Shanalee Gallimore is a program director in the Office of Undergraduate STEM Education at the American Association for Colleges and Universities (AAC&U). She possesses vast experience and expertise in qualitative research methods that can be applied to our understanding of how STEM faculty and administrators can learn about themselves through reflection and introspection and employ the habits of mind needed for career advancement and success in the STEM academy.

Dr. Gallimore’s work centers on well-being as a necessary factor for career advancement. She foregrounds her positionality from a Black feminist epistemology perspective, prioritizing Black women’s lived experiences as a valid source of knowledge production. Her research focuses on the holistic well-being of Black women graduate students in STEM because centering the stories of Black women from a strength-based lens is of utmost importance in Dr. Gallimore’s research. She believes it is crucial to share the stories of Black women in STEM who are thriving within their respective spaces.

Dr. Gallimore received her bachelor’s and master’s degree in biology from Florida A&M University, a Historically Black College and University in Tallahassee, FL, and her Ph.D. in Higher Education from Indiana University Bloomington.

Dr. Kelly Mack is the Vice President for Undergraduate STEM Education and Executive Director of Project Kaleidoscope at the Association of American Colleges and Universities (AAC&U).  In this capacity, Dr. Mack provides leadership for the organization’s mission-level commitments to equity and quality through the delivery of world-class STEM faculty professional development.

Prior to joining AAC&U, Dr. Mack was the Senior Program Director for the National Science Foundation ADVANCE Program while on loan from the University of Maryland Eastern Shore where, as a Professor of Biology, she taught courses in Physiology and Endocrinology for 17 years. Recognized as a national thought leader in higher education, Dr. Mack’s work has been highlighted in Diverse Magazine and U.S. News and World Report. Currently, she serves on the external advisory boards for several institutional transformation initiatives at NSF-funded ADVANCE and HBCU Undergraduate Program institutions, as Co-Editor of the ADVANCE Journal, and as a member of the National Academies Roundtable on Systemic Change in Undergraduate STEM Education and the Howard University School of Arts and Sciences Board of Visitors. Dr. Mack is also co-founder and Chair of the Board of the Society of STEM Women of Color, Inc., the nation’s leading organization that supports women of color in the academic STEM disciplines.

Henrietta Denise Ssettimba is a qualitative researcher with a particular interest in STEM Equity and examining the impact in life outcomes. Her experiences include grant writing, health services research, national K-12 and higher education data collection. Her experiences include creating STEM Karts and Kits alongside her peers as a member of Youth Philanthropy Initiative, grant writing for international development initiatives as an intern at the Jane Goodall Institute and engaging in qualitative higher education research as an intern at UNCF’s Frederick D. Patterson Research Institute. Henrietta has supported telehealth, mental health and implementation studies at the Center for Emergency Care Research and Innovation at Vanderbilt University Medical Center. Henrietta additionally had the pleasure of supporting 100kin10’s unCommission as a storyteller, community outreach lead and synthesis support team member.

Henrietta received her BA in Sociology from the Xavier University of Louisiana where she served as inaugural Design Thinking Fellow of Xavier Exponential and is a recipient of the Truman Capote Literary Award and Saint Katherine Drexel Award. She currently serves as a Program Associate in the Office of Undergraduate STEM Education at the American Association of Colleges and Universities.