Dr. Robert D. Bullard is often described as the father of environmental justice. He is the former Dean of the Barbara Jordan-Mickey Leland School of Public Affairs at Texas Southern University 2011-2016. Professor Bullard currently is Distinguished Professor of Urban Planning and Environmental Policy. Prior to coming to TSU he was founding Director of the Environmental Justice Resource Center at Clark Atlanta University. He received his Ph.D. from Iowa State University. He is an award-winning author of eighteen books that address sustainable development, environmental racism, urban land use, industrial facility siting, community reinvestment, housing, transportation, climate justice, disasters, emergency response, and community resilience, smart growth, and regional equity. He is co-founder of the HBCU Climate Change Consortium. Dr. Bullard is a proud U.S. Marine Corps veteran.

He was featured in the July 2007 CNN People You Should Know, Bullard: Green Issue is Black and White. In 2008, Newsweek named him one of 13 Environmental Leaders of the Century. And that same year, Co-op America honored him with its Building Economic Alternatives Award (BEA). In 2010, The Grio named him one of the “100 Black History Makers in the Making” and Planet Harmony named him one of Ten African American Green Heroes.”

His book, Dumping in Dixie: Race, Class and Environmental Quality (Westview Press, 2000), is a standard text in the environmental justice field. Some of his book titles include Just Sustainabilities: Development in an Unequal World (MIT Press, 2003), Highway Robbery: Transportation Racism and New Routes to Equity (South End Press, 2004), The Quest for Environmental Justice: Human Rights and the Politics of Pollution (Sierra Club Books, 2005), Growing Smarter: Achieving Livable Communities, Environmental Justice, and Regional Equity (MIT Press, 2007), and The Black Metropolis in the Twenty-First Century: Race, Power, and the Politics of Place (Rowman & Littlefield, 2007). He is co-author of In the Wake of the Storm: Environment, Disaster and Race After Katrina(Russell Sage Foundation, 2006) and Toxic Wastes and Race at Twenty: 1987-2007 (United Church of Christ Witness & Justice Ministries, 2007).

His latest books include Race, Place and Environmental Justice After Hurricane Katrina (Westview Press, 2009), Environmental Health and Racial Equity in the United States (American Public Health Association Press, 2011), and The Wrong Complexion for Protection (New York University Press, 2012). In 2013, he was honored with the Sierra Club John Muir Award, the first African American to win the award. In 2014, the Sierra Club named its new Environmental Justice Award after Dr. Bullard. In 2015, the Iowa State University Alumni Association named him its Alumni Merit Award recipient—an award also given to George Washington Carver (1894 ISU alum) in 1937. In 2017, the Children Environmental Health Network presented him with the Child Health Advocate Award. And in 2018, the Global Climate Action Summit named Dr. Bullard one of 22 Climate Trailblazers.

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Tarana Burke shares the story behind the genesis of the viral 2017 TIME Person Of The Year-winning ‘me too.’ Movement, and gives strength and healing to those who have experienced sexual trauma or harassment.

The simple yet courageous ‘me too.’ hashtag campaign has emerged as a rallying cry for people everywhere who have survived sexual assault and sexual harassment – and Tarana’s powerful, poignant story as creator of what is now an international movement that supports survivors will move, uplift, and inspire you.

#MeToo is not just an overnight hashtag sensation; Tarana has dedicated more than 25 years of her life to social justice and to laying the groundwork for a movement that was initially created to help young women of color who survived sexual abuse and assault. The movement now inspires solidarity, amplifies the voices thousands of victims of sexual abuse, and puts the focus back on survivors. In her upcoming book, Where the Light Enters, Tarana discusses the importance of the ‘me too.’ Movement as well as her personal journey from "victim to survivor to thriver." Tarana's continued work with the 'me too.' movement has earned her the honor of being named The Root 100's most influential person of 2018.

A sexual assault survivor herself, Tarana is now working under the banner of the ‘me too.’ movement to assist other survivors and those who work to end sexual violence. She is also senior director of programs at Brooklyn-based Girls for Gender Equity. On stage, she provides words of empowerment that lift up marginalized voices, enables survivors across all races, genders, or classes to know that they are not alone, and creates a place for comfort and healing to those who have experienced trauma.

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Jose Antonio Vargas is a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, Emmy-nominated filmmaker, and a leading voice for the human rights of immigrants. He is the founder and chief executive officer of Define American, the nation's leading nonprofit media organization that fights injustice and anti-immigrant hate through the power of storytelling. He is the author of the memoir, Dear America: Notes of an Undocumented Citizen, published by HarperCollins in fall 2018. In 2011, the New York Times Magazine published a groundbreaking essay he wrote in which he revealed and chronicled his life in America as an undocumented immigrant. A year later, he appeared on the cover of TIME magazine worldwide with fellow undocumented immigrants in a follow-up cover story. He then produced and directed Documented, a documentary feature film on his undocumented experience. Broadcasted on CNN and streamed on Netflix, the film received a 2015 NAACP Image Award nomination for Outstanding Documentary. In 2015, MTV aired White People, an Emmy-nominated television special he produced and directed on what it means to be young and white in a demographically changing America.

Among accolades he has received are: The Salem Award from the Salem Award Foundation, which draws upon the lessons of the Salem Witch Trials of 1692; the Freedom to Write Award from PEN Center USA; and honorary degrees from Colby College and the John Jay College of Criminal Justice. Passionate about the role of arts in society and promoting equity in education, Vargas is a member of the Tony Awards Nominating Committee, and serves on the advisory board of TheDream.US, a scholarship fund for undocumented immigrant students.

A product of the San Francisco Bay Area, he is a proud graduate of San Francisco State University ('04), where he was named Alumnus of the Year in 2012, and Mountain View High School ('00).

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Jacqueline Battalora, Ph.D. is a passionate and engaging speaker addressing the complexities of what it means to be white within a nation that imposed whiteness as a matter of founding law. She is is the author of Birth of a White Nation: The Invention of White People and Its Relevance Today, an attorney and professor of sociology at Saint Xavier University, Chicago, and a former Chicago Police Officer.

An editor for the Journal of Understanding and Dismantling Privilege, Dr. Battalora is the author of numerous articles and appears in the documentaries "The American L.O.W.S." by Darnley Hodge Jr. and "HAPI" by Gerard Grant.

Dr. Battalora’s scholarship, lectures, and trainings describe how the group of humanity called “white” people was first asserted in law and worked to radically reorganize society. While she keeps the spotlight on racial constructs, the trade in women’s bodies and the workings of class oppression are retained in the telling of the invention of white people. With skill and rich detail, she takes participants through the inventive process and toward the society we confront today. The historical approach utilized helps to remove defensiveness and position white participants to be motivated for transformation, gaining confidence to be more open, mindful and understanding. Dr. Battalora’s work on the social construction of the white race makes absolutely clear the impact that whiteness has had on all people living in the United States.

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Since 1989, trans trailblazer Kate Bornstein has—with humor and spunk—ushered us into a world of limitless possibility through a daring re-envisionment of the gender system as we know it. Kate identifies as nonbinary: not a man, and not a woman—and she’s been writing about nonbinary gender identity for nearly thirty years.

Kate was born Albert Bornstein in 1948, in Asbury Park, New Jersey. At an early age, he came to the conclusion that he wasn't a boy, and that she didn't want to grow up to be a man. To Albert, being a boy was all acting, and pretending to be a boy. In 1984, she began her hormonal, surgical, and social transition from male to female, which she completed in 1986—she was a woman! In less than two years, she realized that being a woman was for her no more than acting and pretending...just like it had been for being a man. So in 1988, Kate gave up the idea of being a woman, and now she lives on the edge of paradox: she is not a man, and not a woman. She looks beyond the gender binary to see gender as both a conscious practice, and a playful journey.

