Meet the Office of the QEP Staff
Troy Priest
Director of the QEP
(931) 221-7045
Miller Hall, 221
priestt@apsu.edu
Troy Priest is the Director of the Quality Enhancement Plan (QEP) at Austin Peay State University. Troy has over 20 years of teaching and administrative experience in higher education. He has taught and worked in universities in the United States, South Korea, and the United Arab Emirates. His professional experience includes creating and evaluating faculty development programs, curricular development and assessment, communities of practice, and leading institutional pedagogical research projects.
He has an MA in applied linguistics from the University of Louisville, a postgraduate certificate from the University of British Columbia in Scholarship of Teaching and Learning Leadership, and is currently a PhD doctoral candidate in the Higher Education Research, Evaluation, and Enhancement program at Lancaster University in the United Kingdom.
Savannah Longo
Assessment Analyst
(931) 221-7621
Miller Hall, 209
longos@apsu.edu
Savannah Longo is a "local" of Clarksville, having lived in the area since kindergarten. She earned her B.S. in Biology and M.S. in Business Management from Austin Peay State University. Her professional career in higher education also began at Austin Peay, starting as an Academic Advisor for the College of STEM in 2019. She most recently served as the Student Success Coordinator for the Title III Grant, which supported many first-generation student initiatives.
Within student success, she earned her Appreciative Advising Certificate from Florida Atlantic University, and served as a Board Member for the Tennessee Association for Student Success and Retention (TASSR) and an Editorial Board Member for the international Journal of Student Success and Retention (JoSSR). She also secured a national Silver Excellence Award for APSU's Purpose First Scholars Learning Community from NASPA, Student Affairs Administrators in Higher Education. Savannah now serves as the Assessment Analyst for Institutional Effectiveness and Research, supporting both the QEP and IEA.
Cherylle Ward
Office Supervisor
(931) 221-6760
Miller Hall, 219
wardca@apsu.edu
Cherylle Ward is a United States Army Veteran, from Columbus, Ohio, who holds a Bachelor’s degree in Professional Studies from Austin Peay State University. Her professional career in higher education began at Central Texas Community College, located in Killeen, Texas, where she held the position of Office Specialist II.
She began her career at Austin Peay State University, January of 2005, where she has maintained numerous positions, in different departments, such as; Administrative Assistant II in the Advisement Center for Undeclared students as well as Academic Support Center and a Registration Clerk in the Office of the Registrar. Cherylle now maintains the position of Office Supervisor, for the Offices of the Quality Enhancement Plan, Institutional Effectiveness and Assessment as well as Decision Support and Institutional Research.