Change Agents Shaping Campus Diversity and Equity (CASCaDE)

Erick R. Aguinaldo, Ph.D.,

obtained his Ph.D. in Psychology and Women’s & Gender Studies from the University of Michigan and currently teaches Ethnic Studies at the community college level. His research focuses on gender, race, and media. He has worked in higher education for nearly a decade and is passionate about advancing equity for historically marginalized groups.

W. Carson Byrd, Ph.D.,

is an Associate Research Scientist in the Center for the Study of Higher & Postsecondary Education at the University of Michigan. His research examines the mechanisms of racism within higher education and in broader society, racialization of science and knowledge production, and critical quantitative approaches for improving the study of social inequalities. His current work explores the impacts of affirmative action bans on the intersectional inequalities of student degree paths and experiences. Dr. Byrd is the author of Behind the Diversity Numbers: Achieving Racial Equity on Campus, Poison in the Ivy: Race Relations and the Reproduction of Inequality on Elite College Campuses, and co-editor of Intersectionality and Higher Education: Identity and Inequality on College Campuses.

Natacha Cesar-Davis, Ph.D.,

Program Manager

researches faculty pedagogies shaping student engagement, the pivotal role of services like financial aid in fostering student belonging, and how faculty life histories enrich students' navigational and social capital. She has worked as a full-time tenure track faculty at two community colleges, counselor and advisor at both public and private universities, Director of an HSI grant and most recently as Assistant Dean of Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion and Black Life at UCLA's School of Education and Information Studies. Currently, she serves as the Inaugural Senior Director of the Student Life Cycle at California State University San Marcos, overseeing the strategic planning and coordination of success and retention initiatives.