What drew you to the Georgetown community?

I have been an administrator at the University of Michigan for a good number of years now and received lots of inquiries about positions at other schools. Because of the tremendous opportunities I had at the University of Michigan, I knew I would not leave Michigan unless the perfect opportunity came along. 

When I first looked at the Georgetown 海角论坛 Dean position, I was immediately interested. What drew me in was the strong sense of Jesuit values and principles. As I read more, I thought 鈥楾his is me, I deeply believe in all of these values.鈥� The more I met people and got to know Georgetown, the more I realized that those words weren鈥檛 just nice words for a flashy brochure 鈥�  people really believe them and it is a part of the community, the ethos and spirit of Georgetown. 

How do you balance all of your different roles as an academic, a professor and a dean?

I love the different roles that academics get to pursue: teaching, research and service to their departments, university and research fields. Personally, I think that if I was doing one thing all of the time, I would get bored. I get energized from doing lots of different types of activities.  

My primary focus when I start at Georgetown will be the administrative aspects of leading the 海角论坛. I do not see that as something I do alone, but something that I do in collaboration with our communities of students, faculty and staff. I am also eager to teach at Georgetown because I love teaching and it is a great way to get to know students. I ultimately look forward to continuing my research as well.  

How do you see your role as coming in and contributing to the healing of a community?

We are living through an incredible historic moment. The pandemic has caused an enormous amount of disruption and loss in many people鈥檚 lives and has revealed major systemic inequities that persist in our society. We cannot pretend that we are going back to 鈥渘ormal.鈥� Instead, we must find ways to learn from this.

I think the pandemic has fractured our sense of community in some ways, and it is important to enter into a stage of healing. We need to come together to find new ways of supporting each other and working together to create a new 鈥渘ormal鈥� despite the challenges brought on by new variants.

My leadership style is based on listening and collaboration. My goal is to work together with faculty, staff and students to find solutions that help everyone to excel and to be successful at Georgetown. You can only do that by reaching out, listening and learning about what people need.

What are your research areas of interest?

I have two lines of research 鈥� one focuses on infertility and reproductive difficulties among women of color and the other examines how adolescents cope with community violence in poor and dangerous neighborhoods. In both of these areas of work, I rely on a resilience framework, as I鈥檓 interested in identifying the strengths that help people cope with difficult life circumstances.

As far as I know, I conducted the first study to focus exclusively on African American women鈥檚 experiences with infertility in the U.S. In this qualitative work, I interviewed 50 African American women with a range of socioeconomic backgrounds about their difficulties conceiving. For many reasons, this was one of the most rewarding research projects that I have done. 

In my work with adolescents, we know that adolescents who are exposed to neighborhood violence are at higher risk for increased symptoms of depression, anxiety and PTSD. As an example of our work, we found that engagement in certain types of after-school activities can help protect adolescents from exposure to community violence and help ameliorate the negative effects of violence on well-being

Can you speak to the importance of interdisciplinarity and intersectionality in your work?

I believe in the importance of thinking about people鈥檚 lives from an intersectional perspective. For example, how people experience difficulty getting pregnant and difficulty having a child is greatly based on the intersection of their social identities.

Social identities, like gender, race, socioeconomic class and sexual orientation profoundly influence how people experience the same phenomena. It is difficult to statistically account for how our social identities affect our experiences. Nevertheless, it is so crucial to understand people鈥檚 experiences from a more complex, intersectional starting point.

What are three fun facts about yourself? 

First, I was lucky enough to go to a summer camp in Maine. There, I got to know and perform in plays with Yeardley Smith, now the voice of Lisa Simpson on 鈥淭he Simpsons.鈥�

Second, I grew up in Washington Heights in New York City in a poor, immigrant Dominican family. When I was a little girl, I loved ice skating. We couldn鈥檛 afford ice skating lessons so I used to go to a public ice skating rink to try to teach myself how to figure skate.   

When I had my own children and lived in Michigan, I enrolled both my daughter and my son in ice skating lessons, but realized it was unfair of me to live vicariously through them. So I signed up for figure skating lessons as an adult!

The last one is just a proud accomplishment of mine. At Michigan, our students really pushed the Women鈥檚 and Gender Studies Department to make our minor in 鈥淕ender and Health鈥� into a major.  During my time as chair of the department, I was able to make that happen. It is so meaningful to me that this new major was motivated and initiated by student interests. The new major in 鈥淕ender and Health鈥� quickly became an important major for many of our students while not detracting from the already-established WGST major in the department.

Related News

What project are you most looking forward to working on as dean? 

I look forward to continuing to help the 海角论坛 express its deep liberal arts mission grounded in the search for truth and its social justice mission rooted in the Jesuit tradition. I am most looking forward to continuing to expand research opportunities for undergraduates and emphasizing how that research reflects the central tenets of the 海角论坛 through the intersection of teaching, independent study and mentorship. Research is a central part of how we search for the truth, which is at the core of everything we do here whether it be in the sciences, arts, social sciences or humanities. Allowing students to be a part of this prepares students for independent thought once they leave the university. This is crucial, as many of the jobs our students will hold in their lives do not yet exist, so many of the questions we will seek answers for in the future have not yet been asked. There are so many areas of our world that will be served by our education. My goal is to strengthen that mission. 

