Connect with the Diversity & Community Fellows

Steven Herrera Tenorio

Ph.D. student in Sociology and Demography

Steven Herrera Tenorio (He/Him) is a second-year joint Ph.D. student in the Sociology and Demography departments. Originally from Guatemala, Steven and his family immigrated to the U.S., moving across several cities such as Miami and NYC, eventually settling and growing up in rural North Carolina. His academic research interests are generally focused on the ideas of “integration” in a “new society,” particularly the measurement, modeling, and theoretical engagements in the social sciences. In 2019, he interned at Twitter as a software engineer in San Francisco, and from this experience, he questioned several ideas of what it meant to “feel” socially, politically, economically, and psychologically integrated. As a result, Steven added a sociology minor to his statistics major at Duke University (’21) and pursued an uncommon “Out-Of-Major” thesis to explore empirically how immigrant integration works at the neighborhood level using latent class regression models. During his time at UC-Berkeley, Steven hopes to continue with his research and test models on different populations of interest to explore theoretical boundaries, and further, openly share his findings to influence public policy. Steven is excited to work with the Office for Graduate Diversity, especially the Undocumented Graduate Student Program, as a Diversity and Community Fellow, and he invites students to reach out to him.

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Morino M. Baca

Master Student in Public Health

Morino is entering the final year of his MPH at UC Berkeley’s School of Public Health. He earned a BS in both Society & Environment and Conservation & Resource Studies from UC Berkeley as well. Morino is proud to bring his perspective to an institution like Cal. As a member of the Bear Bones Lab, Morino has engaged in Community Based Participatory Research in Northern New Mexico under Dr. Jun Sunseri. He believes that Education, Access, and Exposure are key elements to success in higher education and beyond.

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Renee Clarke

Doctor of Public Health (DrPH)

Renee Clarke is a second-year DrPH student with many years of experience in the healthcare industry. Renee completed her Master of Public Health in Maternal and Child Health and holds a bachelor’s degree in nursing and public health. Prior to the University of California, Berkeley she served in a capacity of different clinical settings including Emergency Management, Neonatal Intensive Care, Global Health, and Maternal and Child Health as a Registered Nurse at many top-ranked children’s hospitals across the nation. Her passion has always been service leadership and eliminating health disparity gaps among women, infants, and children. Renee’s interest to improve health outcomes extends nationally and internationally. She has served in places such as Niger (Africa), Milot, Haiti, and St. Thomas, Virgin Islands. Quality improvement, evaluation, implementation, and decreasing health disparities have always been the cornerstone of her experiences.

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Haider Ali Bhatti

Ph.D. Candidate, Graduate Group in Science and Mathematics Education (SESAME)

Originally from Pakistan, Ali and his family immigrated to the United States and eventually settled in Englewood, New Jersey. His identity is greatly influenced by his cultural and religious upbringing as a Pakistani-Muslim growing up in the US post-9/11. He was always the “Muslim kid” in his classes and growing up in the tri-state NYC area only accentuated that label. However, once he got to college, he began to see how his faith, culture, and science (particularly biology) were mutually reinforcing and connected. Now, as a grad student, he’s continuing to see those personal connections, which has led him to become interested in the science identity development of other students in STEM.

Currently, he’s a PhD candidate in the SESAME program at UC Berkeley where his research focuses on how we can make STEM education more inclusive, interpersonal, and interdisciplinary using bioinspired design. He is advised by Professor Robert Full of the Integrative Biology department and working on the HHMI Eyes Toward Tomorrow Bioinspired Design Program. Ali loves sports, so you can catch him on the basketball court missing wide open 3’s or turning off the TV in frustration as his favorite teams (Nets, Mets, AC Milan) maintain their mediocrity.

