Dr. Hillary Jenks, Director of GradSuccess, UCR

Dr. Jenks holds a PhD in American Studies and Ethnicity from USC.She leads a diverse team of early career professionals in designing and executing innovative student programs that foster academic, personal, and professional development, with a particular focus on pedagogy, mentorship, and writing. In her 5 years as part of UCR's Graduate Division, she has engaged in context-driven strategic planning and collaborative relationship building to increase adoption of GradSuccess services. In June 2020, she was awarded the Graduate Student Association Chancellor's Award in recognition of extraordinary service to the student body.

Dr. Dena Plemmons, Director of Research Ethics Education Program, UCR

Dr. Plemmons is founding Director of the Research Ethics Education Program at UCR. The focus of her work has concerned such issues as ethics communication and education, differences among disciplinary scientific standards, ethics controversies, research-practice partnerships, and human subjects research, among other topics. She has consistently been funded, as PI and Co-PI, through NIH, NSF, and ORI for her research, which includes curriculum development in research ethics and leadership, and investigations into both common and best practices in areas of scientific practice both nationally and internationally. She is an elected AAAS Fellow, Editor-in-Chief of the Springer-Nature peer reviewed journal Science and Engineering Ethics, Chair-elect of the Board of the Association for Practical and Professional Ethics, and expert consultant with the National Center for Principled Leadership and Research Ethics at the University of Illinois, Urbana Champaign.

Dr. Emma Wilson, Associate Dean for Graduate Division and Professor of Biomedical Sciences, UCR

Dr. Wilson is the Associate Dean for the Graduate Division at UCR and a Professor of Biomedical Sciences at the UCR School of Medicine. She holds a PhD from the University of Strathclyde in Glasgow, Scotland and was a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Pennsylvania prior to joining UCR. Her research areas include immunology, parasitology, and neuroscience. 

Dr. Eric Johns, Postdoctoral Fellow, XCITE, UCR Grad Slam 2020 Champion, UCR

Dr. Johns is a musicologist and education researcher who received his PhD from UCR in 2021. He is currently a postdoctoral fellow with XCITE, the UCR Exploration Center for Innovative Teaching and Engagement. His research interests include nationalism and race in Latin American popular, traditional, and art musics, and inclusive and embodied pedagogies. He was the 2020 UCR Grad Slam champion.

Kennett Lai, Assistant Dean and CFAO, School of Business

Kennett Lai is the Assistant Dean and Chief Financial & Administrative Officer at the UCR School of Business. Kennett previously served as Assistant Dean and CFAO at UCR Graduate Division.

Dr. Dawn Loyola, Director of CNAS Graduate Student Advising, UCR

Dr. Loyola is currently the Director of Graduate Student Advising in the College of Natural & Agricultural Sciences, Graduate Student Affairs Center at UCR. She has extensive experience in graduate student advising and graduate program management at both UCR and UCSD. She earned her doctoral degree in Higher Education Leadership from Maryville University, Saint Louis in May 2020. She also holds an M.A. in Transpersonal Psychology from Sofia University in Palo Alto, California, a B.A. in Applied Studies from Brandman University-Chapman University System in Orange, California, and an A.A. in Psychology from Southwestern Community College in Chula Vista, California. Her research interests are department climate and graduate student experience and success, specifically for minoritized students and women in STEM. She is a professional member of NACADA, the Global Association for Academic Advising, where she has presented at numerous national and regional conferences and published in the NACADA Journal in 2022.

Dr. Jamal Myrick, Director of African Student Programs, UCR

Jamal J. Myrick, Ed.D. is a higher education scholar practitioner who is passionate about creating access and opportunities to underrepresented students. Dr. Myrick is determined to contribute to higher education by offering his scholarship to increasing diversity in higher education and the field of student affairs through policy and programmatic initiatives. He is the current Director of African Student Programs, a role he assumed in 2020.

