Honors Staff

For general inquiries please call our main number: 765-494-2929

Below are the dedicated Honors College staff.

Joshua Branson
Joshua Branson

Web Developer

Joshua is the web developer for the Honors College website. He is a recent graduate of Purdue with a degree in philosophy. He is an avid fantasy reader, board gamer, near saint in the secular church of Emacs. Adherents to the doctrine of Emacs use the text editor Emacs, which is the best operating system ever built. He is also a vegan, wild dancer, Jesus lover and sedentary computer nerd. Fun fact: Joshua's favorite book is The Name of the Wind.

Joshua Branson
Nathaniel Coghlan

Development Director

Nathaniel Coghlan earned a Bachelor of Arts in philosophy and women’s studies from the University of New Hampshire in Durham, New Hampshire. He then earned a Master of Education from the Mary Lou Fulton Teachers College at Arizona State University. After working in admissions and enrollment management, Nathaniel transitioned to working in development and alumni and corporate partnerships for the Honors College. In his current role, he has the privilege to work with alums as they find meaningful ways to connect with and support Purdue and the Honors College. In his free time, he enjoys bike racing, kickboxing, playing guitar and cooking.

Sherry Hardebeck
Sherry Hardebeck

Dean's Administrative Office Manager

Sherry Hardebeck graduated with her B.S. in Human Resource Development and completed her M.S. in Career and Technical Education in 2009 from Indiana State University. Before joining the Honors College, she worked at Purdue in the Physical Facilities Administration Department. As the Dean’s Administrative Office Manager, Sherry is responsible for the smooth management of the educational administration, public relations/outreach and discovery-related roles of the Dean.

Mindy Hart
Mindy Hart

Recruitment Manager

Mindy Hart is excited to join the Honors College as the Recruitment Manager. She is a proud Purdue alumna who earned her BS in Health Education with a Minor in Computer Education and also her MS Ed in School Administration. Mindy has considerable knowledge of many areas across campus, having held positions in Computer Science, Engineering, Purdue Polytechnic and Recreational Sports. Mindy also spent 7 years as a high school teacher, teaching and coaching a variety of subjects and activities. Mindy is a fan of baseball, 80s movies, gummi bears, and laughing.

Tracy Hieatt
Tracy Hieatt

Administrative Assistant

Tracy is a Lafayette native who joined the Honors College in 2006 when it was the University Honors Program.  In her role as Administrative Assistant for the Honors College, she performs general day to day office duties as well as serving as the Honors College Schedule Deputy for HONR courses.  Additionally, she serves as the department computing liaison to ITAP and the liaison to the Office of International Students and Scholars.   She enjoys spending time with her family and friends when she is away from the office.

John-Jack Kendall
John-Jack Kendall

Honors Advisor

John-Jack Kendall earned his Bachelor of Fine Arts in both photography and sculpture from the University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign. He earned his M.S. in student affairs in higher education from Indiana State University where he served as Internship Coordinator within the Career Center. In his spare time, John-Jack enjoys kayaking and hiking, exploring new restaurants and creating art.

Rebecca Krylow
Rebecca Krylow

Lead Honors Advisor

Rebecca received her B.A. and M.A. in communication from the University of Delaware. As Lead Honors Advisor she is responsible for the daily management, supervision and operations of the unit to ensure high quality support through advising for high ability students. Outside of work Rebecca enjoys crafting, decorating and spending time outside with her husband and two sons.

Kate Mitsch
Kate Mitsch

Secretary

Kate Mitsch earned her B.A. in Spanish from the University of Southern Indiana in 2009. After graduation she worked as a field recruiter for the Migrant Education Program and as a bilingual specialist for Marion Community Schools. Most recently she served as the secretary/Hispanic ministry coordinator for a local church. While Kate enjoys cooking, cleaning, and working with her hands, she also loves to read and spend time with friends.

Mike Morton
Mike Morton

Honors Advisor

Mike Morton earned his B.S. in public relations and his M.S. in college student personnel administration at the University of Central Missouri. As a graduate student, Mike worked in the university president’s office and in alumni relations. Prior to coming to the Purdue Honors College, Mike spent two years as an academic advisor, recruiter and social media manager at Wright State University in Dayton, Ohio. He enjoys golfing, going to the movies and road trips to see friends and family.

