As Assistant Director of UC Berkeley’s public service center – Cal Corps – I manage center-wide student leadership programs, community partner development, alumni relationships, and program assessment. I also support professional staff who collaborate with students, community partners, and faculty to leverage the contributions of each partner to design learning experiences that advance social justice in the wider community.
I contribute to diversity work on campus by 1) supporting staff initiatives such as our department’s Diversity Work Group and collaborative Critical Dialogues Across Differences, including co-facilitating separate class sections on race and class; 2) aspiring to the role of ally, both by “showing up” and contributing as needed and when invited in both student and staff spaces. As an educator, I seek to make explicit to students my privilege and my efforts to aspire to be an ally; and 3) promoting social justice projects that bridge campus and community – including Magnolia Project and Alternative Breaks – programs that strive to work in solidarity with under-resourced communities, such as by honoring community wisdom and diverse ways of knowing and knowledge creation.