Ohio Anti-Hazing Summit

Rodney K. Rogers, Ph.D. '81, assumed the role as the 12th president of Bowling Green State University on Feb. 23, 2018, proceeding his interim appointment on Jan. 1, 2018. Prior to being named president, Rogers had served BGSU as provost and senior vice president for academic affairs since 2012 and, before that, as dean of the Allen W. and Carol M. Schmidthorst College of Business since 2006. He is the first alumnus to serve as president of Bowling Green State University, which currently has more than 18,300 students and 2,300 faculty and staff on its two campuses.

As president, Rogers continues to lead a transformation of Bowling Green State University. He has worked with faculty, staff and institutional stakeholders to launch two university-wide strategic plans, including Forward., a redefining approach launched in the midst of a global pandemic, to ensure BGSU embraces its role as a 21st-century public university for the public good.

Rogers received a Bachelor of Music from Ohio Northern University and has an MBA from Bowling Green State University. After he practiced as a CPA for more than 10 years, Rogers completed his Ph.D. from Case Western Reserve University. Rogers resides in Bowling Green with his wife, Dr. Sandra Earle, university advocate of Bowling Green State University. They have two sons, Isaac ’21 and Spencer Rogers. 

Ben Batey, MPH, RN, joined BGSU in July 2020 in the inaugural position of Chief Health Officer, created in part as a response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Previously, Batey worked at the Wood County Health Department for 10 years, where he served as health commissioner since 2014. He also held several leadership positions including CEO of the Wood County Community Health Center, director of nursing and infectious disease, emergency preparedness coordinator and epidemiologist. Prior to the health department, he was a registered nurse for Mercy St. Anne Hospital and Mercy Home Care. He holds a Master of Public Health degree from Northwest Ohio Consortium for Public Health (Bowling Green State University/University of Toledo) and a Bachelor of Science in Nursing from Mercy College of Ohio.

Jessica Galanos
Higher Education Attorney and Consultant
Bricker & Eckler LLP

Jessica is a former university administrator and litigator with experience in the areas of student affairs, student conduct, regulatory compliance and employment law. She regularly advises higher education clients on a variety of legal issues, drawing from her own experience working at a large public university and defending universities as a litigator in both the private and public sectors.

Jessica works with colleges and universities to comply with anti-hazing, Title VII, Title IX, the Clery Act and various other federal and state regulations. She routinely conducts impartial investigations, reviews policies and procedures and advises higher education clients on how to avoid and navigate complex litigation matters. Jessica also has experience training administrators, staff and attorneys on how to address sexual misconduct matters.

Prior to joining Bricker & Eckler, Jessica served as an Assistant Director and Deputy Title IX Coordinator for Illinois State University, as an Assistant Attorney General in the Office of Attorney General for the State of Illinois and as the Legislative Assistant Inspector General for the Office of Executive Inspector General for the Agencies of the Illinois Governor. Jessica has also represented clients in a variety of litigation matters while working at a private law firm in Springfield, Illinois.

Alex Zernechel serves as the Associate Director for Student Involvement and Fraternity & Sorority Life at the University of Toledo where he has worked since 2017. He holds a bachelors degree in History from Albright College, in Reading Pennsylvania and a masters degree in Higher Education – Student Affairs from Western Carolina University in Cullowhee, North Carolina. 

Kelly Smith (she/her) has been the director of Student Conduct at the Ohio State University since 2012 after serving as an assistant director for several years. Kelly came to Ohio State after earning her MA in Higher Education from Ohio University. Before switching careers to work in higher education, Kelly practiced law at the Columbus office of Jones Day. She earned her JD from Ohio State’s Moritz College of Law. Kelly was drawn to Student Conduct work from a strong belief that we can learn more from our mistakes than our victories. The Student Conduct team at Ohio State is committed to creating equitable and inclusive accountability and conflict resolution processes for students that are rooted in the university’s shared values

Kerry Soller is the project manager for campus safety and sexual violence prevention at the Ohio Department of Higher Education. She is primarily charged with the execution and implementation of the Changing Campus Culture initiative (https://highered.ohio.gov/initiatives/campus-initiatives/changing-campus-culture/ccc) which is Ohio’s state-funded, comprehensive effort to end sexual violence on college and university campuses. Kerry has led this effort since the initiative launched in 2015. In August 2021, Kerry was tasked with facilitating the work groups charged with developing the Statewide Educational Plan for Preventing Hazing.  

Prior to her work with the Department of Higher Education, Kerry served as a student development professional for more than 14 years in a variety of diverse capacities, including residence life, fraternity/sorority life, orientation, student activities, leadership, student government, and student conduct.  During this time, she worked at a variety of different institutions including large 4-year public universities to small 4-year private universities.  

She has her master degree in student affairs administration from Indiana University, and her bachelor degrees from the University of Nebraska –Kearney. She is an active alumna of Alpha Omicron Pi Fraternity and served on AOII’s National Panhellenic Conference (NPC) delegation for over 10 years as an area advisor. She continues to serve as a member of the NPC Judicial Appeals Committee.

Kerry lives in Bexley, OH with her family.  

Meredith Stewart, M.Ed., is the Program & Outreach Coordinator for StopHazing. In this role she works to support StopHazing’s mission by cultivating partnerships with professional organizations, scholars, practitioners, policy advocates, and others committed to violence prevention. She also works to expand StopHazing’s data-driven resources and trainings for hazing prevention; assist with policy-related initiatives, and support activities of the Hazing Prevention Consortium (HPC), a signature research-to-practice project led by StopHazing. Meredith completed her B.S. degree in Secondary Education from the University of Maine, and later also completed her M.Ed. in Student Development in Higher Education from the University of Maine. During her graduate studies she interned for StopHazing as a Research Assistant and upon graduation transitioned to a full-time role.

Hunter Hartwig serves as the Associate Director of Sorority and Fraternity Life and leads the Council Advising Team at The Ohio State University. Hunter is from Katy, TX and joined Sigma Phi Epsilon fraternity at LSU in the fall of 2004. Prior to his work in student affairs, Hunter worked at a small advertising agency as a media buyer and later taught high school math before attending UT Austin for his master’s degree in Higher Education. At UT Austin, Hunter worked both as a graduate assistant and full time staff member in Sorority and Fraternity Life advising students across all councils. Hunter has worked with Ohio State SFL since the summer of 2016. Hunter is an avid college football fan (Geaux Tigers!) and enjoys spending time with his husband and their two dogs.

Taylor Tackett (he/him) has served as assistant dean of students and director of community standards at Ohio University since early 2019. Prior to becoming a Bobcat, Taylor served in different capacities in student conduct, housing and residence life, new student and family programs, and crisis response and CARE. Taylor completed his undergraduate work at Tiffin University and his graduate work at Tiffin University, Boise State University, and Ohio University. Taylor is currently completing his dissertation around the diffusion of innovation through the Academy.

Taylor fundamentally believes in the power of repairing harm and rebuilding trust within our campus communities. Centered on proactive engagement and empowerment, our restorative practice seeks to assist learners and their support networks in recognizing individual and collective impact by investing in our shared purpose together. Feel free to connect with Taylor by emailing him at ttackett@ohio.edu.