The Division of Diversity, Equity & Educational Achievement will celebrate our spring 2025 graduating scholars at a recognition and celebration event on Thursday, May 8.
DDEEA 2025 Spring Recognition and Celebration
Date: Thursday, May 8, 2025
Time: 5:30–7:30 p.m.
Location: Shannon Hall, Memorial Union
334 Graduating Seniors
88 Center for Educational Opportunity Scholars
9 First Wave Scholars
108 Mercile J. Lee Scholars
15 NDGNS UW Scholars
27 Posse Scholars
89 PEOPLE Scholars
11 McNair Scholars
2025 Speaker
John Zumbrunnen, PhD
Senior Vice Provost and Professor John Zumbrunnen has long been passionate about students’ educational journeys. John began teaching as a graduate student at the University of Minnesota and then during several wonderful years at Union College in Schenectady, New York. Since 2008, he’s been teaching (and learning!) here at UW–Madison, where he has enjoyed amazing opportunities to explore new ideas, approaches, and possibilities.
As a professor of political science, John studies the history of political thought, democratic theory, and American political thought. He has served as the faculty director of Chadbourne Residential College and chair of the Department of Political Science, and is a recipient of the Chancellor’s Distinguished Teaching Award, the Phi Beta Kappa Excellence in Teaching Award, and the Alliant Energy Underkofler Excellence in Teaching Award, among others.
Currently, John is the senior vice provost for academic affairs and vice provost for teaching and learning. As part of these roles, John helps oversee the Division for Teaching and Learning, where, alongside his colleagues, he is dedicated to supporting students throughout their educational journeys. Aiming to do all its work in a spirit of service to students, the division focuses on ensuring every student finds inclusive learning environments that make possible the personal and intellectual growth promised by the Wisconsin Experience.
John’s roles also involve working with the provost on special projects and strategic initiatives, and collaborating with academic leaders across campus to support UW–Madison’s core teaching and learning mission. Most recently, John accepted the request to serve as the administrative liaison for the DDEEA cabinet and the provost, while the provost serves as the DDEEA interim director.
Alongside his administrative work, John loves continuing to teach and learn, especially through leading and engaging in short-term study abroad programs in places such as Ireland, Puerto Rico, Ecuador, and soon, Singapore.
Past Speakers
The Honorable Reverend Everett Mitchell is a fierce advocate for education and equity. Judge Mitchell was elected to the Dane County Circuit Court as a juvenile court judge and presides over cases involving family re-unification, juvenile delinquency, and other civil and criminal proceedings. Further, Judge Mitchell also oversees Dane County’s Drug Court Program. Judge Mitchell is committed to dismantling what he describes as the Child Welfare to Juvenile Delinquency to Adult Prison Pipeline operating not only in Wisconsin, but also around the country. In this pipeline, systems pass traumatized children from one system to the next without acknowledging or addressing their trauma. His approach is documented in the Wisconsin Public Television Series, “Not Enough Apologies: Trauma Stories.”2 He believes passionately in the endless potential of children and communities to transform their trauma stories. As a trauma survivor himself, Judge Mitchell approaches each case with an eye bent towards making sure the court system does not contribute to the ongoing traumatic narrative that many children and families experience. He often tells the children in his court, “I am not your judge, I am your reflection.”
During his tenure on the bench, Judge Mitchell has worked with colleagues to change courtroom policies to reflect trauma informed practices, such as removing restraints and handcuffs on youth during hearings. Additionally, Judge Mitchell worked with the Madison Metropolitan School District, the second largest district in the state, to create an Office of Youth Engagement that provides a bridge for youth involved in the criminal justice system to educational programming. He also initiated conversations with the District to create more inclusive policies and practices concerning youth involved in the criminal justice system, many of whom also receive special education and related services, by reducing the number of students on shortened school day schedules so their hours of instruction are increased. Judge Mitchell works tirelessly to ensure the youth under his jurisdiction are treated with respect and dignity. While this may be common sense, he has found that it is not always common practice, which is the reason why after a visit to a Youth Prison in Wisconsin and hearing from the incarcerated young men there, he advocated that black and brown children receive haircuts by a licensed barber and not a dog groomer. With every opportunity, Judge Mitchell tries to connect the community with incarcerated youth and adults. Through his support, members of the Black Law Students Association regularly visit the local detention center so law students can eat lunch with and engage youth in the detention center. Judge Mitchell is adamant that the first time people see him should not be when they appear before him in court. In contrast, he is a man woven into the fabric of his community and has visited over 30 schools in Dane County to talk with children about the juvenile justice system and empower them to think of themselves as renaissance men and women who have the capacity to be the change they want to see in the world. Judge Mitchell has also lectured or spoken at colleges and universities, national conferences, community events, corporate events, professional development workshops, and in front of many other diverse audiences.
