Keynote Speakers
Dr. Saran Stewart
Plenary Speaker
Dr. Saran Stewart
Plenary Speaker
Saran Stewart, PhD
Saran Stewart, PhD is an Associate Professor and Program Director of Higher Education and Student Affairs, and Director of Global Education at the Neag School of Education, University of Connecticut in the US. She was formerly a Senior Lecturer and Deputy Dean at the University of the West Indies in Jamaica. Dr. Stewart’s research examines issues in comparative education, decolonizing methodologies, critical/ inclusive pedagogy and access and equity issues in higher education. She is a Salzburg Global Fellow and the recipient of multiple awards including the 2019 Vice Chancellor Award for Excellence from the University of the West Indies and the 2018 African Diaspora Emerging Scholar award by the Comparative and International Education Society. She is editor of Decolonizing Qualitative Methodologies for and by the Caribbean (Information Age Publishing) and co-editor of, Race, Equity and the Learning Environment: The Global Relevance of Critical and Inclusive Pedagogies in Higher Education (Stylus). Most recently she co-edited and co-authored a special issue in the International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education titled, Black Deprivation, Black Resistance and Black Liberation: The Influence of #BlackLivesMatter (BLM) on Higher Education. She was also the co-author of the article, Transforming The Classroom At Traditionally White Institutions To Make Black Lives Matter.
Dr. Denzil Streete
Plenary Speaker
Dr. Denzil Streete
Plenary Speaker
Dr. Denzil Anthony Streete
Dr. Denzil Streete is currently the Chief of Staff & Assistant Dean for Diversity at the Graduate Division of the University of California, Berkeley. In that role he simultaneously directs the Office for Graduate Diversity. Previously, Denzil was at Yale University’s Graduate School of Arts and Sciences where he was Assistant Dean for Graduate Student Development and Diversity. Strongly influenced by his experiences while pursuing a PhD, Dr. Streete has devoted his career to addressing the recruitment and retention of minoritized students in graduate programs. While at Yale, in addition to speaking at campuses across the country and attending national conferences to engage underrepresented students, Dr. Streete initiated efforts to utilize web-based approaches to recruiting students. Among these efforts has been the Bouchet Bootcamp to provide minoritized students from around the country with the tools and knowledge for applying to graduate programs. Dr. Streete has also worked with graduate programs to improve their recruitment initiatives and departmental climates. Dr. Streete has served on the Executive Committee of The Leadership Alliance, a consortium of institutions which seek to develop underrepresented students into outstanding leaders and role models in academia, business and the public sector. Denzil was born in Morvant, Trinidad and Tobago, and moved to the USA to pursue a college education. He graduated with honors from St Francis College, Brooklyn, NY, with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Economics. Dr. Streete earned a Masters of Philosophy and Doctor of Philosophy degrees from Columbia University, having attended Teachers College, Columbia University. His PhD is in Comparative and International Education, with a specialization in the Economics of Education. At Teachers College, Columbia University, Denzil served as Contracts Administrator in the Office of the General Counsel, and upon graduation worked as a Teaching Post Doctoral Research Fellow at Syracuse University’s School of Education where he specialized in teaching qualitative research methods. As part of his leadership in qualitative research methods at Syracuse University, Dr. Streete served as Qualitative Consultant for the interdisciplinary “Fit Families Research Project” examining ways families can maximize adapted physical activity for children with disabilities. His research interests include access and equity in higher education; the ‘Free College Movement’; minoritized males in higher education; and Caribbean education policy.
Kevin Hudson
Plenary Speaker
Kevin Hudson
Plenary Speaker
Kevin C. Hudson
Kevin C. Hudson joined Princeton as Assistant Director for College Opportunity in 2015. In this role, he works with the Vice Provost for Institutional Equity and Diversity to facilitate Princeton University trustees’ and President Eisgruber’s commitment for Princeton to play a substantive role to expand socioeconomic diversity access and opportunity in higher education. He collaborates with university’s offices (e.g., Princeton University Preparatory Program, Office of Undergraduate Admission, Programs for Access and Inclusion) and external partnerships (e.g., American Talent Initiative, Council for Opportunity in Education and Matriculate) to support a variety of initiatives. He additionally manages outreach activities with school districts, college access programs, professional and community-based organizations to demystify selective college admissions and opportunity. Hudson previously managed college and career readiness districtwide at District of Columbia Public Schools and worked as Director of College Admission and Advising at a NJ non-profit boarding school placement organization. He began his career as an Admission Officer at Princeton University.
As a first-generation college student from a working class family, Hudson earned his bachelor’s degree from Princeton University and his M.S.Ed in Higher Education Management from University of Pennsylvania. Hudson has served as a reader for several national scholarship programs including Gates Millennium Scholars Program, Dell Scholars Program and Jack Kent Cooke Foundation. He serves on various boards including the New Jersey Scholars Program, Delbarton School, Princeton Blairstown Center, College Board Middle States Regional Council and the International Baccalaureate College and University Relations Committee.