Advocates and Allies
About the Advocates and Allies Program
Advocates and Allies are faculty members committed to supporting gender equity. Faculty Success will help equip Advocates and Allies with the knowledge, skills and strategies to effect positive unit and organizational change. Advocates will be tenured and senior CCA faculty who educate themselves about issues of gender equity.
About the Advocate Role
Advocates are expected to be active proponents of equity and inclusion and to support recruitment and success of women on the faculty through ensuring fair and equitable treatment within their units. The program will take an intersectional and expansive framework for addressing issues of gender equity and ultimately aims to improve the status of faculty members with underrepresented or marginalized identities in all disciplines. Advocates should be open to being mentored on how institutional climate and bias affects the success of women on the faculty. The founding cohort of Advocates will help shape the program and recruit Allies.
2024-25 Advocate Cohort

Gregg Dean is a Professor in the Department of Microbiology, Immunology and Pathology where he served as department head from 2011-22. Gregg earned his B.S., D.V.M., Ph.D., and completed a residency in veterinary clinical pathology at CSU. He spent five years at the University of California at Davis and 15 years at North Carolina State University before returning to CSU in 2011. He is the director or co-director of three NIH-funded training programs for under-represented undergraduate students, pre-doctoral students, and post-doctoral DVM specialists. He serves as co-PI of the CSU NSF Advance grant and is a member of the Faculty Success team. Gregg’s research focuses on development of vaccines to address health disparities in low- and middle-income countries. He also works to develop diagnostic and preventative solutions for fatal coronavirus infections in cats.
Sonali Diddi is an Associate Professor in the Department of Design and Merchandising, College of Health and Human Sciences and also has a joint appointment with the Office of Engagement and Extension as an Engaged Faculty Lead at CSU. She was one of the CSU Presidential Leadership Fellows in the inaugural cohort. She is passionate about enhancing campus climate, culture, and belonging for all students, faculty, and staff. Diddi also serves as Diversity, Equity, Inclusive and Justice Chair for the College of Health and Human Sciences and executive member of the Provost’s Council for Engagement.
Diddi’s research focuses on Sustainable Clothing Production and Consumption. She takes a research-based, interdisciplinary and systems thinking-informed approach to address sustainability-related innovations, issues, and problems in the textiles and apparel industry. She constantly seeks ways to engage with the local community to gain a sense of the broader relevance of her research in society. She was an expert consultant for BBC Radio (UK), New York Academy of Sciences and invited international speaker for numerous events to share her research. Outside work, Sonali enjoys gardening and cooking and sharing it with family and friends.
Dan Graham is an Associate Professor in the Department of Psychology (College of Natural Sciences), and the Faculty Lead for the Physical Activity and Healthy Lifestyles concentration in the Colorado School of Public Health at CSU. He is the director of CSU’s Behavioral Medicine Lab, which promotes better health through modifying social and physical environments to facilitate active living and healthy eating. His work uses technologies including virtual reality and eye tracking to understand how people consider environmental factors, such as nutrition labeling and signage, when making health-relevant decisions like where/whether to walk and what foods and beverages to consume. Dan’s other interests include spending time outdoors with his family and writing books for kids.
Marcela Henao-Tamayo is an Associate Professor of Microbiology, Immunology, and Pathology, currently serving as the Director of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion at the CU School of Medicine at CSU and Director of CSU’s Flow Cytometry Core Facility. Her research focuses on the pathogenesis and immune response to mycobacterial species, especially M. tuberculosis, with the main interest in the immune responses induced by vaccines and protection of disease.
She arrived at CSU almost 20 years as a graduate student, so she has “lived” CSU’s environment in different capacities. As a Latin American woman, she struggled to feel a sense of belonging at CSU. The road to feeling part of the university was long. It took her a while to feel entitled and safe to ask and give her opinion, and she would like to help others, if possible.
Since she became a tenure track faculty member, she has worked to support new faculty members and scientists — underrepresented faculty members have a particular corner in her heart, as she relates to their struggles. As a group, she believes the Advocates have a unique opportunity to help redirect the course of current and new faculty members toward a more prosperous and rewarding experience.
Ann Hess is a CCA professor in the Department of Statistics in the College of Natural Sciences. As a faculty consultant with the Graybill Statistics and Data Science Laboratory (Stat Lab), she collaborates with campus researchers focusing on applied statistical analysis. She assists with study design, analysis, and interpretation of results across a wide variety of disciplines. She has served on the Committee on Non-Tenure Track Faculty (CoNTTF) since 2022.
Rachel Lucas-Thompson is an Associate Professor in the Department of Human Development & Family Studies (College of Health and Human Sciences), and the Faculty Lead for the Global Health and Health Disparities concentration in the Colorado School of Public Health at CSU. She is the director of CSU’s Moving 2 Mindful/Family Relationships and Development Lab, which focuses on understanding how the qualities of family relationships are related to adolescent biological and mental health, and promoting adolescent and family health through interventions, particularly those that promote stress and emotional regulation.
Khursheed Mama, D.V.M., D.A.C.V.A.A., is a professor of anesthesiology at Colorado State University. She completed an internship in large animal medicine and surgery at University of Guelph, Ontario, and a residency in anesthesiology and critical patient care at University of California, Davis. She earned her D.V.M. from Washington State University.
Her broad interest is in improving anesthetic safety and providing appropriate treatment of perioperative pain in veterinary patients. Her clinical teaching, research efforts, and CE seminars/laboratories are designed with these goals in mind. Since early in her career she has also advocated for equitable treatment of faculty and recognition of their efforts. This has led to her serving on the departmental Faculty Evaluation committee and subsequently as Assistant, then Associate department head for Faculty Advocacy and Advancement. She is currently serving as Acting Department Head.
Dr. Jennifer Solomon is a conservation social scientist and associate professor in the Department of Human Dimensions of Natural Resources. Her research interests revolve around biodiversity conservation, behavior, livelihoods, and women in conservation leadership. She teaches in the undergraduate program and the Conservation Leadership graduate program.
Michelle Wilde’s bio will be updated soon.
Jen Dawrs is the Program Manager for the Faculty Success program at CSU. She manages Faculty Success’ initiatives and collaborates with partners across CSU to build a coordinated and sustainable approach to faculty equity.
Before joining the Provost’s Office at CSU, she spent more than 10 years in housing and student affairs, working with community development and equity programs at Northern Arizona University, University of Montana, and CSU. She is a sociocultural anthropologist by training, with an academic and research background in community-based assessment of public policy and programs. She was born and raised in Hilo on the Big Island of Hawai’i.
Past Cohorts
2022-23
- Jen Dawrs
- Gregg Dean
- Sonali Diddi
- Meara Faw
- Laurie Goodrich
- Dan Graham
- Marcela Henao-Tamayo
- Chris Henle
- Andrew Knight
- Rachel Lucas-Thompson
- Khursheed Mama
- Jessica Metcalf
- Jenny Morse
- Rachel Pries
- Joe Scalia IV
- Jennifer Solomon
- Michelle Wilde
2023-24
- Jen Dawrs
- Gregg Dean
- Sonali Diddi
- Meara Faw
- Laurie Goodrich
- Dan Graham
- Marcela Henao-Tamayo
- Chris Henle
- Rachel Lucas-Thompson
- Khursheed Mama
- Jessica Metcalf
- Rachel Pries
- Joe Scalia IV
- Jennifer Solomon
- Michelle Wilde
- Ann Hess