Judge Mitchell’s social justice lens is steeped in his calling and commitment to justice and equity. Since 2011, Judge Mitchell has served as Senior Pastor of Christ the Solid Rock Baptist Church in Madison, Wisconsin. He serves the congregation with passion, vision, and dedication. The mission of the church is, “…to be a place where everybody is somebody.” His resolve to pursue love, service, justice, and equity, led him to identify his congregation as a church that is open and affirming to those in the LGBTQIA community, and it is the only predominately black church to do so in Dane County. In 2015, he became the first pastor of a black Baptist church in the state of Wisconsin to marry a same sex couple inside of the church. While he continues to receive considerable push back, he remains steadfast and dedicated to his path of equity and justice. Under his leadership, Judge Mitchell recently led the congregation into a formal alliance with a majority white congregation so that both congregations can be intentional about dismantling the racial barriers that make Sunday morning “…the most segregated hour in America.”
Service is at the heart of Judge Mitchell. As the Co-Chair of the United Way of Dane County Community Engagement Committee, he created a process to provide grass roots organizations with seed funding so many could continue their work of supporting low-income families, domestic abuse victims, and children. His consistent dedication has been recognized within the community. Among the awards he has received, Judge Mitchell is most proud of being honored with the 2017 City of Madison and Dane County Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Humanitarian Award.
Judge Mitchell understands the magnitude of Bryan Stevenson’s words when he wrote, “…The true measure of our character is how we treat the poor, the disfavored, the accused, the incarcerated, and the condemned.” The Honorable Reverend Everett Mitchell continues to leverage his knowledge and power to lead with purpose so those who are not at the table, have their voices and interests represented.
Dr. Leonard Donovan Taylor Jr., PhD, University of Minnesota, Organizational Leadership, Policy, and Development; MS, University of Wisconsin–Madison, Educational Leadership and Policy Analysis; BS, UW–Madison, Communication Arts, Communication Science and Rhetoric
Originally from Milwaukee, Leonard grew up with a passion for education. After graduating from high school, he became the first in his family to attend college, beginning his academic career at UW-Madison. While there, he was a Powers-Knapp Scholar (renamed the Mercile J Lee Scholars Program), a CeO student and a member of the Gamma Epsilon chapter of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc. After seven years and two degrees from the UW–Madison, he found his purpose in helping others realize their own leadership potential. He earned a Ph.D. from the University of Minnesota in Organizational Leadership and Policy Development, and is an Associate Professor in the Educational Foundations, Leadership and Technology department at Auburn University.
Leonard has taught in college contexts for nearly a decade in various teaching roles, working with undergraduate and graduate students. His research is deeply informed by his previous experiences facilitating High Impact Practices as a practitioner, and his ongoing research projects related to the implementation of student success practices in various institutional and disciplinary contexts. Leonard’s research is focused on investigating and improving how students’ success is supported in higher education institutions. Through research, teaching, and consulting he works to understand and interrogate how administrators, faculty and staff members, and other post-secondary stakeholders use research, data, and promising practices to enhance post-secondary outcomes. His work has been funded through the National Science Foundation, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Lumina Foundation, College Student Educators International (ACPA), as well as other national and local entities. His recently published book titled, Enacting Student Success: Critical and alternative approaches for practice, is an example of this work.
Sherri Ann Charleston, JD, PhD., the first Chief Diversity and Inclusion Officer at Harvard University, provided the keynote charge to graduates at the spring 2022 DDEEA Graduation Recognition ceremony. She is one of the nation’s leading experts in diversity and higher education, and assumed her role in August 2020.