A Day in the Life with Ali

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William Carter

Ph.D. student in Geography

William is a Fulbright Scholar, and 2nd year Political Geography PhD Student from Southeast London, the United Kingdom. Right from his first day in school, William has always tried to trace the source of political authority. Suffering under the refrain of his kindergarten teachers, ‘I am the adult, you are the child, therefore I am right, and you are wrong’ as a young carer who didn’t understand how something as arbitrary as age reflected authority – William has always remained sceptical of tradition-based hierarchy and so-called ‘sacred cows’ within society. From his position as a young carer, and as someone who was Dyslexic and Dyspraxic, he began to theorise his educational experiences throughout education as someone who was not only ‘raced’, ‘gendered’ and ‘abled’, but placed in the lowest academic sets throughout his time in K-12. Despite a ‘difficult’ start, William received the best grades in his High School graduating class and was awarded a double scholarship to read Politics at the University of Bristol. Whilst there, he teamed up with a senior faculty member to co-found “Phillennials” to teach political philosophy to the world’s teenagers. In his three years at Bristol, William was invited to attend Commonwealth, Council of Europe and EU policy forums as a youth delegate, expert and paid keynote speaker as well as being selected to give the final address at the closing plenary of the first ever Commonwealth Parliamentarians Forum on the future of the Commonwealth.

At Berkeley, William is using his Fulbright Award to begin his studies in Political Geography – where he is studying the origins of racialisation in the Middle Passage of the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade. He is studying the early association between Blackness and Terror, and Whiteness and Anxiety, and how these associations have come to co-constitute and legitimise each other in the formation of Blackness as Criminal. In his research, William therefore argues that Blackness as criminality pre-dates the 13th Amendment and the attempt to recoup the lost labour of the enslaved through criminalising the formerly enslaved, and outside of America, in the late 16th to early 19th century , in the North Atlantic Middle Passage.

Already he has helped lead his departments anti-racist efforts through being a member of geographies anti-racist group and spearheading its efforts to bring in Universal Design Learning, and the principles of an Inclusive curricular, instruction, and assessment within its course offerings. Whilst on the group, William organised two panels on UDL, Decolonisation and Higher Education with high-profile panellists – and is in the middle of writing up the findings of his year-long effort to be presented to the departments leadership team.

It is through Williams research, and his educational background, and his experience growing up in another country that William comes to the Diversity and Community Fellowship.

His goals and areas of action as a Diversity and Community Fellow are three-fold: 1- To move away from Accommodation, and towards Inclusion within our Pedagogy: To raise the profile of Universal Design for Learning, and support departments and graduate students in moving towards a model of instruction, assessment and curricular assessment that is inclusive. To encourage Berkeley to fulfil its promise as a public university by moving away from a disability model that sees students ‘accommodated’ to an educational norm that is unchanged, to an inclusive model that changes the norm to include educational and learning difference. 2- To re-think Mental Health and Learning Disability Provision at Berkeley, and to create a more equitable distribution of resources: This would involve mobilising our graduate student body to the inequity in the Universities provision of health services, and to begin to understand ‘Autism’ and learning Disabilities as fundamental identities and not adverse ‘conditions’ that can be medicalised or therapized ‘out’ of someone. This would involve sign-posting services and better tailoring services to our neurodivergent students. 3- To re-think the way we support Foster Youth’s within graduate division, our responsibilities and guarantees to them, and the way we demographically identify and support our international student population: To begin to think about a data collecting system whereby we can check the relative privileges of our international student body, against our goals of furthering access to a public education, and to think of how Diversity and Inclusion efforts could encompass international student recruitment. Naturally sceptical, and with an irreverent sense of humour, William begins as a Diversity and Community Fellow ready to support his community. As a general rule, rather than thinking the ideal role of Diversity and Equity efforts as acts of resistance, he prefers to see it realised as actions of subversion. And as a result, he looks forward to working with anyone and everyone to further realise the promise of a public university.

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Maura McDonagh

Ph.D. student, Helen Wills Neuroscience Institute

Maura McDonagh (they/she) is a third-year graduate student in the Helen Wills Neuroscience Institute PhD Program working in the lab of Dr. Sergio Baranzini at UCSF studying the role of the gut-brain axis in multiple sclerosis. When not in lab or teaching, Maura enjoys playing with their cat, Opal Nopal, hiking the Berkeley fire trails, reading about the history of labor movements, and making brain health accessible to, and a priority for, young folks of color.

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Brianna Clark

Ph.D. student in the School of Education

Brianna is a second year PhD student in the Studies in Engineering, Science, and Math Education (SESAME) cluster, and holds a bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering from Prairie View A&M University. Through her doctoral research in engineering education and the learning sciences, she intends to investigate the relationship between curriculum, teacher pedagogy, and the identity development of Black students in undergraduate engineering programs.

