Campus & Community

Twelve new Administrative Fellows announced for 2008-09

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Continuing the legacy of a flagship leadership development fellowship for high-potential academic administrators of color, 12 new fellows have been selected for the 2008-09 class of the Administrative Fellowship Program (AFP). The seven visiting fellows are talented professionals drawn from business, education, and the professions outside the University, while the five resident fellows are exceptional professionals currently working at Harvard identified by their department and selected by the fellowship program review committee as having the leadership potential to advance to senior administrative positions.

Coordinated by the Office of the Assistant to the President, the AFP launched the program year with a one-day orientation at the Harvard Faculty Club in September. President Drew Faust welcomed the sponsors and 12 new fellows as she led a discussion on Harvard’s ongoing commitment to diversity within its pursuit of academic and administrative excellence.

Entering its 20th year, AFP is a University-wide program that provides outstanding professionals an opportunity to learn leadership by working in a significant academic administration role in the Harvard community for one year. AFP reflects Harvard’s strong commitment to addressing the underrepresentation of ethnic minority groups within the University’s administrative work force.

The program is supplemented with educational seminars and case studies on various aspects of higher education leadership and academic administration. The program faculty is composed of School deans, vice presidents, major office directors, and faculty across the University. The goals of the program include enhancing the fellows’ administrative and professional skills and clarifying their career objectives.

Harvard Visiting Administrative Fellows:

Manon “Misko” Beaudrie (Anishinabe, Michigan, and Manitoba), B.A. (University of Michigan), M.Ed. (Harvard University). Beaudrie brings a commitment and passion for transformation through education. Most recently an inclusion specialist with the Multicultural Center at The Ohio State University, she managed events and programs involving American Indian culture and heritage. At the University of British Columbia, Beaudrie served as the Community Liaison coordinator for the Institute for Aboriginal Health (IAH). Her work with IAH and the Aboriginal Capacity and Developmental Research Environment focused on community outreach to promote the well-being of First Nations through access and representation in health disciplines. Beaudrie is a member of the Three Fires Lodge of the traditional Midewiwin (Grand Medicine) Society and has been initiated at the first degree. Her traditional name is Miskodagaaginkwe, and she is a member of the Fish Clan (Rainbow Trout). Beaudrie’s fellowship assignment is in the Harvard Project on American Indian Economic Development at the Harvard Kennedy School.

Ceilyn Boyd, B.A. (Stanford University), M.A. (Brandeis University), M.LIS. (Simmons College). For nearly two decades, Boyd was a scientific visualization, computer graphics, and applications development programmer and project manager at several research and commercial organizations. She also spent seven years as the sole proprietor of an art glass studio and has taught art technique to adults and teens in the Boston area. Upon perceiving the burgeoning and strategic importance of information analysis and management in many of today’s fields, Boyd then chose to delve into the field of digital librarianship. Her current research involves digital asset management and preservation; analyzing and facilitating access to preserved assets using visualization technologies; and ethics in Internet research. Boyd is also interested in the study of online communities and developing strategies for ethically preserving the born-digital artifacts of these and other communities for future scholarly inquiry. Her fellowship assignments are in the Office for Information Systems and the Weissman Preservation Center at the Harvard Library.

Elva DeLeon Caballero, B.S., M.A.S., and postgraduate certification in nonprofit management (University of Texas, Dallas). Caballero brings more than 15 years of management experience in scholarship administration, leadership development, and diversity initiatives with noted accomplishment in both nonprofit and corporate sectors. Her most recent work experience includes serving as intellectual content development manager and education manager for the National Society of Hispanic MBAs (NSHMBA). As intellectual content development manager, she worked on the development of executive leadership and professional development programs; workshops for the organization; and an annual national conference. As education manager she was responsible for administration of a yearly $1 million scholarship program; the management of pre-M.B.A. literature and outreach programs; and relationships with university, corporate, and nonprofit partners. Prior to NSHMBA, Caballero worked as diversity and community relations specialist for Blockbuster Inc., where she managed a cross-functional senior leadership diversity council under the guidance of the chief global diversity officer. Caballero’s efforts focused on developing the company’s diversity strategic plan and goals. Her responsibilities also included managing corporate giving and community relations supporting local and national partners through cash and in-kind donations. Prior to Blockbuster, Caballero served as Texas regional director for the Hispanic Scholarship Fund, developing and executing strategic fundraising and outreach goals for the state of Texas. Her fellowship assignment is in Harvard’s Office of Human Resources.