Dr. Charleston is a historian trained in U.S. history with a focus on race, women, gender, citizenship, and the law, and an attorney with a specialization in constitutional and employment law. Most recently, she served as the assistant vice provost for diversity, equity, and inclusion and chief affirmative action officer at UW–Madison. She was responsible for evaluating progress toward the goals of a campus wide strategic diversity plan. During her leadership, she also oversaw the office of Employee Disability Resources and undergraduate scholarship programs focused on recruiting and retaining students from historically underrepresented communities. In 2019, Diverse Issues in Higher Education magazine named her one of the “Top 35 Women in Higher Education.”
Dr. Charleston received a BA from Columbia University in history and African American studies, a MA. and PhD in history from the University of Michigan, and JD from the UW–Madison Law School.
Kashoua Kristy Yang is a changemaker who has dedicated her career to helping people in underserved communities obtain equal access to legal services. Yang is also the country’s first elected Hmong judge.
Yang’s family is originally from Laos, but like many Hmong refugees, they were forced to flee after the end of the Vietnam War and Laotian Civil War. Yang was born in a refugee camp in Thailand. While her memories of the camp are mostly pleasant, as it is all she knew, Yang remembered feeling like an outsider in Thailand. This perspective inspired her desire to help others feeling ostracized and underrepresented.
At the age of six, Yang and her family moved to Sheboygan. Her parents worked in factories to support their 11 children. When they arrived in the United States, no one in the family spoke English, and they continued to encounter bigotry and discrimination in a society that was very different from the one they left. Like many Hmong children, Yang struggled with the desire to be accepted in America while maintaining her Hmong culture.
Education was very important for Yang, who graduated with a bachelor’s degree in computer science from Lakeland University in 2003. She worked as a systems analyst for the Kohler Company for three years before a family member’s experience with a car accident caused her to rethink her career path. Her brother was injured in the accident, and Yang saw how difficult it was for her family and other people with financial and language barriers to navigate the health care and legal systems. Inspired to help, Yang enrolled in law school at UW-Madison in 2006, and graduated in 2009.
As an attorney, Yang was dedicated to helping others, focusing on family law, worker’s compensation, social security, and disability law. In 2017, after eight years as a lawyer, she was elected to the Milwaukee County Circuit Court on a six-year term. She is the nation’s first elected judge of Hmong descent and Wisconsin’s first elected Asian American judge.
A changemaker whose unwavering commitment to help the disenfranchised has had a major impact in her communities, Kristy Yang continues to fight for others from behind the bench.
Source: https://www.wisconsinhistory.org/Records/Article/CS16666
Keynote speaker Diem Van Groth is a 1994 UW–Madison graduate and Mercile J. Lee Powers-Knapp Scholar, who earned degrees in political science and international relations.
Van Groth is passionate about making a difference. An entrepreneur and business development executive with more than twenty years of experience, he didn’t follow a traditional career path when leaving UW. Among other ventures, he managed a blues legend and co-founded a charter school in South Central Los Angeles.
At the age of sixteen, Van Groth started in the mailroom of Midwest Federal Bank and two years later he was an intern — at age 18 — in the Corporate Finance Department of investment bank Dain Bosworth. The legendary Mercile J. Lee scooped him up as a Powers-Knapp Scholar, and he’s continued forging a nontraditional career path both domestically and abroad since leaving UW.
Now Van Groth is the head of Creative and Brands for New Zealand Trade & Enterprise, the New Zealand government’s international business development agency, advising top executives in film, entertainment, media, consumer products and service companies on how to grow their international business. Van Groth’s resume is a testimony to what a creative mind can do with a degree from UW–Madison.
