Navigationalist Live strives to create inspiring and engaging discussions that are as diverse as the under-represented faculty we serve. We elevate crucial discussions about navigational strategies for underrepresented faculty and staff by engaging diverse speakers, authors, scholars, and researchers that focus on providing stories, advice, and strategies. We called them navigationalists.
Navigationalist: one who can navigate anywhere, place, or thing.
Host of The Navigationalist
Dr. Jimmy Cheffen is the host and organizer of the podcast The Navigationalists and Green Book For Higher Ed. He has over 20 years of higher education experience and 10 years in diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives.
Co-Host of The Navigationalist
Keva Estrada plays many roles from mother and wife to being the 2021-2022 WTCS District Student Ambassador, facilitating for the WTCS Working as One: Parent Student Event, being current President of the Multicultural Student Union, member of the DEI committee, Honor Roll and Dean’s list student, and student mentor.
Meet Our Navigationalists
Dr. Melissa A. Martinez is an Associate Professor in the Education and Community Leadership Master’s and the Ph.D. in School Improvement Programs at Texas State University. Her research focuses on equity and access issues along the P-16/20 education pipeline. Her latest work in the press is Latinas Leading Schools.
Dr. Juan F. Carrillo is an Associate Professor at the Mary Lou Fulton Teachers College. Carrillo’s research has been funded by the National Academy of Education/Spencer Foundation and his publications include the book, “Barrio Nerds: Latino Males, Schooling, and the Beautiful Struggle” and various articles in journals such as The High School Journal, Harvard Educational Review, and Educational Policy.
Dr. Michelle Harris is a Professor of Africana Studies at the University at Albany, State University of New York. Her published work includes “Developing a Black Feminist Analysis for Mental Health Practice: From Theory to Praxis”; “Trauman, Shared Recognition, and Indigenous resistance on Social Media”;and Stories From the Front of the Room: How Higher Education Faculty of Color Overcome Challenges and Thrive in the Academy.
Michael Benitez, Ph.D., is a nationally-acclaimed activist-scholar, practitioner, and educator, with extensive experience with diversity issues in higher education. He is known for his down-to-earth, insightful commentary and critical perspectives on social and cultural issues including social justice education, diversity leadership, intersectionality and identity development, race and ethnic relations, knowledge representation and production, student success, and critical pedagogy and praxis.
Dr. Alex Iantaffi works as a family therapist, sex therapist, and supervisor at their own clinical group practice, Edges Wellness Center LLC, on Dakota and Anishinaabe territories, currently known as Minneapolis, MN (US). Dr Iantaffi has recently published a book for educators and mental health providers “Gender Trauma: healing cultural, social, and historical gendered trauma” and one for the general public “Hell Yeah Self Care: a trauma informed workbook”. You can find out more about their work at alexiantaffi.com and get their books from here.
Dr. Joel Pérez is owner of Apoyo Coaching and a member of the International Coach Federation (ICF). He specializes in career transitions, career coaching, coaching professionals of color navigating predominantly White organizations, and professionals that want to develop their cultural humility. He has a certification in the MBTI and is a certified coach through the Academy of Creative Coaching.
Dr. Leah Hollis, associate professor at Morgan State University, is a healthy workplace advocate who speaks nationally and internationally on diversity on workplace bullying. Her work has been featured in University Business, Inside Higher Education, and The Chronicle of Higher Education. She has also presented training for HERC, and the American Council on Education (ACE). She can reached here.
Wanda Malden, former senior EEO Coordinator at the University at Iowa, is a board member of the American Association for Access, Equity, and Diversity. She also is chair of the AAED Professional Development Training Institute, who offers the Certified Affirmative Action Professional (CAAP) and Senior Certified Affirmative Action Professional credentials (Sr. CAAP).
Dr. Wilson Kwamogi Okello is a tenure-track assistant professor in the Watson College of Education at the University of North Carolina Wilmington. Bridging the artist-scholar divide, Dr. Okello draws on Black feminist theories to think about the relationship between history, the body, and epistemology, anti-Blackness in education, critical masculinities, and anti-deficit curriculum and pedagogy. His work has been published in leading venues such as the Journal of College Student Development, the International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education, and the Review of Higher Education.
