As Managing Partner and co-founder of EducationCounsel LLC. Mr. Coleman provides policy, strategic and legal counseling services to national non-profit organizations, school districts, state agencies and postsecondary institutions throughout the country, where he addresses issues associated with student access, diversity, inclusion, expression and success; faculty diversity, inclusion and expression; and institutional accountability and accreditation. Mr. Coleman previously served as Deputy Assistant Secretary of the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR) where, in the 1990s, he led the development of the Department’s Title VI policy on race-conscious financial aid, as well as OCR’s first comprehensive Title IX sexual harassment policy guidance. With a focus on issues of diversity and inclusion, he has authored amicus briefs in Grutter v. Bollinger (2003), Gratz v. Bollinger (2003, and Fisher v. University of Texas at Austin (I and II, 2013 and 2016). His advocacy work includes the development of a federal amicus strategy and numerous briefs on behalf of transgender students in federal court litigation throughout the United States. Mr. Coleman is currently an adjunct professor at the University of Southern California’s Rossier School of Education, where he teaches a course on enrollment management law and policy.

As Admissions Director at the University of Michigan School of Dentistry (UM-SOD), Ms. Katcher manages the admissions process for the D.D.S. program, the Internationally Trained Dentist Program, and the seven dental specialty programs UM-SOD offers. During her 31 years at U-M, she has focused her efforts on student recruitment, admission and retention. She is an author and presenter of multiple abstracts and publications pertaining to the recruitment and retention of disadvantaged students in dentistry, as well as UM-SOD’s unique applicant interviewing style using the multiple mini-interview. She is a recipient of the school’s Ida Gray Award for her efforts with diversity, equity and inclusion, and she has been recognized for her achievements by the local chapter of Omicron Kappa Upsilon. 

Ms. Perry is the Director of Student Admissions and Diversity at the Dental College of Georgia at Augusta University (DCG at Augusta). She joined DCG at Augusta 22 years ago as the dental school minority recruiter and the AHEC Dental Coordinator. In these roles, she was (and still is) the sole recruiter of all prospective students for DCG at Augusta, with an emphasis on students from underrepresented backgrounds and students who could bring more diversity to a future class. In her diversity officer roles, Ms. Perry is the point of contact for all DCG at Augusta dental students who experience or witness a lack of fairness and/or inclusivity or discrimination. She is a member of the DCG Administrative Council, where she shares vision, topics, initiatives and trainings about belonging and inclusivity issues within DCG and around Augusta University. She also serves as co-chair for the DCG Diversity Inclusion Steering Committee and with the Augusta University Council of Equity Leaders within the campus’s Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion. Nationally, Ms. Perry served on the ADEA AADSAS Advisory Group from 2017-2023. She also served on the ADA’s Dental Admission Test Committee in 2014.