Meet Your Advisors

Tara Kishbaugh (she, her)

Dean of Faculty and Student Success, First Year Advisor supervisor

Tara grew up in Pennsylvania, studied chemistry in Illinois and New Hampshire, and taught chemistry in Vermont and Massachusetts before moving to Harrisonburg in 2004. Tara is a first-generation college student who thought she’d attend medical school before taking organic chemistry and being (overly) excited about the lab. She still enjoys geeking out about organic chemistry, but now she’s curious to understand how and why students find success in college and helping others achieve that goal for themselves. In her current role at EMU, Tara provides support and supervision for academic advising, the academic success center, and coachlink, among other aspects of student success. Tara enjoys reading (science fiction, fantasy, graphic novels, and crime procedurals) “mud wrestling” (what her family calls the pottery studio), and knitting socks or gnomes. She is always open to a conversation in Common Grounds or a walk around campus.

Chad Trevitte

Chad grew up in Kingsport, Tennessee and received his B.A. in English at Wake Forest University. He then earned his M.A. and Ph.D. in English at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where he also worked as a teaching assistant. After going back to Wake Forest University to teach English for four years, he moved to Harrisonburg to work at Bridgewater College, where he taught a first-year seminar and served as an academic advisor for undeclared majors. In 2022 he began work as First Year Advisor at EMU, where he also teaches the first-year Transitions course. Helping first-year students succeed in college has been essential to Chad’s work throughout his career, and it continues to inform his advising and teaching at EMU. He is married to Alexandra Keefe, a case manager for a local attorney.

Nina Zhang 

Nina grew up in China and came to the States in 2013 to continue her Master degree in Higher Education. She worked 6 years in Residence Life in different universities before starting a position of First Year advisor at EMU. Nina lived in Tulsa, OK, Springfield, MO, Cape Girardeau, MO, Virginia Beach, VA and now she lives in Broadway, VA with her husband, Michael and two precious cats - Tomato and Potato.