Our Staff
Danette Gibbs, Ph.D.
Executive Director
gibbsdc@jmu.edu ✉
Danette works with campuses to help them strategize for comprehensive mental health promotion and suicide prevention. Danette believes that prevention work is essential to address the consistently rising rates of mental distress in our country and among our students. Prior to her current position, Danette was an associate professor of psychology at Longwood University, where she grew her passion for helping students overcome the many obstacles they face to obtain their degree and achieve their dreams. Related to her interest in community approaches to systems change, she has also been involved with the development and growth of multiple community coalitions, including both a suicide prevention and a community health coalition in the Piedmont region, as well as an inclusive wellness coalition in the Shenandoah Valley. Danette holds a Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology from the University of Toledo. She is married and has a preschool-aged daughter, and loves spending time with her family and in nature.
Jane Wiggins, Ph.D.
Director of Training
wigginjr@jmu.edu ✉
Jane is a school psychologist by training and spent much of her career working in K12 settings. Her interest in suicide prevention developed during the years she served as the crisis intervention counselor for Rockingham County Public Schools in Virginia. In 2005, Jane became the director of the Central Shenandoah Youth Suicide Prevention Initiative, which in turn led to the creation of the Campus Suicide Prevention Center of Virginia, where Jane formerly served as director. In that role, Jane provided suicide prevention resources, training and consultation for strategic planning to colleges and universities across the Commonwealth of Virginia. Jane earned a master's degree in educational psychology from Bucknell University and a Ph.D. in school psychology from Syracuse University. For down time, Jane enjoys woodworking, game nights, dinners out with friends and family, and time under the trees.
Tara Nunley, LPC
Programs Manager
nunleyts@jmu.edu ✉
Tara is a Licensed Professional Counselor by training and has worked in higher education for 20 years. In addition to a Master's in Counseling from the University of Lynchburg, Tara has a Master's degree in Higher Education and Student Affairs from Virginia Tech. Tara is an ASIST and safeTALK trainer and enjoys working with campuses to create collaborative communities that focus on campus wellbeing. Prior to this position, Tara served in several roles at the University of Lynchburg, most recently as the Director of Counseling Services. While working on her licensure, Tara also spent two years working in community mental health as a family therapist in a Structural Family Therapy agency. It was in this role that Tara developed her passion for systems level change to support wellbeing. In her free time, Tara loves to run, read, lay in her hammock, and spend time with her husband and two children.
Jane Hubbell, M.Ed.
Grant Administrator
Jane has spent the better part of the last fifty years committed to working with at-risk children and youth as well as other vulnerable populations. With an undergraduate degree in Social Work and a Masters in Counseling she worked for many years with various non-profits in our community including Big Brothers/Big Sisters and the Office on Children and Youth. In 2000 she joined James Madison University and was invited to work with Dr. Vida Huber and a small team to create the Institute for Innovation in Health and Human Service (IIHHS) which opened in the summer of 2002. The vision of IIHHS to work with the community, study unmet needs, develop programs and provide faculty research opportunities meshed well with Jane's commitment to improve the quality of life for all members of our community especially the most vulnerable. Since that time as a JMU associate director and affiliate faculty, Jane has fostered numerous community collaborations to examine unmet needs and establish long range goals. To achieve these goals Jane and her team successfully wrote over 100 grants and brought into our community millions of dollars to address these issues. Some of these initiatives include; Teen Pregnancy Prevention, the Gus Bus Reading Roadshow, Migrant Education, Ryan White HIV/AIDS, the Medical Suitcase Clinic for the Homeless and the Campus Suicide Prevention Center of Virginia. In 2014 Jane retired emeritus from JMU. A year later she returned to JMU part-time in order to continue working alongside Dr. Jane Wiggins on her important work with the Campus Suicide Prevention Center of Virginia. In her spare time Jane enjoys her four grandchildren, traveling, gardening and creating in her workshop.
Annette Williams, M.Ed.
Community College Specialist
willi2ad@jmu.edu ✉
Annette is an educator and mentor, with extensive experience in the secondary and post-secondary learning environments. She has spent the past 23 years in higher education with a focus on student services administration, program development, implementation and management, curriculum development, academic advising, and teaching and training future educators. Seventeen years of her service in higher education was with the Virginia Community College System, initially at Piedmont Virginia Community College and, most recently, Blue Ridge Community College. Annette’s passion is to empower individuals to discover and live out their unique purpose, contributing the best version of themselves to make this world a better place. Every life matters! Annette earned her master’s degree in Counseling with a focus on higher education from the University of Lynchburg. In her free time she enjoys traveling with friends, outdoor activities (camping, hiking, and kayaking), serving in her church, and spending time with family which includes her fur babies.
Sherry Ceperich, Ph.D.
Training and Development Coordinator - High School Transitions Project
cepirisd@jmu.edu ✉
Shery is a licensed clinical psychologist who has worked as a researcher, clinician, trainer and administrator for over 25 years and at several Virginia universities and colleges. She is excited to return to her prevention and well-being promotion roots at the CSPCV and work at a more macro level to serve higher education in new ways. Prior to this role, she worked at the University of Richmond’s Counseling and Psychological Services (CAPS) where she was instrumental in starting its graduate student training program and where she continues to work as a psychologist part time. Previously, she was the Wellness Center Director and College Psychologist at Hampden-Sydney College and started her career as a psychologist at Arizona State University’s counseling center. She also has worked with veterans and active-duty military service persons with polytrauma injuries and women who experienced military sexual trauma at the McGuire Veterans Affairs Medical Center. She has been on the faculties of Virginia Commonwealth University and University of Virginia in primarily research roles conducting clinical intervention research, specifically the use of Motivational Interviewing for behavioral change. She has been a grantee and contractor with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and has presented research nationally and internationally. She obtained her Ph.D. in counseling psychology at Arizona State University and a master’s in educational psychology at the University of Tennessee. She is a member of the American Psychological Association, Society of Counseling Psychology, Motivational Interviewing Network of Trainers (MINT) and is a certified Koru (mindfulness meditation) teacher. When not working, she enjoys spending time “sandwiched” with her parents, husband, two emerging adult children and cat as well as walking, dancing, reading, hiking, traveling and volunteering with conservation organizations.
Lee Duffy-Ledbetter, MS
Project Manager - High School Transitions Project
duffyllp@jmu.edu ✉
Lee has dedicated his career to working across community systems and collaborating with stakeholders to develop and implement impactful programming aimed at suicide prevention for youth and young adults. He has spent the better part of the last decade working in various positions for prominent mental health advocacy organizations. Before this role, he managed programs for a local affiliate of NAMI (National Alliance of Mental Illness) and coordinated the nationally acclaimed Send Silence Packing program for Active Minds. Lee earned his master’s degree in Clinical Psychological Science from the University of Maryland in 2021. In his free time, he enjoys exploring the outdoors with friends and family, not least of all his best bud (dog), Max.
Scott Pruett, MS
Technical Coordinator
pruettsk@jmu.edu ✉
Scott helps manage the behind-the-scenes tech for CSPCV part-time. He's an alum of James Madison University with a degree in Technical and Scientific Communication, and has a master's in Parks and Recreation Management from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. While not at CSPCV, you can find him around downtown Harrisonburg with his wife and daughter. Sometimes he's hiding in an office doing other tech and community based work.