Describe any previous branch positions and years you served.
Branch DEI Coordinator/Chair, 2023-Present
Past Branch Co-President, 2023-Present
Branch Co-President, 2021-2022, 2022-2023
Also served as President of Brandman University Virtual Branch (Now University of Massachusetts Global Virtual Branch) from 2019-2021
Describe any AAUW California positions and years you served.
Advisor to DEI Coordinator, 2023-Present
Talk about any AAUW California conventions you attended in the last five years.
Committee Day 2023
Virtual State Convention 2021, 2022, 2023.
Talk about any pertinent community activities or connections and their corresponding dates.
I have served on the programming committee of the AAUW-Santa Maria Branch since 2020 and nearly all programs I have helped to organize have been related to DEI, including a program on LGBTQ+ identity in October 2021; a program on Indigenous and Native American Heritage Month in November 2021; and a program on Women in Iran, in conjunction with Women’s March Santa Maria Valley, in March 2023. I also facilitated a DEI Statewide Chat webinar on JABEID (Justice, Accessibility, Belonging, Equity, Inclusion, and Diversity) for AAUW-CA in March 2023.
Describe your employment/professional experience, including current employment.
Fall 2023- Present
Professor of Sociology, School of Arts and Sciences, University of Massachusetts Global-Online Campus
–Teach, maintain, and manage most 8-week, online Blackboard courses for remaining Bachelor of Arts in Sociology students to complete their degrees while the program phases out.
–Teach online School of Arts and Sciences Humanities and Associate of Arts degree courses in need of a qualified instructor.
–Serve as tutorial faculty for Competency Based Education courses in the School of Business and Professional Studies.
Fall 2021-Present
Tutorial Faculty for Diversity Certificate and Competency Courses
Featured Speaker-Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, School of Extended Education
University of Massachusetts Global (formerly Brandman University)-Online Campus
–Provide responses and feedback on working professionals’ reflective essays, online discussion board posts, and video presentations regarding bias, privilege, cultural inclusion, and racial equity in the workplace, particularly the K-12 classroom.
–Present webinars related to Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion to the university’s business, corporate, and educational partners, including City of Modesto, Pacific Life Insurance, City of Carlsbad, NorthBay Health Care, and K-12 schools throughout the nation.
July 2023- Present
Founder, Primary Consultant, Facilitator, and Tutor
Climbing Vine~Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Consulting and Training~Editing~Spanish, Writing, and Social Sciences Tutoring
–Facilitate customized workshops on practicing JABEID (Justice, Accessibility, Belonging, Equity, Inclusion and/or Intersectionality, and Diversity) for groups including Camp Ocean Pines’s Outdoor Education Staff and Massachusetts Institute of Technology (forthcoming)
–Provide editing and tutoring services in the areas of Spanish, writing, and the social sciences.
Fall 2021-Present
Co-Editor and Contributor, Sociology in the News Blog
Featured Speaker-Sociology and Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion
Co-Editor for Case Studies in Introduction to Sociology Textbook, McGraw Hill.
–Review short essays related to current events, for sociological content, and suggest edits and revisions
in preparation for online blog publication.
–Write short essays related to current events, from a sociological perspective, for online blog publication.
–Present webinars related to teaching sociology and Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion.
–Assist with editing several case studies for online introductory sociology text.
Fall 2021-Present
Monthly Host of Central Coast Voices on KCBX Public Radio
–Interview guests on topics related to Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion as it impacts California’s Central Coast for a live weekly radio show.
2021 Feb.-Present
Collaborator, Cultural Creations: Creating Environments of Belonging, San Luis Obispo,
Ca.
–Co-develop and co-facilitate online workshops and trainings on fostering diversity, equity, inclusion, justice, and belonging, for organizations and institutions located on California’s Central Coast.
2019 Jul.-2021 Jun.
Member of Editorial Board for SPARK, the online magazine of the National Center for
Institutional Diversity (NCID). University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Mi.
–Edited one short essay, based on research related to diversity, per issue (every two months)
–Selected and introduced essays for February 2021 issue on Educators for Change: Marginalization and Anti-Racist Education in the Classroom
–Wrote and contributed essay “Online Education in a Pandemic: A Call to Practice Diversity” per request of managing editor
Describe any other special skills or experience.
Proficient Spanish language skills; basic Tamil language skills; written and published in the areas of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion; Sociology; Teaching; and Poetry.
Give your reasons for running for this office.
Continue to support AAUW-CA DEI Strategic Plan and its integration in all of AAUW-CA’s work and communications, including supporting state branches with the same. Assist AAUW-CA board members in learning more about DEI, not just conceptually but in practice.
Are you available to visit branches statewide?
Yes