October 4, 2024 | By Nick Pfost
The Program on Intergroup Relations is delighted to welcome 13 University of Michigan staff to the program's Community of Scholars—Tatiana "Tati" Calixto, Jamie Carter, Saumya Gupta, Dr. Patricia Jaimes, Greta Kaempf, Clara Kawanishi, Tonya Kneff-Chang, Ellington Poston, Kaila Sell, Zhanar Tuleutayeva, Guiqiu Wang, Tyler Wang, and Lawrence Young.
The group are part of the fall 2024 cohort for Intergroup Dialogue Basics, IGR's popular, interactive seminar introducing U-M professionals to intergroup dialogue pedagogy while engaging in some individual and group experiential activities. Participants learn IGR's approach to dialogue and how they facilitate understanding of social group identity, social inequality, and intergroup relations.
Tatiana "Tati" Calixto (she/her) is a lecturer in Spanish in the Department of Romance Languages and Literatures. She teaches a wide range of courses in the elementary program, as well as Spanish for heritage learners. She’s also taught and led U-M programs in Argentina, Costa Rica and Peru. Her teaching and interests focus on native cultures of the Americas. Her main goal in the classroom is to develop understanding of other cultures with dignity and respect.
Jamie Carter (she/her) is a program manager in the Office of Multi-Ethnic Student Affairs (MESA) and the advisor for a host of student organizations including Support for Incoming Black Students and the Peer Inclusive Educators team. She received her BA in interdisciplinary studies focusing on social work/race & gender & diversity inequities from Xavier University. Jamie has spent several years in both public and private sectors supporting the development and implementation of race and gender policies. She has also volunteered her time toward programming/volunteer opportunities to support individuals with physical and cognitive impairments. Jamie enjoys traveling and spending time with family both playing and watching sports.
Saumya Gupta (name/any) is a disability scholar-activist and project coordinator for the Student Accessibility and Accommodation Services (SAAS). With a background in biomedical engineering, their life's work is to co-create solutions and co-dream worlds that actually meet the needs of fellow queer crips. Saumya's work with SAAS includes researching and advocating for the experiences of disabled students at U-M, exploring the potential of adaptive sports as a bridge between the healthcare and disability communities, and acting as backbone support for the Well-being Collective. Their personal research interest is in improving disability education within healthcare.
Dr. Patricia (Paty) Jaimes (she/her/ella) is an assistant director for DEI at CRLT-Engineering. She holds a Bachelor's in Earth Science from Northeastern Illinois University and a PhD in STEM Education from Michigan State University. Her role focuses on supporting engineering instructors in integrating equity-focused teaching into their engineering courses. She does this through individual consultations, developing and facilitating workshops and learning communities on teaching and learning topics with a DEI focus, and sharing resources and information with her colleagues.
Greta Kaempf (she/they) is the global opportunities coordinator at the School of Social Work Office of Global Activities. In this role, Greta supports incoming and outgoing students and scholars pursuing global social work opportunities, including degree-seeking international students, exchange students and visiting scholars, and masters-level students who complete international coursework, field placements, or Peace Corps service as part of their degree program. Greta is a licensed clinical social worker with a background in early childhood education and school-based mental health consultation, and is passionate about creating inclusive, equitable, and empowering educational programs and environments throughout the lifespan.
Clara Kawanishi (she/her) is the coordinator of peer academic advising and programs for the Newnan Academic Advising Center, College of Literature, Science, and the Arts. She advises U-M's liberal arts college students from new student orientation to graduation. She co-facilitates the Newnan Center's academic peer leader program, hiring, training, and supervising current and recently graduated LSA students in their role as summer orientation peer advisors. She has taught English composition, American culture, and women's studies classes as a graduate student instructor. She earned a BA in sociology at Yale University and a MA in American culture at U-M. She has experience working in arts administration and volunteering for Asian American advocacy and non-profit organizations, rape crisis centers, and basic literacy and ESL programs.
