Office of Academic & Student Affairs

Sue Buth is the Interim Assistant Vice President for Policy Analysis and Research. She has been with the University of Wisconsin System Administration since 1996. Sue’s responsibilities have included education attainment strategies, enrollment management and strategic planning, student success initiatives, instructional costs, faculty workload analysis, as well as, student financial aid.

Prior to joining the UW System office, Sue worked at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. While at the Institute for Survey and Policy Research, Sue was responsible for economic forecasting and conducting time series analysis. In the office of Budgets and Institutional Research, she conducted a variety of studies including faculty salary equity, student success with emphasis on underrepresented populations and the impact of remedial education, as well as, access to gateway courses. Sue has a variety of professional interests and responsibilities along with a breadth and depth of knowledge in the technical, analytical, and policy aspects of higher education at both the institution and system level.

Sue serves as the IPEDS State Coordinator for the University of Wisconsin System institutions (the UW System office generates all survey data for the UW institutions). She was a member of the IPEDS Redesign initiative and has served on many National Center for Educational Statistics (NCES) Technical Review Panels. She also served on the Association for Institutional Research (AIR) Strategic Planning Committee and was a member of the Higher Education Data Policy Committee (HEDPC) for six years. Sue’s educational background includes a master’s degree in Economics/ Econometrics from UW-Milwaukee.

Bob Jokisch is Special Assistant to the Vice President of Academic and Student Affairs in the University of Wisconsin System Administration. Bob has been with UW System Administration for 27 years, following three years at the Wisconsin Legislative Audit Bureau. Bob started with the Office of Budget Planning, developing budget requests for the UW System and administering systemwide programs. He then served as Director of IT Planning in the Office of Leaning and Information Technology, supporting initiatives to integrate technology into the curriculum and the development of systemwide administrative and academic systems.

In his present position as Special Assistant, Bob’s areas of responsibility include financial aid, where he works with the financial aid directors across the System on how to allocate and administer state financial aid resources and analyzes proposed policies for both state and federal financial aid; governance issues regarding areas of concern for faculty and academic staff governance groups; and other academic policy issues affecting UW institutions across the State.

Christine Navia is Interim Associate Vice President for Student Success in the University of Wisconsin System Administration. She earned her M.A. and her Ph.D. in higher education from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor and a B.A. in political science from Carleton College. Chris began her tenure at UW System in 2008 as an institutional planner responsible for the coordination of a wide variety of equity-focused efforts, including improving retention and graduation rates for underrepresented students; expanding precollege and summer bridge program offerings; aiding UW institutions in the implementation of their campus climate assessments; and administering grants specifically designed to help UW institutions close opportunity gaps for students of color.

In 2012, Chris left the UW System to work as a higher education consultant in Washington, D.C., where she provided intensive support to other public state systems of higher education in the design and implementation of student success initiatives focused on increasing baccalaureate degree attainment among students of color. Chris returned to the UW System in 2014 as a senior academic planner responsible for the development and approval of new academic programs and policies.

In her current position as Interim Vice President, Chris oversees the Office of Student Success whose central mission is dedicated to advancing the educational success of all UW students. Her direct areas of responsibility include creating a stronger educational pipeline from the K-12 system to college; supporting the design and implementation of student-centered retention and graduation initiatives; and further developing a more seamless system of transfer for students moving between UW institutions. Additionally, Chris serves as the liaison to the UW System’s Senior Student Affairs Officers and Student Reps.

Nicole Sment joined UW System’s Office of Academic and Student Affairs as the Executive Staff Assistant in October, 2016 where she provides support for the Vice President. Prior to her position with UWSA, she earned experience as an executive assistant in various for profit and non-profit industries including an adult literacy organization where she designed and implemented an online course for students working on a GED. Nicole earned her B.A degree in Theatre Arts, graduating from Bradley University.

Carleen Vande Zande joined the University of Wisconsin System as the Interim Vice President of Academic Programs and Educational Innovation in 2017. She earned an M.A. and Ph.D. in curriculum and instruction and educational policy from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Prior to joining the University of Wisconsin System, Carleen served as the associate vice chancellor for curricular affairs and student academic achievement at University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh. She provided leadership for the university’s efforts for curriculum and assessment of student learning and had responsibility for programs and initiatives dealing with general education, assessment, curriculum planning and approval, program review, articulation agreements, and accreditation. Additionally, she worked with the Office of Institutional Research, Advising, the Registrar's Office, and the Center for Academic Resources. She also held tenured in the Department of Educational Leadership and Policy at Oshkosh.

Carleen serves the higher education community as a consultant evaluator for the Higher Learning Commission (HLC) for accreditation reviews and serves on HLC institutional change request panels. She is a member of the Association for Assessment of Learning in Higher Education and National Association for the Study of Higher Education and has been a frequent presenter for the American Association of Colleges and Universities initiatives. She serves on the Waupun Memorial Hospital Board and is the president of community scholarship boards.