MEP workshops are facilitated by an engaging team of experienced campus trainers. All of our facilitators bring deep knowledge, skill, passion and heart to the MEP experience. For more information about becoming an MEP facilitator, please click here.
Current MEP Facilitators
Rica Anderson (she/her)
Rica Anderson is Interim Director of Artistic Literacy at Cal Performances, where she has developed and implemented arts education programs and worked as a teaching artist since 2007. An arts educator and program administrator for over 25 years, she has worked with Alameda County Office of Education, the Northern California affiliate of the Lincoln Center Institute, Theatre Bay Area, and Kaiser Permanente’s Educational Theater program. Rica was a founding member of Teaching Artists Organized (now Teaching Artists Guild) and coordinated the San Francisco Arts Education Brown Bag. As a theater artist, she has performed with many Bay Area companies and for sixteen years has produced the free monthly series, Actors Reading Writers. Rica earned her BA at UC Berkeley. She has been a facilitator with MEP since 2015.
Kristen Brooks (she/her)
Kristen Brooks came to Cal in 2017 after 25 years of coaching, counseling, social work case management and stay-at-home momming.She is now a Student Advisor in the Department of South & Southeast Asian Studies. In addition to her main campus role, she works to promote equity, inclusion and belonging on campus through her volunteer roles as an MEP Facilitator, and also creating/facilitating equity-oriented coaching programs for the Cal Coaching Network (CCN.) In her non-Cal time, she's a single mom to 3 teen and tween kids, and is studying Energy Medicine as part of a Master Certification in Intuition Medicine®.
eveline chang (she/her/they/them)
eveline chang brings over 25 years of expertise designing and facilitating equity and inclusion programs with faculty, staff and students in colleges and universities across the nation. Currently a full-time Lecturer on faculty at the UC Berkeley School of Social Welfare, eveline also serves as a facilitator with the Multicultural Education Program and with E&I’s Faculty and Departmental Diversity Initiatives. Prior to Berkeley, eveline served as Manager of Program Development and Training at the Oakland-based Women’s Cancer Resource Center, Director of Youth Programs at the American Civil Liberties Union of Northern California, and Program Manager of several vibrant multicultural youth organizing and community empowerment organizations in Chicago, Detroit and Houston. She currently serves as a Consultant Facilitator with the Posse Foundation and volunteer faculty member of The Group Therapy Training Program of The Psychotherapy Institute. eveline earned her MSW in 1995 at the University of Michigan School of Social Work in interpersonal practice and community organizing, and she has integrated these approaches throughout her career.
Melissa Charles (she/her)
Melissa Charles is a pro-Black organizer, writer, and facilitator. She is African with ancestral and colonial ties to the islands of Haiti & Cuba. She currently serves as the Assistant Director for African American Student Development where her work has focused on facilitation, curriculum development, lecturing and providing academic/community support services for Black folx. She has also partnered with several on-campus offices to provide various workshops and trainings surrounding topics of inclusion and anti-Blackness.
Catherine Cronquist Browning (she/her)
Catherine Cronquist Browning is the Assistant Dean of Academic Programs, Equity & Inclusion for the School of Information. She came to Berkeley in 2005 as a graduate student in English and taught for the English department as a Lecturer for two years after completing her Ph.D. Catherine is passionate about demystifying the academy for students, staff, and faculty from underrepresented backgrounds and increasing access so that our university becomes ever more democratic and welcoming to all. Outside of UC Berkeley, Catherine's interests include hiking, reading, gardening, and crafts.
Lisa Ho (she/her)
Lisa has been an MEP facilitator since 2013. She is also a founding steering committee member for the campuswide Dismantling Racism Study & Action Group for justice, liberation and belonging at Cal. Lisa is the Academic Director for the Master of Information and Cybersecurity degree program in the School of Information, and previously served as Campus Privacy Officer and IT Policy Manager.
Elisa Diana Huerta (they/them)
Dr. Elisa Diana Huerta is a Brawley born and Tejas raised organizer, educator, artesanx, and scholar. After earning B.A.s in Mexican American Studies, Cultural Anthropology, and Plan II from the University of Texas, Austin, Elisa attended the University of California, Santa Cruz to pursue a Ph.D. in Cultural Anthropology with emphasis in Latin American & Latino Studies and Feminist Studies. Their scholarship and teaching focuses on expressive culture, women of color feminist praxis, hemispheric Indigeneity, critical race theory, radical pedagogy, and community-based research. As the Director of the Multicultural Community Center (MCC), Elisa is dedicated to co-creating dynamic and engaged holistic resources for students, faculty, staff, and community members rooted in the Third World Liberation Front’s fight for representative and liberatory education. Elisa is proud to teach and steward in an insurgent and emergent space grounded in anti-oppression and transformative justice praxis.
Susie Jordan (she/her)
Susie is the Project Manager for Strategy and Operations in the Dean’s Office at the Haas School of Business. A Haas staff member for more than fifteen years, she has worked on strategic school-wide efforts such as codifying the Haas Defining Principles and co-leading the school’s effort to develop a strategic plan for equity, inclusion and diversity. In addition, Susie was a member of the Leadership Development Team focused on advancing inclusiveness and multiculturalism at UCB. She has been involved in conflict resolution and small claims court mediation through SEEDS community resolution center. Susie has been a facilitator with the Multicultural Education Program since 2013.
