We want to extend our thanks to Kelsey Brown, our podcast editor and producer, and Alexandra Alvis, our mentor and facilitator, in creating this project. The Andrew W. Mellon Fellowship for Diversity, Inclusion, and Cultural Heritage provided us with the opportunity to collaborate across time zones. Here are our biographies.

Pacific Time Zone Group

• Azalea Camacho (she/her) is the Archivist and Special Collections Librarian at California State University, Los Angeles. She holds an MLIS with a concentration in archival studies from San Jose State and a BS in Communications from California State Polytechnic University, Pomona. You can reach her at [email protected]

• Ellen-Rae Cachola (she/her) is the Evening Supervisor and Archives Manager at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa School of Law Library. She holds a Ph.D. in Information Studies from the University of California at Los Angeles and an MLISc from the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa. Ellen-Rae is the granddaughter of Ilocano immigrants who settled on Maui and is a researcher of social movements in Hawaiʻi. 

• Sandy Enriquez (she/hers) is the Special Collections Public Services, Outreach & Community Engagement Librarian at the University of California, Riverside. She earned her MA in Latin American Studies at New York University and her MLIS from Long Island University. She is a first-generation, U.S.-born, Spanish, and Quechua heritage speaker of Peruvian Andean descent. You can reach her at [email protected]

• Amalia Medina Castañeda is the University Archivist at California State University, Dominguez Hills and serves on the Board of Directors at the Museum of Social Justice in downtown Los Angeles. She holds a BA and MLIS from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) and an MA in History from California State University, Los Angeles (Cal State LA). Her research examines the role of settlement women and librarians in Mexican American education in Progressive Era Los Angeles (1896-1916).

• Talea Anderson (she/her) is the Scholarly Communication Librarian at Washington State University (WSU). She holds an MLIS from the University of Washington and an MA in history from Central Washington University. In her work with archives and digital libraries, she attempts to improve accessibility by drawing on her experience as a person with low vision.

Central Time Zone Group

• Milton Machuca-Galvez (he/him) is the Spanish, Portuguese, Latin American, and Caribbean Studies (SPLACS) Librarian at The University of Kansas in Lawrence, Kansas. In this capacity, he is responsible for continuously adding relevant materials to the library's collections. He conducts research with the Kenneth Spencer Research Library at KU, specifically with the significant collections of Latin American, Portuguese, Spanish, and Latinos in Kansas holdings housed at the Spencer Research Library. Milton holds a Ph.D. in Anthropology from Temple University and an MLIS from Rutgers University.

• DeLisa Minor Harris (she/her) is the Director of Library Services at Fisk University, John Hope, and Aurelia E. Franklin Library. Since her start at Fisk University, Ms. Minor Harris has curated five exhibits including, "Lord, I'm Out Here on Your Word"-Fisk Jubilee Singers: Singing from Spirit to Spirit" and written two articles published in the enlarged two-volume set of the Encyclopedia of African American Business, ABC/CLIO. Working most recently she partnered with Dr. Paul T. Kwami and Tunisia Scott in writing Heritage and Honor: 150 Year Story of the Fisk Jubilee Singers (2022). Now as a Mellon-RBS Cultural Heritage Fellow (2020-2023) she is focused on conducting bibliographic research on the rare book collection of Fisk University's Special Collections and Archives known early on as the “Negro Collection.”

• Rachel E. Winston (she/her) is the Black Diaspora Archivist at The University of Texas at Austin. In this role, she is leading the university’s effort to build a special collection documenting the Black experience across the Americas. Rachel is a Certified Archivist and a graduate of Davidson College (BA) and The University of Texas at Austin (MSIS).

• Dale J. Correa (she/her), Ph.D., MS/LIS, is the Middle Eastern Studies Librarian & History Coordinator for the University of Texas Libraries at the University of Texas at Austin. As Middle Eastern Studies Librarian, Dale develops and manages information resources in support of study, teaching, and research on a variety of subjects relating to the Middle East in the context of a strong and well-established interdisciplinary Middle Eastern Studies Program at the University of Texas at Austin. In her own research, she specializes in formative and post-formative Islamic legal theory and theology, and in the pre-modern intellectual history of the eastern regions of the Islamicate world (especially present-day Uzbekistan). Dale graduated from Dartmouth College (AB), New York University (Ph.D.), and the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign (MS/LIS). She can be reached at: [email protected]

• Suzanne Im (she, they) is the Curator for the Southeast Asian Archive and Research Librarian for Asian American Studies for the University of California Irvine Libraries Special Collections and Archives. She develops collections and community partnerships, engages in reference service and instruction, and helps to facilitate accessibility and discoverability of collections focused on the Cambodian, Hmong, Lao, and Vietnamese diasporas. Suzanne graduated from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (MLIS; certificate in community informatics). She can be reached at: [email protected]

Eastern Time Zone Group

• Margarita Vargas-Betancourt is the Latin American and Caribbean Special Collections Librarian at the University of Florida. She is a member of the first cohort of the Mellon RBS Fellowship for Diversity, Inclusion & Cultural Heritage. Her latest co-authored publication “Contesting Colonial Library Practices of Accessibility and Representation” in the book Archives and Special Collections as Sites of Contestation obtained the 2022 Latin American Studies  (LASA) Archives Section Award for Best Article. 

• Jina DuVernay, librarian and cultural consultant, is the Adult Services Manager for Gwinnett County Public Library. DuVernay holds Master’s degrees from Auburn University at Montgomery and the University of Alabama. She is currently pursuing a Ph.D. in Humanities at Clark Atlanta University.

• Victor Betts (he/him) is the Student Success Librarian for Special Collections at North Carolina State University. He holds an MLIS degree with a concentration in archival studies and preservation from San Jose State University and an M.Ed from California State University San Bernardino. Victor provides archival literacy instruction, conducts community outreach to historically underrepresented and underserved populations on campus, and curates both physical and digital exhibits pertaining to race, ethnicity, gender, and diasporic communities.

• Meaghan Alston is the Assistant Curator for African American Collections in the Southern Historical Collection at UNC-Chapel Hill’s Wilson Special Collections Library. She holds an MLIS from the University of Pittsburgh and has spent her career improving access to archival material documenting underrepresented groups, especially African American. In her current role as assistant curator she works to grow, highlight, and interpret African American source material through digital tools and community outreach.    

• Patrice Green is the inaugural Curator for African American Collections at Penn State University. Green holds master’s degrees in Public History and Library and Information Science from the University of South Carolina and views special collections librarianship as an ideal combination of both fields. At Penn State, she manages the Charles L. Blockson Collection of African Americana and the African Diaspora. Additionally, she develops and stewards collections that center Black life, enhance learning experiences, and cultivate Black memory.