Dr. Delores Jones-Brown is a retired Professor from the Department of Law, Police Science and Criminal Justice Administration at John Jay College of Criminal Justice, City University of New York. She was the founding director of the John Jay College Center on Race, Crime and Justice where she also served as a faculty research fellow. Her areas of research and scholarship include: race, crime and the administration of justice, police-community relations, juvenile justice, and the legal socialization of adolescent males.

Her book, Race, Crime and Punishment, won a New York Public Library award in 2001. In addition to multiple articles, book chapters and legal commentaries, she is the co-editor of two additional books: The System in Black and White: Exploring the Connections between Race, Crime and Justice (Praeger, 2000) and Policing and Minority Communities: Bridging the Gap (Prentice Hall, 2004).

Prof. Jones-Brown holds a joint Masters in Criminal Justice and Juris Doctor from Rutgers University School of Criminal Justice and Rutgers Law School-Newark. She completed her doctorate in Criminal Justice at Rutgers Graduate School-Newark in 1996. Her undergraduate degree is from Howard University, Washington, DC in Sociology and the Administration of Justice. Her post-doctoral studies which examined the relationship between African American males, schools and delinquency were completed in the Department of Health and Behavioral Studies at Teachers College, Columbia University and in the Behavioral Sciences Training Program at the National Development and Research Institutes.

In addition to her career as an academic, Dr.Jones-Brown has spent time as a criminal justice practitioner in multiple areas, including prosecution, community-based and institutional corrections and program development for court-involved youth. She continues to be involved with the development of law and justice-related education for middle schools and high schools.

Andrea McDonald is an Assistant Professor of Health and current curriculum chair in the Department of Health and Kinesiology at Prairie View A&M University. Prior to joining the faculty body, she served as a research assistant in the Transdisciplinary Center for Health Equity Research at Texas A&M University and research coordinator for the Rural Minority Health Disparity and Community Research project. Her primary research interests are centered on the underserved minority youth health and risk factors (food preparation literacy). Dr. McDonald has conducted some of her research in the Caribbean, exploring foods and nutrition policies in school and health issues affecting school children. She is particularly interested in photovoice, grounded theory, and systematic literature review methods to understand health concerns. To date, she has taught more than 6000 students who are pursuing careers in the health field and served as an advisor for many others. Dr. McDonald’s career journey began here at Prairie View A&M University. She holds a Ph.D. in Health Education from Texas A&M University, College Station, a Master of Science in Human Sciences concentration in Dietetics, and a Bachelor of Science in Dietetics, Foods, and Nutrition from Prairie View A&M University. She has received the PVAMU 40 under 40 and Texas Public Health Association Thinking Progressively Towards health awards. Dr. McDonald has been a Fellow for Texas Public Health Association and an active member for the American Academy for Dietetics and Nutrition, American Overseas Dietetic Association, Texas Public Health Association (TPHA). Also, she is a member and advisor for Eta Sigma Gamma at Prairie View A&M University.

Valerie is an Education Policy and Planning doctoral student at the University of Texas at Austin. She has over 15 years of experience as an educator. She is interested in studying education policies that impact equity in P-12 schools and more broadly, create social change. She is specifically interested in patterns of school segregation and school integration policy. She is a founding member of Integrated Schools Austin, a community group that advocates for policies that would increase equity, cultural proficiency, and integration in AISD schools. She earned a B.A. in Child Study and Language Development from Southwestern University and an M.A. in Curriculum and Instruction from Michigan State University.

Dr. Michael L. McFrazier, a native of Paris, Texas, is professor and dean of the Whitlowe R. Green College of Education (WRGCOE) at Prairie View A&M University (PVAMU).

