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Meet the Team

Clayton Austin
Before joining Cengage Learning, Clay served as Curriculum Coordinator with Florida State College at Jacksonville for a hybrid high school/college program for at-risk students. In addition to coordinating hybrid and on-ground courses, he taught Student Success and led a group of adjunct Student Success faculty.

Clay spent several years as a high school teacher and administrator, teaching classics, speech, history, religion, and critical thinking. Along the way, he received a master’s degree in Curriculum and Instruction from the University of North Florida, where he found his niche in educational psychology. Receiving the prestigious J. Hillis Miller Presidential Fellowship from the University of Florida to pursue a doctoral degree in this field, he continued to teach Educational Psychology at UNF and Adolescent Psychology at University of Florida.  Clay has presented research at the national conferences of the American Educational Research Association (AERA) and the American Psychological Association (APA).

Rochelle Beatty
Prior to joining Cengage Learning, Rochelle was a mathematics instructor and faculty advisor. As a mathematics instructor, she has 17 years of experience at both the secondary and higher education levels, which ranges from differential equations to developmental mathematics. Rochelle's expertise includes: math study skills, cognitive development in the mathematics classroom, graphing calculators, computer graphing programs and math anxiety. She has presented at several math conferences, such as AMATYC, NISOD, NCTM and RCML. Rochelle earned her A. A. at Northeastern Oklahoma A & M College-Miami, OK; B.S. and M.S. in Mathematics at Pittsburg State University-Pittsburg, KS; and has a Ph.D. in Instructional Leadership and Curriculum Development with an emphasis in Mathematics Education from the University of Oklahoma-Norman, OK.

Christopher Gilmer
Chris Gilmer is a consultant with Cengage Learning’s TeamUP Faculty Programs and has worked as a tenured professor, departmental chair, and faculty development director in the Historically Black College and University (HBCU) system and at Walden University for more than 20 years. He has served as Core Professor of English and Chair of the Undergraduate Writing Task Force at Walden, and his areas of expertise include developmental education, adult education, composition, curriculum design and redesign, team building, and motivational speaking. A first-generation college graduate, Chris earned his Ph.D. in English with emphasis in writing from the University of Southern Mississippi. He has published poetry, essays, a series of children’s books, scholarly articles, and book chapters. As a senior training consultant for the U.S. Department of Education and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS), Educational Testing Service, RMC Research Corporation and other national and international educational leaders, Chris has made hundreds of presentations nationwide and provided personalized technical assistance. He was elected by his peers to serve as the first chair of a national steering committee for DHHS, and he helped found a nonprofit organization providing free counseling services to low-income victims of domestic abuse where he still serves as a volunteer. Chris lives in Jackson, Mississippi.

Damon Givehand
Damon Givehand, a consultant with Cengage Learning’s TeamUP Faculty Programs, began his teaching career on the secondary level where he taught courses ranging from foundations of math up through AP Calculus AB and BC.  He eventually found himself on the campus of Florida State College in Jacksonville where he taught sections of College Algebra and Statistics, and also the gamut of developmental math courses.  His path extends beyond the traditional classroom and has enriched him over the last seven years with vital experience teaching math online. Inasmuch, Damon has served as subject matter expert assisting in the development of online curriculum for Rasmussen College Online, where he continues to teach an online class or two each term.  Damon’s expertise is in student engagement, motivation and retention, especially as it relates to developmental math courses.

Damon attended Tallahassee Community College in Florida where he earned an A.A. in Liberal Studies with an emphasis in the Sciences and Pre-Engineering coursework.  He then went on to matriculate through Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University where he earned a B.S. in Psychology with a minor in Biology; and later enrolled at Nova Southeastern University where he graduated with an M.S. in Mathematics Education with a focus in Methods of Instruction.

Jennifer Hurd
Jennifer began her college teaching career at Arkansas State University-Beebe. At this community college she designed the Developmental Reading Program and taught Developmental English. Prior to joining Cengage Learning, she worked at Harding University with Student Support Services as the Academic Coordinator, where she developed a learning community program and a peer-mentoring program called CAPS (Coaches and Players).

