April and Lane Perry- Encouraging Authentic Growth

Office Hours with John Gardner

Dr. April Perry (she/her) is an Associate Professor in the M.Ed. Higher Education Student Affairs program and serves at Department Head/Chair for Human Services at Western Carolina University. Her research is primarily on college student identity development, career development, student transitions, and institutional initiatives for student success. She is the co-editor of the recent book - A Practitioner's Guide to Supporting Graduate and Professional Students (Routledge, 2022).
As a practitioner, April has worked in Student Leadership Programs, Parent & Family Programs, Fundraising & Marketing, Academic Tutoring Services, Graduate School Administration, and has served in various leadership roles in the academy such as Department Head, Assistant Department Head, Interim Associate Dean of the Grad School, and HESA Graduate Program Director.
In 2016, April received the WCU Graduate School’s Award for Excellence in Graduate Student Mentoring. In 2017, she was named Outstanding Professional in Graduate and Professional Student Services by NASPA's AGAPSS Knowledge Community. In 2020, she was selected for the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation's Blue Ridge Stand Out (14 under 40). In 2022, she was honored with NASPA AGAPSS’ Outstanding Contribution to Research and the Profession Award, and also in 2022 received NASPA Faculty Council’s Outstanding Support for Graduate Students Award. In 2024, her book was selected for the Outstanding Publication Award by NASPA’s Faculty Council.
April is passionate about student/human development and lives by the motto that 'the only thing better than watching someone grow is helping them grow.'
Dr. Lane Perry is focused on innovation, creativity, and entrepreneurship. He works to connect with students, partners, and colleagues to leverage resources to solve problems collaboratively. He is keenly focused on work that is dedicated to improving the lot of others and tapping into their deepest wells of energy, passion, and knowledge. His ultimate goal is to guide students to develop the tools to discover their personal answer to the question, "What do you care enough about, to do something about in this world?" He is a USASBE Rural Entrepreneurship Fellow, has received dozens of awards for his work with community engagement, service-learning, and civic development, and has published extensively in the fields of pedagogy, global education, community engagement, entrepreneurship, and public health. His latest work is an edited book focused on social entrepreneurship with De Gruyter publishing (expected publishing date is late-2024).