How do you balance your many roles as a professor, academic and dean? 

One of the things that I learned early on in my career is the importance of teams. I am very grateful that I entered this position with both an excellent team in the Dean鈥檚 Office and of faculty partners. I work well in collectives and one of ways I am able to create balance is to pull from united strength. Mentors and the people who came before are essential in helping me to navigate the path ahead. I will draw from their shared wisdom. I also have to remember that I am here to make Georgetown a more expansive place. Keeping this in mind helps me to stay on the right path when making decisions.

What do you see as this position’s greatest challenge? 

I think the greatest challenge right now is leading in the midst of a crisis. One of the things that we know is that when you’re in a crisis you have to triage and attend to the most pressing issue in the moment. And for us that鈥檚 everyone’s safety, health and making sure that our education criteria are being met. That being said, there needs to be time to be carved out for our vision for the future. The pandemic has created a spotlight on the many ways that our culture must adapt and improve so that our society is more accessible and equitable for all. My challenge is managing day to emergencies while also setting aside time to plan for the future of our school to ensure that we are implementing the changes that must be born out of what we have learned from this time. 

What is your favorite thing about Georgetown? 

The people. I was drawn back to Georgetown because of the relationships that I formed here with friends and mentors, faculty colleagues and students. I met my husband here. I experience care for the whole person most profoundly in the Georgetown community. 

What do you think makes Georgetown a unique place? 

Georgetown鈥檚 the best! It combines a world class education with a commitment to social justice that is all unfolding in the nation鈥檚 capital. There are other universities grounded in Jesuit values, and there are other prestigious schools even in Washington, but the combination of those two things and its location distinguishes Georgetown from similar institutions. This again provides opportunities and responsibilities for our students, faculty and staff. 

What advice do you have for our students?

I would advise Georgetown 海角论坛 students that they are in a unique educational environment where they have access to a robust liberal arts education that coincides with the mission of the university to be people for others. Given our historical moment, we understand more deeply how connected and interdependent we are. And our liberal arts education allows us to wed different fields of knowledge. Our mission is to apply that knowledge towards the common good. I encourage our students to explore areas that feed them, bring them joy and make them want to get out of bed in the morning. I also want them to understand that the work they do is towards being people for others and that is a great opportunity and responsibility. 

What are three fun facts about yourself? 

Before the pandemic, I was an avid theatergoer — my favorite playwright is Lorraine Hansberry, who I am writing a book about that will be released this spring. I graduated from Georgetown with one major – it is possible to do one thing and go on and to be successful! I also feel a strong relation to my zodiac sign of Capricorn.

What are some of the most rewarding lessons that you have learned during your time as dean?

All of the lessons that I have learned from the instilled Jesuit values at Georgetown have been valuable, but the most profound is the idea that the same value that is placed on the intellect should also be ascribed to feelings and emotions. There is also a deeply rooted service culture at the school, which is a good anchor for any institution to have and is something I will try to uphold moving forward. 

I have also found through my time at Georgetown that there is a strong presupposition in the good will of others. I will remember that most fondly and will carry it with me always. 

What will you be taking with you in your next role?

I hope that I can bring my experiences working with faculty, students and fellow deans to help create connections across the university. 

What part of campus will you miss the most?

I will certainly miss looking out my window in White Gravenor and seeing the outline of Healy. My wife Anna Celenza and I have grown quite fond of hearing the chime of the bells from that tower throughout the day and I am sad that I will no longer be able to do so. 

But I will truly miss my colleagues in the Dean鈥檚 Office and all of the excellent vice deans that I have had the privilege to work alongside. However, I know that I leave them in excellent hands with Soyica Colbert鈥檚 appointment to interim dean. From the moment I met her, she has shown herself to be a leader who is able to both listen well and make good, impactful decisions. She is a leader with vision and energy, and I think she鈥檒l do a great job. 

What were you most proud of during your time as dean?

Georgetown is home to an incredibly strong body of accomplished faculty members. In my time as dean, I was very happy and proud that we paid special attention to diversifying the faculty in the 海角论坛. I feel very fortunate to have worked alongside such high level academics and researchers. I console myself that we aren鈥檛 too far away and we are still united by the republic of letters. I know we will read each other鈥檚 work and continue to learn from one another for years to come. 

How do you balance your many roles as a professor, academic and dean?

Your calendar can be your best friend or worst enemy. At the end of the day, you have to take control over your own time and set boundaries. It鈥檚 important to take time for self care and disconnect for a while. 

What advice do you have for our students?

Our students are our future leaders who are working through the most difficult time in our country鈥檚 recent memory and I admire their resilience. As we emerge from this pandemic, I encourage students to begin reflecting on what you have learned. How did this change your worldview? In all likelihood, it changed every aspect. 

Before the pandemic, there were people like grocery store clerks, postal workers and bus drivers who were often neglected. There were communities that were not given the care they should have received and are still fighting for justice. My advice would be to never forget that. Everyone has value. Everyone deserves to be treated with dignity.