Karen T. Craddock, Ed.M. (Harvard University), Ph.D. (Tufts University). Craddock’s professional and scholarly background is in developmental psychology and family studies. Her dissertation research examined the construct of psychological resistance to marginalization among young black mothers wherein she discovered optimal and suboptimal patterns of resistance across affect, behavior, and cognition. Giving attention to the sociocultural context in human development, education, and relationships, Craddock has focused on marginalized communities, which has amplified her work on family support, equity, and psychosocial processes. Further inquiry of psychological functioning and adaptation prompt current research on the cultural-relational constructs of healing and wellness—particularly among black women and families. Craddock’s work on personal narrative informs her content and methods, while developing current practice in ethnographic qualitative research, consultation, teaching, and writing. She brings an extensive background in program evaluation and research at a broad level, including work on Fast Track (a national intervention project for at-risk families); the Tufts University Massachusetts Healthy Families Evaluation; and the New England Quality Research Center for Head Start at Education Development Center, where she developed survey instruments and conducted data collection, coding, and analysis. Craddock’s prior community and direct service experience is as an early childhood program manager at the Boston Children’s Museum and a parent counselor for Work/Family Directions. She also has served on various education and community boards, building bridges between responsive research and effective practice. Craddock’s fellowship assignment is in the Project to End Health Disparities at the Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH).

Mitalene Fletcher, B.A. and B.Ed. (Queen’s University, Canada), M.A. and Ph.D. (New York University). Fletcher’s professional background is in teacher development, education evaluation, and arts in education. She was the program director for the Paul A. Kaplan Center for Educational Drama at the City University of New York (CUNY), where she created graduate courses and teacher development programs to introduce interactive, arts-based strategies into classrooms at all levels of education. As an adjunct instructor at New York University and CUNY, she taught graduate courses in assessment and strategies for promoting literacy. Her evaluation work includes an examination of undergraduate arts curricula at the University of Pretoria’s Faculty of Education, and her doctoral dissertation examines teacher education in post-apartheid South Africa. She began her career teaching secondary school history and theater in Toronto and in England. Fletcher serves as chairperson for the Doris Warner Memorial Scholarship Committee (established in honor of Boston’s first black female school principal), and she serves on the education committee for South Africa Partners. Fletcher’s fellowship assignment focuses on international projects with the Research, Innovation, and Outreach group in the Graduate School of Education.

Denise Porché, B.A. (University of Massachusetts, Dartmouth), M.S.W. (Boston University). Porché brings a broad administrative and social work background along with her work on local, state, and national committees. She directs the Office for Child Protection for the Catholic Diocese of Fall River, where she is responsible for managing compliance and education initiatives in response to the clergy sex abuse scandal. Porché is the founder of the National Safe Environment Leadership Conference, which convenes directors annually across the United States to address sex abuse prevention in the Catholic Church. In addition, she directs the Catholic Campaign for Human Development by managing fund allocations, providing technical assistance to community organizations, and promoting an annual appeal. Her professional experience also includes providing consultation to communities impacted by immigration raids. Porché is a member of numerous boards, representing her interests in leadership development, social justice, and the arts. Porché’s fellowship assignment is in the Charles Hamilton Houston Institute for Race & Justice at Harvard Law School.

Beverly Tyler, B.S. (Duke University), M.B.A. (Massachusetts Institute of Technology), M.Phil. (New York University). Tyler has worked in a variety of industries, focusing primarily on project management and operations management. She has worked as a business analyst at Delta Air Lines, implementing information technology projects for cargo and reservations. In addition, she worked at Dell for several years leading an international operations team through the launch of several workstation products. Most recently, Tyler worked as the director of operations at KIPP Gaston College Preparatory in North Carolina, implementing operational and organizational changes at the school. Her research at NYU focused on status, stereotypes, and social networks. Tyler’s fellowship assignment is in the Faculty of Arts and Sciences Registrar’s Office, where she will be designing and executing research initiatives that focus on diversity at Harvard College and the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences.