Tonya Kneff-Chang (she/they) is a community-engaged critical and interdisciplinary historian and antiracist educator. Integrating critical historical methodologies and critical race and social theories, her research examines race and racism in the foundations of the social institutions of education and medicine. In particular, she focuses on racialized violence, collective resistance, and the transformative power of education. As a research fellow at the CREATE Center (Community-Based Research on Equity, Activism, and Transformative Education), Tonya is part of the School Shuttering and Equitable Educational Access Study (SSEEAS). She is also the diversity, equity, inclusion, access, and justice (DEIAJ) instructional lead at the University of Michigan Medical School and co-teaches the "History of Race and Racism in Medicine" course.
Ellington Poston (she/her) is the coordinator of the Summer Bridge Scholars Program (SBSP) in the Comprehensive Studies Program (CSP). In this role, Ellington assists in the recruitment and matriculation of summer bridge scholars, she runs the hiring process for the residential peer advisor (PA) and residence coordinator (RC) positions, supervisors the PA and RC positions through the course of the program, and she coordinates key co-curricular aspects that the scholars engage with throughout the summer. Ellington is a SBSP alum, having completed the program in 2017 and it was SBSP that ignited her passion for working with diverse student populations. Ellington received her BA in psychology from the University of Michigan in 2021.
Kaila Sell (she/her) works at the Center for Campus Involvement as the Manager for Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion. She supports students and staff in DEI education, professional development, programming, and organizational strategy. She focuses on community building in order to advance inclusive leadership practices, intercultural dialogue, and cultural competency. Kaila attended Florida State University and Appalachian State University where she received a master's in mental health counseling. She loves the outdoors, college sports, cats, and working for social change.
Zhanar Tuleutayeva (she/her) is a program manager at the Office of Culture, Community and Equity (OCCE) at Michigan Engineering. In this role, she designs and facilitates DEI professional development workshops for Michigan Engineering staff, faculty, post-doctoral fellows and graduate students. Zhanar was born and raised in Kazakhstan. She speaks Kazakh, Russian, and English. She received her master’s degree in women’s and gender studies from Eastern Michigan University, where she researched gender and sexuality, campus sexual misconduct, violence against women and gendered nationalism. She has extensive experience facilitating DEI professional development workshops around cultural competency, unconscious bias, inclusive leadership and more. In her free time, Zhanar likes to play pickleball, travel, learn new languages and watch K-dramas.
Guiqiu Wang (she/her) serves as a program coordinator at the Lieberthal-Rogel Center for Chinese Studies. In her role, she offers academic support to graduate students, postdoctoral fellows, visiting scholars, and various academic and international exchange initiatives. At IGD, she is particularly interested in exploring Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging (DEIB) efforts for international students and scholars, as well as immigrant employees.
Tyler Wang (she/her) serves as the director of alum engagement at the LSA Opportunity where she and her team are committed to creating opportunity and access to LSA's extensive alum network for students as they pursue purpose and meaningful work. As a proud graduate of LSA herself (Organizational Studies '08), Tyler's nonlinear path to higher education (with stops in retail and healthcare) is reflective of the journey of many liberal arts grads, and is what grounds her work today. She values building relationships with people and enjoys hearing peoples' stories.
Lawrence Young (he/him) serves as the diversity and inclusion specialist and DEI implementation lead within the Library Dean's Office Strategic Planning Team. Lawrence provides leadership, consultation, and programming to progress DEIA strategic initiatives and workplace culture/climate. Lawrence is a doctoral candidate in organizational leadership and has earned a master’s degree in higher education leadership. He has recently worked as an employee relations investigator for Amazon and a retention coordinator and lecturer for the Center for Multicultural Initiatives at Oakland University. Lawrence is experienced in program management, coaching and development, incident investigation, retention strategies, social awareness training, and community building initiatives.
Learn more
Those who participate in the fall IGD Basics Seminar or winter Intergroup Dialogues for Faculty & Staff program are members of IGR's Community of Scholars, a community of practice—centered in dialogic pedagogy and communicating across differences, building skills and relationships, and understanding power and identity—dedicated to advancing social justice education at the University of Michigan. Learn more about opportunities for University of Michigan faculty and staff at igr.umich.edu/opportunities-practitioners.