Marquita Booker is the Associate Vice President for Inclusion and Equity, serving as an executive-level strategist, responsible for guiding efforts and creating opportunities to define, assess, and promote equal opportunity, diversity and inclusion, and cultural competence for faculty, staff, students, and surrounding community. Ms. Booker’s background includes civil rights advocacy and extensive experience developing, implementing, and managing robust equity and inclusion programs. She holds a Juris Doctor degree from Florida A&M University College of Law, an advanced law degree in employment law from Atlanta’s John Marshall Law School, a Master of Public Administration from Pennsylvania State University, and is currently pursuing a doctoral degree in educational policy and organizational leadership. Ms. Booker is a licensed attorney in the state of Texas and Florida.
Kelli Bradley serves as the Executive Director of Services for Students with Disabilities (SSD) at the University of Texas at Austin and has been in this position since 2013 and at the university since 2011. In this role, she provides strategic direction and leadership of the department and supervises university services and programs for students with disabilities including interpreting disability law and determining appropriate accommodations for students. She manages a caseload of students with learning, attentional, and psychological disabilities. Kelli has a bachelor’s degree in Social Work from the University of Texas at Austin, a master’s degree in Social work from the University of Houston and a master’s degree in Business Administration from the University of Houston at Victoria. She has a business background in marketing and management and is a licensed master social worker in the state of Texas.
Binta Brown works as a Dual Career & Recruitment Consultant at The University of Texas, Austin. In this hybrid role, she spearheads the SmartHire program, advising campus search committees for executive and hard-to-fill positions in all phases of the hiring process with particular focus on diversity and inclusion metrics. Additionally, she provides a suite of career services to the trailing spouses of high-profile faculty new to the City of Austin. Binta is a licensed professional counselor-supervisor with over 15 years of experience in mental health counseling and career coaching. She is currently pursuing her doctoral degree in Leadership and Learning in Organizations at Vanderbilt University. Very involved in the Austin community, Binta serves as a board member of Launch Pad Job Club, a nonprofit devoted to supporting job seekers in their search for gainful employment, as well as an active member of the Greater Austin Chamber of Commerce Talent Council and Ambassador program. She speaks frequently on career development issues for organizations within the Austin community.
Galen Eagle Bull, J.D., is a former Senior Investigator at the Texas Workforce Commission, Civil Rights Division. While there, he created the New Investigator Training materials and led the training for incoming investigators.
Brandelyn Flunder currently serves as the Director for the Multicultural Engagement Center and has 12+ years in higher education. Brandelyn graduated from UT in 2007 with a Bachelor of Arts in History and again in 2013 with a Master of Education from the Program in Higher Education Leadership with a focus in College and University Student Personnel Administration. Specific interests within higher education and student affairs includes college access, drop-out prevention, pre-college youth growth and development, and the funding of higher education.
Shavonne Coleman (she/her) is the Theatre for Dialogue Specialist for Voices Against Violence in the Longhorn Wellness Center and a Lecturer in Theatre and Dance. She has an MFA from Eastern Michigan University for Applied Drama/Theatre for the Young where she had the amazing opportunity to travel to S. Korea to direct a Youth Theatre performance at the Zoom Theatre in Seoul. In recent years, Ms. Coleman returned to her alma mater Grand Valley State University (BA ’07) for the 2017-18 school year as a Visiting Professor in the Theatre Department where she also was the co-advisor for ReACT! an interpersonal violence peer education theatre troupe and was awarded the 2018 TYA Emerging Leadership award to research the historical impact of people of color in the field of Theatre for Young Audiences. Currently, Shavonne is part of the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Taskforce for Theatre for Young Audiences USA/ ASSITEJ, is a staff writer for TYA Magazine, as well as serves on the Hazing Prevention Committee, the Queer and Trans Services Committee, and Advises the Student Roundtable for the Wellness Network here at UT. Ms. Coleman is also part of the 2019 FIC Undergraduate Teaching Award Grant recipients. She is interested in cultivating positive culture shifts for the benefit of social change and health equity through an inclusive and multidisciplinary approach.