Dr. Jen Kavetsky, Office of Engaged Learning, UCR

Since graduating from UCR with her Ph.D. in English, Dr. Kavetsky has served in a variety of roles at UCR. Currently, she oversees the R’Courses program, the UCR Undergraduate Research Journal, and provides writing support for students applying to nationally competitive awards. Previously, Dr. Kavetsky was the Coordinator for the ARC’s Writing Support Program, the Lead Writing Consultant for the UCR Graduate Writing Center, and a TA in the University Writing Program. As a graduate student, Dr. Kavetsky participated in UCR’s inaugural GradSlam competition and her presentation was highlighted in UCR Today. Dr. Kavetsky’s research interests include how science is communicated and understood in both academic and popular contexts, and she has presented her work in a range of disciplinary contexts, including the Western Association of Advisors for the Health Professions Conference, the Popular Culture Association National Conference, the California Library Association Annual Conference, and the Science Fiction Research Association Conference.

Dr. Anne Sullivan, TA Development Program Coordinator, UCR

Dr. Sullivan received her B.A. and Ph.D. in English from UCR, where she researched nineteenth-century British literature and media history. She completed her dissertation, “On Fire: Industrialization, Media Technologies, and the Imagination, 1800-1900,” in 2018 while continuing as a lecturer in the University Writing Program (2017-2019). After UCR, Anne joined the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) as the inaugural Weisman Postdoctoral Scholar in Visual Culture (2019-2021) and as the Anne Rothenberg Postdoctoral Scholar in Visual Culture (2021-2022). In 2020, Anne was awarded a Harry Ransom Center archival research fellowship in support of her second book project, “Imaging the Universe in Victorian Astrophotography and Literature.” In 2022, Anne’s research and pedagogy was recognized with a finalist award from the American Council of Learned Societies (ACLS) Emerging Voices Fellowship program. Anne joined UCR’s GradSuccess team in Fall 2022, where she mentors first-time and continuing Teaching Assistants (TA).  

William Caganap, Director of Asian Pacific Student Programs, UCR

William (Billy) Caganap is the current Director of Asian Pacific Student Programs at UCR, a role he has served in for 12 years. Previously, he worked as a Program Coordinator for Asian Pacific Student Programs, a role he held for 7 years. William holds a M.A. in Higher Education Administration from NYU and a B.A. in Asian American Studies from UCI.

Arlene Cano Matute, Assistant Director, Chicano Student Programs

Arlene Cano Matute (she, her, hers, ella) serves as the Assistant Director of Chicano Student Programs at UCR. She is currently a doctoral candidate in Higher Education in the School of Education at UCR. As a first-generation college student, parent, and daughter of a justice-impacted parent, she is passionate about working alongside students and the community focusing on identity development, empowerment, social justice, leadership and equity in higher education. Her research examines the experiences of Chicana/o/x and Latina/o/x students at Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSIs) with a particular interest in Hispanic-Serving Research Institutions (HSRIs) in the University of California. As a scholar and a practitioner, she is interested in the ways Chicana/o/x, Latina/o/x students, and minoritized students overall, thrive in HSIs with an emphasis on access, retention, empowerment and persistence.

Julie Murray Porter, Director of Marketing and Communications, UCR

Julie Porter is an innovative and collaborative communications professional with nearly 20 years experience in media relations, traditional and digital marketing, brand management, and event production in higher education, arts, and culture sectors. In her current role she leads SOE’s marketing and communications strategy, and oversees marketing recruitment efforts for the school’s multiple doctoral, masters, and teacher education programs. Prior to joining UCR she was director of communications and public relations at Loyola Marymount University's School of Film and Television where she was instrumental in growing graduate student enrollment and bringing the school national recognition as a top-ranked film school. She previously was the director of publicity at Concord Music Group where she led Grammy-award winning publicity campaigns for artists including Esperanza Spalding, Kurt Elling, and Christian Scott.

Dr. Huguette Albrecht, Director, Grants and Contracts Office for BCoE, UCR

Dr. Huguette Albrecht holds a Ph.D. in Molecular and Cellular Biology from the University of Strasbourg, France. Her research specialty areas include virology, plant and human biology, immunology, and oncology. Huguette transitioned to research development 10 years ago. Prior to her current position she successively was the Editorial Coordinator on the Interdisciplinary Research Support team at UC Davis, and the Research Development Associate on the Sustainable L.A. Grand Challenge team at UCLA.  

