Meet the AESSS Staff
- Valerie Embry, Program Director
- Debra Naranjo, Assistant Director
- Kathie Sharp, Administrative Assistant
- Kelly Lloyd, Retention Specialist
- Graham Slater, Graduate Intern
- Peer Mentors
Valerie Embry, Director
Valerie comes from a low income and first generation urban background and is a person with a disability. She is the single parent of two adult sons and holds a master's degree in educational guidance and counseling with completed coursework towards a master's in College Student Personnel Administration. Her work experience includes service as assistant director of both the Admission Office and the Office of Financial Aid, where she coordinated special programs for disadvantaged students and held financial aid training for community service workers. She has served as a national TRIO trainer in counseling, disability, and new director training.
Valerie is well versed in educating disadvantaged populations and has served as a presenter/trainer in numerous forums on and off campus, locally and nationally. She has co-written a notetaking services guidelines manual with Betty Becker that has been shared with other programs across the country. She has also completed coursework in American Sign Language. She has initiated cooperative programming with other campus departments to make other resources more available to low-income, first generation, and students with disabilities. She is the recipient of an Diversity and Excellence Staff award hosted by the Office of the Chancellor of the University of Colorado at Boulder and has recently been honored as a "Woman Who Makes a Difference," in the Boulder community and on the UCB campus.
Debra Naranjo, Assistant Director
Kathie Sharp, Administrative Assistant
Kathie Sharp is our Administrative Assistant. Before coming to CU, her most recent positions included database cataloger at the Hawaii Medical Library and ASA Sailing Instructor. She has lived all over the United States, holding positions as librarian, office work as a personnel assistant, contact representative, computer assistant and contracts administrator. She graduated from the University of Maryland, College Park with a B.S. in Conservation. Previous large university affiliations include the University of California, San Diego.
Kelly Lloyd, Retention Specialist
Kelly never saw herself working in higher education as her undergraduate degree was in child development and her first fulltime professional position was with youth services with Boys & Girls Clubs of Tucson. Returning to complete a master's degree at Northern Arizona University in counseling, she launched into a new career in higher education. Over her 18 years in higher education, Kelly has held a variety of roles including academic advisor, director of an academic learning center, instructor for freshmen year experience courses and multiple positions in athletic administration. Her journey has had her at small private institutions and large public universities including Northern Arizona University, University of New Mexico and College of Santa Fe. In addition to holding her formal roles, she has been involved with facilitating and developing team building workshops and leadership seminars for diverse student groups across campus and higher education professionals.
Kelly holds a bachelor of science degree in Child Development and Family Relations from the University of Arizona and a master's of education in Counseling/Student Personal from Northern Arizona University.
Graham Slater, Graduate Intern
Graham comes to the University of Colorado by way of the University of North Carolina at Greensboro where he completed a B.A. in History in 2010. Additionally, he holds a Secondary Social Studies Teaching Certificate. Currently he is completing an M.A. in Educational Foundations, Policy, and Practice (EFPP) in the School of Education at CU, as well as Graduate Certificates in Women & Gender Studies and Comparative Ethnic Studies. Graham has experience teaching World History courses, and also worked briefly in the data analysis department of an educational consulting firm. Graham's upcoming goals include pursuing a Ph.D in the social foundations of education.
Graham's involvement with the Academic Excellence Program is his first venture into working in higher education, and it presents a welcome challenge. Graham's research and scholarly interests include critical educational theory, as well as the complex intersections of race, class, gender, sexuality, and ability in American educational policy and practice. Graham is committed to a radical reconstruction of American P-16 schooling to promote education for critical consciousness in the face of neoliberal globalization. Finally, Graham is a graduate student member of the University of Colorado's GLBTQ Resource Center Peer Education Team, and is a passionate ally of the greater GLBTQIA community.
Pasang Sherpa, Lea White, Michelle Grudzinski, Frank Giuffre - Peer Mentors