McFrazier joined the faculty at PVAMU in 1998 after beginning his professional career as a public school music teacher and administrator in the Waco Independent School District, Waco, Texas. During his over twenty year tenure in higher education, he has served in a number of administrative roles to include Coordinator of Graduate Studies, Associate Provost & Associate Vice President for Academic & Student Affairs, Vice Provost for Academic Affairs, Dean of the PVAMU Northwest Houston Campus, chair of the PVAMU SACS-COC Reaffirmation of Accreditation decennial review and Vice President for Administration and Chief of Staff. McFrazier also provided leadership in establishing the doctoral program in Educational Leadership.
McFrazier enjoys working with and speaking motivationally to students. He has written a number of articles and book chapters and made scholarly presentations. His professional research interests include First Generation College Student Academic Self-Efficacy, Minority Male Academic Achievement and Mentorship, and Personality Assessment of Effective Educational Leaders.
McFrazier received an Associate of Arts Degree from Paris Junior College. He earned the B.M. in Music Education, an M.M. in Music–Vocal Performance, and an M.A. in Education from Baylor University. He received his Ph.D. in Educational Administration from the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville.

Rosa M. Banda, Ph.D. is Assistant Professor of Educational Leadership at Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi. Formerly, Dr. Banda was a Research Associate to the Samuel DeWitt Proctor Chair in Education in the Graduate School of Education at Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey. Dr. Banda earned her Ph.D. in Higher Education Administration and Human Resource Development from Texas A&M University-College Station. She holds a M.Ed. in Adult & Higher Education with a cognate in Bicultural/Bilingual Studies and a B.A. in Communications with a concentration in Public Relations from the University of Texas at San Antonio, respectively. In addition to numerous national and international presentations, Dr. Banda’s most recent publications include several peer reviewed journal articles, as well as a co-edited books currently in press titled Square pegs and round holes: Alternative student development frameworks and models for higher education and student affairs with Stylus Publishing. Dr. Banda’s primary research interests include: High achieving Latinas in engineering, Gifted Poor Students of Color, Faculty Diversity, and Qualitative Research.

Laura is from the Rio Grande Valley and came to Austin in 1999 as an AmeriCorps VISTA volunteer. She earned her B.S. in Environmental Science from Drake University, and later went on to earn her MBA from St. Edward’s University and PhD in Higher Education from the University of Texas at Austin. In 2012, Laura served as a postdoctoral fellow at UT’s Community Engagement Center as the Director of Public Engagement. In this role, she led one of Austin’s most comprehensive public engagement projects known as the Colony Park Sustainable Community Initiative. Laura credits this experience with changing her professional trajectory and after completing the project she launched Cortez Consulting.

Today, Laura is designing new ways to effectively engage the public, particularly those individuals who are traditionally left out of the conversation. Cortez Consulting is certified as a Women and Minority-Owned Business (MWBE) and Historically Underutilized Business (HUB). The organization is a member of the Greater Austin Hispanic Chamber of Commerce (GAHCC) and involved with an array of projects across the City working to build positive relationships within the community.

During her free time, Dr. Cortez stays active in the community. She is a recent graduate of Leadership Austin Essential Program and serves on the board of the Austin Parks Foundation and Leadership Austin.

Camille Gibson, Ph.D., C.R.C., is the Executive Director of the Texas Juvenile Crime Prevention Center and Interim Dean of the College of Juvenile Justice at Prairie View A&M University. As a nationally certified rehabilitation counselor, she has worked in various settings with juveniles in conflict with the law as the primary client. She has been a university faculty member for over 20 years – beginning at Brooklyn College for four and a half years in the Political Science Department and concurrently for three years at John Jay College in the Public Administration Department before joining Prairie View. Her publications include being author of Being Real: Student-Teacher Interactions and African American Male Delinquency; co-author of Juvenile Sex Offending: What the Public Needs to Know and co-editor of Crime and Violence in the Caribbean: Lessons from Jamaica. Other works have addressed topics such as drug trafficking; gangs in schools; race and school suspensions, sexual abuse, sex trafficking, child abuse, youth and police interactions and juvenile violence.
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Dr. Gibson is a past President of the Southwestern Association of Criminal Justice and a former Board member of the Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences. She is a Niederhoffer Memorial Fellowship recipient and a Felix Fabian Award winner. She has offered advice internationally to governments engaged in juvenile justice reform. She is also the Communications Officer for the Caribbean Crime Study Group and is the editor of its Caribbean Diaspora Crime Prevention Gazette. In February 2020, she was an invited speaker at the Seventh International and Eleventh Biennial Conference of the Indian Society of Victimology, Chennai, India on juvenile justice.

