College of Education

Chad Timmons is a Director and Shareholder with Abernathy, Roeder, Boyd & Hullett, P.C. His practice focuses on school law, including issues regarding employment/personnel, contracts, governance, Board representation, open meetings, and open records. Chad represents colleges and public school districts in administrative hearings, investigations, general administration matters, and litigation. 

Derek Teeter is a partner in the Higher Education practice group of Husch Blackwell LLP.  Derek represents colleges and universities in complicated, prominent litigation involving federal and state regulatory statutes, governmental immunities, constitutional rights and class actions.

Charlotte Russell is the chief information security officer at the University of North Texas System, the University of North Texas, and UNT Dallas. She has worked for more than 25 years in information technology and has spent the majority of that time working in information security.  In her current role, she also oversees IT risk and compliance functions.

Chris Riley, J.D. is an Assistant Provost and a Deputy Title IX Coordinator at ACU.  Chris has worked at ACU since 2006 serving as Associate General Counsel, Vice President of Student Life, and Title IX Coordinator for students. Chris also teaches in ACU’s Department of Political Science and Criminal Justice.

Currently working at Tarrant County College, Demesia is the Director of Workforce Programs for Aviation, Transportation, and Logistics programs. Previously she served as the primary hearing officer and Deputy Title IX Officer for her campus in a district of five physical campuses and one virtual campus. Demesia has over 17 years of experience working as a student conduct hearing officer. Demesia received her undergraduate degree at St. Edward’s University in Austin, TX, her master’s degree at Ohio University in Athens, OH, and her PhD in Higher Education at the University of North Texas. 

Ross is experienced in developing and strengthening abuse prevention systems in schools, universities, religious organizations, municipalities, and other youth-serving organizations. Prior to coming to Praesidium, Ross represented teachers in a variety of employment matters while working at Tritico Rainey PLLC in Houston.

Mark McLellan has served as Vice President for Research and Innovation since September 2019. The Division of Research and Innovation is charged with expanding the university’s growth, breadth and impact in research as it strengthens its prominence as a Carnegie-ranked Tier One research university. A 30-year veteran of university research leadership, Dr. McLellan came to UNT from Portland State University where he served as vice president of research and graduate studies since August 2018. At Portland State, he implemented several high-profile initiatives that resulted in a significant increase in external research grant funding. Previously, Dr. McLellan served seven years as vice president for research and dean of the School of Graduate Studies at Utah State University where he helped build a major research expansion and a record level of research funding, including a new infusion of state funding for support of graduate students and graduate education. Prior to his service at USU, he was a tenured professor and department chair at Cornell University; director of a multi-college research center at Texas A&M University; and dean for research at the University of Florida, where he helped to more than double research funding.

Danielle Dary joined Thompson & Horton LLP as an Associate in October 2020. Prior to joining Thompson & Horton LLP, Danielle worked at TASB Community College Services as a Staff Attorney. Danielle earned a J.D. from the University of Houston Law Center and a B.A. from the University of Oklahoma.