About the Authors

Stephanie D’Costa, Ph.D, LP

Dr. Stephanie D’Costa is a South Asian, cisgender woman residing on Ohlone lands (Northern California). She immigrated to North America with her family when she was four years old. She is currently an associate professor of counseling at Saint Mary’s College of California. Dr. D’Costa earned her Ph.D from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in Educational Psychology. She is passionate about community-based research that empowers culturally and linguistically minoritized children and families. Her research focuses on a) critically exploring the impact of oppressive forces on minoritized youth and b) building culturally sustaining practices in academics, behaviors, and mental health for k-12 students. She frequently engages with student researchers and has a number of publications that include student authors. Dr. D’Costa has published on the need for QuantCrit in school psychology and is committed to teaching about research that empowers marginalized communities. While educational disparities brought her into academia, the resistance and future liberation of marginalized communities keeps her dreaming. Dr. D’Costa is also a licensed clinical psychologist with a specialty in trauma-informed practices for children. When she is not working, she enjoys having chai with her backyard chickens, hiking with her dog, and connecting with friends. You can follow her at @dr_dcosta (Instagram)

Mireille Ukeye, Ph.D, NCSP

Mireille Ukeye, PhD, is a bilingual school psychologist and a nationally certified school psychologist. She is an assistant professor in school psychology. Her research focuses on equitable practices within multi-tiered systems of support (MTSS), particularly in Title I schools; implementation of response to intervention for English Learners (ELs); and school-based behavioral problem-solving approaches. She also examines effective school-based supports for students with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and other behavioral needs, as well as ways mental health providers can better support families of children with disabilities. She has also been awarded a grant to introduce a mindfulness program in schools aimed at helping high school students cope with stress and anxiety. In addition, she received assessment grants to support projects focused on improving course design at both the departmental and program levels.

Makenzie O’Neil, Ph.D

Dr. Makenzie O’Neil is a White cisgender woman who resides on Ohlone lands (Northern California). She is an Associate Professor of Psychology at Saint Mary’s College of California. She earned her Ph.D. at Arizona State University in Social Psychology. Her research focuses on examining how discrete positive emotions impact intergroup relations, including stereotyping, prejudice, and discrimination. She has recently published research examining the impacts of intergroup helping on attitudes and cooperation between groups.  Dr. O’Neil is passionate about fostering excitement for conducting research in undergraduate students from diverse and minoritized backgrounds. In addition to teaching research methods and statistics courses at the undergraduate level for nearly a decade, and spearheading the implementation of a lab component to a research methods course, she has worked closely with many student researchers to develop their ideas, including assisting with student authorship on empirical manuscripts.

Rebecca Anguiano, Ph.D, NCSP, LEP

Dr. Rebecca Anguiano is a Professor and Department Chair in the Counseling Department at Saint Mary’s College of California. She earned her PhD in School Psychology from the University of California, Berkeley and is a credentialed, bilingual (Spanish-English) school psychologist and licensed educational psychologist. As a Brown Chicana woman, Dr. Anguiano’s personal experiences have motivated her to focus her research and clinical work on lifting the voices of historically marginalized communities, especially Black and Brown children and their families, as they interface with pre-K-12 schools. Dr. Anguiano’s research has explored the translating practices of immigrant families, community organizing, and popular education as methods for family engagement in schools, and culturally responsive data-based decision making to inform interventions for emergent bilingual students. She has been published in outlets such as the School Community Journal, the Journal of Youth and Adolescence, and Cultural Diversity and Ethnic Minority Psychology. Dr. Anguiano has provided training to community agencies and schools on trauma-informed practices, strength-based psychoeducational evaluations of bilingual children and youth, socially just family engagement, and anti-racist self-care for school leaders during the COVID-19 global pandemic.