Midwestern Association of Graduate Schools

Suzanne Ortega became the sixth President of the Council of Graduate Schools on July 1, 2014. Prior to assuming her current position, she served as the University of North Carolina (UNC) Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs (2011–14). Previous appointments include the Executive Vice President and Provost at the University of New Mexico, Vice Provost and Graduate Dean at the University of Washington, and the University of Missouri. Dr. Ortega's masters and doctoral degrees in sociology were completed at Vanderbilt University.

I am Moises Gutierrez. I am currently a core faculty professor in the doctoral program in Interdisciplinary Leadership at Creighton University. I am originally from Guanajuato, Mexico, but I have spent the last 30 years living, ministering, and working in various countries. I have held global leadership positions that have allowed me to travel, live, and work in many countries and to relate and connect with people from many countries, backgrounds, ethnicities, and cultures. I went to the Instituto Tecnolόgico de Estudios Superiores de Monterrey (ITESM) in Mexico for industrial and information systems engineering. I also hold a bachelor’s degree in education from St, Xavier University (Chicago, Illinois), graduate work on intercultural education from Roosevelt University (Chicago, Illinois), a master’s degree in Intercultural Relations from Lesley University (Cambridge, Massachusetts), and a Ph.D. in Leadership Studies with a concentration on global leadership from Gonzaga University. For my dissertation, I developed a model of a transdisciplinary global mindset for global and local leadership.

I’ve been in the field of education for many years. In fact, by now, I have taught at all levels of education: from kindergarten to doctoral programs and everything in between. I have been in graduate education for the las 10 years in different universities.

Life has been offering me experiences that I might not have dreamt of. Luckily, I have been able to allow life to surprise me. Thus, I have been blessed with the opportunity to walk with many people from all sorts of cultures, ethnicities, and backgrounds during the last 30 years. Every single professional and academic experience I have had and every single person I have walked with have helped me to become the person I am now. One stanza of a poem from Pablo Neruda expresses my approach to leadership, academics, and life: “I go around the world increasingly happy: each city gives me new life” and I add: I go around the world increasingly happy: each person I meet gives me new life, each experience I encounter gives me new life, each perspective/approach gives me new life, each worldview gives me new life.

Dr. Magdalene Moy is the Instructional Technologist at Fort Hays State University, where she chairs the Generative AI Task Force, developing AI policies, educational programs, and research initiatives tailored to the needs of rural communities in agriculture, healthcare, and education. She is driving projects such as Therabot, an AI-powered chatbot for clinical psychology students’ training; the University SMART Farm, a teaching lab integrating advanced farming technologies with hands-on apprenticeships; and a Special Topics in AI course exploring the philosophical implications of artificial intelligence. Holding a Ph.D. in Educational Leadership and Learning Technologies from Drexel University, Dr. Moy has designed interdisciplinary AI micro-credentials and certificates and runs AI-focused professional development for faculty, staff, students, and the broader FHSU community. Currently, she is conducting a longitudinal mixed-methods study to assess changes in perceptions and applications of AI at FHSU. Her aim is to collaborate with community partners and align FHSU’s educational offerings to develop innovative AI solutions that drive sustainable growth and meet the unique needs of the community.