Dr. Verret also served Clark Atlanta University for eight years as associate professor, interim chair and later chair of the department of chemistry. Under his leadership, the fraction of chemistry faculty engaged in funded research rose to 75 percent, and extramural funding in Chemistry increased significantly in support of undergraduate and graduate research. He led modernization of the curriculum and instructional approaches and introduction of peer-based instruction in introductory courses, resulting in improved passing rates in chemistry courses.

 

Dr. Verret is a widely-published researcher, having been lead author or co-author of articles in more than 25 scholarly publications. His research interests include the cytotoxicity of immune cells, biosensors and biomarkers.

 

He is a member of many professional organizations and advisory bodies. He currently serves on the Pennsylvania Humanities Council and study sections of the National Institutes of Health. He is the recipient of numerous awards and fellowships for teaching and research.

 

Dr. Verret received his undergraduate degree cum laude in biochemistry from Columbia University; a Ph.D. in biochemistry from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. To these, were added postdoctoral experiences as fellow at the Howard Hughes Institute for Immunology at Yale and Center for Cancer Research at MIT.

Paul S. Adams, Vice President for Student Affairs | Email
Dr. Adams has served Wilkes University in various roles in the student affairs area since 1979. After serving as Dean of Student Affairs since 1990, he was promoted to Vice President of that post in 2002. Adams provides leadership for the development and coordination of co-curricular initiatives and for services and activities that foster student success and promote intellectual, social and ethical development of Wilkes students. 

He oversees athletics, campus counseling, student health services, multicultural affairs, student activities, residence life, Upward Bound, career services, cooperative education, international student affairs, judicial affairs, the learning center and Act 101. He also co-chairs the committee charged with creating a strong academic portfolio. Adams received both his bachelor’s degree in elementary education his master’s in educational supervision from Wilkes. Adams holds a doctorate in organizational leadership/curriculum instruction from the University of Pennsylvania.

While at Wilkes, he has been the Director of Residence Life, Associate Dean of Student Affairs, and Dean of Student Affairs and University College. He serves his community as a member of the Board of Directors of the United Way of Wyoming Valley. Adams served as a classroom teacher in the Susquehanna Valley School District in Conklin, NY.

 

Petra Carver, Vice President for Finance | Email 
Carver provides leadership for fiscal planning, information technology, auxiliary and support operations. As a member of the President’s cabinet, Carver is the primary communicator with the board of trustees, faculty, staff, alumni and external constituencies on all fiscal matters of the university.

Carver is an accomplished finance professional and chief financial officer with more than twenty years of financial and administrative management experience in the areas of strategic planning, business and management analysis and project management.

  

Carver comes to Wilkes from Northland College in Ashland, Wisconsin. As the college’s vice president for finance and administration, she developed and implemented an institution-wide reorganization plan to streamline operations and led new construction and building renovation projects totaling more than $4 million. She also initiated a purchasing consortium that resulted in significant cost-savings to the College and established an internal control system that lead to consistently problem-free audits.

 

Carver has also served as director of business services for The Evergreen State College in Olympia, Washington where she was responsible for accounting services, student financial services, auxiliary enterprises and risk management.

 
Carver holds the bachelor of science in business administration and accounting from Fachhochschule Rheinland-Pfalz in Germany an MBA from St. Martin’s University in Olympia, Washington. 

Mike Frantz, Vice President for Enrollment Services | Email
Michael Frantz joined Wilkes University after serving as the Director of Admissions at Buena Vista University, Storm Lake, Iowa. As the director, Frantz served as a leader and manager for all elements of the Office of Admissions including all major decision-making, office organization, strategy development and internal and external communications.
Prior to serving as the Director of Admissions at Buena Vista University, Frantz held the position of associate director and assistant director of admissions and was an admissions counselor.

Frantz received his Bachelor of Arts degree from Simpson College, Iowa and later his Master of Arts degree from the University of Iowa. 
 

Maria Suarez, Special assistant to the president for multicultural and community affairs | Email
Suarez works closely with the President, the vice president for student affairs and the university’s diversity task force to implement a diversity strategy.

Suarez comes to Wilkes from Gloucester County College in New Jersey. As Dean of Math and Science, Suarez worked towards dual admission agreements with the school of environmental and biological sciences at Rutgers University-New Brunswick and oversaw the approval of new degree programs in food science and marine biology. She also led articulation negotiations with Rider University, Holy Family University and the University of the Sciences in Philadelphia.   Previously, she served as assistant dean and director of the Douglas Project for Women in Math, Science and Engineering at Rutgers University, and also as assistant dean of Arts and Sciences and director of Alternative Teacher Certification Programs at Holy Family University.

 

Suarez has extensive experience in implementing and funding programs to recruit and retain women and underrepresented minorities in the sciences. As a faculty advisor and director of the freshman program for women in science at Tulane University, Suarez designed a program to increase retention of women in scientific careers and planned educational programs including a lecture series to foster participation of women in science majors.

 

During her affiliation with Holy Family University, she developed a new teacher development program for Philadelphia school teachers in conjunction with the Pontifical Catholic University of Puerto Rico. As an independent consultant for Goodwill Industries Employment and Connections Center in Georgia and board member of the Sci-Trek Science Museum of Atlanta, Suarez served as a liaison to the Latino press and translated materials for the Spanish-speaking population.

 

As an academic, Suarez is a published researcher in biochemistry and molecular cell biology. She was the lead author in several publications for her research on enzyme structure and on the structure of the cell nucleus. She has reviewed grants for the National Science Foundation and prepared questions for the GRE in Molecular and Cell Biology. She was awarded a postdoctoral fellowship by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) for training at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where she was also one of the organizers of the summer minority undergraduate research and lecture program.

 

Suarez has extensive teaching experience having served on the science faculty and faculty leadership teams at Holy Family University, Tulane University and Clark-Atlanta University where she was awarded a minority faculty development grant from the NIH-Fogarty Foundation for collaborative work and applied research in Finland.

 

Suarez received a bachelor of science in chemistry from the University of Puerto Rico and a Ph.D. in biochemistry from Michigan State University.

Jack Chielli, Executive Director of Marketing Communications | Email
Jack Chielli has over 20 years of experience in marketing and communications. He joined Wilkes University as Executive Director of Marketing Communications in February 2005. At Wilkes, Chielli has launched an award-winning branding campaign and redesign of the university’s alumni publication.

During his career as a communications professional he has won 50 awards for branding, advertising, public relations and publications. Before joining Wilkes, Chielli served as Executive Director of Communications for the Community College of Allegheny County in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, the 12th largest community college in the United States. Chielli also served as a communications manager for the Controller of Allegheny County and as bureau chief for a large metro daily. As a freelance writer, he has published many articles in major metropolitan newspapers and medical journals.

He earned his MA in creative writing from Wilkes and his BA from Roger Williams University, in Bristol Rhode Island.