Kate's work is taught in five languages, in over 300 high schools, colleges, and universities around the world. The titles of her books say a lot about who she is, and how she views things:

• Gender Outlaw: On Men, Women, and the Rest of Us (now in its 2nd edition)
• My New Gender Workbook: A Step-by-Step Guide to Achieving World Peace Through Gender Anarchy and Sex Positivity (now in its 2nd edition)
• Hello, Cruel World: 101 Alternatives to Suicide for Teens, Freaks, and Other Outlaws
• A Queer and Pleasant Danger: The True Story of a Nice Jewish Boy Who Joins the Church of Scientology and Leaves Twelve Years Later to Become the Lovely Lady She Is Today

Currently, you can see Kate onscreen as Joan, the church lady, in the film, "Saturday Church". Kate is the subject of Sam Feder's award-winning documentary, “Kate Bornstein Is a Queer and Pleasant Danger.” Kate's work on suicide prevention, and her advocacy for marginalized and at-risk youth has earned her two citations of outstanding citizenship from the New York City Council.

Kate has been on the road lecturing and performing for over 25 years, at colleges, high schools, and anywhere people gather to talk about gender. At this time, Kate is writing a new book: Trans! Just For the Fun Of It: Compassionate Gender Strategies for Divisive Times, sections of which she's developing interactively on her blog, where she invites your input and feedback.

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Dr. Pablo Bose is a migration and urban studies scholar. Born in India and raised in Canada, Dr. Bose is interested in the ways that people and landscapes shape one another. He has a BA in English and History, an MA in Communications, and a PhD in Environmental Studies. He has been at UVM since 2006 in the Department of Geography and since 2015 has been director of the Global and Regional Studies Program. Dr. Bose also chairs UVM’s diversity curriculum committee and in 2018 takes up the position of Provost’s Faculty Fellow in Diversity and Inclusion. His three main research projects currently are on refugee resettlement in North America and Europe, on environmentally-induced displacement, and on cities of the global south. He has always been interested in interdisciplinary teaching and research; some of the courses he teaches at UVM include Race and Ethnicity in the US, Migration and Transnationalism, Geography of India, Peace and Conflict in Belfast, Geography of Sports, and Lives of the Global City. He is also active in the community having served as a commissioner for the local transit authority, public housing agency, and brownfields committees. He is currently partnering with the Association of Africans Living in Vermont on programs dealing with youth and the criminal justice system, on public health, and on food access.

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Fieh Chan, a native Washingtonian, has called Vermont home for the past 15 years. After many years of teaching high school mathematics, Fieh pursued his passion of working with young adults into a variety of educational settings. Since transitioning out of the classroom he has been fortunate to have worked in one of Vermont’s regional technical centers designing and implementing new programming, performed outreach in Rutland County as a STEM coordinator, and most recently works with middle school students in the role of assistant principal.

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A.Evan Eyler, M.D., M.P.H is a Professor of Psychiatry at the Robert Larner, M.D. College of Medicine at the University of Vermont. Dr. Eyler is a diplomate of the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology, with Certificate of Added Qualifications in Consultation-Liaison Psychiatry, and the American Board of Family Medicine with Certificate of Added Qualifications in Adolescent Medicine. He has been active in transgender medical care since 1995, and served as Director of Primary Care Services of the University of Michigan Comprehensive Gender Services Program from 1995-2000. Dr. Eyler is a co-editor of Principles of Transgender Medicine and Surgery (1st ed; Haworth Press) and Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender Aging: Challenges in Research, Practice and Policy (Johns Hopkins University Press, 2012). Dr. Eyler is currently active in consultation services with trans and gender non-conforming adults and adolescents.

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Amber joined UVM in July of 2017 as the ADA/504 Coordinator in the Office of Affirmative Action and Equal Opportunity, bringing with her a passion for inclusion and 18 years of experience in the field. Prior to this role, she worked with the state as Director of Vermont’s federal Assistive Technology Act program for 7 years. Additionally, she has served as Director of Student Accessibility Services at Fisher College in Boston and worked in clinical mental health and case management with a focus on accessibility for people with disabilities. Amber coordinates faculty and staff accommodations under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and collaborates with partners throughout UVM on larger campus initiatives for accessibility and ADA compliance.

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Dr. Jason C. Garvey (he/him/his) is an assistant professor of Higher Education and Student Affairs in the Department of Leadership and Developmental Sciences at the University of Vermont. His research examines student affairs and college classroom experiences with focus on queer and trans collegians. Prior to his faculty appointment, Jay worked in student services across a variety of functional areas, including academic advising, LGBTQ student involvement and advocacy, undergraduate research, and student affairs assessment.

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Christa Hagan-Howe, MS (she/her) Christa is works as the Diversity Educator in Professional Development and Training at The University of Vermont. Her work centers on providing training, resources, and support to faculty and staff, to support the institution’s mission around diversity, equity, and inclusion. In addition to her work at the University, she has educated adult learners around diversity, privilege, and power through Champlain College Online’s undergraduate degree programs.

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Christine Hallquist is a leader in creating solutions to climate change, developed the electric grid of the future, the first transgender CEO in the nation to transition on the job, and the first major party candidate in the nation who is transgender.

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Dr. Susanmarie Harrington joined the faculty at UVM in 2008. She directs the Writing in the Disciplines (WID) Program, drawing on her prior experience as director of composition (1995-2006) and department chair (2006-2008) at Indiana University Purdue University Indianapolis. Her research interests explore how values about writing are enacted in curricula, program design, and assessment, with a particular interest in the relationship between WID’s intersection with both information literacy and principles of inclusive pedagogy. Her publications include Basic Writing as a Political Act and The Outcomes Book: Debate and Consensus in the Wake of the Council of Writing Program Administrators' Outcomes Statement.

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Carol Irons is an Abenaki elder living in the Northeast Kingdom. Walking in two worlds, she pursued academic training as well as Northeast Woodlands culture knowledge. Ms. Irons has a BA from UVM and an MSW from Atlanta University. Her various jobs included community organizing and casework in settings from Appalachia to cities to rural Vermont.

At the same time, Ms Irons received training in woods lore skills, spiritual practices, history, and social dynamics with specific focus on Northeast Woodland cultures. As well, she received training in shamanic practices in over 15 years. Now serving as Vice-Chair on the Vermont Commission on Native American Affairs, she works to help Abenaki rebuild culture through the Abenaki Regeneration Project.

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Jackson Katz, Ph.D. is an American educator, author, filmmaker and cultural theorist who is internationally renowned for his pioneering work in gender violence prevention education and critical media literacy. In 1993 he co-founded the Mentors in Violence Prevention (MVP) program at Northeastern University’s Center for the Study of Sport in Society. The mixed-gender, multiracial MVP program is one of the most widely implemented and influential sexual and relationship abuse prevention programs in schools, colleges, sports culture and the military in North America and beyond. MVP introduced the “bystander” approach to the gender violence prevention field; Katz is one of the key architects of this now broadly popular approach. In 1997 Katz created and directed the first worldwide gender violence prevention program in the history of the U.S. Marine Corps. He and his colleagues have been centrally involved in the development and implementation of system-wide bystander intervention training in the U.S. Air Force and Navy. MVP has also worked with the U.S. Army on bases in the States and overseas in Iraq. Katz’s award-winning educational videos Tough Guise and Tough Guise 2, his featured appearances in the films Wrestling With Manhood and Spin The Bottle, and his thousands of lectures in North America and overseas have brought his insights into issues of gender and violence to millions of college and high school students as well as professionals in education, human services, public health and law enforcement. His TED talk, “Violence against Women is a Men’s Issue,” has been viewed more than 2 million times. He is the author of The Macho Paradox: Why Some Men Hurt Women and How All Men Can Help, and Leading Men: Presidential Campaigns and the Politics of Manhood. He is the founder and director of MVP Strategies, which provides gender violence prevention training to institutions in the public and private sectors. Katz speaks extensively in the U.S. and around the world on topics related to violence, media and multiracial, multinational masculinities. Katz has a BA in philosophy from the University of Massachusetts-Amherst, a Masters from the Harvard Graduate School of Education, and a Ph.D. in cultural studies and education from UCLA.

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Benjamin C. Kennedy, M.Ed. (he/him) is a transgender academic, community organizer and activist, and social justice educator. He received a B.S. in Early Childhood Special Education and M.Ed. in Educational Leadership from the University of Vermont, where his research and writing focused on the impact of early childhood educators on the gender identity development of young children.

Benjamin currently works as the Learning Coordinator at UVM’s Center for Academic Success, and serves as the Coordinator for the Translating Identity Conference. Benjamin is passionate about social justice and equity, the accessibility of education to all learners, and universal access to trans-competent medical care; has been featured in the Huffington Post and NPR.

