Council on Ethnic Participation (CEP)
CEP Newsletter - February 2021
Hello CEP Colleagues,

The Council on Ethnic Participation (CEP) is excited to introduce the new executive board. We are looking forward to carrying the mission of CEP forward and working behind the scenes to represent our community's needs and interests in ASHE. Please check out the new leadership.

This year CEP is creating research grants to fund the research of our members. We are excited about supporting the innovative, necessary, and intentional work of CEP members who strive to positively impact our communities through their research and practice. The Awards committee is working on the details now. Please be on the lookout for more information soon!

The CEP Executive Board is working hard and intentionally to create opportunities to uplift, connect, and support the CEP community. We are looking for ways to engage all membership throughout the year, make community conscious decisions about the fall pre-conference, get more people involved, and get to know the membership better.

We know your time is limited, but please help us serve you better by completing our 7-minute survey.

Sincerely,
Lissa Ramirez-Stapleton, Ph.D., CEP Chair
Get to Know the CEP Executive Committee
We are delighted to welcome our new leaders to the Executive Committee.

CEP Chair: Dr. Lissa D. Ramirez-Stapleton, California State University, Northridge
Dr. Lissa D. Ramirez-Stapleton is an associate professor at California State University Northridge in the Department of Deaf Studies and core faculty for the Educational Leadership and Policy Studies program. Her research focuses on equity and access, identity development, and the educational history of deaf students, faculty, and staff with a particular interest in the intersections of race, gender, and disability. Lissa previously worked as a student affairs professional and with Semester At Sea. Lissa's desire to support deaf college Students of Color, led her to pursue her doctorate at Iowa State University. She graduated in 2014 with her Ph.D. in Education with an emphasis in Higher Education and Social Justice and a minor in Women's Studies. She earned her M.S.E. in College Student Personnel from the University of Dayton and B.S. in Social Work from Wright State University. She is the CEP chair from 2020-2022.
CEP Secretary: Nadrea Njoku, Ph.D., Frederick D. Patterson Research Institute
Nadrea Njoku, Ph.D., is a Senior Research Associate at the Frederick D. Patterson Research Institute of the United Negro College Fund. As Senior Research Associate, Nadrea conducts empirical research and evaluation related to guided pathways and student success. Her broader research foci include Black women in higher education, Historically Black Colleges and Universities and the influence of campus environments on student experiences. A graduate of Indiana University's doctoral program in Higher Education and Student Affairs, she is popularly known as a member of IU’s Great 8. Her scholarship is centered in a critical race and feminist framework that is devoted to disrupting issues of race and gender within the post-secondary education context. She positions this work within her own narrative of growing up and attending an HBCU in the American South. She has worked across multiple functions of higher education—housing, student affairs, fraternity and sorority affairs, alumni relations, and evaluation. She is a proud alumna of Xavier University of Louisiana.
CEP Mentor-Protegé Co-Chair: Kaleb L. Briscoe, Ph.D., Mississippi State University
Kaleb L. Briscoe, Ph.D., is an Assistant Professor in Higher Educational Leadership. Her research agenda focuses on problematized, oppressed and marginalized populations within higher education through critical theoretical frameworks and qualitative methodological approaches. Through her scholarship on campus racial climate, she seeks to disrupt whiteness and white supremacy on predominantly white campuses. Her research shapes administrators', specifically university presidents', responses to race and racism, by challenging their use of anti-Blackness and non-performative rhetoric.
CEP Pre-Conference Chair: Dr. Wilson Okello, University of North Carolina Wilmington
Dr. Wilson Okello is an assistant professor of higher education in the Department of Educational Leadership 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.
CEP Graduate Student Representative: Sergio A. Gonzalez, Claremont Graduate University
Sergio A. Gonzalez is a doctoral student in the School of Educational Studies Department and Dual Master of Arts student in the Applied Gender Studies Program at Claremont Graduate University. He earned his M.Ed. in Postsecondary Administration and Student Affairs from the University of Southern California (USC) and his B.A. in Communication Studies from Manhattanville College. Sergio’s research interests focus on Jotería pedagogy, education equity, social justice, undocumented/DACAmented students, and Queer Latinx students in higher education.
CEP Mentor-Protegé Co-Chair: Crystal E. Garcia, Ph.D., University of Nebraska-Lincoln
Crystal E. Garcia, Ph.D., is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Educational Administration at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Her research critically examines the mechanisms by which racially minoritized college students experience campus environments, specifically focusing on campus climates and the role of student affairs in student experiences.
CEP Pre-Conference Chair: Lucy Arellano, Texas Tech University
Lucy Arellano is an associate professor of Higher Education Programs in the College of Education at Texas Tech University. She has over fifteen years of experience in the field of higher education. Her research focuses on persistence, retention, and degree completion for emerging majority students.
CEP Awards Chair: Raquel M. Rall, Ph.D., University of California, Riverside
Raquel M. Rall is an assistant professor of higher education at the University of California, Riverside. Her research sits at the intersection of equity and higher education leadership and governance. Prior to her appointment at UC Riverside, Rall was a UC Chancellor’s Postdoctoral Fellow. A graduate of the University of Southern California’s Rossier School of Education, she earned her PhD in urban education policy. She obtained BAs in human biology and African and African American studies from Stanford.