About CILSS

Darragh McNally, PhD

Assistant Vice Provost, Center for Innovation in Learning and Student Success

Darragh McNally is the assistant vice provost of the Center for Innovation in Learning and Student Success, where he specializes in social science research and program evaluation. Before coming to UMGC, McNally worked as a lecturer and researcher at the University of Maryland, College Park, where he taught classes on political theory and research design. He has also worked for the Federal Voting Assistance Program and the Department of Defense's Sexual Assault Prevention and Response Office, where he designed survey questionnaires for international research projects and wrote research reports for public release.

McNally spent three years as the associate director of an undergraduate living learning program at the University of Maryland, College Park. He also taught courses on international relations and democracy for the program. His substantive knowledge is in program evaluation and research design to improve outcomes in higher education. He is also interested in the use of analytics and data science in higher ed, academic integrity, survey design, and all issues surrounding comparative politics and political corruption.

McNally holds a PhD in political science from the University of Maryland, College Park, and an MA in philosophy from University College Cork, Ireland. His research appears in Online Learning and Politics and Policy.

Ouanessa Boubsil

Research Associate

Michael Coates

Academic Research Associate

Michael Coates is an Academic Research Associate at the Center for Innovation in Learning and Student Success. He is a doctoral student at the University of Maryland, where he's studying political psychology, firearm trafficking, and research methodology.

Adam Flanders

Research Associate

Laura Harris

Applied Research in Student Success Manager, Center for Innovation in Learning and Student Success

In her role at the Center for Innovation in Learning and Student Success, Laura Harris is responsible for implementing student success initiatives through retention-focused pilots and rapid prototyping. Before coming to UMGC, Harris worked as a policy planning specialist in the Office of Institutional Effectiveness and Student Success Initiatives at Northern Virginia Community College. In this position, she conducted research to inform college-wide policy and planning and evaluated the effectiveness and impacts of student success initiatives.

Previously, Harris held a variety of positions in education and public policy, including as a research analyst at TechVision21 and an education policy analyst at the National Governors Association, where she provided policy guidance to governors' offices and wrote research reports. Harris holds a master's degree in public policy from George Mason University and a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Virginia. She is also a graduate of the Sorensen Institute for Political Leadership at the University of Virginia and was selected to participate in the Women & Politics Institute's WeLead program.

Mary Kuyateh

Research Associate

Mary Kuyateh is a Research Associate at the Center for Innovation in Learning and Student Success. Previously, she worked as a Data Integration Analyst in the Prince George's County Public Schools' Department of Research and Evaluation. She has also worked at Envision EMI, LLC as a Database Analyst.

Mary holds a bachelor's in pure & applied science with a major in zoology.

Latisha Neil

Executive Assistant to the Associate Vice Provost, Center for Innovation in Learning and Student Success

Latisha Neil is the executive assistant to the associate vice provost for the Center for Innovation in Learning and Student Success. Neil's professional background includes expertise in project coordination, travel and scheduling logistics, and correspondence preparation. Previously, she worked at the University of the District of Columbia, where she provided administrative support for the 2016 Middle States Commission on Higher Education reaffirmation of accreditation process and worked in a cross-functional capacity to help with commencement.

Allison Patch

Kevin Sellers

Senior Research Associate

Kevin Sellers is the senior research associate at the Center for Innovation in Learning and Student Success. His previous work experience includes 18 years in higher education/institutional research and five years as President of the MdAIR Board.

Kevin graduated from Towson University with a Bachelor of Science in business administration.

Jenny Xu

Senior Data Analyst

Jenny Xu is the Senior Data Analyst at the Center for Innovation in Learning and Student Success. Her major responsibilities include processing data and generating data reports for areas such as faculty, students, enrollment, degrees, courses, and financial aid. Before coming to UMGC, Jenny worked for Johns Hopkins University as a database and web developer.

Weigh Zhou

Senior Director, Institutional Research team

Wei Zhou is the senior director of the Institutional Research Team at the Center for Innovation in Learning and Student Success. She specializes in completing federal and state reporting requirements, as well as providing data support and analysis to academic planning and learning outcome research. She holds a master's in applied sociology, as well as a second master's.