Kartikeya (Kartik) Patel, Ph.D., is Vice President of Institutional Effectiveness and Research. Over the last two decades in academia, Dr. Patel has held many positions including Dean of the Online/Distance Learning Programs and Educational Information Technology, Associate Professor, Faculty Senate Chair, IRB Chair, and Accreditation Liaison Officer (ALO). Dr. Patel has been recently admitted to WASC Senior College and University Commission’s (WSCUC) Accreditation Leadership Academy (ALA). He served on the Substantive Change Committee of the Accrediting Commission for Senior Colleges and Universities, Western Association of Schools and Colleges (WSCUC) and conducted over 35 substantive change reviews of accredited institutions involving new online/distance learning initiatives, new sites, international, dual-degree, degree level and organizational changes such as mission change or institutional mergers. Dr. Patel is currently serving as an evaluator for WSCUC and regularly conducts institutional site visits. In 2009, he was nominated by Dr. Angeles Arrien for the prestigious Fetzer project on Higher Education Leadership titled “Intergenerational Mentoring Community: Fostering an Emergence and Transfer of Leadership in Higher Education.” He has presented at numerous conferences including UNESCO, EDUCAUSE, Sloan-C (Online Consortium), WASCARC, American Philosophical Association, and American Academy of Religion. Dr. Patel has published across disciplines, and his latest work will appear in the Oxford Handbook of Psychology and Spirituality, Second Edition (Oxford University Press, December 2022, ISBN: 9780190905538). Since 2013, he has continued to serve as a consulting editor for Spirituality in Clinical Practice, an American Psychology Association (APA) interdisciplinary journal. Dr. Patel completed his BA in India, MA in the United Kingdom, and Ph.D. in the United States.