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Winnie Looby, Ph.D. is a program coordinator and lecturer, assigned to the Center on Disability and Community Inclusion in the College of Education and Social Services. She earned her Ph.D. in Educational Leadership and Policy Studies with a concentration in Special Education, and her M.Ed. in Early Childhood Special Education; both here at UVM. Her professional interests focus on Interdisciplinary Collaboration, Disability Studies, Early Childhood Special Education, Technology in Education, and Family-School Partnerships. As a longtime Vermont resident, her investment in education and her local community began with her work in the Burlington schools as a parent, volunteer, and educator. Winnie is also an artist trained in multiple disciplines. Her research interests infuse her arts training together with her interdisciplinary interest in supporting diversity and equity broadly, and specifically for students and community members with exceptionalities.

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Dr. Bree Mathon received degrees in various STEM fields, starting with a B.S. in Mathematics, M.S. in Geochemistry and received her PhD in Environmental Engineering from UVM in 2011. Since then she has taught various courses in math, geology, and engineering at local colleges in Vermont before returning to UVM in the Fall of 2016 when she began teaching the College of Engineering and Mathematical Sciences ENGR010 course on Diversity Issues in Math, Science and Engineering. Since returning to UVM, Dr. Mathon has attended several workshops on diversity issues and this year was accepted to serve as a Faculty Fellow for Diversity and Inclusion.

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Professor Alan Maynard is a nationally certified and Vermont state licensed Athletic Trainer. He completed his undergraduate studies in Athletic Training at Canisius College and then completed his graduate education in Sports Medicine at the University of Virginia. From there he was a lecturer and head athletic trainer at the University of Tampa where he taught in the AT curriculum as well as provided athletic healthcare for UT student-athletes. From Tampa, Professor Maynard came to the University of Vermont and was a healthcare provider for the Men’s Basketball team. Soon after arriving at UVM, Professor Maynard moved into a faculty role and has taught a long standing interprofessional diversity (D2) course that covers health care leadership through a social justice lens. Professor Maynard has also served UVM in many ways with regard to diversity matters and currently serves as the chairperson for the President’s Commission for Inclusive Excellence.

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Michael McDonald (he/him) lectures in RSENR and teaches in the Wildlife and Fisheries Biology Program, as well as in the race and culture / power and privilege curriculum. In the summer months, he works with the Rubenstein School Perennial Internship Program as a faculty advisor. His specific interests include community ecology and human dimensions of wildlife management. When he has time, he enjoys birding, fly fishing, building, hunting, and spending time with his partner and dog. He is a UVM alum, has spent the majority of his life in Vermont, and loves helping students find connections in this place.

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Carol McGranaghan grew up in the Northeast Kingdom of Vermont. She is a mother, grandmother, elder and member of the Nulhegan Abenaki tribe, present Chair of the Vermont Commission on Native American Affairs, assistant in the Abenaki Culture Regeneration project, member of the Abenaki Artists Association, and small business owner.

She has presented on several discussion panels including “Wearing Our Heritage” with Melody Brook and Endangered Alphabets with Tim Brookes. She also presents to school children on Abenaki culture, history, and what it means to be Abenaki in today’s world. She designs and creates jewelry for her Hidden Bear Treasures business. Drawing on her Abenaki heritage, she has researched and learned about the wild flowers and herbs found in Vermont to develop recipes which she then use in her Vermont Wild Things jelly. But of all her roles, the most important to her is as mother and grandmother - teaching the children so they are able to pass that knowledge on to others, to be proud of their Abenaki heritage and to know what honoring and being respectful of all our world truly means.

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SSharon Mone, Associate Director for Center for Academic Success, and director of Student Accessibility Services, has over 10 years’ experience working at the University of Vermont. As a certified ADA coordinator, Sharon is passionate about accessibility and removing barriers for not only students, but also faculty staff and visitors to UVM. Prior to working at UVM, Sharon was an HR Generalist at the University Of Vermont Medical Center.

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Originally from Chicago, Kiah Morris lives in Bennington, Vermont on the southwestern end of the Green Mountain State where she served in the general assembly as a State Representative from 2014-2016 and 2016-2018. She is the first African-American and person of color elected from Bennington County and the second African-American woman to be elected to the legislature in Vermont history. In that capacity, she served on the House Judiciary Committee and Vermont Judicial Nominating Board and was co-chair of the tri-partisan Legislative Women's Caucus. Her story of success and struggle have been covered in over four dozen media outlets including CNN, The Huffington Post, New York Times, Washington Post, The Hill, Essence Magazine, Canadian Broadcasting Company, BBC Radio, and Vice Media.

She is an award-winning, in-demand trainer, speaker, and presenter. She provides consultative services, workshops, and presentations on issues of diversity, equity and leadership for organizations across the globe. As co-owner of the TESA Collective cooperative, she manages marketing, communications, and strategic partnerships. She currently serves as the Executive Director of the Vermont Coalition on Ethnic and Social Equity in Schools. She serves on the Board of United Children’s Services, is a Sisters on the Planet Ambassador for Oxfam America, Leader with Rights and Democracy Vermont and is on the advisory councils for Emerge Vermont and Black Lives Matter Vermont.

Kiah also holds an accomplished artistic career as an actress of stage, film and television, spoken word performance, as a singer, dancer, and arts manager. As an arts advocate with a passion for community-based art, she has produced numerous special events, concerts and art exhibits during her career. Her work focuses on the amplification of voices of the oppressed, issues of human rights and social justice.

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Jennifer Morton-Dow is Anishinaabe (Ojibwe) a descendant of White Earth Nation, Gaa-waabaabiganikaag as well as Sami, the indigenous people of Finland.

Jennifer grew up in Los Angeles and has worked with at risk youth for almost twenty years. She is consistently looking to support our native communities and youth by strengthening our families though education, supported healing of historical trauma, self-sufficiency, and cultural awareness. Jennifer is on the Vermont State Commission of Native American Affairs and is also very active with Kunsi Keya in Huntington. Jennifer loves to teach young people how to bead, sew, and cook traditional foods. Jennifer has two children, 1 husband, and a cat and they all reside in Montpelier.

Her professional focus is primarily with youth and young adults struggling with homelessness or are at risk of homelessness due to family issues, DCF custody, D&A struggles, LGBTQI, and/or lack of natural supports. She approachs all the work she does serving young people, (native or not), through a cultural lens. This way youth learn how to respect and honor themselves and where they come from while gaining life skills and building inner strength. She feels that by keeping our youth connected culturally, they will be able to heal themselves, each other, and our mother earth.

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Dr. Deb Noel earned a B.A. in English from The University of Massachusetts at Amherst (1991) and a Ph.D. in American Literature, Rhetoric and Composition from The University of Georgia (2003). She has been teaching classes in composition, American literature, race and ethnicity in American literature, African American Science Fiction and Fantasy, nineteenth century fiction, modern novel, women's literature and the short story at UVM since 2003.

Deb's research interests span American literature with a particular focus on nineteenth and twentieth century fiction and narratology. Her dissertation examines works by Nathaniel Hawthorne, James Fenimore Cooper, William Faulkner and Toni Morrison with a special focus on fiction as historiography. More recent work applies "possible worlds" theory from narratological studies to the fiction of Junot Diaz and Judith Cofer, and, lately, she’s been writing about narrative exposition and “racing” characters in speculative fiction.

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Dr. Holly Buckland Parker is a Faculty Development Specialist at the University of Vermont's Center for Teaching and Learning (CTL). As part of her work at the CTL, she coordinates the Graduate Teaching Program and conducts workshops on pedagogy and educational technologies. She has a doctorate on Educational Leadership and Policy Studies from the University of Vermont. Dr. Buckland Parker continues to work on her research interest on the Implementation of Universal Design for Learning in Higher Education with faculty across campus at UVM through the Designing for Learning Program.