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Erika Roach

Ph.D. student in Psychology (Clinical Science)

Erika Roach is a third-year doctoral student in the Clinical Science program. She received both her B.A. in Psychology and Human Biology and her M.A. in Psychology from Stanford University. Erika’s research interests lie at the intersection of racial and cultural identity, early life stress, emotion regulation, and developmental psychopathology. Previously, she was Associate Director at the Office for Inclusion, Belonging, and Intergroup Communication at Stanford University where she led workshops on topics such as bias, allyship, imposter phenomenon, and intergroup dialogue for students, staff, and faculty and taught courses in Psychology. She is excited to continue inclusion, equity, and belonging work with the terrific team at the UC Berkeley Graduate Division as a Diversity and Community fellow.

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Elena Ojeda

Ph.D. student in Economics

Elena Ojeda (she/her/ella) is a fourth-year doctoral student in the Economics department. She received her B.B.A. in Economics and B.A in Spanish from Oklahoma City University and her M.S. in Applied Mathematics – Statistics from the University of Central Oklahoma. Elena’s research interests lie at the intersection of macroeconomics and economic history. She is currently one of the Empowering Womxn of Color Conference Co-Coordinators within the Graduate Assembly’s Womxn of Color Initiative. Previously, she was co-president of Economists for Equity at Berkeley, a graduate student organization centered around increasing representation in economics of historically oppressed identities. She is excited to continue working towards inclusion, equity, and belonging of all Berkeley graduate students. In her free time, she can be found beach bumming, exploring local plant nurseries, tending to her many, many houseplants and trying to grow tomatoes, and doing yoga.

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Isaac Felix

Ph.D. student in the School of Education

Isaac is a third-year doctoral student at the Berkeley School of Education. Growing up in Tijuana, Baja California, México, Isaac grew up crossing the México-U.S. border daily to attend public schools in San Diego, California. This experience deeply impacted his educational experiences and, consequently, fueled his desire to disrupt and reimagine the potentiality of education along the México-U.S. border region. His current research is precisely concerned with the educational experiences and possibilities of transfronterizx youth: (most often) U.S. citizens living in Mexican border cities who cross the México-U.S. border daily to attend U.S. schools. Particularly, Isaac is interested in how transfronterizx high school students negotiate and make sense of highly dynamic and contested spatial ecologies across the Tijuana-San Diego border region. Most recently, Isaac’s research was recognized by the National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine, where he was selected as a recipient of their Ford Foundation’s Predoctoral Fellowship.

Prior to his doctoral studies at Berkeley, Isaac attended UCLA and graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in Human Biology & Society and Chicana & Chicano Studies. While at UCLA, Isaac was involved with the McNair Research Scholars Program and served on multiple institutional and student-led efforts to improve the access and retention of non-dominant students across the K-12 and higher education sectors in the Greater Los Angeles Region. Upon graduating from UCLA, Isaac relocated to Northern California, where he interned for the State Department of Education. He also worked closely with middle school youth in after-school literacy programs with the Robert’s Family Development Center and their Children’s Defense Fund’s Freedom Schools. Isaac would later transition to work for UC Davis’ Vice Chancellor’s Office for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, where he coordinated their faculty diversity and recruitment centers in STEM, Social Sciences, Arts, and Humanities.

Currently, at Cal, Isaac continues to be involved in educational equity and justice efforts through his involvement in several research projects and institutional initiatives that serve and mentor underrepresented students at the undergraduate and graduate levels.

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Jaye Mejía-Duwan

Ph.D. student in Environmental Science, Policy & Management; Gender, Women’s, & Sexuality Studies

Jaye Mejía-Duwan is a PhD Student in Environmental Science, Policy, & Management with a Designated Emphasis in Gender, Women’s, & Sexuality Studies. Their research focuses on queer-of-color ecology and environmental disability justice, and their dissertation work investigates QTPOC agricultural collectives as exercises of antiracist and anticapitalist queer ecological kinship. They are a research mentor for the Latinxs and the Environment Initiative and a peer mentor for the Disabled Students Program at Berkeley. Jaye is committed to equity-oriented teaching and mentorship and finds tremendous joy in working with undergraduates as a Graduate Student Instructor.