Harvard Resident Administrative Fellows:

Joy Fortune, B.S. (American University). Fortune is currently a financial administrator within the Dean’s Office of Harvard College. Prior to coming to Harvard, she was a senior financial analyst at Salem State College and served as manager of facilities financial services at American University. Fortune also participates in youth volunteer activities, and her past experience includes tutoring minorities and low-income students through the YWCA; participating in youth ministries through her local church; and most recently, leading the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) chapter of the Junior Achievement Program to Company of the Year for the Eastern Massachusetts region in 2008. In addition, Fortune and her husband lead a nationally based telephone evangelism ministry each week and enjoy sharing the hope of their faith through various creative means.

Alexis S. Harding, B.A. (Wilberforce University). Harding is currently pursuing a master’s in human resource management and has been employed at Harvard Medical School (HMS) as an employment specialist since October 2006. She has 10 years of human resource management experience, eight of which were in the corporate sector. Prior to HMS, she worked for a large information technology staffing and services company. She held several positions throughout her tenure including recruiter, recruitment manager, and account executive, as well as roles in promoritonal opportunities. Harding is a native of Cambridge, Mass.; however, after obtaining her bachelor’s degree, she remained in Southfield, Mich., for five years before returning to Massachusetts. Upon her return she became active in the political arena where she successfully led her elder brother’s school committee campaign in 2006. An active member in her community, she has served on the board of directors for Cambridge Pop Warner and the Community Art Center Alumni. Her fraternal affiliations include the Order of the Eastern Star and Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority Inc.

Dianne M. Le, B.A. (University of California-Berkeley), Ed.M. (Harvard University). Le is currently the associate director of admissions and placement at the Harvard Business School. In this capacity, she oversees the admissions, career placement, and marketing for nine doctoral programs.  Prior to coming to Harvard, she worked at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University, where she assisted the executive associate dean and managed issues surrounding student life and community building. She has worked at Stanford University and has completed internships at the United States Department of Commerce, the International Trade Administration, and the Office of Massachusetts State Rep. Deborah Blumer, where she conducted research on charter schools in Massachusetts. She is currently the chair of the DocNet Consortium of Business Doctoral Programs, an affiliate of the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools in Business (AACSB), with a membership of more than 60 institutions.

Kerri L. Noonan, B.A. and M.S. (Boston University), Ed.M. (Harvard University). Currently, Noonan is the assistant director of admissions at HSPH. She has 12 years of experience in higher education administration including six years at HSPH. Prior to coming to Harvard, Noonan worked in communications and human resources for Johnson & Johnson. She has served as a member of the Boston University College of Communication Alumni Board of Directors and is a current member of the Harvard Graduate School of Education Recent Alumni Circle Committee.

Amy Whitish, B.A. (University of Wisconsin, Madison), M.A. (University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign). Whitish is currently a program coordinator at LASPAU (Latin American Scholarship Program of American Universities): Academic and Professional Programs for the Americas, an affiliate of Harvard University. She has been working in the field of international education for nearly 10 years. Prior to coming Harvard, Whitish worked as a study abroad adviser at Brandeis University and Harvard University, as a staff assistant for the Global Master of Arts Program at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, and as an ESL and Spanish instructor at both Education First International Language School and the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. Whitish has served as a Peace Corps volunteer in the Dominican Republic, taught ESL to Fulbrighters in Managua, Nicaragua, and studied in both Mexico and Spain. She is currently an active participant in BASAA (Boston Area Study Abroad Advisors): New England Study Abroad Community and NAFSA (National Association of Foreign Student Advisers): Association for International Educators.

Of the many former visiting fellows who remained at Harvard after their fellowship assignment, 19 are currently employed at the University in permanent staff positions. Others decided to pursue opportunities outside of Harvard, typically at colleges and universities or other institutions in the nonprofit sector.

The AFP is a collaborative effort between host departments and the Office of the Assistant to the President, with fellowship stipends underwritten in part by the President’s Office. The program is coordinated by the Office of the Assistant to the President, where Teresa Malonzo serves as program coordinator and James Hoyte is the associate vice president/assistant to the president.