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Christabel Cruz

Director, NEW Leadership®

Christabel Cruz is the director of NEW Leadership® at the Center for American Women and Politics. Christabel is a current Ph.D. candidate in the department of political science at Rutgers University-New Brunswick where she is majoring in women and politics and minoring in American politics and race & ethnicity politics. Her graduate research explores Latina candidate


Debbie Walsh

Director, Center for American Women and Politics (CAWP)

Debbie Walsh is director of the Center for American Women and Politics (CAWP), a unit of the Eagleton Institute of Politics at Rutgers University. CAWP is nationally recognized as the leading source of scholarly research and current data about American women’s political participation. Its mission is to promote greater knowledge and understanding about women’s participation


Pooja Prabhakaran

Manager of Public Programs, Center for American Women and Politics (CAWP)

As Manager of Public Programs, Pooja Prabhakaran is responsible for coordinating our public events and programming. This includes leading the planning process, drafting materials, communicating with program speakers and participants, publicizing and promoting the programs, and organizing on-site logistics. Pooja is also responsible for drafting text and developing graphics to deliver CAWP’s message through social media, infographics,


Jillian Cuzzolino

Julia A. Fishelson Intern, Center for American Women and Politics (CAWP)

Jillian Cuzzolino (she/her) is a rising fourth-year student at Rutgers University-New Brunswick. She studies Political Science and Quantitative Economics in the School of Arts and Sciences Honors Program. Jillian previously served as a Rutgers New Student Orientation Leader and as Chair of the University Affairs Committee within the Rutgers University Student Assembly (RUSA). She is


Chloé Risto, M.Ed

Graduate Research Assistant, Center for Character and Citizenship., UMSL

Chloé is a first-year doctoral student in Educational Psychology and a Graduate Research Assistant for the Center for Character and Citizenship. With a Master’s degree in Higher Education Student Affairs from Indiana University, Chloé has spent the past 10 years in the nonprofit sector with the American Youth Foundation as the Director of the National


Eboni Sterling, M.Ed.

Graduate Research Assistant, Center for Character and Citizenship, UMSL

Eboni is a Graduate Research Assistant for the Center of Character and Citizenship and a doctoral student. Previously, she served as a Multicultural Student Services Academic Coach and Peer Mentor Coordinator. Eboni also served as an Academic Advisor for UMSL College of Education. A two-time graduate of the University of Missouri-St. Louis, Eboni earned a


Tamala Stallings, M.S., M.B.A

Graduate Research Assistant, Center for Character and Citizenship, UMSL

Tamala Stallings is a Graduate Research Assistant and the Coordinator for the Sue Shear Leadership Academy for the Center of Character and Citizenship at the University of Missouri-St. Louis. Mrs. Stallings has served the St. Louis community for over 20 years in the health and human services sector, providing grant and program management, grant compliance,


Satabdi Samtani, Ph.D.

Research Scientist, Center for Character and Citizenship, UMSL

Satabdi Samtani is a research scientist for the CViL project at the Center for Character and Citizenship. She completed her doctorate in Human Development and Family Studies from Texas Tech University. Her primary research interests are in evaluation and monitoring of social and community programs. She is keenly interested in social science research designs, methodology,


Deborah Sanders O’Reilly, M.A., M.B.A.

Center Coordinator/Project Support, Center for Character and Citizenship, UMSL

Debbie O’Reilly is the Coordinator for the Center for Character and Citizenship. Debbie has worked over twenty years in higher education in both the College of Management and Business and the College of Arts and Sciences at National Louis University in Chicago. Formerly, Debbie held the position of Assistant Professor in the Social and Behavioral


Melinda C. Bier, Ph.D.

Co-Director, Center for Character and Citizenship, UMSL

Mindy is currently the Co-Director for the Center for Character and Citizenship (CCC) and Senior Research Fellow in the Division of Educational Psychology, Evaluation and Research, College of Education, University of Missouri, St. Louis. Mindy’s expertise spans the fields of Character Education, teacher preparation and professional development, and the design and use of instructional technology