Campus Directory

Biography

Dr. Alison Chandler, who joined the SXU family in early 2020, has 20 years of progressive 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 ever since. 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 and conference presentations, served her NACADA region as the Membership & Awards Coordinator and Conference Coordinator for Service Element Project, and also participated as a Steering Committee Member at the national level. In 2021, she was one of nine doctoral students selected to participate in the CLAVE Doctoral Fellowship Program at National Louis University. In 2024, Chandler was a panelist at Dominican University's Traditional El Futuro Series, speaking on the topic, "Supporting Black Students at Catholic Hispanic-Serving Institutions," and in 2025, presented her research at the International Academic Forum's International Conference on Education.

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. In spring 2024, Chandler also completed the Leading Strategic Student Success certificate program 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.