Brief Biographies​

Dr. James Mohr serves as the Acting Assistant Dean of Student Success and Outreach at the Community Colleges of Spokane, chairs the Board of Advisors for the Gonzaga University (GU) Institute for Hate Studies, and is a member of the City of Spokane Human Rights Commission. He earned his Ph.D. in Leadership Studies from GU and an M.A. in Student Personnel Administration from New York University. He has presented at national and international conferences on intercultural leadership, understanding hate, white privilege, and creating safe campuses. He has written articles on studying hate, how science Others lesbian, gay, and bisexual individuals, leadership styles within white supremacist groups, and leadership lessons that can be learned from improvisational theater. He also received the Spokane YWCA Racial and Social Justice Award and the Safe Campus Advocates program he created at the Community Colleges won an ACPA award for innovative two-year college program.

Dr. Daisy Rodriguez Pitel earned her B.A. in Speech Communication at San Francisco State University, her M.A. in College Student Personnel at New York University, and her Ph.D. in Higher Education Administration at Indiana University-Bloomington.  Dr. Rodriguez Pitel is most passionate about issues of social justice, leadership, and higher education.  She has worked at various universities throughout the nation, Weber State University, Baruch College, New York University, Indiana University, University of Virginia, and California State University Monterey Bay.  Currently, she oversees Student Support Services at the West Campus of Pima Community College. In addition, she holds a variety of leadership position: serving as the Co-Chair for the University of Arizona’s President’s Advisory Council for Asian Pacific Americans, Commissioner for the Metropolitan Education Commission in Tucson, and Directorate member of the American College Personnel Association Standing Committee for Multicultural Affairs.  Most notably, she received a special congressional recognition from Congresswoman Giffords and Congressman Grijalva for her efforts in the Tucson community. 

David Shih is Associate Professor of English at the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire, where he teaches courses in Asian American literature, social justice, race and racism, autobiography, and English composition.  He received his Ph.D. in English Language and Literature from the University of Michigan and also holds an MFA in Creative Writing from the University of Oregon.  His scholarly interests include Asian American autobiography and antiracism.  He was UW-Eau Claire’s first Equity, Diversity, and Inclusiveness (EDI) Fellow from 2009-10, and he led the institution’s Equity Scorecard and Campus Climate Survey projects during that time.  He is actively involved with Dismantling Racism, an antiracist organization of campus faculty and staff, and he is faculty advisor for the Dismantling Racism student organization.  Additionally, he serves on the advisory committees for diversity in the College of Arts & Sciences, the Social Justice Living-Learning Community, and the Hmong Studies Initiative.  Currently, he is involved with is UW-Eau Claire’s liberal education reform by helping to design and pilot outcomes and measures for Critical Multicultural Learning.