Graduate Student

Josephine Ingram

Josephine Ingram (she/her) is a doctoral student and Chancellor’s Fellow in the Language, Literacy, and Culture cluster at UC Berkeley's School of Education, advised by Kris Gutiérrez. Her research interests include gender and literacy, queer youth activism in schools, and teaching about collective action. Theoretically, she looks to decolonial thought, Marxism, and queer theory; methodologically, to ethnographic, design-based, and quantitative research methods. Currently, she is a Graduate Student Instructor for Glynda Hull’s “The Art of Making Meaning”. She is a Junior Editor and...

Jose Aguilar

Jose R. Aguilar Jr. is an enthusiastic and driven scholar-educator. He brings a wealth of experience and a solid commitment to addressing systemic issues in education. Born out of his personal experiences as a first-generation college student and a keen observer of the challenges faced by underrepresented communities, Jose has dedicated his career to dismantling the barriers that hinder the educational aspirations of Latino students.

Jose is a doctoral student and Computational Research for Equity in the Legal System (CRELS) Fellow in the Policy, Politics, and Leadership program at...

Hoyun Kim

Hoyun Kim is a PhD candidate in the Policy, Politics, and Leadership cluster at the UC Berkeley School of Education. Her research interests lie in public education policy, organizational identity and behavior, and their implications for college access and student agency to and through college. Her recent work applies an organizational lens to the relationship between policies aimed at improving equity in higher education and the community college system.

Her interests are informed by her experiences attending multiple public schools and hearing different narratives around merit and...

Kemryn Lawrence

Kemryn Janall-Louise Lawrence is a doctoral student in the School of Education at the University of California, Berkeley, pursuing a Ph.D. with a concentration in Policy, Politics, and Leadership. Her research interests center on expanding college access, strengthening educational pathways, and advancing institutional strategies that support student success from K–12 through higher education. Central to her vision is the strengthening of Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) and building pipelines that connect underrepresented students to these institutions and beyond....

Cassandra Yee

Cassandra is a proud Latina and first-generation student with Mexican cultural roots in the desert southwest border. She obtained her bachelor's degree in psychological sciences from the University of Arizona in 2021 and received her master's degree in education from the University of California, Berkeley in 2024. Cassandra is currently a fifth-year PhD candidate in the School Psychology program at the Berkeley School of Education, and advised by HSI expert Dra Gina A. Garcia. She currently serves as a student representative on the Latinx Thriving Initiative (LTI) Advisory Board, is a...

Kyla Kemble

In 2021, Kyla Kemble (she/her) joined the school psychology program at the Berkeley School of Education, under the advisement of Dr. Frank C. Worrell. A New Jersey native, she received a Bachelor of Science in Psychology Honors at Seton Hall University in 2021.

Broadly, Kyla’s current research focuses on establishing and maintaining culturally responsive practices in classrooms, consultation and collaboration with teachers, and implicit biases in education. Additionally, she has a special interest in multiracial youth and enjoys thinking about how to implement positive racial...

Umara Hansen

Umara Hansen (she/her) is a fourth-year doctoral candidate in the School Psychology program at UC Berkeley. She graduated with highest honours, Summa Cum Laude, with a B.Sc. in Psychology from the University of Ottawa, where she conducted fMRI-based research on the impact of stress on well-being. Before graduate school, Umara served as Outreach Lead for Anxiety Canada and contributed as a research assistant in multiple labs across Canada and the United States, including the Depression, Anxiety, and Stress Lab at the University of British Columbia and the Stress and Development Lab at...

Alexis Meza

Alexis Meza is a Ph.D. Student in Education with an emphasis in the Critical Studies of Race, Class, and Gender at the Berkeley School of Education. He received his Bachelor's Degree from UC Riverside in Psychology and Education and a Master's from New York University (NYU) in Higher Education and Student Affairs. Under the tutelage of Dra. Gina Ann Garcia, he serves as the Graduate Student Researcher for the Higher Education Action Research for Transformation (HEART) Lab & Latinx Thriving Initiatives (LTI). In practice, Alexis works in partnership with the Latinx Student Resource...

Quennie Dong

Quennie Dong is a doctoral candidate in the School Psychology program at the University of California, Berkeley. She has earned degrees from the University of California, Irvine (B.A., Psychology and Social Behavior, minor in Education) and Florida International University (Ed.S., School Psychology). Quennie’s research focuses on inclusive socioecological systems of support for educational leaders, teachers, and youth, with an emphasis on the Asian American community. Her scholarship critically examines the racialization of Asian Americans in education, considering how systemic and...

Ally Collard

Alexandra (Ally) Collard is a second-year PhD student in the Graduate Group in Science and Mathematics Education (SESAME). Ally has Bachelor's degrees in Chemistry and Math from the University of Colorado Boulder and a Master's degree in Chemistry from Institut Polytechnique de Paris, where she studied Electrochemistry and Materials Chemistry. Ally also taught high school Chemistry in Colorado, where she worked to develop her skills in inquiry-based teaching. At UC Berkeley, she is now studying Chemistry Education, working with Anne Baranger's and Marcia Linn's groups. Her research focuses...