development at Schreiner University for four years. Marta has 20 years of experience in nonprofit management and leadership, and in developing and supporting strategic initiatives.

Marta earned a Bachelor of Journalism from the University of Texas at Austin and a Master of Public Administration from Angelo State University.

Dr. Clarence Wyatt

Special Advisor to the President, Trinity University

Dr. Clarence R. Wyatt serves as Special Advisor to Trinity University President Vanessa B. Beasley. He retired in July 2024 after serving for ten years as President of Monmouth College in Illinois. During that time he helped to lead the largest comprehensive campaign in Monmouth's history, as well as helping to develop new academic programs in engineering and nursing. Prior to working at Monmouth, Clarence served at Centre College, his alma mater, as the Pottinger Professor of History, Chief Planning Officer, and Special Assistant to four Centre presidents. He graduated from Centre in 1978 with a B.A. in History and English, and earned his M.A. and Ph.D degrees from the University of Kentucky. His academic focus was U.S. involvement in Vietnam. In 2012, he worked as a Fulbright Scholar, teaching at Hanoi University. 

Dr. Kristina Campos-Davis

Chief of Staff and Assistant Secretary to the Board, Trinity University

Dr. Kristina Campos-Davis is a leader at the intersection of project management, strategic communication, and higher education. She has over 25 years of experience in the industry, including 18 years as a professor of communication and sociology before becoming an administrative executive leader.

Kristina was an anchor and reporter at a local CBS station early in her career. 

In 2018, Dr. Campos-Davis shifted her focus to college administration, initially contributing to the field through strategic communications and marketing. This role prepared her for her current position as chief of staff, board liaison, and member of the Executive Leadership Team at Trinity University. 

She earned her bachelor's degree in political science and her master's in intercultural communication from Abilene Christian University, and she received her Ph.D. in rhetoric and public affairs from Texas A&M University. To facilitate her transition to administration, she also completed her MBA in August 2021. 

Moderator

Dr. W. Joseph (Joey) King

Founder and Principal, Academic Innovators; President, Presbyterian Pan American School

Dr. W. Joseph (Joey) King is president of Presbyterian Pan American School. Previously, he served as president of Lyon College. He also served as senior advisor to the president of Emory & Henry College. As executive director of the National Institute for Technology in Liberal Education, he helped 138 liberal arts colleges become more strategic and innovative. Similarly, as vice president of innovation at Southwestern University, he focused on strategic opportunities. As executive director of Connexions (now OpenStax) at Rice University, he led the first large-scale open education initiative and the free textbook movement.

Dr. King is co-author, together with Dr. Brian Mitchell, of Leadership Matters: Confronting the Hard Choices Facing Higher Education, from Johns Hopkins University Press. Forbes named it one of the Top 10 higher education books of 2022. Their first book, How to Run a College: A Practical Guide for Trustees, Faculty, Administrators, and Policy Makers, also from Johns Hopkins University Press, had positive reviews in The Wall Street Journal, Inside Higher Ed, and Oxford Magazine.

In addition to his work in academe, Dr. King is a serial entrepreneur and research scientist. He was president of Zama Networks and chief scientist of F5 Networks (Nasdaq: FFIV). Formerly, he was a research scientist at the Human Interface Technology Laboratory at the University of Washington. He has also conducted research at the Advanced Telecommunications Research Institute and Hughes Research Laboratories.

He holds a Ph.D. from the University of Washington and a B.A. from Southwestern University.

General Session #2: Thursday, March 12, 2026, at 1:30 PM

"I Do Number Two: The Critical Role of Second-In-Command Leaders"
In a moment when higher education is being reshaped by innovation, community partnership, and bold leadership, Huston-Tillotson University is stepping confidently into the future. This presentation invites the audience on an energetic journey through HT’s transformational vision—where technology, collaboration, and student-centered design merge to build a campus that inspires.
 
With a blend of storytelling, real examples, audience engagement, and a touch of humor, Dr. Melva K. Wallace will explore HT’s evolving campus master plan, the impact of major philanthropic investments, and how intentional leadership can turn big dreams into practical, sustainable growth. Attendees will be encouraged to think creatively, ask big questions, and imagine alongside HT what it means to build a future-ready HBCU.

Get ready for an upbeat, interactive, and insightful conversation—one that celebrates progress, elevates community voice, and highlights how Huston-Tillotson is boldly reimagining what’s possible.

