Campus Directory

Biography

Dr. Alison Chandler, who joined the SXU family in early 2020, has nearly 20 years of higher education experience. Starting as an academic advisor in 2005 after a career change, she has been passionate about advising, student success, and serving underrepresented students. Before joining SXU, Chandler served in various academic advising, student and academic affairs, university teaching, and leadership roles at Tennessee Tech University, the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV), and the Chicago Psychoanalytic Institute. In 2010, she was one of 10 academic advising professionals chosen from colleges and universities worldwide to participate in a two-year Emerging Leaders Program. She also served in several leadership positions within the local, regional, and national academic advising communities, including NACADA: The Global Community for Academic Advising's Diversity Committee and the Administrators' Institute Advisory Board. In addition, Chandler contributed to Academic Advising Today, has presented at her regional conference, served her NACADA region as Conference Coordinator for Service Element Project, Membership & Awards Coordinator, and a Steering Committee Member. In 2021, she was one of nine doctoral students selected to participate in the CLAVE Doctoral Fellowship Program at National Louis University.

Dr. Chandler successfully defended her dissertation, "Black Students Matter: A Phenomenological Approach to Exploring Sense of Belonging Among Black Students Attending a Hispanic-Serving Institution," in January 2024 and graduated with her doctorate in education, her fifth degree, from National Louis University. She holds an educational specialist degree in higher education leadership, also from National Louis University, a master's degree in academic advising from Kansas State University, a master's degree in educational psychology and counselor education from Tennessee Tech University, and a bachelor's degree in sociology from the top HBCU in the country, Spelman College. Chandler was recently accepted into the Leading Strategic Student Success certificate program, which she completed in spring 2024 from Harvard's Graduate School of Education.

In her spare time, Dr. Chandler enjoys spending time with her husband and children, traveling, and binge-watching crime dramas and reality TV.