AM25: Tools for Driving Impact With Strategic Resource Allocation

Dr. Carmala Garzione is the Dean of the College of Science at the University of Arizona. In her role, Dr. Garzione works with faculty and staff from the College’s fifteen departments, four schools, and five major disciplinary areas of study to advance the College’s mission, strengthen efforts around inclusive excellence, and build on ways to support students and increase their success while raising the College’s profile locally, nationally, and globally.

Prior to joining the College of Science, Dr. Garzione served as the Associate Provost for Faculty Affairs at the Rochester Institute of Technology. Dr. Garzione was responsible for developing policies and best practices to support faculty recruitment, onboarding, promotion and tenure, and retention. Prior to joining RIT, Dr. Garzione served as the founding director of the Center for Energy and Environment at the University of Rochester and department chair of Earth and Environmental Sciences.

Dr. Garzione is a proud alumna of the University of Arizona having earned a M.S. in 1996 and Ph.D. in Geoscience in 2000. Additionally, in 1994, she earned a B.S. in Geology from the University of Maryland.

Dr. Nigamanth Sridhar serves as Senior Vice President and Provost at Cleveland State University. In this role, he serves as the Chief Academic Officer and oversees all academic offerings at the university. CSU is home to 14,000 students and offers over 150 graduate and undergraduate programs. 

Previously, Nigamanth served as the Dean of the College of Graduate Studies at CSU, overseeing the university's graduate program offerings. Nigamanth also holds a faculty appointment in CSU's Washkewicz College of Engineering as Professor of Computer Science. Dr. Sridhar is a nationally known expert in computer science education and has served in a leadership role in the comprehensive design and integration of computer science instruction in K-12 schools. From 2020 until 2022, Nigamanth served as Program Director in the Directorate for Education and Human Resources. At NSF, Nigamanth worked on the CyberCorps® Scholarship for Service (SFS) program. 

Nigamanth holds MS and PhD degrees in Computer Science from The Ohio State University and a bachelor's degree in information systems from BITS Pilani in India.

Kasia is a Principal in the firm’s Education Practice. In her 20 years with EY-Parthenon, Kasia has worked across multiple industries with a focus on strategic planning, growth strategy, and organizational effectiveness. Kasia has first-hand higher education experience, as she served as Chief of Staff to three Harvard University presidents (2003-2009). In this role, she oversaw the operations of seven units reporting to the President’s Office and was responsible for driving strategic initiatives university-wide on behalf of the president and provost. Since re-joining EY-Parthenon in 2009, Kasia has focused on education sector engagements in higher education. 

Kasia’s higher education clients have included smaller institutions (e.g., Colgate, Fairfield, Wesleyan, University of Providence), large private research universities (e.g., Emory, Johns Hopkins), large public research universities (e.g., UMass Amherst, University of Arizona, University of Virginia), and university systems (e.g., PASSHE, Texas A&M University System, University of Massachusetts, University of Colorado, University of Missouri, University System of Georgia).

Elizabeth is a Senior Director in EY-Parthenon’s New York office and a member of the Education Practice. She has worked with clients across the education and nonprofit landscape, including colleges and universities, large public school districts, curriculum providers, family and youth services providers, and investors. Her projects have involved strategic planning, strategic finance planning, performance management, implementation planning, and market assessment.

After joining Parthenon as an Associate in 2011, Elizabeth was a 2014 Teach for America corps member in Brooklyn, where she taught 5th grade math at Coney Island Prep Middle School. She rejoined EY-Parthenon in 2016. Over the past 5 years she has focused exclusively on serving the higher education sector and has worked with over a dozen institutions as well as service providers to the sector and investors in service provider organizations. She has assisted higher education institutions in identifying revenue generating and cost savings opportunities and she has led budgeting and long-term financial planning efforts with institutions seeking to address short-term budget needs and proactively respond to long-term shifts in enrollment and market trends.