The winning nominees for COTA-AC's Independent and At-Large positions are:

 

Seth Carruthers

Seth Carruthers is the Director of Transfer and Articulation at Missouri Baptist University. He is eligible for the Independent and At-Large positions.

Seth Carruthers, has been a member of the Records Office staff for the last seven years.  During that time he has filled a vital role in the development of articulation agreements with Mineral Area College and St. Charles Community College as well as two Illinois institutions, John A. Logan College and Rend Lake College. Programs articulated include majors from three of the seven MBU Academic Divisions.  He is also responsible for the on-going maintenance of eight other articulation agreements with Missouri schools, some of which have been in place since the 1980s.  

His experience has led to increased responsibility, serving on the MBU Academic Affairs committee to ensure that curriculum changes made by the MBU faculty positively affect the articulation agreements and the students at the nine MBU Regional Learning Centers.  In addition, he has gained valued insight from the maintenance of Illinois programs with the Illinois Board of Higher Education.  Recently, a Transfer Orientation Course was developed for incoming transfer students, with Seth serving as the representative of the Records Office during this course.

Seth earned a Bachelor of Music in 2009 and is currently pursuing a Master of Arts in Counseling.  His attention to detail and drive to see transfer students succeed will bring valuable experience for best practices to the COTA-AC Committee.

Michael Olsen

Michael Olsen is Assistant Director of Admissions for University of Central Missouri. He is eligible for the At-Large position.

Michael began work at the University of Central Missouri in 2010 as the Office of Admissions’ Transfer Coordinator. In this position, he was responsible for making transfer recruitment visits across the state of Missouri and conducted embedded advising office hours in the Metropolitan Community College system. After having served in this position under the mentorship of current COTA-AC member Melissa Ingram, he was appointed to Assistant Director of Admissions in May 2012. Among other duties, this position includes the coordination of the undergraduate transfer articulation process. He is currently pursuing a master’s degree in College Student Personnel Administration. As testimony to having graduated recently from college, he enjoys any event that offers free food and demands continual comic relief in his professional life.