Joe Cuseo holds a doctoral degree in Educational Psychology and Assessment from the University of Iowa. Currently, he is a Professor of Psychology at Marymount College (California) where for 25 years he has directed the first-year seminar, a course required of all new students. He is a regular columnist for a bimonthly newsletter published by the National Resource Center for The First-Year Experience & Students in Transition, and has received the Resource Center's "outstanding first-year advocate award." He is also a 13-time recipient of the "faculty member of the year award" on his home campus, a student-driven award based on effective teaching and academic advising. He has made numerous presentations and authored many articles and monographs on the first-year experience, college success, and student diversity. He is co-author of the textbook, Thriving in College and Beyond: Research-Based Strategies for Academic Success & Personal Development, and two books relating to diversity that will be published in 2009: Humanity, Diversity, & the Liberal Arts: The Foundation of a College Education (summer reading), and Infusing Diversity into the College Experience: Research-Based Strategies for Appreciating and Learning from Human Differences.