Dr. Kate Sweeny, Associate Dean for Graduate Division and Professor of Psychology, UCR

Dr. Sweeny is a Professor of Psychology. She received her B.S. in 2002 from Furman University and her M.S. in 2003 and Ph.D. in 2008 from the University of Florida where she studied social psychology with Dr. James Shepperd. Her research examines two broad questions. First, how do people cope with acute and stressful moments of uncertainty, like the wait for important news? Second, how should doctors talk to their patients? To answer these questions, Dr. Sweeny has studied law graduates awaiting news about the bar exam, patients awaiting biopsy results, researchers awaiting manuscript decisions, surgeons talking to their adult patients, and asthma specialists talking to pediatric patients, among many other topics and studies. 

Dr. Bryan Scott, Physics Alum, UCR

Dr. Bryan Scott is the LSSTC Data Science Fellowship Program Postdoctoral Fellow at the Center for Interdisciplinary Exploration and Research in Astrophysics (CIERA) at Northwestern University. He earned his PhD in Physics & Astronomy from UCR in 2022, where his research examined the intersection of astrophysics and cosmology in the context of photometric and spectroscopic intensity mapping, novel techniques for surveying large volumes of the universe. While earning his PhD at UCR, he was the Teaching Assistant Development Program Lead Consultant and a leader of the UCR American Physical Society Inclusion, Diversity, and Equity Alliance (APS-IDEA) team. He currently co-directs the LSSTC Data Science Fellowship Program, an international fellowship program for Astronomy PhD students intended to build scientific, technical, and professional skills required to address the next generation "big data" challenges shared across all branches of Astronomy. His other scholarly interests include the history, sociology, and philosophy of science.

Claire Whitaker, UCR Grad Slam 2022 Champion, UCR

Claire Whitaker is a fourth-year PhD Candidate at UCR working in the lab of Dr. Hailing Jin, and the 2022 UCR Grad Slam champion. A member of the Botany and Plant Sciences department, she has served on the departmental Graduate Student Association (bGSA) and helped organize events like the 2022 Corteva symposium. She is passionate about science communication and mentorship, and serves as co-president of the UCR Association for Women in Science (AWIS) group. Her research focus is interactions between plants and their fungal pathogens at the cellular and molecular level. She loves relaxing with a book, some tea, and her dog.

Cati Porter, Executive Director, Inlandia Institute 

Cati Porter has been a leader in the nonprofit arts sector for more than ten years, and writing and publishing for three decades. She has a Masters in Fine Arts from Antioch University, Los Angeles, and is the author of ten collections of poetry, including The Body at a Loss and Novel. She lives with her family in Inland Southern California, where she is the executive director of Inlandia Institute, a literary nonprofit. 

Dr. Emma Wilson, Associate Dean for Graduate Division and Professor of Biomedical Sciences, UCR

Dr. Wilson is the Associate Dean for the Graduate Division at UCR and a Professor of Biomedical Sciences at the UCR School of Medicine. She holds a PhD from the University of Strathclyde in Glasgow, Scotland and was a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Pennsylvania prior to joining UCR. Her research areas include immunology, parasitology, and neuroscience. 

Dr. David Charles Pearson, Managing Director of Entrepreneurial Tech Programs, UCR 

David Pearson has 35 years’ senior management experience across technical, operational, and general management roles in the pharmaceutical, medical device, and manufacturing industries. He joined UC Riverside in 2019 and leads the EPIC team providing entrepreneurial coaching to UCR faculty, students and community start-ups. David also directs the Inland Empire’s first wet lab incubator, located on the UCR campus. David’s background is a PhD in biophysics, an MBA in technology management and he has a corporate director’s certification. He lives with his wife in Idyllwild, the mountain town with a dog as the mayor.

Dr. Christine Mata, Dean of Students, UCR

Dr. Christina Mata joined UCR as the Associate Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs and Dean of Students in August 2019. She previously served as the Interim Dean of Students at Humboldt State University. Prior to that, she held a number of student affairs leadership positions at Cal Poly Humboldt and UCLA. Dr. Mata holds a PhD in Education with a focus on Higher Education and Organizational Change from UCLA. Throughout her career, she has focused on creating transformative educational experiences that lead to student success. 

