Presenter Bio - Dr. James McGhee
Dr. James McGhee serves as Vice President for Student Affairs at Meredith College in Raleigh, North Carolina. Dr. McGhee’s experience with student organization accountability includes both campus leadership and national volunteer service and his approach connects clear expectations with education, organizational improvement, and meaningful follow-through.
He brings more than two decades of experience in higher education, with a professional background spanning student engagement, student conduct, fraternity and sorority life, leadership development, residence life, and institutional policy. His work centers on creating student experiences that connect learning, belonging, personal responsibility, and institutional expectations.
Before joining Meredith, Dr. McGhee served as Associate Vice President for Student Affairs and Associate Dean of Students at Randolph-Macon College in Ashland, Virginia. During his tenure, he helped build an integrated Student Engagement Center that brought together programs and services supporting involvement, leadership, residential and commuter life, service, and well-being. He also served as a Deputy Title IX Coordinator, contributing to institutional responses to sensitive and complex student matters.
Dr. McGhee’s experience with student organization accountability includes both campus leadership and national volunteer service. As a Regional Governor and chapter advisor for Pi Kappa Phi Fraternity, he supported chapter operations, advisor development, strategic planning, and responses to risk management concerns. During his service on the Board of Directors of the National Association of Collegiate Esports, he developed a model student-athlete conduct code and a member code of conduct and accompanying process.
His approach to accountability connects clear expectations with education, organizational improvement, and meaningful follow-through. He is particularly interested in how institutions can address organizational practices and culture while helping student leaders understand their responsibilities to members and the broader campus community.
Dr. McGhee’s professional interests also include assessment, organizational change, staff development, and sustainable approaches to student affairs administration. He has contributed to the scholarship on innovations in staffing and service delivery at small institutions.
He holds a Bachelor of Arts from Averett University, a Master of Public Administration from Virginia Tech, and a Doctor of Education in Organizational Change and Leadership from the University of Southern California. His doctoral research examined mandatory reporting of sexual violence in higher education.