Dr. Stephen John Quaye is an associate professor in the student affairs in higher education program at Miami University and past president of American College Personnel Association (ACPA): College Student Educators International. He has published two books, edited four books, over 20 book chapters, and 17 peer-reviewed journal articles in top-tier journals, such as the Journal of College Student Development, Teachers College Record, and The Review of Higher Education
Anna S. CohenMiller, PhD, in the Graduate School of Education at Nazarbayev University and Co-Founding Director of The Consortium of Gender Scholars (Kazakhstan). he has developed interdisciplinary, international initiatives such as The Motherscholar Project (Founding Director), The Consortium of Gender Scholars (Co-Founding Director) and Dialogue: The Interdisciplinary Journal of Popular Culture and Pedagogy(Co-Founder, Editor-in-Chief).
Dr. Kim Case previously served as Professor of Psychology and Women’s and Gender Studies, Chair of the Faculty Mentoring Program, Director of the Teaching-Learning Enhancement Center, and Director of the Applied Social Issues Master’s program at her previous university. Her mixed-methods research examines ally behavior when encountering bias and interventions to increase understanding of intersectionality and systemic privilege, reduce prejudice, and create inclusive spaces within educational and community settings.
Dr. Bharat Mehra is a professor and EBSCO Endowed chair in Social Justice at the University of Alabama. His research focuses on Diversity & Inclusion, Intercultural Communication, Social Justice in Library & Information Science, Critical & Cross-Cultural Studies, Community Engagement, Community
Informatics, Rural Libraries, Human Information Behaviors of Underserved Populations, Action
Research, Qualitative Methods. His publications include Emerging Voices in Diversity and Inclusion Leadership.
Dr. Mariela Fernandez is an Assistant Professor at the College of Behavioral, Social and Health Sciences at Clemson University. Her research interests center on the lack of access to green spaces in Latino(a) communities. Other research activities have included projects focused on the programmatic aspects limiting Latino(a) participation at a recreation center, the development of life skills in Latino(a) youth, and the cultural competence youth leaders need in order to address challenges arising from an increasingly diverse society.
Dr. Tsedale M. Melaku is a Sociologist, Author, and Postdoctoral Research Fellow with the Institute for Research on the African Diaspora in the Americas & the Caribbean (IRADAC) at The Graduate Center, City University of New York. Her recent book, You Don’t Look Like a Lawyer: Black Women and Systemic Gendered Racism (2019), reflects the emphasis of her scholarly interests in race, gender, class, workplace inequities, systemic racism, intersectionality, organizations and diversity.
Dr. Robert L. Reece is currently an assistant professor of sociology at UT-Austin. His research explores the question “what is race,” particularly through exploration of themes related to the origins of racialization and racialized social outcomes, the slipperiness of racial categories, and how physical appearance maps on to and intersects with race. My work has been published in various peer reviewed journals and in public outlets such as the Southern Poverty Law Center’s magazine Teaching Tolerance and the National Housing Institute’s blog Shelterforce.
Dr. Nicholas D. Hartlep is the Robert Charles Billings Endowed Chair in Education at Berea College where he Chairs the Department of Education Studies. Dr. Hartlep has published 22 books, the most recent being (2019) What Makes a Star Teacher? Seven Dispositions that Encourage Student Learning which was published by the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development. He also co-edited Racial Battle Fatigue in Faculty. and Effective Teachers as Windows and Mirrors. Follow his work on Twitter at @nhartlep or at his website, www.nicholashartlep.com
Dr. Daisy Ball is Assistant Professor and Coordinator of the Criminal Justice Program in the Department of Public Affairs at Roanoke College, VIrginal. She co-edited Racial Battle Fatigue, which examines the challenges faced by diverse faculty members in colleges and universities. Her research focuses on the intersection of race and crime, with an emphasis on the criminal justice contact of Asian Americans.
Be one of our Guest Navigationalists
Navigationalist Guests Request. If you would like to be a guest on Navigational Strategies, please e-mail us your name, goals, and description of work. Your voice, expertise, experiences, and/or research matter. This role includes a 30-45 minute participation in the show’s advice portion. All guests will receive Navigationalist questions and discuss the process a week before the interview.