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Dr. David W. Parrott is the Vice President for Student Affairs at the University of Florida. Departments within Student Affairs include Housing & Residence Education, the Counseling & Wellness Center, Multicultural and Diversity Affairs, GatorWell Health Promotion Services, the Career Resource Center, the Center for Leadership & Service, Student Activities & Involvement, the Dean of Students Office, the J. Wayne Reitz Union, Recreational Sports, the Machen Florida Opportunity Scholars Program, Student Legal Services, and Off Campus Life. He is on the faculty at the University of Florida in the College of Education and on the Graduate Faculty.

Prior to his arrival at the University of Florida, Dr. Parrott served as the Executive Associate Vice President for Student Affairs and Chief of Staff at Texas A&M University. Dr. Parrott earned his doctorate at the University of Louisville in Educational Psychology with an emphasis in Student Affairs Administration. His dissertation research focus was racial identity development. He holds an M.A. in College Student Personnel and a B.S. in Business Management from Western Kentucky University.

Dr. Parrott was the Associate Dean of Students and later the Assistant Vice President for Student Affairs at Western Michigan University. He is the 2013 recipient of ASCA’s highest honor, the Donald D. Gehring Award that is given in recognition of sustained exceptional individual contributions to the field of student conduct administration.

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Rodney Patterson is the author of the book Trumping the Race Card: A National Agenda - Moving Beyond Race and Racism. He is an expereinced facilitator with more than 30 years of experience guiding participants through historically sound and often profound conversations on race, racism, oppression, and privilege. Rodney challenges participants to examine their role in perpetuating racism absent blame, shame, or guilt, so all audience members feel valued and free to engage with honesty, curiosity, and authenticity. Rodney also formerly worked for UVM and as Assistant to the Mayor of Burlington, VT.

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Joanne Pencak is a consultant specializing in executive education, fraud prevention and internal controls. Before teaching, she was as a practicing Certified Public Accountant. Her history includes working for local firms as well as running her own CPA firm which merged with a regional firm. She obtained her MBA with a concentration in Information Security in 2008 from James Madison University. In June of 2009, she attended the American Association of Collegiate Schools of Business Bridge Program at Ohio State University. The AACSB Bridge Program helps senior level executives transition from industry into the classroom. She serves as a member of the advisory board to the Treasurer of the City of Rutland, Vermont, and as the voluntary Chairperson for the Fresh Air Fund. She is also a member of the Sustainable Accounting Standard Board's Consumption Industry Working Group, which was formed to shape and influence sustainable reporting standards for the Meat, Poultry, Dairy & Fishing & Processed food Industries. Prior to teaching at the University of Vermont, Joanne was an Assistant Professor of Business Administration at Castleton State College, where she served as the Coordinator of Graduate Accounting.

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Dr. John S. Pirone is a Lecturer/Program Coordinator of American Sign Language at UVM. He has taught a wide range of courses including ASL and Deaf literatures, Introduction to Deaf Studies, Introduction to Deaf Culture, and Deaf Political Movements in the United States. His research interests are ASL pedagogy, Deaf experiences, and educational equity. His book chapter, College Setting: Performance Quality and Its Impact on Classroom Participation Equity, is published by the Gallaudet University Press in 2018. Dr. Pirone received his Ed.D from the Northeastern University.

Outside of UVM, Dr. Pirone is actively involved with the Deaf community. Back in 2004, he served as an Executive Director of the Massachusetts State Association of the Deaf, advocacy organization, for four years. He co-founded a nonprofit organization helping Deaf youth develop their leadership skills through outdoor activities. He has served on numerous boards/councils including The Learning Center for the Deaf (K-12 education), Disability Policy Consortium, The National Center for Parents with Disabilities, and Mass. Commission for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing’s Statewide Advisory Council. Dr. Pirone has provided workshops and presentations on Deaf experiences through the equity lens, community advocacy, and Deaf education.

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Tabitha Pohl-Moore is a Training Coordinator at the University of Vermont. She is also a licensed Marriage and Family Therapist and School Counselor in the State of Vermont. As founder and president of the Rutland Area Branch of the NAACP, Tabitha spends her free time listening to and advocating for the needs of Vermonters of color on local and state levels. She is a mother of three, cheerleading coach and has a slight obsession with chocolate and her five dogs.

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Kesha Ram served four terms in the Vermont House of Representatives on behalf of Burlington, including as Vice Chair of the House Natural Resources & Energy Committee and a member of the House Ways & Means Committee. In 2016, she became the first woman of color to receive double digits in a statewide race in her unsuccessful bid for Lieutenant Governor. In 2018, she graduated from the Harvard Kennedy School of Government with a Master in Public Administration. She has worked for the City of Burlington as the Civic Engagement Specialist and for Steps to End Domestic Violence as the Legal Advocacy Director. She also serves as Chair of the Attorney General's Immigration Task Force and on the boards of the Main Street Alliance of Vermont, Planned Parenthood of Northern New England, and the Vermont Natural Resources Council.

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Jeane Robles (They/Them) is a second-year graduate student in the Higher Education and Student Affairs Administration program at the University of Vermont. Their research interests include trans* liberation in higher education, queer and trans* people of color pedagogy, and 1.5 generation student identity development.

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Vanessa D. Santos Eugenio, M.Ed. is an Academic Advisor in the College of Nursing & Health Sciences, Office of Student Services. She coordinates the first year program; focused on the successful recruitment and retention of top scholars who are the future of health care professionals.

She is also the Chair of Inclusive Excellence Committee, a committee comprised of faculty, staff and students to increase diversity and inclusion efforts within the college.

She teaches Intercultural Communication at the Community College of Vermont and has co-taught Religion, Spiritualty, and Education at the University of Vermont at the graduate level.

Prior to completing her master’s in education, Vanessa was a public and private school teacher focused on developing anti-bias, integrative arts, and language enrichment curricula.

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Dr. Lance Smith began his counseling career as a professional school counselor among the Tikiamu people of Northern Alaska. He then worked as a mental health counselor in an urban community mental health clinic. Over the years, his teaching and scholarship have aimed to raise the critical consciousness of counselors to disturb and interrupt various forms of systemic oppression and inequity: structural racism, sexism, heteronormativity, cis-sexism, ableism and classism. Dr. Smith is currently passionate about examining the potential of Restorative Practices (RP) to disrupt the school-to-prison pipeline for students of color, students with disabilities, and students living in poverty. He is a member of the CESS RP research team which recently published the very first article on the topic of RP within the flagship journal of school counseling.

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Beverly Little Thunder is a resident of Huntington Vermont. An enrolled member of the Lakota Standing Rock Band in North Dakota she is also a grandmother and great grandmother. Living on land she guides Womyn’s ceremonies based on Lakota teachings, she and her partner of 21 years , plan on leaving the land to the next generation to always be used for Indigenous ceremonies of all tribes. Environmental protection is of major concern to her as well as the racism that exist throughout Vermont.

Education and dispelling the myths currently taught in public schools are part of the work she has done over the past 71 years of her life. Living in Vermont since 2003 she is an activist committed to addressing social and racial justice.

She currently serves on the board of Peace and Justice Center and is the visionary behind the non-profit Kunsi Keya Tamakoce in Huntington Vermont.

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Dr. Jim O. Vigoreaux was named Associate Provost for Faculty Affairs effective September 1, 2015. Dr. Vigoreaux earned a BS in Mathematics from the University of Puerto Rico (Rio Piedras) and a PhD in Biochemistry from the University of Oklahoma. He joined the Biology Department at UVM in 1991 after completing a post-doctoral fellowship in Cell Biology and Genetics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. In 2005 he was appointed Chair of Biology, a position he held until 2015, and in 2012 he was named the Breazzano Family Green & Gold Professor in the College of Arts & Sciences. He holds a secondary appointment in the Department of Molecular Physiology & Biophysics.

Dr. Vigoreaux is a muscle biologist who has published extensively on the genetics, development, and function of muscle, often taking a multidisciplinary approach and forging international collaborations. His lab at UVM has provided research training to over one hundred fifty students and post-doctoral fellows, including Honors students, McNair Scholars, AGEP Scholars, Beckman Scholars, Masters, and Doctoral students.