Rachel Newell
Rachel Newell

Campus Outreach Coordinator

Prior to joining the Honors College team, Rachel Newell spent over a decade serving international students including Dutch farmers, Vatican priests and Korean pop stars at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign’s Intensive English Institute as a lecturer, program coordinator and recruitment & marketing specialist. She received her BS in Education from Eastern Illinois University and her MA in Teaching English as a Second Language from the University of Illinois. Rachel works with our honors international and URM student populations, Study Away experiences and coordinates the honors summer youth institute program initiatives.

Anna Ochs
Anna Ochs

Honors Advisor

Anna Ochs received a B.A. in Music and Anthropology from Vanderbilt University, an M.A. in music history from Penn State, and a Ph.D. in musicology from University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill. She has worked in the nonprofit world and academia, most recently as a professor at East Carolina University and Beaufort County Community College. Anna loves to spend her free time cooking, playing with dogs, and visiting family in Chicago.

Catharine Patrone
Catharine Patrone

Senior Director, Academic and Student Affairs

Catharine Patrone completed her B.A. in communication and minors in women’s studies and human development and family science and M.A. in higher education and student affairs at Ohio State University. While in graduate school, she worked as a research consultant in the Student Support Office at Lancaster University in Lancaster, England during the summer of 2002. Prior to coming to Purdue University, Catharine served in the capacities of Graduate Associate and Program Coordinator at the University Honors & Scholars Center at Ohio State University.

Lindsay Perrault
Lindsay Perrault

Communications Manager

Lindsay Perrault serves as the Communications Manager for the Honors College.   With more than a decade of experience in television news, she brings a journalistic perspective to the college’s message designs.  Before joining Purdue, Lindsay anchored “Hello Wisconsin” a morning news program for the NBC affiliate out of Eau Claire.  She has earned numerous awards for her anchoring and reporting, including an Emmy nomination for an investigation into Wisconsin’s regulation of for-profit colleges.  Prior to her time in Eau Claire, Lindsay anchored and reported for stations in Wisconsin’s capital city of Madison, her home market of Green Bay, and in Lansing, Michigan.  She graduated with a B.A. in journalism and mass communication from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Sashaun Wood
Sashaun Wood

Director of Community and Student Engagement

Sashaun Wood received her B.A. in communication and minors in business and family and human development and completed her M.Ed. in higher and postsecondary education at Arizona State University. As a part of her graduate research, she completed her practicum with a summer scholars initiative focused on programming for high ability students. Sashaun joined the Purdue Honors College following her work at Barrett, the Honors College where she held positions at both the ASU Tempe and ASU Downtown campuses.

National and International Scholarships Office
Dr. Rosanne Altstatt
Dr. Rosanne Altstatt

Assistant Dean for National and International Scholarships

Rosanne Altstatt is Dean’s Fellow for National and International Scholarships. She was brought to Honors College from Purdue’s School of Visual and Performing Arts where she was Visiting Scholar. Rosanne has worked internationally as a curator, writer and the director of several art institutions that specialize in media art. She researched the media art institution in our information-filled atmosphere for her Ph.D. in Art and Media Studies from Carl-von-Ossietzky University, wrote about early video art for her M.A. in Art History from University of Cologne, and received a B.A. in Art History and English from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Veronica Schirm
Veronica Schirm

Director

Veronica Schirm graduated with her B.A. in Psychology and a minor in Spanish from Purdue University in 2000. She completed her M.S.Ed. in Counseling and Development with a specialization in Mental Health Counseling in 2003 also from Purdue. While in graduate school, she worked as a teaching assistant in the College of Education’s Department of Curriculum and Instruction and as a graduate assistant to the Learning Communities Coordinator. Through those experiences, she discovered her interest in academia and decided to pursue a university career rather than become a practicing therapist.

David Moore
David Moore

David has always been involved in academia. He joined the Honors College in April of 2017 and provides administrative support to the National and International Scholarships Office.

He earned a B.A. in Russian and Spanish at Indiana University, an M.A. in Editorial Translation at the Universidad de Murcia, and an M.S. in Information Science at Long Island University in Brooklyn. He served for years as Public Services Librarian at Columbia University and as Technical Services Librarian at the Jewish Theological Seminary in New York City. He also worked as an editor and translator for the Universidad de Murcia in Spain for eight years.

Outside the office, he is an oboist, scholar of Hebrew, active member of his synagogue, and ardent activist for the State of Israel and GLBTQ equality.

Mitch Hobza
Mitch Hobza

Writing Consultant and Graduate Assistant