Dr. Elizabeth Kopacz, Postdoctoral Fellow, UCI

Dr. Kopacz is an interdisciplinary scholar with research interests in U.S. empire and transpacific violence, Korean transnational adoption, race, kinship, feminist epistemologies, and histories of science and technology. She is currently a UC Chancellor’s Postdoctoral Fellow in the Department of Anthropology at UC Irvine. She received her Ph.D. in Ethnic Studies from UC Riverside in 2022, and her M.A. in Asian American Studies from UCLA in 2014. In addition to her scholarship, Elizabeth is committed to making academic knowledge accessible to larger audiences through public humanities work. At UCLA, she directed a short film, Who is Park Joo Young?, that examined Korean adoption, kinship, and DNA. Most recently, she worked as a Documentary Research Assistant for the five-part Asian American series that aired on PBS in May 2020. 

Dr. Fabian E. Villalobos (he/him/his), RAND Corporation 

Dr. Villalobos is a Full Engineer at the RAND Corporation and a Professor of Policy Analysis at the Pardee RAND Graduate School with a background in Materials Science and Chemical Engineering. His interests lie at the intersection of technology, economics, and geopolitics. He primarily focuses on issues in the national security and homeland security sectors. His work at RAND has included topics on emerging technologies, logistics, acquisitions, the defense industrial base, and China. Dr. Villalobos has specific interest in vehicle electrification policy, critical minerals supply chains, and their impacts on climate change and international relations. He is a co-inventor and co-author of patents. Previously, he worked in industry at startups and established manufacturers alike supporting R&D, product development, quality assurance, business development, and more. He is an alumnus of the Materials Science & Engineering graduate program at the University of California, Riverside.

Shawn Ragan, Vice President & Chief Operations Officer at California Indian Nations College

Shawn Ragan is the Vice President and Chief Operations Officer at California Indian Nations College, a two-year emerging tribal college located in the Coachella Valley of Southern California. In his role, VP Ragan oversees Academics, Accreditation, Admissions, Enrollment Management, Institutional Effectiveness, IT, and Student Affairs. VP Ragan works with faculty, students, and administration to build academic and student programs that address the specific needs of tribal students and ensures successful transfer to four-year institutions. He is also an Adjunct Professor at the University of the West in Rosemead, CA and the President of the Riverside and Inland Empire local society of the Archaeological Institute of America. VP Ragan has a B.A. in History from Boise State University, an M.A. in History from the University of California, Riverside, and is currently completing the final chapters of his Ph.D. dissertation, “Inter Divos Referri : Roman Imperial Cult in the Third Century C.E.,” which examines the intersection of politics and religion in periods of crisis. VP Ragan was also the Graduate Student Association (GSA) President for two years at UCR. Outside of the academy, he enjoys spending time with his family and three dogs, enjoys early and mid-century Americana, and is an avid Nebraska Cornhuskers football and Sevens Rugby fan. 

Dr. Kevin Esterling,  Professor of Political Science and Public Policy, UCR

Dr. Esterling is Professor of Political Science and Public Policy, and the Director of the Laboratory for Technology, Communication and Democracy (TeCD Lab), at the University of California, Riverside.  He is the past interim dean of the UCR Graduate Division.  His research focuses on institutional design for communication in democratic politics, and he has interests in Bayesian statistics, experimental design, and science ethics and validity. His current work focuses on deliberative democracy and the design of technology that leads citizens to engage constructively in public discourse. He is the author of The Political Economy of Expertise: Information and Efficiency in American National Politics (University of Michigan Press, 2004) and co-author of Politics with the People: Building a Directly Representative Democracy (Cambridge University Press, 2018). He has published in a number of journals, including the American Political Science Review, Science, the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Political Analysis, and the Journal of Politics. His work has been funded by the National Science Foundation, The Democracy Fund, and the MacArthur Foundation. Esterling was previously a Robert Wood Johnson Scholar in Health Policy Research at the University of California, Berkeley and a postdoctoral research fellow at the A. Alfred Taubman Center for Public Policy and American Institutions at Brown University. He received his Ph.D. in political science from the University of Chicago in 1999.