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Benjamin Wimett graduated from Keene State College and joined the University of Vermont in the fall of 2014 as an Assistive Technology Access Specialist in southern Vermont for The Center for Disability and Community Inclusion with funding support from The Vermont Assistive Technology Program. Since joining the University Ben has also served on several Presidential taskforces and committees focusing on wide variety of disability related issues from physical access to universal design practices and principles to name a few. Ben also guest lectures on campus and at other conferences and events on a wide variety of Assistive Technology and disability related topics ranging from iPad accessibility to navigating life with a physical disability. In 2018 Ben was also selected by his peers and the University to be a recipient of the Our Common Ground Award.

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Dr. C.J. Woods is the Associate Vice President for Student Affairs at Texas A&M University. His areas of responsibility includes Memorial Student Center, Multicultural Services, Student Activities, Veteran Resource and Support Center, Diverse Strategies in Action Committee, Expressive Activity Committee, and the University Disciplinary Appeals Process. Dr. Woods also serves as the liaison for Development and Government relations for the Division of Student Affairs. Dr. Woods earned a B.S. in Political Science at the University of Southern Mississippi, a M.A. in Counseling and Student Development at George Mason University and Ph.D. from the University of Louisville in Higher Education Administration.

Prior to joining the Aggies, Dr. Woods served as Director of Diversity Programs and Coordinator of Judicial Affairs at Western Kentucky University where he was actively involved in student recruitment, retention, conduct, and success initiatives. He served as the Director of the Multicultural Services at Texas A&M University before joining the Vice President’s staff.

Dr. Woods teaches in the Department of Educational Administration and Human Resource Development for the Student Affairs and Administration in Higher Education program. He also served on the faculty for the Mid Managers Institute and the New Professionals Institute through NASPA Region III and SACSA. Dr. Woods served as SACSA President-elect, Foundation Board member, and as Director of Professional Development. Dr. Woods currently serves as President of the Southern Association of College Student Affairs.

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Dr. Cynthia Reyes is an associate professor in the College of Education and Social Services at the University of Vermont. She also coordinates the university minor Education for Cultural and Linguistic Diversity. She has taught in a variety of classroom settings in Chicago, IL including bilingual education (Spanish/English) in the middle grades, and Adult English as a Second Language classes. She received her Ph.D. in Reading, Writing, and Literacy from the University of Illinois at Chicago. Her research interests include literacy education and educational policy for English learners, social justice and equity in teaching, family literacy, and digital literacy. She has a co-authored book, Reimagining the Public Intellectual in Education: Making Scholarship Matter, and published articles in Research in the Teaching of English, Reading Teacher, Journal of Educational Foundations, International Journal of Teaching and Teacher Education, The Qualitative Report, and the Journal of Teacher Education & Practice.

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Dr. Katharine Shepherd (Katie) is a Green and Gold Professor and Associate Dean in the College of Education and Social Services at the University of Vermont, where she teaches courses in the special education and leadership programs. Her research focuses on collaboration among families of children with disabilities and school professionals, leadership for inclusive schools, and implementation of tiered systems of support for students in need of accommodations and services. She is a co-author of the book The Art of Collaboration: Lessons from Families of Children with Disabilities, and has published in journals such as Exceptional Children, Teacher Education and Special Education, Journal of Special Education, and the Journal of Special Education Leadership.

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Dr. Jesse C. Suter (he, him, his preferred pronouns) is a Research Associate Professor and Executive Director of the Center on Disability and Community Inclusion (CDCI) in the College of Education and Social Services. He earned his PhD in Clinical Psychology at UVM in 2006, joined the faculty at CDCI, and became director in 2018. As director, he is striving to embed Inclusive Excellence into CDCI’s core functions of education, service, research, and dissemination. His scholarship focuses on community and school-based programs for preventing and responding to emotional and behavioral challenges. He is principal investigator on a research grant from the Institute of Education Sciences, US Department of Education, and has been co-principal investigator and co-investigator on federally funded grants in child welfare and education.

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Food, sustainability, pedagogy, and online education are the driving forces of Dr. Cynthia Belliveau’s career. As Dean of University of Vermont Continuing and Distance Education, she oversees hundreds of programs and courses offered in the classroom and online that are designed for high school students, college students, and working professionals. Dr. Belliveau is also a faculty member in UVM’s Department of Nutrition and Food Science and the College of Education and Social Services. Her research is in food systems, primarily focused on cooking and eating as pedagogical methods in various disciplines. She draws daily inspiration from educational reformer, philosopher, and psychologist John Dewey (1859-1952), a Vermont native, UVM alumnus, and early proponent of learning by doing.

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Brit Chase is the Assistant Dean in the University of Vermont Honors College. As a member of the Honors College leadership team she is responsible for many of the college's day-to-day activities. This includes budget management & business operations, enrollment management, recruiting and admissions, communications, major event planning, learning community & room selection processes, and coordinating the colleges governing and advisory boards. She is also a member of the University Business Advisors, Student Services Collaborative, Administrative Unit Review Committee, Strategic Recruitment & Enrollment Committee, Student Retention Action Plan Committee, Enterprise Risk Management Advisory Committee, Human Resource Representatives, BFAN, and the Orientation Advisory Committee.

Before her current role, she was the Director of UVM’s Office of Fellowships Advising (2009-2014). In that position she oversaw the evaluation and endorsement processes for all prestigious scholarships and fellowships. As a national fellowships and a professional advisor, she worked with students as they connect their academic and professional interests to postgraduate opportunities. Some of this was mentoring, but most of this is strategic; as students figure out which opportunities fit into their personal goals, she then worked with them as they get a better understanding of then how best to go about pursuing those goals in a rapidly changing economy (not to mention a constantly changing world).

Brit has worked at the University of Vermont since 2009. She holds a bachelor’s degree in government from Hamilton College and a master’s degree in journalism from Columbia University.

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Dr. William Falls, Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, Professor of Psychological Science. B.A Bates College, 1987. M.S. Yale University, 1989. Ph.D. Yale University, 1993.

Research in the Falls laboratory examines the behaviors, neurotransmitters and neural circuits that are involved in both the elicitation and reduction of fear and anxiety. We accomplish this by combining procedures of animal learning with the techniques of behavioral neuroscience and behavioral genetics. Specific questions include:

• What are the neural systems underlying the interaction of fear and anxiety?
• What are the neural correlates of the anxiolytic effects of voluntary exercise?
• How does voluntary exercise increase memory and is this related to the anxiolytic effect of exercise?

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Kathy Fox (Professor) received her Ph.D. from the University of California, Berkeley in Sociology, with a specialization in social control, qualitative research methods, and organizations. She came to the Sociology department at the University of Vermont as faculty in 1994, where she teaches in criminal justice and corrections. Her research has focused on interventions into social problems, ranging from AIDS prevention among injection drug users, correctional programming for violent offenders, and most recently, offender reentry. She is currently Associate Dean in the College of Arts & Sciences, and the Director of the UVM Liberal Arts in Prison Program.

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John Gennari is Associate Professor of English and Critical Race and Ethnic Studies at the University of Vermont. He is an American Studies-trained U.S. cultural historian with specializations in jazz and popular music, race and ethnicity, Italian American culture, food, sports, and cultural criticism. He is the author of Flavor and Soul: Italian America at Its African American Edge (University of Chicago Press, 2017. His earlier book, Blowin’ Hot and Cool: Jazz and Its Critics (University of Chicago Press, 2006), was awarded the ASCAP-Deems Taylor Award for Excellence in Music Criticism and the John Cawelti Award for the Best Book in American Culture. Gennari has held fellowships from the National Endowment for the Humanities, the W.E.B. Du Bois Institute at Harvard University, and the Carter G. Woodson Institute at the University of Virginia.

He received his B.A. from Harvard College for Social Studies in 1982 and continued his education in American Civilization studies at the University of Pennsylvania where he earned his Ph.D.

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Dr. David Jenemann is Interim Dean of the Honors College and an Associate Professor in the Department of English. Dr. Jenemann has been on the faculty at the University of Vermont since 2003. He is a past Director of the University’s Film and Television Studies Program and past co-Director of the Humanities Center. Prior to his role as Dean, Dr. Jenemann was an active member of the Honors College faculty. In addition to teaching Honors College seminars on race and society, he has taught the Honors College first-year seminar for many years, and was instrumental in developing its interdisciplinary approach to knowledge and intellectual history. Dr. Jenemann also has worked closely with members of the Office of Undergraduate Research and the Office of Fellowships Advising, both in his capacity as Humanities Center Co-Director, and as a reviewer and interviewer of fellowships applicants.