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Kevin Wickham

Ph.D. student in Molecular and Cell Biology 

Kevin Wickham (he/him) is a fourth year Ph.D. candidate in Molecular and Cell Biology. He is studying cellular stress responses and their effect on cell fate decisions and aging using C elegans as a model. Kevin grew up in Barbados and moved to Washington D.C to earn a B.S in Biology from Howard University. His path to UC Berkeley and pursuit of a PhD was encouraged by mentors of color he had at various institutions and motivates him to support other students the way he was supported. Kevin is motivated to continue establishing relationships between Berkeley, Historically Black Colleges/Universities, and UC Berkeley’s neighboring institutions. Kevin is excited to work with UC Berkeley’s Graduate Division to make Berkeley a more inclusive and equitable community.

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Madeleine Lambert

Joint Medical Student, School of Public Health 

Madeleine Lambert is a student of the Joint Medical Program at the University of California San Francisco School of Medicine and the Berkeley School of Public Health. She previously worked as a Program Associate at Aceso Global, a nonprofit organization providing strategic research and advisory services for health systems in low- and middle-income countries. She had previously studied noncommunicable disease management in low- and middle-income countries, and has published on health system experiences of breast cancer patients in South Africa in Women’s Health. Her current work focuses on building sustainable community-based participatory research mechanisms for adolescent and young adult engagement in research design and research agenda setting. She is passionate about providing quality and affordable healthcare especially for queer and trans youth of color.

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Matthew Tao

Ph.D. student in Physics

Matthew Tao (he/him) is a 3rd year PhD student in the Physics department. His research is focused on using tabletop techniques to manipulate quantum systems for probing fundamental symmetries of the universe. Before coming to Berkeley, he earned a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering and a B.S. in Physics (’20) from Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana. As the first person in his family to graduate college and pursue a PhD, Matthew’s is passionate about lifting others up through science outreach, mentoring, and DEI efforts. He is excited to work with the Office for Graduate Diversity to continue improving the culture and experience at UC Berkeley. In his free time, Matthew likes to play cheesy movie songs on piano and to spend time outside exploring!

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Mitzia Martinez Castellanos

Ph.D. student in Jurisprudence and Social Policy

Mitzia is a third-year doctoral student at the Jurisprudence and Social Policy (JSP) Program at Berkeley Law School. As an undergraduate, she earned a BA in African American Studies and a BA in Legal Studies from UC Berkeley. Her research examines how becoming a green card holder impacts the self-concept, sense of community, and relationships of formerly undocumented immigrants. Her inspiration to pursue this research comes from her own lived experience as she was undocumented for 16 years. Before coming to JSP, she worked as a Research Assistant at an Oakland community-based research institute where she conducted bi-national research projects that assessed the impact of criminalizing laws on the civic and legal engagement of undocumented immigrants. Mitzia immigrated from México at the age of nine with her parents and two younger siblings. She is the first person in her family to graduate from college and pursue graduate education. She couldn’t have gotten through the U.S. education system as an undocumented student without the support she received from many femtors in her life. She aspires to provide the same academic support for first-generation students of color, especially those who are system-impacted and/or undocumented. Outside of academics, Mitzia enjoys watching sitcoms, cooking delicious meals, playing with her puppy, and spending quality time with her loved ones.

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Kris Libunao

Macro Masters Student in Social Welfare

Kris Libunao (she | her | siya) is a 1st year masters student parent in the School of Social Welfare with a macro concentration in Strengthening Organizations and Communities. She graduated from UC Irvine in 2015 with a double major in Criminology, Law & Society and Psychology & Social Behavior. She is committed to building community capacity and decision-making power for underresourced communities so that they have a say in how programs are made, ran, and led.

Kris has been engaging systems of public welfare care as: a child, a consumer, a systems translator for her communities, and now as an MSW Candidate. Her interests broadly include: resource mobilization, community building, and re-writing policy to better meet the needs of communities who have been underresourced and underrepresented. As a first-generation student, Kris wants to do her part in making academia accessible and supporting inclusion and belonging initiatives for people from all walks of life. Outside of academia, Kris loves to find new hiking trails to venture with her toddler and partner, sing karaoke,  and is a master of Connect 4.

Drop-In Hours

She looks forward to learning from you on what it means for you to feel welcomed, to belong, and most of all, what you need to be able to show up as you are and who you are. That time is for you.

Make an appointment with Kris