Liz Elsen (they/she) currently serves as the Director of The Gender and Sexuality Center, which is UT’s Women’s Center and LGBTQIA+ Center. She graduated from The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 2004 receiving Honors in Creative Writing and a degree in Dramatic Art. Liz went on to receive her Master’s Degree in College and University Student Personnel Administration from UT Austin in 2008. Upon graduation, they started working at The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign as a Residence Hall Director for the social-justice themed Living & Learning Community, Intersections, and advising LGBTQ and feminist organizations. The call to return to Austin was strong, however, and they have been back at UT (and to the GSC) since 2012.
Dr. Edmund T. Gordon is the founding (former) chair of the African and African Diaspora Studies Department, Associate Professor of African and African Diaspora Studies and Anthropology of the African Diaspora, and Vice Provost for Diversity at The University of Texas at Austin. His teaching and research interests include: Culture and power in the African Diaspora, gender studies (particularly Black males), critical race theory, race education, and the racial economy of space and resources. His publications include Disparate Diasporas: Identity and Politics in an African-Nicaraguan Community, 1998 UT Press. Dr. Gordon received his Doctorate in Social Anthropology from Stanford University and his Master’s of Arts from Stanford University in Anthropology and Master’s degree in Marine Sciences from the University of Miami.
Dr. Suchitra Gururaj, Ph.D., serves as Assistant Vice President for Community and Economic Engagement in the Division of Diversity and Community Engagement at The University of Texas at Austin, where she is the visionary and strategic lead for student engagement programs rooted in service, community-based learning course offerings, public engagement programming, and in-kind sponsorships. A lecturer in the College of Liberal Arts at UT-Austin, Dr. Gururaj teaches courses on community organizing and leadership development. Her research focuses on service-learning outcomes, university-community partnerships, and social inclusion policies in higher education. Dr. Gururaj earned a B.A. in English literature from Yale University, an M.A. in English from The University of Chicago, and a Ph.D. in educational administration from The University of Texas at Austin. Dr. Gururaj serves as book review editor for the Michigan Journal of Community Service Learning, sits on the editorial board of the Journal of Higher Education Outreach and Engagement, and holds a seat on the Executive Committee for the Commission on Economic and Community Engagement for the Association of Public and Land-Grant Universities.
Amory Krueger currently serves as the director for student engagement programs in the Center for Community Engagement, overseeing service resources and programs that connect anyone at UT looking to volunteer with community organizations who need volunteers. She has been a staff member in LCCE since fall of 2007, when she started as a graduate assistant while completing her master’s degree in Higher Education Administration (M.Ed ’09). Amory graduated from Arizona State University in 2007.
Dr. Jennifer Maedgen has oversight responsibility for units relating to equity and access at the University [Office for Inclusion and Equity (OIE); Services for Students with Disabilities (SSD)] and serves as the University’s ADAAA/504/EIR Coordinator. She also serves as the vice president’s liaison to the Hogg Foundation for Mental Health, the University Interscholastic League, and the University of Texas Charter School System, as well as serves as chief of staff for the division. Dr. Maedgen received a bachelor’s degree in psychology from the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) and her master’s degree and a doctorate in clinical psychology from the University of Texas at Austin. She completed her predoctoral internship and postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Virginia Health Sciences Center in Charlottesville, Virginia, where she worked in children’s rehabilitation, adult/child neuropsychology, forensics, and at the Learning Needs and Evaluation Center (LNEC). She was later appointed as the director of the LNEC, and served in this role and as an assistant professor of clinical psychiatric medicine for several years. In addition to her administrative role, Dr. Maedgen has taught courses on critical thinking, psychological assessment, and disability, as well as published articles and book chapters on issues relating to attentional disorders and disability accommodations. She is a clinical associate professor in the Department of Psychology and is a licensed psychologist in the state of Texas.
Dr. Octavio N. Martinez, Jr., M.D., M.P.H., is the executive director of the Hogg Foundation for Mental Health and Senior Associate Vice-President in DDCE. He is a Professor of Psychiatry at the Dell Medical School, Clinical Professor at the Steve Hicks School of Social Work; Faculty Affiliate of the Rapoport Center for Human Rights and Justice in the School of Law, and Adjunct Professor of Psychiatry at the Long School of Medicine, UT Health San Antonio.
Dr. Devin Walker is a post-doctoral fellow with DDCE and serves as the director of Global Leadership and Social Impact. He also leads DDCE’s newest initiative, XP3, an innovative year-long professional development fellowship providing students the opportunity to develop the necessary skills, experiences, and network to thrive in the 21st-century global workforce.