Howard Henderson is the founding director of the Center for Justice Research in the Barbara Jordan – Mickey Leland School of Public Affairs at Texas Southern University. He is a professor of justice administration and former graduate program director in the Administration of Justice Department. Howard is an expert on culturally- responsive criminal justice research, program evaluations and assessment instrument validations. Dr. Henderson serves as an advisory board member of the Vera Institute’s Rural Jail Research Policy Network and as a member of the National Scientific Advisory Committee at the Institute of Justice Research and Development at Florida State University.

Recently, Dr. Henderson served as the chair of the data subcommittee for Houston Racial/Ethnic Disparities Committee Data Workgroup supported by the MacArthur Foundation. Recently, Howard completed the National Science Foundation-funded project with the Baylor College of Medicine’s Initiative on Neuroscience and Law that designed an iPAD risk assessment application that determined decision-making characteristics of the criminal justice involved.

Dr. Henderson received his B.S. in criminal justice administration from Middle Tennessee State University, his masters of criminal justice from Tennessee State University, and his PhD in Criminal Justice from Sam Houston State University in 2006.

Enrique Romo is the Assistant Vice President for Student Affairs over Access and Diversity at Weber State University in Ogden, Utah. In this role, he assists in the overall management of the Division of Student Affairs as well as leading the area of Access and Diversity. Initiatives he currently oversees include TRIO Talent Search, TRIO Upward Bound, State GEAR UP, Ogden School District GEAR UP, College Access and First-Year Transition, Diversity and Inclusive Programming, Center for Multicultural Excellence, the LGBT Resource Center, the Women’s Center, Men of Color, Peer Mentoring, and Community Engagement.

His oversight and leadership directly support institutional core themes of access, learning and community through precollege outreach programs, transition support, community partnerships, university-wide programming, leadership development, and retention efforts to create an inclusive and welcoming co-curricular environment for all students with particular emphasis upon historically underrepresented populations in higher education.

His team in the Office of Access and Diversity works on various co-curricular projects to engage students, provide a sense of belonging, and help them realize their full potential and academic aspirations. Events include The Latinos in Action Conference where the institution hosts 1200 students and the Multicultural Youth Conference, which brings about 600 students to campus. Both of these conferences offer high school students across Utah the opportunity to learn about college, learn leadership and advocacy skills to effect change in their communities and prepare them for postsecondary aspirations. Access and Diversity enhances students’ experiences by providing summer bridge programs for admitted students. They also host programs throughout the year celebrating students’ cultures, traditions, identities, experiences, and languages among others. Access and Diversity provides leadership programs for students and promotes student success by giving them on-campus opportunities through student government, clubs and organizations, and community service.

In Texas, he directed Project MALES (Mentoring to Achieve Latino Educational Success) and the Texas Education Consortium for Male Students of Color at the University of Texas at Austin. As Director, Dr. Romo served as the chief operations officer for all Project and Consortium activities and was responsible for communications and engagement with key partners among other responsibilities.

As Deputy to the Vice President at UT Austin, he was responsible for special projects delegated by the Vice President for Diversity and Community Engagement. He assisted with coordination of institutional and strategic planning; worked with faculty, staff, students, administrators and the community on behalf of the Vice President. Dr. Romo, in this role, worked closely with the vice president in a number of various internal and external organizations. He also served as the liaison to the Student Diversity Initiatives portfolio, which included the Multicultural Engagement Center and the Gender and Sexuality Center.

Dr. Romo recently finished his MBA from Weber State University. He received his Ph.D. in higher education administration from The University of Texas at Austin, a master’s degree from Texas State University and his bachelor’s degree from the University of Texas at El Paso.