Meet Our Experts

Ilse Abusamra ’97, Senior Associate Director of College Counseling, Riverdale Country School

After growing up at an independent school, Ilse Abusamra attended Bates College. There she majored in French and ran cross-country and track. Having always been intrigued by admissions, she worked in the Admissions Office at Bates while a student and stayed on campus the summer after graduation to interview prospective students. Ilse then worked at Vassar College in admissions for four years, before earning her master’s degree in higher education administration from the University of Michigan. She also worked in their admissions office. Knowing she would likely switch sides of the desk at some point and work more closely with high school students, she moved to New York City where she has worked as a college counselor for the past ten years, the past seven at Riverdale Country School. Ilse is a proud Bates alum who wouldn’t change her experience there for the world! 

Nathan A. Crozier, Director of Admission, University of Richmond

Nathan A. Crozier is Director of Admission at the University of Richmond. Nate, as he prefers to be called, provides leadership and direction for the University’s undergraduate student recruitment and oversees the daily administration of the Office of Admission. He also has held admission posts at DePaul University, University of Chicago Booth School of Business, and The George Washington University.

Nate is from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He earned his bachelor’s degree in education from Westminster College and his master’s degree from The George Washington University. He is currently a Ph.D. candidate in the higher education program at Loyola University; his scholarly interests include college choice and economics, and he has presented on these areas at various regional conferences. Nate is a member of the National Association for College Admission Counseling and the Potomac and Chesapeake Association for College Admission Counseling. He previously belonged to the Graduate Management Admission Council.

Michael Denning, Director of College Counseling, Noble and Greenough School

Michael Denning is the Director of College Counseling at Noble and Greenough School in Dedham, Massachusetts. Michael joined the Nobles faculty in 1997. In addition to his work as a history teacher, college counselor, advisor and administrator at Nobles, Michael is a frequent presenter on college admissions at schools, community organizations and professional conferences. He has also had the privilege of consulting with many wonderful schools and organizations, including African Leadership Academy—a Pan-African School in Johannesburg, South Africa—where he was director of North American partnerships during a sabbatical from Nobles.

Michael has been a faculty member of the New England Association for College Admission Counseling’s Summer Institute and a representative to the Governing Assembly of the National Association for College Admission Counseling. After earning his Bachelor of Arts degree from Clark University, Michael spent a year studying German history, politics and culture at the Rheinishe Friedrich-Wilhelms Universität in Bonn, Germany (on a German government-sponsored scholarship) before earning his Master of Arts in Law and Diplomacy from The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University. Michael serves as a trustee of the Meadowbrook School and the Steppingstone Foundation.

Wendy G. Glass, Director of Student Financial Services, Bates College 

Wendy, who has overseen financial aid and student accounts receivable operations at Bates since 2007, has been a financial aid professional at Bates for more than 20 years. A graduate of Colby College, she began her career in financial aid with a work-study position as the designated scholarship writer and student work-study coordinator in her alma mater’s Office of Financial Aid. After graduating, she worked as a student loan representative at the Maine Educational Loan Authority. Hired as an assistant director of financial aid and trained by longtime Bates financial aid director Leigh Campbell in 1992, Wendy is a career member and past treasurer of the Maine Association of Financial Aid Administrators. At Bates, she helped lead the merger of the college’s financial aid, student accounting and Registrar operations in 1998 and now provides strategic leadership in the administration of a $30 million student-aid budget. Leading a staff of eight, she supervises all aspects of financial aid processing, need analysis and packaging for prospective and currently enrolled students, as well as the college’s student account receivable operations, e-billing and collection efforts.

Angel Perez, Vice President and Dean of Admission and Financial Aid, Pitzer College

A native of Ponce, Puerto Rico, Angel B. Perez currently serves as Vice President and Dean of Admission and Financial Aid at Pitzer College. He has served in education leadership positions on both the east and west coasts of the United States. He has worked in admission, high school counseling, and directed a community based organization in New York City. He holds degrees from Skidmore College, Columbia University and is completing a Ph.D. at Claremont Graduate University. He travels globally to speak on issues of American education and is passionate about the transformative power of an education. His writing is often featured in global publications including the Los Angeles Times, The Washington Post, The Chronicle of Higher Education, Inside Higher Ed, and The Times Higher Education (U.K.). Angel was a first-generation college student who spent his teenage years in the projects of the South Bronx. When an opportunity to go to college literally saved his life, he decided he would spend his life paying it forward.

David Quinn, International Baccalaureate Coordinator, Edmunds-Woodway High School

David Quinn currently serves as International Baccalaureate Coordinator and Instructor of IB-Theory of Knowledge at Edmonds-Woodway High School in Edmonds, WA. In June 2013, he was honored with the Northwestern University Distinguished Secondary School Teacher Award, which recognizes the nation’s top secondary instructors (read more here). Quinn is also a recipient of the US Presidential Scholars Program’s Teacher Recognition Award and the Puget Sound Business Journal’s “40 Under 40” award, honoring young leaders in the Seattle region.

While attending the University of Washington, Quinn co-founded Allrecipes.com, now the leading food site on the Internet, and served as its Chairman for over a decade. Prior to that, Quinn served as host of 3-2-1 Contact, the educational science series produced for PBS by the Children’s Television Workshop. In 1988, he hosted the nation’s first primetime television special about AIDS - I Have AIDS, A Teenager’s Story - with noted AIDS advocate, Ryan White. The program won the GF Peabody Award, which honors distinguished achievement in broadcasting. Quinn is Vice President of the Board of Trustees of the Seattle Repertory Theatre, a member of the Board of Directors of the 5th Avenue Theatre, and serves as a mentor and consultant to emerging companies and philanthropic groups in the Pacific Northwest.

Leigh A. Weisenburger, Dean of Admission and Financial Aid, Bates College

With a bachelor’s degree from Smith College in American studies, Leigh joined the Bates admission staff in 2004 as an Assistant Dean, becoming Director of Admission in June 2011. Following a national search for Bates’ first Dean of the combined offices of Admission and Student Financial Services, Leigh was appointed to that position in July 2012. She serves on the senior staff and leads a team of 30 to attract and enroll the strongest possible community of scholars to study at Bates. Her team is currently pretty excited about the record number of applications that have come through the door for the Class of 2017.

 Please check back soon for a biography and picture of our additional presenter:

• Adele Brumfield, Director of Admission, University of Wisconsin