Meet the Noncredit Student Voices Team
Michelle Van Noy, Principle Investigator, is the Director of the Education and Employment Research Center at the School of Management and Labor Relations at Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey. She has more than 20 years of experience conducting research on education and the workforce focused on credentials, community colleges, and connections between higher education and the labor market. She is currently leading studies on technician education and economic development, state noncredit education data, non-degree credential quality, and student decision making about programs and careers.
Before joining EERC, Dr. Van Noy conducted research at the Heldrich Center for Workforce Development at Rutgers, the Community College Research Center at Teachers College, Columbia University, and Mathematica Policy Research. She holds a Ph.D. in sociology and education from Columbia University, a M.S. in public policy from Rutgers, and a B.A. in psychology and Spanish from Rutgers.
Katherine Hughes is a nationally-known education researcher and writer and is the principal of EdWordian, LLC. She was previously a principal researcher with the American Institutes for Research; Executive Director, Community College and Higher Education Initiatives, at the College Board; and the Assistant Director for Work and Education Reform Research at the Community College Research Center, the leading independent authority on the nation’s two-year colleges.
Hughes’ research and publications have addressed college readiness and the high school to college transition, dual enrollment, career and technical education (CTE), and community college reforms, among other areas. She directed the CTE Research Network, a five-year initiative funded by the U.S. Department of Education, which expanded the causal evidence base on CTE.
Hughes has published results from her work in a range of periodicals including Journal of College Student Retention, Community College Review, Teachers College Record, Techniques, and Phi Delta Kappan, and she co-authored the book Working Knowledge: Work-Based Learning and Education Reform. Hughes received her Ph.D. in sociology from Columbia University.
Kate Kinder is a passionate, student-centered leader with over 20 years of experience expanding college and career opportunities through transformative community college programs, partnerships, and policies. She currently serves as the Executive Director at the National Council for Workforce Education (NCWE), where she supports a national network of community colleges and their partners to advance workforce education excellence and propel economic prosperity. Previously, Kate served as the State Strategies Director at National Skills Coalition (NSC), where she advanced policy and led postsecondary technical assistance projects across the country to increase pathways into postsecondary education and quality careers. In addition, she contributed to coalition building and worker voice efforts in California and New Mexico.
Prior to NSC, Kate worked at Portland Community College (PCC) for 18 years, serving in multiple student-serving and administration roles, most recently as a dean of Career Pathways. There, she oversaw stackable credential programs, integrated education and training, sector and employer partnerships, corrections education, work-based learning, dual credit, basic needs and benefit access initiatives, and many innovative grant-funded workforce initiatives or programs (SNAP E&T, WIOA, Title III, Perkins, TANF, Head Start, TAACCCT, Voc Rehab).
While at PCC, Kate developed and led Oregon’s nationally-recognized Community College STEP (SNAP 50/50) Consortia and Pathways to Opportunity initiative–two statewide consortia amongst all 17 community colleges and human service and workforce partners that close opportunity gaps and increase career pathways. Her ability to collaborate and mobilize coalitions around a shared vision led to the passage of Oregon’s landmark Benefit Navigator Bill that reduced student basic needs insecurity and funded benefit navigators at all 24 public community colleges and universities.
Justin Vinton is a faculty Research Associate at the Education and Employment Research Center at the School of Management and Labor Relations at Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey. He studies labor and employment relations with a primary focus on worker voice and representation, skill provision and credentials, labor-management collaboration, and workforce and economic development. His current work examines the role of community colleges and other postsecondary training providers in economic development, and their growing coordination with employers, students, and other stakeholders to improve program implementation and data collection (both degree and non-degree). His other work focuses on the voice and complex roles of labor-management partnership stakeholders in US public education and healthcare.
Justin has taught numerous undergraduate courses, including Diversity and Inclusion at Work, Intro to Labor and Employment Relations, Youth and Work, and other related courses in labor relations and economics. He received his PhD from the Rutgers School of Management and Labor Relations in January 2024.
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