Doctoral Degree: History, Graduate Certificate in WGSS Year of graduation: 2009 (MA), 2015 (PHD)
Tell us about what you are doing now.
I love what I do. My current role allows me to fulfill my sense of mission, to use my academic and intellectual skills, to be creative, and to have an impact. I thank the Stony Brook WGSS and the History Departments for helping me to get to this point in my career.
I joined the University of Texas System as the Assistant Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs in 2016. I am responsible for leading and supporting student success initiatives system-wide, collaborating with and convening stakeholder groups from the eight academic institutions in the UT System as well as other universities and systems, non-profits, and state governmental entities. My work addresses the student success continuum, PK-20 and into the workforce, with special focus on strategy, policy, data, and partnerships. My portfolio includes but is not limited to diversity, equity, and inclusion, early childhood, educator preparation, university charter schools, university-school partnerships, dual credit, future of work and learning, and university degree completion programs. Check out https://elevatetxed.utsystem.edu/ to get a little taste of some of what I do. Be sure to watch the video: Become a Legend, Become a Hero, Become a Texas Teacher!
I also serve on the UTS Student Success Guiding Coalition and am the Texas Women in Higher Education Institutional Representative for UTS.
Outside of UT System, I serve as Vice President of the Board of Directors for the Literacy Coalition of Central Texas as well as a Governing Council Member for the National Institute for Native Leadership in Higher Education.
I am a proud citizen of the Miami Nation of Oklahoma, a federally recognized Indian Tribe, and live in Dripping Springs, TX with my wife, two kids, two cats, and two dogs.
How did your WGSS degree help you on the path you’re on?
I approach my work through an equity lens with strong attentiveness to historic inequities and systemic sexism and racism, including opportunity and achievement gaps for minoritized student populations. This awareness and critical thinking around equity, systems of oppression, strategies of agency, and drive toward activism was midwifed by my experiences, professors, and colleagues in the WGSS program at Stony Brook.
Tell us about a book that is important to you.
There are so many! Most recently, I’ve been reading As Long as the Grass Grows: The Indigenous Fight for Environmental Justice, From Colonization to Standing Rock by friend Dina Gilio-Whitaker (Colville Confederated Tribes).
What is a memorable event that you have participated in or witnessed since you have graduated?
I had the privilege and honor to lead a statewide initiative that culminated in the passage of transformative legislation. This legislation transformed educator preparation in Texas by reinstating the education degree as a pathway to teacher certification and will aid in recruiting more students into a teaching degree at university. For this work, I was awarded the Friend of Education Award from CSOTTE, the Consortium of State Organizations for Texas Teacher Education. I can’t wait to see this new degree in action—maybe one of my kids will even get a degree in teaching!
What advice would you give to graduate students today?
Believe in yourself. Remember that you deserve to be here and that your voice and perspective are not only valuable, but essential to elevating the discourse in your discipline and beyond.
Find a mentor or sponsor (even better). Making lasting relationships with senior colleagues who can provide you with “inside knowledge” of “the game” and/or get you a seat at the table of important decision-making discussions is vital. These relationships are rewarding for both the senior and junior colleague.
Ask questions about your career options inside and outside of academe. Don’t foreclose on the possibility of a fulfilling career that makes a real impact in the world but might be outside of the classroom and research labs of the university. For example, your ability to read highly complex material, contextualize it, and draw out implications from it that you then communicate clearly and concisely, give you an immense advantage in the private and public work sectors. The academic and intellectual skills you gain from WGSS are transferable skills that are critical for dismantling institutional oppression of every kind in our communities’ most influential institutions.
This article was originally written for and published on Stony Brook University’s website here.
