Seminole State's Ambassador Team

Hailee Bernard Handel is a distinguished professional in higher education and student affairs. She holds a master's degree in educational leadership with a focus in higher education and student personnel from the University of Central Florida (UCF). Additionally, she earned a Bachelor of Science in Hospitality Management and Dietetics from Western Kentucky University, graduating cum laude.
Hailee is the coordinator for high impact practices at Seminole State College. In this role, she oversees initiatives that enhance student engagement and success in and outside of the classroom, continuing her commitment to fostering educational excellence and student development.
Hailee is passionate about student development, focusing on providing resources and opportunities for underperforming, unmotivated or inexperienced students to excel. Her commitment to student success is evident in her work and the positive impact she has had on the communities she serves.

Hailee Handel
Coordinator, HIPs

Jamie Brickley has been a professor in the Seminole State College Physical Therapist Assistant program since 2008. She has enjoyed several HIP (high impact practice) learning experiences as a student and believes in the value these experiences can provide. She participated in clinical affiliations in both nursing and physical therapy school and now helps guide PTA students in their clinicals. Many of the skills learned in a clinical setting cannot be duplicated in a classroom. She also fondly remembers a community service project teaching an exercise class at an adult daycare and a capstone research project in her transitional Doctorate of Physical Therapy program.  

She looks forward to helping faculty bring high-impact, high-value learning experiences to Seminole State or helping faculty realize that many of their current assignments are already high impact practices!  

Jamie Brickley
Faculty Ambassador

Dr. Maya Patrice Byfield is a graduate of Oakwood University with a Bachelor of Science in Biology and has received her Master of Science in Biomedical Sciences and a Ph.D. in Molecular Pharmacology from Albert Einstein College of Medicine in Bronx, NY. She conducted her post-doctoral associate work in neuroscience at the University of Central Florida College of Medicine.  She is currently a tenured professor of biology and principal investigator of the National Science Foundation (NSF) S-STEM LEAPS and BOUNDS Scholarship program at Seminole State College of Florida. 

Byfield is also the founder and director of Phenomenal STEM(ist) and Associates, LLC. For bright minds with the potential to become America’s next generation of STEM leaders, Dr. Maya Byfield, as the Phenomenal STEM(ist), is a bridge between innate talent and real-world opportunities. A role model to underrepresented students, she helps a wide cross-section of young people chart promising futures. 

Maya Byfield
Faculty Ambassador

As an English professor, Katherine Kellen has taught reading, writing and researching for Seminole State in person, remote and online. For about ten years, she has also taught ed-tech classes, breaking down instructional theories to help education professionals design lessons for both classrooms and work settings, for learners including children, clients, patients, people learning English and higher education students. More recently, Kellen has been examining the way we should encourage or caution students regarding AI tools, and the impact AI tools will have on humans' reading and ability to validate accurate information. Essentially, Kellen loves teaching and helping fellow teachers enjoy their work more by sharing strategies and ideas together.

Katherine Kellen
Faculty Ambassador

Melissa Mesman is an associate professor of Health Sciences at Seminole State College. She holds a master's degree in public health education from the University of South Florida and graduate certificates in maternal and child health and nutrition science for communication professionals. She is currently pursuing her Doctor of Education in Health Promotion Degree from the University of Kentucky and a graduate certificate in distance learning.  Mesman is a Certified Health Education Specialist, as well as a Tobacco Treatment Specialist. She is passionate about college student well-being; prior to her role as a full-time faculty member, she was an assistant director of wellness and recreation at Stetson University. Mesman has a passion for effective teaching and learning strategies through distance education and finding opportunities to integrate holistic wellness practices into student success.

Melissa Mesman
Faculty Ambassador

Debra Socci is a distinguished professor of biology at Seminole State College, where she has worked since 2001. In her role as a professor, she has advanced numerous experiential learning initiatives, including travel and independent study courses. For eight years, Socci managed enrollment and curriculum and led co-curricular activities as a director of the Grindle Honors Institute. As an advisor for the environmental initiative club for over 20 years, she has invited speakers and authors to campus and developed field trips and environmental service projects on and off campus involving community groups such as the Audubon Society, Girl Scouts and SERV (Seminole Education Restoration Volunteers). Using generous grants from Duke Energy, she created several sustainability hubs on the Lee Campus at Oviedo, including a pollinator garden and sustainability lab. 

Prior to her employment at Seminole State College, Socci conducted Ph.D. research at the University of South Florida in Tampa, where she studied the neurobiology of learning and aging. She also worked at Orlando Regional Medical Center in Orlando as a post-doc, where she performed research on the neurobiology of hydrocephalus. 

She completed undergraduate and master's degrees in biology at Rutgers University. At Rutgers, she worked as a health educator and also worked for the Food and Drug Administration in Philadelphia as a consumer safety officer after college. 

Debra Socci
Faculty Ambassador

Modupe Soremi joined Seminole State in the summer of 2009 teaching Principles of Economics both Macroeconomics and Microeconomics in the Social Science department. She received her Ed.D. in Curriculum and Instruction at the University of Central Florida, her Master of Arts in Economics Development and International Trade at the University of Reading in the U.K., and her Bachelor of Arts in Economics at the University of Navarra, Spain. 

She recently joined a task force dedicated to incorporating high impact practices at Seminole State College focusing on undergraduate research. Previously involved in advising multiple student clubs, she currently leads projects such as the Heritage Jubilee, the social science video contest and social science hour. Her primary interests lie in enhancing student engagement and achievement in adult education. With a passion for teaching, she finds fulfillment in fostering student development and success both within the College and beyond. 

Modupe Soremi
Faculty Ambassador

Lesley Kamphaus holds a Ph.D. from the University of Miami and has been teaching writing and literature classes in face-to-face, online and hybrid environments in higher education since 2011. She began her career as a writing instructor at the University of Central Florida and has taught English Composition and literature classes at the University of Miami and Full Sail University, where she also managed department-wide curriculum and instructional design projects, supported faculty in implementing classroom technologies and pedagogical best practices, and facilitated faculty development workshops. As a team lead, she was especially passionate about guiding her faculty to build relationships with students through feedback and meaningful interaction.

Kamphaus joined the eLearning team at Seminole State College in July 2024 and is committed to creating valuable learning experiences for students. She is excited to contribute to the HIPs initiative at Seminole State by helping faculty implement their visions in the online space.

Lesley Kamphaus
eLearning Abassador

Rachel Novella comes to Seminole State College after 11 years at Seminole County Public Schools (SCPS), first as a biology teacher then as an instructional specialist supporting and leading science faculty across the district’s 10 high school campuses. In that role, she was also program manager for the countywide student research program. She continues to volunteer both locally and statewide to organize student research programs, recruit and train faculty, and coach K-12 student researchers. Prior to working in SCPS, Novella taught lab sections for biology courses at UCF and served in several roles to develop and facilitate undergraduate research programming and experiences across campus.  

She is passionate about helping faculty implement the rich learning experiences found in high impact practices within their courses and within the larger College community. As eLearning ambassador for the HIPs initiative, Novella aims to help faculty bring their vision for HIPs to life in online learning environments! 

Rachel Novella
eLearning Ambassador

Michele Cuomo serves as dean of arts and communication. She has served on the Association of American Colleges and University's High Impact Practices Institute since 2010 and led HIPs programming at Queensborough Community College.

Michelle Cuomo
Dean Ambassador