James Kato (he/him)
James Kato is proudly Bay Area born and raised (Fremont, CA)! After earning his B.A. in Sociology and Asian American Studies from Pomona College, James taught middle school as a Fulbright Fellow in South Korea before getting his M.Ed. in Student Affairs from UCLA. James served as an Area Coordinator and Intercultural Program Coordinator at Wheaton College (MA) before returning to the Bay Area, and since joining UC Berkeley, James has worked in Residential Life, New Student Services, and the Center for Support and Intervention. James also serves fellow staff as a member of the leadership team of UC Berkeley’s Asian Pacific American Systemwide Alliance (APASA). James is experienced in Intergroup Dialogue and social justice education facilitation and program development, and is proud to serve the campus as a Multicultural Education Program facilitator!
Ashley Kelly (she/her)
Ashley has been living and working in the Bay Area for the last 10 years. She spends her time gardening and foraging, peer counseling, and studying healing justice. Ashley is a program manager at the Public Service Center. She is committed to developing the leadership skills of young adult community leaders. Ashley joined the Public Service Center in 2017 after completing her graduate studies at the UC Berkeley School of Social Welfare.
Michael Mansfield (he/him)
Bio coming soon!
Talmeisa Ogans (she/her)
Talmeisa has been an MEP facilitator since 2019 and a UC Berkeley staff member within the Division of Student Affairs for over five years. She currently serves as Executive Assistant to the Assistant Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs & Dean of Students. Talmeisa has been active in leadership roles and campus-wide committees such as Black Staff & Faculty Organization and Chancellor's Staff Advisory Committee because one of her primary reasons for joining the campus community is her commitment and compassion for advocating for those who may seem invisible in larger scale organizations/institutions. Her advocacy is present in both her professional and volunteer work; in addition to being a facilitator with MEP, Talmeisa also offers facilitation around Brene Brown's curriculumDare to Lead, and Building a Trusting Workplace Culture. Talmeisa is a Bay Area native and has earned her Master's (2009) in Business Administration, Master's degree (2005) in Education - Organizational Leadership, and undergraduate degree in Hospitality Management (2003) from the University of San Francisco. In her spare time, she enjoys cooking, traveling, and spending quality time with friends/family.
Isela Peña-Rager (she/her/ella)
Isela has been working in higher ed in a variety of capacities since 2003 and most recently became an assistant director at L&S Advising. She has degrees and certifications in art, applied linguistics, organizational leadership, and TESOL. Her involvement in professional organizations spans from leadership and membership positions in the Cal Coaching Network, Alianza, and the Phi Kappa Phi Honor society. She is a co-founder of the Cal Womxn of Color staff organization, a graduate of the Leadership and Career Enhancement Program (LCEP) for staff of color, and a member of the inaugural cohort for the BPM: Executive Coaching Program. Isela is committed to coalition-building to advance diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging.
Jillian Parlee (she/her)
Hailing from the East Bay, Jillian Parlee works as a fundraiser under UC Berkeley's Foundation Relations and Corporate Philanthropy team. In her current role, she ensures that foundation partnership opportunities are in alignment with the university’s values and mission of teaching, research, and public service. She has been a facilitator with the Multicultural Education Program since 2018, and loves the opportunity to meet new colleagues from all parts of campus. Jillian is currently finishing her Masters in Educational Leadership through CSU East Bay. In her free time, she enjoys exploring the abundance of local hiking trails with her ever-enthusiastic pup, Maverick.
Michele Rabkin (she/her)
Michele Rabkin has been Associate Director of the Berkeley Connect mentoring program since 2013; she started her career at the University in 1992. She has held leadership positions on the Chancellor’s Staff Advisory Committee, the Chancellor’s Advisory Committee on Work & Family, the Equity & Inclusion Implementation Team in the Division of Undergraduate Education, the Dismantling Racism Study & Action Group, and Cal Parents of Teens & Tweens. She is a native of Berkeley, a resident of Oakland, and a proud product of California public schools, kindergarten through college; she has a BA from San Francisco State University and an MFA from UC San Diego.
Marissa Valdez Reynoso (she/her)
Marissa is a proud UC Berkeley Golden Bear alum and MEP Facilitator. She currently supports student-initiated community-building as the Director for Student Organization Advising & Leadership Development in the LEAD Center, the home to 1,200+ student organizations. Marissa was raised in Palm Springs (Coachella Valley, CA) and loves both her desert and Bay Area homes. After graduating from UC Berkeley, she tested her cold-weather tenacity while pursuing her M.A. in Higher Education Administration at New York University. Marissa is committed to facilitating healthy, equitable and justice-based communities, specifically for marginalized and underrepresented students, staff, and faculty. Some of her proudest Cal moments include her service to thebridgesMulticultural Resource Center, The Students of Color Retreat, The Intersect Conference, The Indaba Multicultural Leadership Retreat, The Multicultural Greek Council, and the Chancellor's Commission on Free Speech.
Amy Scharf (she/her)
Amy Scharf has worked in the field of educational equity and diversity for more than 20 years. She currently serves as the Division of Equity & Inclusion's Director of Faculty and Departmental Diversity Initiatives, where she leads several equity and inclusion planning efforts, provides strategic consultation to campus departments and administrators, and facilitates a wide range of workshops for faculty, staff and students. Before coming to Berkeley, Amy spent many years in the non-profit sector, directing state and national training initiatives on multicultural education, bias-based harassment, racial justice, LGBTQ and gender equity, and organizational transformation. She holds a PhD in Social and Cultural Studies from UC Berkeley's Graduate School of Education. In addition to her work at Berkeley, Amy also teaches social justice and community building courses in the Master of Arts in Leadership Program at Saint Mary’s College.