 Jeff Horseman, Reporter, The Press Enterprise

Jeff Horseman grew up in Vermont and honed his interviewing skills as a supermarket cashier by asking Bernie Sanders “Paper or plastic?” After graduating from Syracuse University in 1999, Jeff began his journalistic odyssey at The Watertown Daily Times in upstate New York, where he impressed then-U.S. Senate candidate Hillary Clinton so much she called him “John” at the end of an interview. From there, he went to Annapolis, Maryland, where he covered city, county, and state government at The Capital newspaper before love and the quest for snowless winters took him in 2007 to Southern California, where he started out covering Temecula for The Press-Enterprise. Today, Jeff writes about the Riverside County government and regional politics. Along the way, Jeff has covered wildfires, a tropical storm, 9/11, and the Dec. 2 terror attack in San Bernardino.

Maryana Carreon, Program Associate, The Cheech Marin Center

Maryana Carreon is currently the Cheech Program Associate at the Cheech Marin Center for Chicano Art & Culture. She has a B.A. in Cultural Anthropology with a minor in history from the University of California, Santa Barbara. She has previously worked with the National Park Service, Student Conservation Association, Latino Conservation Network, and the Hispanic Access Foundation. Her areas of interest include environmental justice, Chicane/Latine artistic expression, and nationalism in the Americas. She is excited to help build connections between the Cheech Center and the Inland Empire community!

Ronaldo Fierro, Riverside City Council, Ward 3

As the Chair of the City Council’s Economic Development Committee, Councilmember Fierro has taken a leadership role in continuing business attraction and retention efforts amidst the pandemic – leading government agencies and private partners in leveraging the movement of the California Air Resources Board to Riverside to attract sustainable business enterprises and high-paying green jobs to the Riverside community. Councilmember Fierro remains focused on fostering safer neighborhoods for all, improving mobility infrastructure to better connect Riverside, and shaping a government structure that is reflective of the innovative and diverse community.

Edward Coronado, Policy & Advocacy Advisor to Mayor Lock Dawson

Edward Coronado is the Policy & Advocacy Advisor to the incumbent Mayor of Riverside, Patricia Lock Dawson. He serves as the liaison between the Office of the Mayor and several boards and community groups including the Mayor's Multicultural Forum, Latino Network, Alvord Unified School District, Campus Riverside, and the faith-based community. He also leads the Mayor's policy and programs through the Big City Mayor's Coalition and the Mayor’s initiatives to address homelessness. Edward is the field representative for the Office of the Mayor in Wards 6 and 7. Edward earned a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from the University of California, Riverside and earned a Master of Arts in Organizational Leadership from California Baptist University.

Dr. Ruth Perez, Deputy Superintendent, Riverside County Office of Education

As an English Language Learner from Puerto Rico and educated in the New York City Public School system, Dr. Perez is a passionate advocate for improving student achievement and outcomes for all students, especially the underserved and English language learners. Additionally, Dr. Perez is strongly committed to serving as a role model and mentor for Latinx leaders to help them achieve higher leadership positions and guide them through the challenging but rewarding journey of the superintendent position.

Nicholas Adcock, President/CEO, Greater Riverside Chamber of Commerce

Nicholas Adcock is the President/CEO of the Greater Riverside Chamber of Commerce. Adcock joined the Chamber in 2009 as the Community Development Coordinator and rose through positions of Communications & Marketing Manager and Governmental Affairs Manager before becoming the organization's Vice President in 2013. During that time, he focused on projects like securing state funding and accreditation for the School of Medicine at the University of California, Riverside, advocating for reform and relief for businesses against predatory litigation, and securing local control of Ontario International Airport. Adcock is a fourth-generation Riverside resident with a family legacy of small business owners and service to the community. He is a product of the Riverside Unified School District and an alum of the Riverside Community College District and the University of California, Riverside. He graduated from the Chamber’s Leadership Riverside program in 2013 and the Western Association of Chamber Executives’ Academy Program in 2014. He currently serves as a past president on the Board of Directors for Habitat for Humanity, Riverside and previously served as a past president of the Pick Group of Young Professionals. He and his wife Sydnee live in Riverside with their daughter Marigold.