Meet the APCE GSO Officers
President, Esther Pippins
APCE Cohort 19
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Esther Pippins, a proud member of APCE Cohort 19, is a third-year doctoral student and research assistant for the Adult Professional and Community Education Program (APCE) at Texas State University. She holds a BAAS in Applied Arts and Science, MS in Adult and Higher Education (AHED) and MA in English with a concentration in Composition Studies from Texas A&M University-Texarkana. She holds a Master Teacher of Writing Certificate from Texas A&M University-Texarkana. She was awarded Graduate Student-of-the Year for the AHED program in 2017 and for the English program in 2018. She is also a member of American Association for Adult and Continuing Education (AAACE), Alpha Chi Honor Society, and Phi Kappa Phi Honor Society. Her research interest are academic literacy, black feminist thought, critical race theory, dialogic learning, experiential learning, feminist standpoint theory, intergenerational learning, nontraditional students, reflective learning, transformative learning, and workplace literacy.
Previously, Esther worked as an adjunct instructor, adult learning facilitator, AmeriCorps service member, and public transit training manager. During her spare time, she serves as a volunteer literacy tutor. Her other hobbies include listening to music, politics, playing the baritone saxophone, and spending time with her beautiful daughters.
Vice President, Mason Murphy
APCE Cohort 18
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Mason Murphy, MEd, MPA, works as a Career Counselor at Texas State University. He is visually impaired and holds an MEd in College Student Affairs, an MPA in Public Administration, and is pursuing a Ph.D in Adult, Professional, and Community Education. His research interests include international students and students with disabilities. Mason also serves as a Field Editor of NCDA’s Career Convergence web magazine.
Treasurer, Renee Ness
APCE Cohort 18
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Renee Ness is a doctoral student in the Adult, Professional and Community Education program at Texas State University. She also received a Master of Arts degree in International Studies at Texas State University (2015) and a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (1994). Her dissertation research examines the dynamic interface of local, indigenous, and professional knowledge in creating an equitable knowledge ecosystem in the context of climate adaptation professionals.
Renee, a long-time advocate of sustainability, is currently working towards a Climate Change Professional (CC-P) certification from the Association of Climate Change Officers (ACCO) with the goal of working as an educator and researcher in the Climate Adaptation profession. Another one of her future goals is to travel the country in her tiny T@B camper while documenting how people learn from nature in response to a rapidly changing climate. Renee aspires to weave together her unique experiences in education, art, and adaptation.
Secretary, Rachael Weldon-Caron
APCE Cohort 19
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​Rachael is a third-year doctoral student in the Adult, Professional and Community Education program at Texas State University. Her research interests include Black women doctoral students, Black women faculty, and Black women leaders in higher education. Black Feminist Thought and Critical Race Theory, epistemology, and equality, equity, and access for Black women. Rachael is a highly experienced administrator with over 10 years’ experience in higher education as a TRIO Director for Talent Search and Student Support Services. As the current Director for Student Support Services (SSS) and Student Support Services STEM (SSS STEM), she provides coordination, implementation, direction, and evaluation of services related to the program’s goals and objectives as well as writing grant proposals. Prior to her work at Texas State University, she worked in Human Resource Management, Financial Management, Fiscal Management, Budget Development, Supervision and Staff Management and as Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of her own non-profit. In addition, she authored and self-published two books, Secret Sins of the Heart, which chronicles her triumphant life’s journey from childhood to the present, and Life Beyond the Pain, a story of grief, faith, and love. Rachael believes that turning challenges into triumphs is what life is all about. She is well respected in the department of Institutional Inclusive Excellence for student initiatives as one who takes the opportunity to share her personal and professional strategies for succeeding in life and developing a resiliency that comes from the courage to not give up. She is a huge fan of Rocky movies, because she believes Rocky’s story is her story.