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, Ph.D., NCSP is a bilingual school psychologist and an assistant professor of school psychology in the School of Education at Saint Mary’s College of CA. She is originally from East Africa and resides on Ohlone lands (Northern California). The three main areas that reflect her research are equitable practices within the multi-tiered system of support (MTSS), specifically in Title 1 schools, implementation of response to intervention with a focus on English Language Learners (ELL), and school-based problem-solving approaches to behavioral management. Her research uses multiple modes of investigation to better understand autism spectrum disorders (ASD) and other behavioral disorders to determine the most effective approaches to treating and supporting students with ASD and other behavioral needs in schools. Additionally, her research looks at different ways that mental health providers can support families of children with disabilities. She has been awarded a grant to introduce a mindfulness program in schools that aims to help high school students cope with stress and anxiety following school closures. She is a grant reviewer for the California Department of Education’s Nita M. Lowey’s 21st Century Community Learning Centers and After School Safety and Enrichment for Teens Program, and SAMHSA. In addition, she also received assessment grants as a co-recipient, which will be utilized to support various assessment projects focused on improving course designs 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.