Authors

Mariam Lam (Lead Author) is Vice Chancellor for Diversity, Equity & Inclusion and Chief Diversity Officer, faculty member in Comparative Literature, and cooperating faculty member in Ethnic Studies at the University of California, Riverside (UCR). She served as Chair/Convenor of the systemwide University of California Council of Vice Chancellors for Equity and Inclusion (CDOs) for two terms (2018-2022), Interim Assistant Dean of Students for Ethnic and Gender Programs in 2020, Co-Chair of the Hispanic Serving Institution Task Force and Committee (2016-2022), and initiated HBCU (Historically Black Colleges and Universities) and AANAPISI (Asian American and Native American Pacific Islander-Serving Institutions) Committees for UCR. She also serves on both UC systemwide HSI and AANAPISI Advisory Committees. She convenes a Council of 15 CDOs for the University Innovation Alliance, and is one of 21 liaisons of the Alliance of Hispanic Serving Research Universities. She has worked on UC systemwide task forces and committees on campus safety and policing, anti-discrimination policies and processes, faculty diversification initiatives, postdoctoral diversity programs, gender recognition and lived name policy implementation, and disability inclusion. She has led compliance and climate task forces, improved academic personnel processes, and created a faculty equity advisors program to address recruitment, retention and climate challenges. She earned a bachelor’s degree in English, a minor in Spanish, and master’s and PhD degrees in comparative literature with certificates of emphasis in feminist studies and Asian American studies from UC Irvine.

Ashley Falcon is an Assistant Professor at the University of Miami’s School of Nursing and Health Studies and Co-chair of the President’s Coalition on Sexual Violence Prevention and Education. As Co-chair, Falcon has led a number of programs and initiatives dedicated to educating the University of Miami community on sexual misconduct prevention, policies, procedures, and more, including an environmental scan to identify the resources available to students on campus and in the community and a comprehensive survey to learn more from students about their related experiences. In her role as a member of faculty, Falcon has been named Faculty Learning Community Fellow with a focus on active learning strategies. She was also named the Emerging Transformational Leadership Fellow at the Mailman Center for Child Development. Falcon served as a wellness administrator for more than a decade and currently serves as Vice Chair of the Board of Directors for Health Little Havana, a nonprofit organization focused on enhancing social determinants of health in Miami’s Little Havana neighborhood. Her community-facing work and research has centered around using power-building strategies (e.g., collective impact, community health workers) to engage community members of Little Havana in co-designing policy, system, and environmental changes that support and strengthen social determinants of health (i.e.,

food and public spaces, education to employment, housing, healthcare access). Her academic research focuses on sexual violence prevention, overseeing the evaluation of Miami-Dade County’s human trafficking victim support services, physical activity promotion, and eliminating healthcare disparities for people with disabilities. Falcon earned her bachelor’s degree in psychology—from Duke University, her master’s degree in public health from the University of South Florida, and her PhD in epidemiology from the University of Miami.

Nicole Merhill is the Director of the Office for Gender Equity (OGE) and University Title IX Coordinator at Harvard University. In her role, Merhill oversees OGE’s Sexual Harassment/Assault Resources and Education (SHARE) team, Title IX resources, and OGE’s University-wide prevention education, engagement and outreach initiatives. In her capacity as University Title IX Coordinator, Merhill is responsible for Harvard’s overall Title IX system including providing direct support and consultation to the university’s 50+ Title IX Resource Coordinators, and direct support to community members. She also served on the survey design team of the Survey on Sexual Assault and Misconduct of the Association of American Universities, which was administrated at 33 participating institutions and reached 181,752 student respondents. Prior to her position at Harvard, Merhill served as Program Manager for the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights in Boston, where she was responsible for oversight, management, and strategic planning. She also worked for more than 15 years as a civil rights attorney, with experience in various protected class statuses, including sex, race, color, national origin, disability, and age. Merhill is a licensed attorney and holds a bachelor’s degree in elementary education and English from Purdue University, and a master’s in education law and JD from University of New Hampshire School of Law.