Respect in Striving for Excellence (RISE)

Christine Simonian Bean (she/her) is the Associate Director of the CRLT Theatre Program. She earned her Ph.D. in Interdisciplinary Theatre and Drama from Northwestern University in 2016. She also holds an M.A. in Theatre Studies from the University of California, Santa Barbara; a B.A. in Drama from the University of California, Irvine; and a certificate in Acting from the Stella Adler Conservatory, NYU. She has taught classes in acting, theatre history, and critical race and gender theory; and has worked as both a dramaturg and a performer. Previously, Christine was an Assistant Director for Faculty Programs and Services at Columbia University’s Center for Teaching and Learning and a Graduate Associate at Northwestern University’s Searle Center for Advancing Learning and Teaching. At CRLT, Christine provides strategic direction for the CRLT Theatre Program; integrates programming into college and campus initiatives; and designs, facilitates, and assesses sessions and curricula that promote a more equitable higher education community. She has published work in The Journal of Faculty Development, Theatre Journal, Theatre Survey, and Theatre Topics.

Clare Croft is an Associate Professor in the LSA American Culture department. Croft’s academic writing has appeared in numerous journals including QED: Journal of LGBTQ Worldmaking, Dance Research Journal, and Theatre Journal. Her writing has been recognized widely. The Dance Studies Association recognized Queer Dance with its 2020 Brockett Prize for Dance Prize. Dancers as Diplomats received the Congress on Research in Dance’s Outstanding Publication Prize in 2016, and the article “Ballet Nations” received the American Society of Theatre Research’s Sally Banes Publication Prize in 2010. Dance Magazine named the 2019 EXPLODE queer dance festival in Chicago (co-curated with Anna Martine Whitehead) one of the “Top Dance Events of 2019.” In all her work, Croft seeks to cross the divide between academia and the art world, and she has written for venues like The Brooklyn Rail, The Washington Post, and the LA Review of Books.

Croft’s work has been supported by the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Community Foundation of Southeastern Michigan. She holds a Ph.D. in Performance as Public Practice from the University of Texas-Austin.

Vincent Hutchings is the Hanes Walton Jr. Collegiate Professor of Political Science at the University of Michigan and a Research Professor at the Institute for Social Research. In 2020, he was also appointed as a University Diversity and Social Transformation Professor. He received his Ph.D. in 1997 from the University of California, Los Angeles. Professor Hutchings teaches courses in Black politics, public opinion & voting behavior, and racial attitudes. In 2003, he published a book entitled Public Opinion and Democratic Accountability, from Princeton University Press. Currently, his research examines the ways in which political campaigns and the media frame information about racial issues in order to activate and make politically relevant the voters’ sympathies and/or antipathies for particular racial groups. Professor Hutchings has received multiple grants from the National Science Foundation. In 2012, Professor Hutchings was elected as a Fellow to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (AAAS).

John Montgomery is the Margaret and Herman Sokol Professor of Synthetic Chemistry, an Arthur F. Thurnau Professor in the Department of Chemistry, and a member of the Interdepartmental Program in Medicinal Chemistry and the Program in Chemical Biology. His research group in organic chemistry focuses on the discovery and development of new catalytic reactions that provide new strategic disconnections for synthetic chemistry. In addition to working with his terrific research group of students and postdoctorals, he also enjoys teaching and mentoring the diverse population of undergraduate students at Michigan. He has received a number of awards, including an American Chemical Society Arthur C. Cope Scholar Award (2001), a Rackham Distinguished Graduate Mentoring Award (2017), a Harold R. Johnson Diversity Service Award (2023), and is a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (2011).

Yeşim Orhun is an Associate Professor of Marketing and Michael R. and Mary Kay Hallman Fellow at the Ross School of Business, and an Associate Professor of Information (by courtesy) at the School of Information, University of Michigan. She is also a faculty associate at the Center for Positive Organizations and a faculty champion at the Sanger Leadership Center. Her research is in the domains of behavioral economics and industrial organization, with an emphasis on underprivileged populations. In recent work, she examines the role of gendered beliefs in the academic performance gap between women and men studying Business Administration. Her current research stream is examining the role of motivated beliefs in high-stakes decisions. Professor Orhun serves as an Associate Editor at two leading journals in Marketing. She has an M.A. in Economics and a Ph.D. Business Administration from the University of California at Berkeley. She lives in Ann Arbor, Michigan with her husband and two young children.

Denise began her role as Director of the U-M ADVANCE Program in Fall 2023, after having previously served on the STRIDE Committee and as the Associate Director for Research in ADVANCE. She is University Diversity and Social Transformation Professor of Psychology. Her research program in experimental social psychology focuses on intergroup stereotyping, implicit bias, and the experiences of women and underrepresented minorities in science and engineering. She received the Harold R. Johnson Diversity Service Award (2015), and the Sarah Goddard Power Award (2012) from the University of Michigan for her work on diversity-related issues.

Sophie serves as the assistant director at the Prevention, Education, Assistance & Resources (PEAR) department within the Equity, Civil Rights, and Title IX (ECRT) Office. Born and raised in France, she went to law school in Paris and obtained her Master’s degree in Criminal Justice and Counterterrorism from John Jay College of Criminal Justice, New York City. Previously, Sophie worked at the Crime Victims Assistance Unit (CVAU) at the Bronx District Attorney’s Office, and the Prevention, Outreach and Education Department (POE) at Michigan State University, where she gained her expertise in sexual and gender-based misconduct advocacy and prevention.

Chris Torres is an Associate Professor of Educational Policy and Leadership in the University of Michigan’s Marsal Family School of Education. He is a qualitative researcher interested in how leadership and policy can stabilize and strengthen school improvement efforts and teaching as a profession. Prior to joining the University of Michigan Chris was a professor of Educational Leadership at Michigan State University and Montclair State University, and he worked in New York City as a K-2 teacher, grade chair, teacher mentor, mentor teacher trainer, teacher educator, school board chair, and in the central office designing teacher hiring and leadership development systems.