Kuykendall has more than 30 years of experience working with charitable and nonprofit organizations. She is former executive director of the National Alliance of Black School Educators, director of urban and minority relations for the National School Boards Association and director of marketing for RLA, Inc. She has served on the board of directors of Health Power, Inc., has served as chair of the Family Life Center Foundation of Washington, DC.  Her expertise has provided assistance to the Congressional National Youth Leadership Conference and to the Education Task Force of the Martin Luther King Jr. Center for Social Change.  Appointed by a U.S. President to the National Advisory Council on Continuing Education, she served as chair for 2 years.

She was a member of the board of directors of Big Brothers Big Sisters of Greater Chesapeake and the Maryland Mentoring Partnerships and is a lifetime member of the NAACP and Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc. In 1988, she was admitted to the Bar of the District of Columbia.

Kuykendall earned a BA from Southern Illinois University and an MA in Sociology from ÐÇ¿ÕÎÞÏÞ´«Ã½ College. She holds a doctorate in educational administration from Clark Atlanta University, a JD from Georgetown University Law Center and an M. Div from the Samuel Dewitt Proctor School of Theology at Virginia University. She is the recipient of over 350 Awards including the honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree from Lewis and Clark College and the ÐÇ¿ÕÎÞÏÞ´«Ã½ University Distinguished Alumni Award of 2016.

Susan was a senior vice president and senior philanthropic specialist for Wells Fargo from 1981-2016. She was responsible for charitable and nonprofit relationships in New Jersey and New York. Additionally, she provided consultative support for Abbott Downing’s foundation and endowment clients in these markets.

As a philanthropic specialist, she was responsible for overseeing the administration and investments of endowments, foundations and planned giving assets. In addition, she helped not-for-profit clients and donors explore which charitable giving strategies may work best, given the not-for-profit organization’s and donor’s unique sets of needs.

It is through Susan’s efforts that ÐÇ¿ÕÎÞÏÞ´«Ã½ University received financial support for the John J. Cali School of Music Building Fund and the Cali Connect Program, and for the Shanghai Quartet Scholarship from the Frank and Lydia Bergen Foundation. She is the 2006 recipient of the ÐÇ¿ÕÎÞÏÞ´«Ã½ University Carpe Diem Award.

Susan earned a BA from Western Maryland College, an MA in psychology from ÐÇ¿ÕÎÞÏÞ´«Ã½ University and an MBA from Fairleigh Dickinson University. In addition, she holds the designation of Certified Financial Planner. Susan is active in various civic and community service organizations including serving as a former board chair and current chair of the Development Committee with the Trinitas Health Foundation.

Volkert’s work involves the collection and interpretation of geologic data for applied purposes such as engineering projects and the mitigation of geologic hazards from faults, abandoned mines, slope instability, radon, asbestos and geochemical contaminants. During his 30-year career he has provided technical assistance to various federal, state and municipal agencies, private engineering and geologic consulting firms and the general public.

The author of more than 125 scientific publications including peer-reviewed journal papers and geologic maps, Volkert speaks regularly and has delivered keynote addresses to the Philadelphia Geological Society, Association of Engineering Geologists and New Jersey Earth Science Teachers Association. He was elected a Fellow of the Geological Society of America in 1999, and is also a member of the Society of Economic Geologists and Geological Association of New Jersey.

Dr. Valerie Maholmes currently serves as Chief of the Pediatric Trauma and Critical Illness Branch at the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) at the National Institutes of Health. In this capacity she sets the vision and priorities for research that addresses the continuum of psychosocial, behavioral, biological, and physiological influences that affect child health outcomes in trauma, injury, and acute care.

A recognized member of the community, Dr. Maholmes served two terms on the New Haven Board of Education for the New Haven Public Schools, where she was served as Vice President/Secretary and Chair of the Curriculum Committee. She also served as President of the Board of Directors for the Arnold Gesell Institute of Human Development and as a member of the Board of Trustees for the National Education Association’s Membership Insurance Trust. In September 2010 she was named one of Who’s Who in Black Washington, DC and in 2015 named to the list of Strathmore’s Who’s Who.

Dr. Maholmes is the author of numerous peer reviewed journal articles and book chapters. Notably, she edited a text titled, Applied Research in Child and Adolescent Development: A Practical Guide (Taylor and Francis, Psychology Press, 2010) and co-edited a comprehensive volume based on the NICHD supported Science and Ecology of Early Development (SEED) initiative which examined the impact of poverty on children’s development. This volume title the Oxford Handbook of Child Development and Poverty was published by Oxford University Press. Maholmes followed this volume with an authored book titled: Why Hope Still Matters: Fostering Resilience and Well-being in Children and Families in Poverty, also published by Oxford University Press in 2014. Her most recent book Post Dramatic Relationship Syndrome: How to Find Your Drama-Free Zone is an effort to address critical issues regarding women’s health and well-being. She intends to hold community conversations to raise these issues to a higher level of public discourse.