Stephanie Myers is the Deputy ADA Coordinator for the University of Texas at Austin. In her role, she consults and facilitates the interactive process for exploring reasonable accommodations for faculty and staff. Before joining the University in 2015, Stephanie was the Accessibility and Disability Rights Coordinator for the Texas Governor’s Committee on People with Disabilities. She also worked as a Project Coordinator for the New York City Mayor’s Office for People with Disabilities. Stephanie has a bachelor’s degree in English from Sam Houston State University and a master’s degree in Disability Studies from the City University of New York, School of Professional Studies.
William D. Nutt serves as an Institutional Equity Investigator for the Office for Inclusion and Equity (OIE). His responsibilities include assessing and investigating complaints of discrimination, harassment, retaliation, and related matters under applicable university policies and Federal statutes. Prior to joining OIE, he served more than three years as an EO Investigator for the United States Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and has received extensive training on investigative technique and Civil Rights law. Mr. Nutt holds a Master of Arts in Anthropology and a Master of Business Administration from the University of Texas at Arlington. His interests include cultural systems and diversity and inclusion.
Quỳnh-Hương Nguyen is a proud intersectional feminist, queer, and Vietnamese American. Their academic focus is on Asian identity, LGBTQIA+ identities, and identity development. They have experience as a Student Affairs Professional with a demonstrated history of working in higher education. Quỳnh-Hương has a Master of Education (M.Ed.) focused in Student Affairs in Higher Education from Texas State University. Currently, Quỳnh-Hương works at The University of Texas at Austin as the Assistant Director for the Gender and Sexuality Center. They focus on providing education opportunities for students, staff, and faculty to make the UT campus welcoming and affirming for women and LGBTQIA+ people and people with more than one of these identities. They use an intersectional approach to foster and develop allyship practices that center affirming people of color as necessary for affirming women and LGBTQIA+ people.
Emily Shryock is the Assistant Director of the Services for Students with Disabilities office at the University of Texas at Austin where she has worked since 2010. Her responsibilities include developing SSD outreach and education initiatives, coordinating assessment efforts, and managing a caseload of students with disabilities. Emily has been a three-time presenter at the Association on Higher Education and Disability National Conference and has also presented at the PacRim International Conference on Disability and Diversity. Emily has a bachelor’s degree in Disability Studies from Indiana University-Purdue University at Indianapolis and a master’s degree in Social Work from UT Austin. She currently serves as a Commissioner on the Austin Mayor’s Committee for People with Disabilities and is on the Board of Directors for non-profits Parking Mobility and VSA Texas.
Dr. Ryan Sutton earned a bachelor’s degree in psychology from Xavier University. He earned a Ph.D. in counseling psychology from Howard University and has published on African American youth and mental health, juvenile justice and academic achievement.
Anabella Tarango currently serves as the assistant director for student engagement programs in the Center for Community Engagement and oversees three signature service-based programs, Alternative Breaks, UT Service Scholars, and the Google Community Mentor Program. Prior to working at LCCE, Anabella worked in the nonprofit sector of Austin working towards providing educational opportunities for Latinas. She received her B.A. and MSSW from the Steve Hicks School of Social Work at the University of Texas at Austin.
Dr. Betty Jeanne Taylor is an educator and social justice advocate with twenty years of experience as an administrator, facilitator, and educator. She currently serves as assistant vice president in the Division of Diversity and Community Engagement (DDCE) at The University of Texas at Austin, where she leads the university’s Campus Climate Response Team, partnering with colleagues to respond to reports of bias incidents impacting the university community. Dr. Taylor is responsible for campus climate initiatives such as creating inclusive classrooms and minimizing bias in recruitment/search processes. She is also a faculty member in the Department of Educational Leadership and Policy, as an assistant professor of practice. Dr. Taylor holds a Ph.D. in higher education administration from The University of Texas at Austin and received a B.S. in communication and an M.S. in higher education from Florida State University. Her research interests focus on intersectional identity development, inclusive climates, and recruitment/retention of faculty of color at predominantly white institutions.
Brelynn Thomas currently serves as Title IX Deputy and Education Coordinator at The University of Texas at Austin. She earned a Master of Science in Social Work from The University of Texas at Austin and a B.A. in Sociology from The University of Virginia. Brelynn has worked in education for over six years.