Missy Tracy is the Municipal Relations Coordinator at Ho-Chunk Gaming Madison and a tribal member of the Ho-Chunk Nation. Her career spans three decades in business with 22 years of management experience. For the past 13 1/2 years, Missy has worked for Indian country in Public Relations, Training, Regulation and Community Relations. She was the Senior Public Relations Manager for Ho-Chunk Gaming WI Dells executing an award winning strategic public relations program achieving accolades from the Central WI Community Action Council and the Baraboo Chamber of Commerce. In 2011, under her leadership, Ho-Chunk Gaming WI Dells was a Real Heroes Corporate award recipient, bestowed by the American Red Cross. As the National Indian Gaming Association Seminar Institute Director in Washington, D. C., Missy transformed the Institute from profit loss to a revenue generating center in one year. Since 2009, Missy has served on the board for the WI Council on Problem Gambling who presented her with the Spirit award in 2019. She also serves on boards for Destination Madison, Downtown Madison, Inc., Overture Center for the Arts and Sustain Dane. As a public speaker she presents on the history of Indigenous people. Nationally, she has represented the Americans for Nonsmokers’ Rights Foundation speaking on smokefree environments. Missy addressed the University of WI Madison, Division of Diversity, Equity & Educational Achievement 2018 graduates as the Keynote at their graduation recognition ceremony. In July, 2020, Missy was appointed to the Wisconsin Governor’s Council on Tourism by Governor Tony Evers.
In a career spanning fifty-five years, André De Shields, has distinguished himself as an unparalleled actor, activist, educator and philanthropist. As Actor Mr. De Shields’ mission is to fill intimate spaces with enormous beauty. He defines intimate spaces as the hearts of humanity. As Activist he endeavors to restore majesty, elegance and literacy to the Black Thespian toolbox. His legendary career has resulted in a treasure trove of accolades, among them Doctor of Fine Arts honoris causa from his Alma Mater, the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where he has founded THE ANDRÉ DE SHIELDS FUND. His other marks of esteem include having been the triple crown winner of the 2019 awards season, garnering Tony, Outer Critics Circle, Drama Desk and Grammy Awards for his universally acclaimed role as Hermes, messenger to the gods, in Hadestown. Mr. De Shields transitioned from 2022 into 2023 with a paranormal portrayal as Ben Loman in the searing production of Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman, starring Wendell “The Lion” Pierce. Perennially known for his idiosyncratic, show-stopping performances in four legendary Broadway productions—The Wiz, Ain’t Misbehavin’ (Emmy Award), Play On! and The Full Monty—Mr. De Shields has achieved the status of “Broadway Deity.”
MK Asante is a best-selling author, award-winning filmmaker, recording artist, and distinguished professor who the Los Angeles Times calls “One of America’s best storytellers.”
He is the author of five books including the bestselling Buck: A Memoir, which was praised by Maya Angelou as “A story of surviving and thriving with passion, compassion, wit, and style.” His latest book, Nephew: A Memoir in 4-Part Harmony, is forthcoming (May 21). Nephew was praised by Booklist as “deeply moving and illuminating.”
Asante studied at SOAS University of London, earned a B.A. from Lafayette College, and an M.F.A. from the UCLA School of Theater, Film, and Television.
He is the founder of Wonderful Sound Studios, a creative studio whose work has reached over 250 million viewers. Asante co-wrote the 2021 NBA Finals broadcast opens on ABC directed by Academy Award-winning director Spike Lee. In 2023, he wrote the official Monday Night Football anthem, “In the Air Tonight,” performed by Grammy-winning artist Chris Stapleton, Julie Blackman Santana, and Snoop Dogg.
Asante has lectured at Harvard, Yale, Stanford, as well as hundreds of other universities. He has toured in over 50 countries and was awarded the Key to the City of Dallas, Texas. He is featured in A Changing America, a permanent video exhibit at the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture.
Asante has been featured on hundreds of media outlets including the Today Show and The Breakfast Club. Hailed by CNN as “a master storyteller and major creative force”, he has published essays in the New York Times and USA Today. His inspirational story “The Blank Page” is featured in the #1 New York Times best-seller, Chicken Soup for the Soul.
Asante Executive Produced and Hosted the award-winning Snap original shows While Black with MK Asante and Free Tuition with MK Asante.
Asante was appointed Distinguished Professor-in-Residence at the MICA Business School in Gujarat, India. He is currently a tenured professor of Cinematic Arts and Sciences at Morgan State University where he is the recipient of the Distinguished Achievement Award.