Speaker

Dr. Melva K. Wallace

President and CEO, Huston-Tillotson University

For over twenty years Dr. Melva K. Wallace has worked in higher education as a leader and as a fierce national advocate. Today, she proudly serves as the seventh President and CEO of Huston-Tillotson University, an HBCU and one of the top private liberal arts colleges in the country. It was the first institution of higher education established in Austin, Texas. 

Since she took the helm in 2022, this powerhouse institution boasts increased fundraising efforts, increase in new student enrollment, increased international student enrollment, increased graduate enrollment, increased online enrollment, and boasts the largest male new student enrollment at 55% of the population. As a fiscal conservative, Dr. Wallace has been highly successful in assisting institutions reach their financial goals and trains higher education CPAs on best practices for enrollment, cost controls, and fiscal compliance. To date, Wallace has been instrumental in amassing over $20 million in grants and gifts. 

From all of Wallace’s higher education leadership, she provided leadership in several roles within the Southern University System (Louisiana), the only HBCU college system in the world. She served in various capacities, including: vice chancellor for student affairs and enrollment at Southern University-Shreveport, where she increased three historic enrollment classes and assisted in securing funding for three new campus buildings; interim vice chancellor for student affairs and enrollment at Southern University-New Orleans, where she was instrumental in ensuring their reaffirmation; and chief of staff for two system presidents as the first Chief of Staff, during which she managed life campuses with over 15,000 students throughout the state of Louisiana. 

Although much of Wallace’s work has been within the higher education HBCU space, Wallace formerly worked in Academic Affairs as associate dean of the college at Centenary College of Louisiana. Centenary is lauded as one of the top four-year liberal arts colleges in the United States. Under her leadership, the College realized a 4% increase in retention. She currently serves as a member of the Centenary College of Louisiana’s Board. 

She is a founding board member for the Higher Education Leadership Foundation, which has provided leadership training to over 500 HBCU leaders across the country. Many of those leaders are now serving as university presidents, vice presidents, deans, and directors at HBCUs across the country. In 2011, she co-founded the Shreveport Charter Foundation, which built Magnolia School of Excellence Charter School, the first school built in the city of Shreveport, Louisiana, in over 30 years. Additionally, her service as vice president and president of the school’s board also solidified the building of a second school, Magnolia High School, in 2016. These two schools now enroll over 1000 students in the Shreveport community. 

Since arriving to Austin, she has continued her community service work as a member of the board for Ballet Austin, Austin PBS, and the Black Fund which provides over 1 million dollars of funding for black businesses. She is also a member of the National Association for University Women and Board President for Extensions of Excellence Arts Organization in Shreveport founded by Mr. Vincent Williams. 

In 2016, Wallace, a then Presidential Leadership Scholar, was selected to study leadership under the tutelage of four former American Presidents: President George H. W. Bush, President George W. Bush, and President William J. Clinton. In 2020, she was heralded as a “futurist” by former President George W. Bush and was invited by the Bush Institute to be a featured writer for the Summer 2020 edition of The Catalyst: A Journal of Ideas from the Bush Institute on How Educators Can Prime First-Generation College Students for Success. 

She is also the 2018 recipient of the ATHENA award, which is the highest honor in the state of Louisiana for professional excellence, community service and for actively assisting women in their attainment of professional excellence and leadership skills. And, in 2022, Wallace was lauded by Diverse Higher Ed Magazine as one of the top 25 minority women leaders in the world who are paving the way for others in higher education. Additionally, in 2022 Wallace was recognized in the city of Shreveport as a Virginia Shehee award nominee as one of the most influential women in the city.

In 2023, Dr. Wallace was honored by the United Negro College Fund as a president in leadership. Because of her national prominence in higher education as a national spokesperson for HBCUs, she has been featured in a number of magazines and media publications expressing her views on these beloved institutions. In 2023, she was named by Austin Monthly as one of the Texas 100 Top Influential Professionals to Watch. 

Wallace received a Bachelor’s Degree in Mass Communication and a master’s degree in Public Administration from Grambling State University. She also earned her Ph.D. in Urban Higher Education from Jackson State University. She is married to her phenomenal husband, Dr. DL Wallace, of Flower Mound, Texas. You can follow her on Instagram at MKWalltx to learn more about her views on Historically Black Colleges and Universities.