In addition to his roles as teacher and administrator, Dr. Jenemann is a prominent scholar of the Frankfurt School, and his areas of research interest include media theory and intellectual and cultural history. He is the author of numerous publications most recently including The Baseball Glove: History, Material, Meaning, and Value (London and New York: Routledge, 2018). When he is not at UVM, he is probably watching high school musicals and soccer games or coaching Little League. Every Sunday afternoon from April through September, you can find him playing "Old Man" baseball somewhere in Vermont.

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Kate Jerman has served as Director of the Prism Center since 2017. In both work and life, she believes deeply in empowering students, building community, and creating a campus community where people of diverse genders and sexualities thrive.

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Dr. Nancy Mathews leads the Rubenstein School of Environment and Natural Resources at the University of Vermont, serving as its dean since 2014. Previous to this position, Dean Mathews spent nearly 20 yrs as professor of Wildlife Ecology and Environmental Studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She served as Director of the Morgridge Center for Public Service from 2010-2014, chair of the Conservation Biology and Sustainable Development program from 2009-2010, and director of the 10-yr Reaccreditation for the University from 2007-2009. Prior to her move to UW-Madison in 1995, she served as the Assistant Unit Leader for the USGS Texas Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit at Texas Tech University. Dr. Mathews received her B.S. in biology from Penn State in 1980, and her M.S. in 1981 and Ph.D. in 1989, from SUNY- College of Environmental Science and Forestry. Dr. Mathews has published widely in the field of wildlife ecology and specializes in conservation biology and animal behavior. In adition to her administrative leadership, she served on the board of directors of the International Crane Foundation for nine years, as an elected Trustee to the Higher Learning Commission, and as a Fellow in the CIC Academic Leadership Program.

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Jane Okech, Ph.D., is Professor of Counselor Education and Chair of the Department of Leadership and Developmental Sciences at the University of Vermont. Her scholarship primarily focuses on the advancement of proficiencies in the practice of group psychotherapy and clinical supervision with diverse populations. Her scholarship examines counseling micro skill and advanced skill acquisition processes, and their contributions to the development of complex relational dynamics that advance the efficacy of the therapeutic process in individual and group contexts. Her scholarship also examines models of clinical supervision and the development of core supervision intervention proficiencies across various domains of clinical practice. Associated aspects of this scholarship foci is its intersection with professional ethics and standards of practice. Dr. Okech’s body of work has received professional accolades including recognition with the 2017 “Article of the Year” award by the Association for Specialists in Group Work (ASGW) and Dr. Okech’s election to Fellow status by ASGW in 2018. She is currently serving as Associate Editor for the Journal for Specialists in Group Work.

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Richard L. Page, M.D., was named dean of The Robert Larner College of Medicine at the University of Vermont (UVM) in October 2018. He joined UVM from the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health, where he had been the George R. and Elaine Love Professor and Chair of the Department of Medicine since 2009. Previously, he was on the faculty at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas and the University of Washington School of Medicine in Seattle. He received his medical degree from Duke University in Durham, North Carolina, and completed his residency in Medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, followed by research and clinical fellowships in Cardiology and Clinical Cardiac Electrophysiology at Duke University Medical Center, where he joined the faculty.

Page is a nationally recognized specialist in cardiac arrhythmias, with more than 200 publications, articles, and book chapters, and was recently acknowledged as one of the nation’s most highly cited researchers. Nationally he served on the American College of Cardiology/American Heart Association Guidelines Task Force; and as Chair of the Circulatory Devices Panel of the US Food and Drug Administration. He is a Fellow of the American Heart Association, and a Fellow of the Heart Rhythm Society, serving as President from 2009- 2010. He is past-President of the Association of Professors of Cardiology and is a Councilor of the Association of Professors of Medicine. Page and his wife, novelist Jean Reynolds Page, have three adult children and live in Shelburne, Vermont.

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Catherine (Cathy) Paris is a Senior Lecturer in Plant Biology in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences; her scholarship focuses on plant diversity and evolution. Dr. Paris served as a member of UVM’s Diversity Curriculum Review Committee for six years and was a part of the team that brought the Diversity requirement into the General Education curriculum. She chaired the Faculty Senate Curricular Affairs Committee from 2010-2016 and currently serves as President of the Faculty Senate.

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Patricia Prelock, Ph.D., is Dean of the College of Nursing and Health Sciences, Professor of Communication Sciences & Disorders, and Professor of Pediatrics in the College of Medicine at the University of Vermont. Dr. Prelock coordinates parent training programs designed for caregivers of children with ASD and has been awarded more than $11.3 million dollars in university, state and federal funding as a PI or Co-PI to develop innovations in interdisciplinary training supporting children and youth with neurodevelopmental disabilities and their families, to facilitate training in speech-language pathology, and to support her intervention work in ASD. She has over 188 publications and 535 peer-reviewed and invited presentations/keynotes in the areas of autism and other neurodevelopmental disabilities, collaboration, IPE, leadership, and language learning disabilities. In 2019, she was named Associate Editor for the Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders. Dr. Prelock received the University of Vermont’s Kroepsch-Maurice Excellence in Teaching Award in 2000, was named an ASHA Fellow in 2000 and a University of Vermont Scholar in 2003. In 2011, she was named the Cecil & Ida Green Honors Professor Visiting Scholar at Texas Christian University and in 2015 Dr. Prelock was named a Distinguished Alumna of the University of Pittsburgh. In 2016, she received the ASHA Honors of the Association and in 2017 she was named a Distinguished Alumna of Cardinal Mooney High School. Dr. Prelock also received the 2018 Jackie M. Gribbons Leadership Award from Vermont Women in Higher education. Dr. Prelock is a Board-Certified Specialist in Child Language and was named a Fellow in the National Academies of Practice (NAP) in speech-language pathology in 2018. She was the 2013 President for the American Speech-Language Hearing Association and is the administrative lead for the University of Vermont Integrative Health Program.

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Gregory Ramos began his professional career as an actor and dancer. He has appeared on television and has toured the U.S. and Europe in productions of The King and I and West Side Story. He studied acting at Playwrights Horizons and with Academy Award winning actress Ellen Burstyn before completing his MFA in Playwriting at UCLA. He has performed his original solo plays Border Stories and When We Danced in venues across the country. His full length plays A Visit From San Cristobal and Our Father’s House were part of the new play reading series at Company of Angels Theatre in Los Angeles. His most recent play, a bilingual play for young audiences, Cuentos de Josefina (Josephine’s Tales), is based on Mexican legends and family ghost stories. He has directed and choreographed plays and musicals at universities and at professional theatre companies around the country. He has served on a number of boards for Arts related non-profits. Gregory currently serves on the advisory board of Vermont Shakespeare Festival and is a board member of Mainspring Arts Cooperative. At the University of Vermont, he has directed the ALANA U.S Ethnic Studies Program (Now Critical Race and Ethnic Studies) and he is currently a resident director and chair of the Department of Theatre.

His teaching includes stage directing, playwriting, and courses related to diversity in the U.S. American Theatre. He is a member of Actor’s Equity Association and the Lincoln Center Directors Lab.

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Brian V. Reed, Ph.D., P.T., Associate Provost for Teaching and Learning and Associate Professor of Exercise and Movement Science. Brian received his undergraduate education at UVM, where he earned a B.A. degree in Zoology (1972) and a B.S. degree Summa Cum Laude in Physical Therapy (1974). He did his graduate work at Temple University School of Medicine, where he earned the Ph.D. degree in Physiology (1985). Brian’s academic expertise is in the areas of applied exercise physiology and therapeutic modalities.

Brian has held numerous leadership and service roles at Department, University, regional and national levels. He served as the Associate Dean and then the Acting Dean of UVM’s College of Nursing and Health Sciences prior to being appointed Associate Provost for Curricular Affairs in July 2009.

Brian has received various honors including the Faculty Senate’s Faculty Recognition Award (2001). In addition, he was the invited keynote speaker at the First International Physiotherapy Congress in Forteleza, Brazil, April 10-13, 2003, where he was made an honorary member of the Brazilian Physiotherapy Association. Brian was inducted into Pi Gamma Mu International Honor Society in 2010.

