Faculty and Staff
Carol Miyagishima- Director
For the past several years I have divided my time between teaching at the university and working in community based organizations. I have also had the pleasure of working with numerous organizations from south pole bound scientists to large corporations to assist them with systems issues and team performance. My biggest joy however is teaching and seeking ways to bring my background in community service management and outdoor experiential education into the classroom.
In charting a leadership path with students, I am mindful of the daily acts of leadership taken by ordinary people. Our goal as a program isn’t to discover an elite group of leaders. Rather our mission is to encourage the leadership potential of all students. As I work with individuals and communities around the country I am invigorated by the everyday actions of citizens who feel a responsibility for the social and civic fabric of our country. In Mississippi, I learned about the leadership of hospitality and how to make dime stretch across the Delta to provide quality education in one of the poorest school districts in the country. In a Jemez village in New Mexico, I found that rather than being removed, an ineffective leader is asked to serve an additional term. What better way to learn the lessons of service and leadership but under the guidance of caring elders?
I hope you will join us. You will find a supportive living and learning neighborhood in the Leadership RAP at Williams Village. What's more, taking part in an academically enriching community can strengthen one’s confidence to explore, discover and expand one’s mind. I look forward to meeting you.
Steven Medina - ELLC program coordinator
I have been a member of the University of Colorado community for 23 years in numerous capacities beginning in 1984 as a student living in Williams Village. I am a first-generation and a Chicano from a poor/working class background originating out of Pueblo, Colorado. I am deeply committed to the students that I serve and I strive to give back to and advocate for the communities that I represent from my current privileged spaces as highly educated and currently upper middle-class. I am equally proud and secure in my identity as a gay male.
My qualifications include a Master's Degree in Counseling Psychology and Counselor Education from CU- Denver with an emphasis in college student personnel (1996). As a member of this program I was instructed and trained in the broad interdisciplinary field of leadership pedagogy. Furthermore, I am designated by the State of Colorado as a Licensed Professional Counselor (License # 3053). In this capacity I am recognized for my knowledge acquisition, practice of, and expertise in assisting individuals in their exploration of self and others; relationship and team building; clarification of ethics, morals and values; and the integration and wellbeing of mind, body and soul – all key components in the development of today's leaders.
I am an avid downhill skier that enjoys traveling with my partner of 15 years. Although somewhat shy during initial encounters, I am quite receptive and invite you all to seek me out for assistance on your journey to becoming the outstanding leaders you will be in the 21st Century. I commend you for selecting to participate in the Leadership Residential Academic Program.
Sue Haran - program assistant
I love working with the incredible students and staff at the ELLC. Each fall I look forward to welcoming the new students at Williams Village. It's always inspiring to meet young people who are committed to making positive changes in the world.I assist students with course registration, advise students working towards the Certificate in the Study and Practice of Leadership, and assist staff as needed in fulfilling the operations of the program office. My involvement in the Boulder community includes volunteering with the Boulder Reads literacy program as well as working as a volunteer naturalist with the Boulder County Parks Dept. Some personal activities I enjoy include being a granny, organic flower and vegetable gardening, hiking, cross country skiing and exploring the canyons of Utah.
Janet Donavan- instructor, political sciences
I teach the American Political System and the American Presidency classes for the Leadership RAP at Williams Village. I also teach other political science courses on campus at CU-Boulder, including U.S. Campaigns and Elections and State Government. I received a PhD in political science, with a focus on American politics, from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 2006. This is my second year at CU, and my fifth year teaching at the university level. My research covers a variety of areas, including the role of the mass media in the political process, presidential leadership on policy issues, and racial and ethnic minority participation in the political process. I am originally from Ohio, and resided in Wisconsin, Washington and Minnesota before settling in Boulder two years ago.
John Henderson-instructor, leadership
I throughly enjoy working with undergraduate students helping them develop multicultural leadership skills for the 21st Century. After completing an undergraduate degree in political science at the University of California, Davis, I served in the United States Peace Corps (Ecuador'92-'94) doing forestry and agriculture extension work. I have also taught social studies and language arts at high schools in Tohatchi, NM and Santa Monica, CA. For the past 9 years I have been at CU-Boulder, first completing s doctorate in education with an emphasis in cultural studies. Currently I am the Director of Student Leadership Development.
Stewart Lawler - instructor, ethnic studies & leadership
I wasn’t a typical 60s drop out: I dropped out of the Ph.D. Program at the University of Michigan, where I had received my M.A. in English Literature. And in 2000, I completed a Ph.D. in American Studies at the University of Kansas in African American and Ethnic Studies. African-American culture calls that “going round for long” and that is a good thing. Rumi, the Sufi poet, echoes that when he says, “Don’t be fooled - the short cut to the King’s house is a thousand miles out of the way.” Between times, I’ve been a bookseller, an inner-city neighborhood center director, an Ozark “farmer,” a clay artist, a bookseller, and teacher. My dissertation and work is about Black expressive culture as a polyvocal, polyrhythmic polygenre performance for power, whether on the gridiron, basketball court, boxing ring, concert stage, Black rodeo, dancehall on Saturday night, church on Sunday, or even in a literary text. And its origins are West and Central African.
I love teaching and learning, and my classes are reflected in three guiding ideas. The German Renaissance mystic, Jakob Bohme, forewarns, “Gentle Reader, go no further, if you are not willing to change your life.” The culture critic, Gerald Graff, advises us, “When there is no consensus - and there is not consensus – teach the conflicts.” And, finally, a Yoruba proverb informs us, “It is only the wisdom of the people that keeps the leader from being called a fool.”
I’m thrilled to be teaching at the Leadership RAP, and I remind myself and my students “there is no strength without struggle” or as the old gospel song goes, “Lord, don’t take away my mountains."
William Takamatsu Thompson - instructor, ethnic studies & leadership
I teach the Multicultural Leadership class (LDSP 3100) for the ELLC. I serve as an academic and program coordinator with the Center for Multicultural Affairs and teach courses in Asian American studies for the Department of Ethnic Studies. My teaching and research interests focus on Asian American studies, comparative ethnic studies, and multicultural leadership.