Teach-In Organizer
Dr. Anna D’Souza is an Associate Professor and the Provost Innovation Fellow for Inclusive Teaching at the Marxe School of Public and International Affairs at Baruch College. D’Souza is a development economist who tries to understand factors and inform policies related to poverty and development, with an emphasis on food insecurity and malnutrition. Her research areas include food and nutrition security, price shocks, household coping mechanisms, conflict and instability, governance, and international trade. After receiving her Ph.D. in Economics from UCLA, Anna was a research economist at the Economic Research Service (ERS), U.S. Department of Agriculture. She also worked as a consultant for the World Bank, served as an adjunct professor at the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS), and was a visiting fellow at the Robert F. Wagner School of Public Service at New York University (NYU). Prior to her graduate studies, Anna was a small enterprise development volunteer with the U.S. Peace Corps in Dakar, Senegal. Professor D’Souza holds a B.S. in Finance and Economics from the Stern School of Business at NYU and an M.S. and Ph.D. in Economics from UCLA.
Panelists
Kyoko Kishimoto, Ph.D.
Professor, Department of Ethnic, Gender, & Women’s Studies, St. Cloud State University
Professor Kishimoto teaches courses in Ethnic Studies and Asian Pacific American Studies. Her research interests include how to incorporate antiracist pedagogy within and beyond the classroom, women of color in higher education, and popular cultural representations of race. Her work has appeared in Interdisciplinary Literary Studies, Hmong Studies Journal, Race Ethnicity and Education, Gerontology & Geriatrics Education, Multicultural Education, Feminist Teacher, to name a few.
Iyekiyapiwiƞ Darlene St. Clair is an Associate Professor in the American Indian Studies Department and the Director of the Multicultural Resource Center at Saint Cloud State University. Professor St. Clair also directs the Institute for Native Education Studies at St. Cloud University. Her work focuses on several areas: Dakota Studies; Native Nations of Minnesota; the integration of Native cultures, histories, and languages into curricula and educational institutions; the arts and cultural expressions of Native peoples; Dakota places and sacred sites; and anti-racist pedagogy. She is Bdewakaƞtuƞwaƞ Dakota and a citizen of the Lower Sioux Indian Community in Minnesota.
Student Interviewers
Peter Balluffi-Fry is a rising senior in the Austin W. Marxe School of Public and International Affairs at Baruch College majoring in Public Affairs and minoring in Spanish. This academic year, he has been serving as the Student Alumni Trustee for the County College of Morris, where he graduated with his Associate Degree. Peter has experience working in the different branches of government, from county courts and state transit agencies to the state legislature. During his academic career, Peter has involved himself in student government, environmental clubs, LGBTQ+ organizations, and Model United Nations. Peter is dedicated to learning more about, as well as influencing, the public policy behind social issues, and he plans on attending law school after he graduates from Baruch in the fall.
Areba Ghafoor is a rising senior in the Austin W. Marxe School of Public and International Affairs at Baruch College, majoring in Public Affairs and minoring in Political Science. She is currently working on her honors thesis, focusing on colorism in the South Asian American community, and is a member of the legislative affairs and academic affairs committees. Areba has worked on political campaigns and in local government offices and is an active member of the Muslim community on Staten Island. Areba intends to work in public service, specifically in government, so she can represent people like her in the rooms where decisions are made.
Graduate Assistant
A second year graduate student in the Higher Education Administration program in the Marxe School, and graduate assistant to Dr. Anna D’Souza, Sika Bediako also serves as the Director of College Advising & Postsecondary Success at an independent charter school in the South Bronx. Bediako has worked in middle and high school educational non-profits since graduating from Cornell University where she majored in Government and Africana Studies with a concentration in Inequality Studies. Bediako’s interests and passions lay in dismantling systems of oppression that hinder students of color from not only accessing but succeeding in institutions of higher education.