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David V. Rosowsky, was named Provost and Senior Vice President of the University of Vermont effective August 1, 2013. Dr. Rosowsky came to UVM from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute where he served as Dean of Engineering. Prior to that, he served as Head of the Zachry Department of Civil Engineering at Texas A&M University, where he also held the A.P. and Florence Wiley Chair in Civil Engineering.

Dr. Rosowsky earned BS and MS degrees in civil engineering from Tufts University, and a PhD in civil engineering from Johns Hopkins University.

A recognized expert in structural reliability, design for natural hazards, stochastic modeling of structural and environmental loads, and probability-based codified design, Dr. Rosowsky has authored or co-authored more than 150 papers in peer-reviewed journals and more than 140 papers appearing in conference proceedings. He has been invited to present his research work around the world including invited lecturers in France, Italy, Canada, Japan, Australia and New Zealand. He has supervised more than 20 Masters and Doctoral students. He is the recipient of the ASCE Walter L. Huber Research Prize, the T.K. Hseih Award from the Institution of Civil Engineers (UK), and the ASCE Norman Medal.

Dr. Rosowsky currently serves on the Editorial Board of the journal Structural Safety and is a past editorial board member of the ASCE Journal of Infrastructure Systems, the ASCE Journal of Structural Engineering and the journal Natural Hazards Review.

Dr. Rosowsky maintains an active research program in wind and earthquake engineering and continues to supervise graduate students and post-doctoral researchers.

He is a registered Professional Engineer, and holds the rank of Fellow of the American Society of Civil Engineers and Fellow of the Structural Engineering Institute.

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Mara Saule, Mara Saule is CIO and Dean of University Libraries. Since 1985, Saule has held several positions at UVM, including Associate Dean and Director of Collection Management Services for the Bailey/Howe Library, Vice Provost for Enrollment Management and International Activities, Executive Assistant to the President, and President of the Faculty Senate.

Saule earned a master's degree in library and information science from the University of California at Berkeley. She has participated in a variety of leadership institutes, most notably the Oxford Round Table Seminar, Harvard Leadership Institute and Wharton Executive Education Program. She was American Library Association Book Fellow at the National Library of Latvia in Riga in 1992-93 and has continued her consulting relationship with Latvian Libraries. Saule also has been a consultant for the establishment of several international libraries, including those in Qatar and Peru. She is also a frequent member of visiting evaluating teams for the New England Association of Schools and Colleges. She is fluent in Latvian and Spanish.

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Dr. Linda Schadler graduated from Cornell University in 1985 with a B.S. in materials science and engineering and received a PhD in materials science and engineering in 1990 from the University of Pennsylvania. After two years of post-doctoral work at IBM Yorktown Heights, Schadler served as a faculty member at Drexel University in Philadelphia, PA before spending 22 years at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.

Dr. Schadler is an experimentalist and her research focuses on the mechanical, optical, and electrical behavior of nanofilled polymer composites. She has co-authored more than 160 journal publications, several book chapters, and one book. Dr. Schadler is a National Science Foundation National Young Investigator award winner (1994) and a Fellow of the Materials Research Society and ASM International.

Dr. Schadler is an associate editor for the Journal of Materials Research. She is a former member of ASM International's Board of Trustees and the National Materials Advisory Board. She was the education and outreach coordinator for the National Science Foundation's Center “Directed Assembly of Nanostructures” headquartered at Rensselaer. As part of that position she was one of the executive producers for the Molecularium – a new style of planetarium show that takes the audience (primarily students in K-5) on a magical musical adventure into the world of atoms and molecules with the help of oxy, hydro and hydra (www.molecularium.com). Children learn that “everything is made of atoms and molecules” and about the three states of matter “solids slow, liquids flow, gas is fast!”

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Keith E. Smith, LCMHC: Senior Staff Counselor and Men's Outreach Coordinator. He has worked at Counseling & Psychiatry Services since 2006. He provides general counseling, clinical assessment, referral and case management and crisis counseling specifically geared for male students. In additionally, he provides advocacy, support and resources to alleged perpetrators of relationship and sexual violence. He is the advisor for 1in4, an all-male identified peer-education sexual assault prevention group. Currently, Keith co-chairs the Men’s Initiative, which is a collaboration between students, faculty, and staff seeking to create opportunities for men at UVM to connect, discuss and explore their identities.

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Dr. Tiffanie Spencer currently serves as the Director for Diversity and Community Engagement in the College of Education and Social Services. Her role provides leadership in facilitating community partnerships to expand diversity initiatives for the college, with emphasis on collaborating with local and national organizations, as well as on-campus colleagues to develop accessible pathways for University of Vermont students, faculty, and staff from historically underrepresented backgrounds. Prior to joining the UVM community, she earned a doctorate from the Institute of Higher Education at the University of Georgia while working with the Georgia College Advising Corps, an institutional partner of a national nonprofit that trains recent college undergraduates to assist students of underserved high schools with their postsecondary search and selection process. Her research interests align with much of recent work, which focuses on examining transition pathways and experiences of first generation, low-income, and underrepresented students from secondary to postsecondary educational opportunities.

Prior to her time at the University of Georgia, Tiffanie has devoted much of her profession to higher education student affairs work in capacities including Residence Life, Student Conduct, Student Organization advisement, as well as student advising as part of an empowerment and retention program focused on working with underrepresented student populations. Tiffanie received her Master’s of Education in Higher Education Management with a concentration in Student Affairs at the University of Pittsburgh, and a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology at the University of Notre Dame.

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Annie Stevens, Ph.D., was appointed Vice Provost for Student Affairs in July 2013. Annie arrived at UVM in 1997 as the Director of Residential Life and then served as the Associate Vice-President for Student and Campus Life for 12 years prior to her current role.

As a member of the Provost and President’s Senior Leadership teams, Annie helps shape the overall foundation and direction for the student life of the campus, integrating curricular and co-curricular experiences. She is responsible for providing leadership to ensure the effective coordination of a wide spectrum of student affairs programs and services in order to achieve student development and learning outcomes that result in an overall experience that supports students in being healthy, successful, and engaged.

Her 35 years of professional experience in student affairs has included positions at The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and The University of California at Berkeley. Education is her passion – she earned a bachelor’s degree at St. Lawrence University, a master’s in Higher Education Administration at the University of Vermont and a doctoral degree in Counseling and Student Personnel Services at The University of Maryland, College Park.

Annie has been recognized nationally as a Senior Student Affairs Officer within the American College Personnel Association and served as a member of the Senior Student Affairs Advisory Board. Annie is also a member of the National Association of Student Personnel Administrators and provides mentorship to undergraduates interested in the field of higher education through the NASPA Undergraduate Fellows Program.

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Dr. Allan Strong is a Professor and the Associate Dean for Academic Affairs and Faculty Developement at the University of Vermont. His research focuses on the factors that influence habitat quality for birds. Much of this work involves quantifying the factors that influence food availability; although, some of his recent research looks at the effects of anthropogenic habitat (e.g., ski resorts, urbanization, and agricultural habitats) modification on bird populations. His current research emphasis is on grassland bird populations in the Champlain Valley. However, his research can better be described as question-driven, as he is also involved with projects investigating the ecology of high elevation bird species and contributions of birds to trophic level interactions.

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Scott L. Thomas is Dean of the College of Education and Social Services (CESS) at the University of Vermont (UVM). He is also a professor in the College’s Department of Leadership and Developmental Sciences. Prior to joining UVM in the summer of 2016, he served as dean of the School of Educational Studies at Claremont Graduate University. In addition to Claremont, Dean Thomas has held tenure-line positions at the University of Hawaii at Manoa, the University of Arizona, and the University of Georgia. He earned a Ph.D. in Educational Policy, Leadership, and Research Methods, and a BA with honors in Sociology from the University of California Santa Barbara.

Dean Thomas’ research interests include higher education policy, science and technology, and the stratification of postsecondary opportunity in the United States and abroad. In addition to research in these substantive areas, he has a related line of interests and works focusing on methodological issues. Topics of interest in that area include multilevel statistical modeling, social network analysis, and spatial analytics.