While working at Harding, Jennifer was asked to be a part of the team to develop questions for the Accuplacer test for English and reading. An active member of several professional organizations, Jennifer served as president of the Arkansas Association for Developmental Education, conference chair for the 1996 NADE conference, conference chair for 2000 and 2001 National Tutoring Association Conferences, and the conference chair for the 2007-2008 ATP Conferences. Jennifer is a past president of the Arkansas Tutoring Association, a charter member of the Association for the Tutoring Profession, a member of the ATP Executive Board as well as serving as immediate Past -President.of ATP

Jennifer earned her Ed.D. at Memphis State University in Curriculum and Instruction (Reading). She earned her B.A. in Elementary Education and her M.Ed. in Reading at Harding University. She is also qualified to teach English, reading, research, early childhood education, education, and study skills.

Bridgett McGowen-Hawkins
Bridgett McGowen-Hawkins is a Consultant for Cengage Learning’s TeamUP Faculty Programs.  Bridgett began her teaching career with the Lone Star College System in the Houston, Texas area as a Developmental English instructor, and prior to becoming a Consultant, she served as a lead Transitional English and Reading instructor for the Texas A&M University System where she designed course and laboratory curricula, developed learning framework/student success (FYE) courses, and trained instructors to teach the FYE course. 

Bridgett has designed and facilitated on regional, state, national, and international levels conference workshops and presentations for organizations such as the National Association for Developmental Education, Teaching Academic Survival Skills, International Reading Association, European American University Forum, Faculty Resource Network, and The First-Year Experience. 

She continues to train new faculty members and facilitate online courses for the University of Phoenix where she teaches, among other courses, Contemporary Business Communication, Research Writing, Critical Thinking, and Introduction to Psychology courses.  Bridgett has served as editor and associate editor of Innovative Learning Strategies Yearbook and serves on the editorial board of the Journal of College Literacy and Learning.  She holds a bachelor's degree in Communications and a master's degree and has earned doctoral credits in Criminology and Juvenile Justice.

Maggi Miller
Prior to joining Cengage Learning, Maggi was a Professor of Reading and Study Skills at Austin Community College. While there, she directed the Learning Communities program and developed the initial Alternative Teacher Certification program.

She completed her undergraduate work at the University of Texas at Arlington and earned her Master's of Education Degree in Curriculum and Instruction at the University of Texas at Austin. Before beginning her teaching career in Austin's public schools, she was a VISTA (Volunteer in Service to America) developing and directing a tutoring program for low-achieving children in five elementary schools. Subsequent to graduation, she managed federally funded projects for the Regional Education Service Center, disseminating best practices in the area of teaching reading.
Maggi has long been active in local, state, and national professional organizations, and has been recognized by the International Reading Association "for exemplary service in the promotion of literacy." She has presented hundreds of workshops and has been a consultant for educators for over 25 years. She currently serves as a volunteer for College Forward, a program dedicated to helping high school students prepare and apply for college.

Robert M. Onorato Robert, a Consultant for TeamUP Faculty Programs, began his academic career as an adjunct business instructor, moving into academic administration and spending fifteen years as a college administrator in New York State. He eventually returned to teaching Marketing and Economics courses at Sacred Heart University and Metropolitan College of New York. Throughout his career, Robert has taught courses in the First Year Experience to a variety of student populations, including traditional, diverse, commuter and adult groups and he now teaches Marketing, Leadership, and Operations Management at Fordham University New York. In addition, he has established Candlewood Consulting and authored the instructor's resource manual for Master Student Guide to Academic Success. Robert has earned a B. S. in Marketing and an MBA from the University of Connecticut. He has served as the Vice Chairman of the Economic Development Commission in Brookfield, CT.

Ann Wolf
Prior to joining Cengage Learning, Ann was a literacy professor in teacher education. As a professor of literacy, she has over 20 years of experience teaching at both the K-12 level and institutions of higher education. She also taught College Success courses at both two year and four year institutions.

She has presented at many state, regional and international conferences on engagement strategies for reading, content area reading and using multicultural materials for reading and has publications in many peer reviewed journals. Ann is on the editorial board of the Journal of College Reading and Learning as well as the Journal of College Literacy and Learning. She is currently the Past President of the College Reading and Learning Association.
Ann has earned her B.A. in Sociology at Rutgers University, her M.S. in Literacy from Syracuse University and her Ed. D. in Literacy from the University of Northern Colorado. Her research interests are strategies to support reading comprehension of academic text and reading online materials.