He is the former editor in chief of the Journal of Higher Education, the oldest and most distinguished journal in the field of higher education and he co-edits the book series International Studies in Higher Education (now 24 volumes). He has previously served as president of the Association for the Study of Higher Education, North America’s primary scholarly society for the study of higher education issues.

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Dr. Thomas C. Vogelmann became 11th Dean of the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences and Director of the Vermont Agricultural Experiment Station at the University of Vermont (UVM) in 2009, after holding positions of Interim Dean from July 2008 and Professor and Chair of the Department of Plant Biology from 2002. A graduate of Syracuse University (Ph.D.), Washington State University (M.S.) and the University of Vermont (B.S.), Dr. Vogelmann worked for eighteen years at the University of Wyoming, where he attained the rank of Professor of Botany. He also served as Visiting Professor at the University of Lund in Lund, Sweden, and Visiting Research Fellow at the Australian National University in Canberra, Australia.

Dr. Vogelmann has received numerous awards and other recognitions for his teaching, research, and service, including the Robertson Lecture for outstanding contributions to plant physiology conferred by the Australian and New Zealand Societies for Plant Physiology. Dr. Vogelmann specializes in plant physiology and has published more than eighty scientific papers in refereed journals, books, and technical proceedings on photosynthesis and plant growth and development.

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Dr. Judith Aiken is Associate Professor and Coordinator for the Doctoral Program in Educational Leadership and Policy Studies (EdD/PhD) in the Department of Leadership and Developmental Sciences at the University of Vermont. She teaches courses in educational leadership, supervision, and curriculum study.

Dr. Aiken's research interests focus on the preparation and development of educational leaders, women in leadership, cross-cultural/ethical leadership, and teacher supervision and evaluation. Her professional publications include two co-edited books on social justice leadership in a global world and fostering diverse and inclusive campuses, as well as a number of book chapters and journal articles on topics in educational leadership.

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Dr. Alec Ewald, Associate Professor of Political Science, teaches courses in constitutional law and American politics.  His current research focuses on restrictions accompanying criminal convictions, often called “collateral consequences.”  He is author of The Way We Vote: The Local Dimension of American Suffrage (Vanderbilt University Press, 2009), and co-editor of Criminal Disenfranchisement in an International Perspective (Cambridge University Press, 2009). His work has been published in Law & Social Inquiry, Social Science Quarterly, the Yale Law Journal Online, the Wisconsin Law Review, and the Columbia Human Rights Law Review, among others.  Professor Ewald encourages you to stop by his office any time to admire pictures of his children, Oscar and Stella.

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Dr. Wanda Heading-Grant is the Vice President for Human Resources, Diversity and Multicultural Affairs at the University of Vermont (UVM). As a Senior Administrator, she is responsible for units that provide University-wide diversity and engagement programs, benefits, compensation and classification, employee and labor relations, employment services, and talent acquisition.

Throughout her years of leadership, she has established programs and policies fundamental to the advancement of diversity, equity, and inclusion at the University including tools to enhance employee and student performance and professional development opportunities.

She is the recipient of the 2018 University of Vermont Alumni Achievement Award, and the 2018 National Association of Diversity Officers in Higher Education (NADOHE) Individual Leadership Award. She has been recognized in her community for her dedication to social justice issues and for her sponsorship of women leaders in higher education, and she has been instrumental in UVM being recognized for its commitment to diversity and well-being in the workplace and in the classroom.

Dr. Heading-Grant is a Clinical Associate Professor in the College of Education and Social Services and a member of the graduate faculty at UVM. She received her Doctor of Education degree in Educational Leadership and Policy Studies from UVM, and her Master of Social Work degree from Adelphia University. She also has certifications from Women Leadership Program Yale School of Management and Harvard University Executive Leadership Program. She is a Senior Certified Human Resource Professional.

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Yolanda P. Jordan is the Case Assistant for the Office of Affirmative Action & Equal Opportunity at the University of Vermont. Yolanda is responsible for data reporting, coordinating and tracking cases related to complaints of discrimination and sexual misconduct, and assisting in the creation of compliance materials related to cases and trainings. Additionally, Yolanda performs multifaceted office management functions to include administrative, financial, and training/program support, and support for collective bargaining and AAEO investigations.

Yolanda is very involved in the community. She has chaired the logistics committee for the University of Vermont Women of Color Retreat and she serves as a Trustee at New Alpha Missionary Baptist Church in the greater Burlington area. She is passionate about the subjects of diversity and equality, and strongly believes in treating people fairly.

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Director, Professional Development and Training. Joel provides oversight for the Professional Development & Training department. Professional Development and Training offers a full range of workshops, classes, resources and departmental consultation to improve success and job effectiveness for individual employees as well as at the departmental level. He has served the University for over 25 years in various capacities including Director of the Employee Assistance Program and Work/Life Services and Director of HR Organizational Services. He has an MSW from the University of Pennsylvania, is a licensed clinical social worker and has a certification in organization development from the National Training Labs.

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Dr. Sherwood Smith first arrived at UVM through a New England Board of Higher Education Pre-Doctoral Fellowship for 1995-1996 and taught in the Higher Education Program (HESA). As part of his doctoral program he developed and taught a graduate course "Multicultural Issues in Adult Education", lectured on the history of African-Americans in adult education and taught undergraduate seminars.

In the past he worked as a Peace Corps volunteer in Tanzania, cooperative extension agent in Grant County in Washington, adjunct faculty for the School for International Training's college program in Kenya, Assistant Director of Residence Life at Pennsylvania State University and faculty at the Summer Institute for Intercultural Communication (SIIC) for twelve years.

He teaches both graduate and undergraduate courses. Within Human Development he teaches courses that focus on the developmental issues related to ethnic identity development, prejudice and the cross cultural influences on human development. As Senior Executive Director for Diversity, Engagement and Professional Development, he has the following reporting units: the ALANA Student Center, LGBTQA Center, Center for Cultural Pluralism, Women’s Center and Abenacki Summer Happening Program.

Service: Serve on the following boards: National Association for Multicultural Education and Co-Chair for the Winooski - Burlington Partnership For Change: Nellie Mae Grant Committee as well as a variety of UVM committees such as the Search Committee for the Vice President for Enrollment Management, General Education Planning Committee and President’s Commission on Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Equity (PCLGBTE).

Education: B.A. Science, Washington State University (June 1981), M.A., Washington State University (August 1987), Ed.D, Ball State University (June 1996)

Professional Memberships: Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) (2012-16), John D. O’Bryant National Think Tank for Black Professionals in Higher Education at Predominately White Institutions (JDOTT) (1999-2015) Summer Institute for Intercultural Communication faculty, and Returned Peace Corps Volunteer Association (1984-05).

Research Interests: Research interests’ focus on experiential issues related to identity development and attitude change, evaluation methodologies related to social justice education, and multicultural education theory to practice issues. His work has led to numerous presentations for a variety of professional conferences, including the American Association of Colleges & Universities, American College Personnel Association, and International Educators (NAFSA). He is actively involved in faculty and staff development training on multicultural issue as part of his work as the Director for the Center for Cultural Pluralism (CCP).

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Meryl St. John is the Staff Council Administrator at the University of Vermont. She coordinates the Staff Council, the representative governance body for non-represented staff. She serves as a peer advisor, assisting staff with grievances, resources, and navigation of university policies, and she conducts surveys and data gathering about issues important to staff. Meryl has served as a facilitator for Next Step, UVM’s social justice retreat, is trained in restorative practices and mediation, and has worked extensively in community organizing in Washington D.C. and Boston. Meryl is a medical anthropologist whose past research includes improving postpartum care for women in refugee communities, the ways women use the internet for self-care, and how harmful medical conspiracy theories develop and spread.

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Paul Suk-Hyun Yoon is the Senior Advisor for Strategic Diversity Assessment & Research at UVM. He received a Ed.M. in School Leadership from the Harvard Graduate School of Education, a M.Ed. in Curriculum and Instruction Secondary Education History from the Lynch School of Education at Boston College, and a B.A. in Philosophy from Boston College. In addition to his work at UVM, Paul is also a Partner with CQ Strategies, LLC a local consultancy that helps organizations become more culturally proficient through training, education, resources, and on-going support

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