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Tamara N. Hamilton is the Co-Principal Investigator and Project Director for the National Science Foundation Upstate Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation (ULSAMP) at Syracuse University (SU). She has held this position since November 2012. ULSAMP is a collaboration between seven institutions, five private four-year research-intensive and two community colleges, in New York. At SU, Tamara is responsible for managing the day-to-day operations of the ULSAMP grant and the SU LSAMP Program, which supports students pursuing undergraduate degrees in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). Before coming to SU, Tamara was at the University of Maryland, College Park where she was Assistant Director of the Center for Minorities in Science and Engineering. As Assistant Director of CMSE, Tamara was responsible for establishing retention programs for underrepresented minority STEM students including directing the NSF LSAMP and Bridge to the Doctorate Graduate Fellowship Programs. In 2012, Tamara and the rest of the members of CMSE were honored by the National Society of Black Engineers and ExxonMobil with the Impact Award for their successful efforts in the retention and graduation of engineering students. In 2022, Tamara received the Key Contributor Award from NSBE Region 1 for her continued efforts in supporting students in engineering.

Tamara received her bachelor's degree in Afro-American Studies and a master's degree in Education Leadership and Policy Studies with a specialization in Higher Education, both from the University of Maryland, College Park. Tamara is a doctoral candidate in Higher Education at SU where she serves as an adjunct instructor teaching classes on identity development and the intersections of race, ethnicity, gender, sexuality, disability, spirituality, and social class. Her research interests include broadening participation in STEM, identity, diversity, equity, inclusion, belonging, and access.

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Claudine-Lonjé A. Williams, LMSW is currently a doctoral student and graduate assistant/teaching assistant in the Higher Education Department (HED) at Syracuse University (SU). She is also the teacher of record for sections of the Practicum Seminar course, and assists with the coordination of the Masters Students’ Practicum process including the Round Robin interviews. Claudine has worked as a graduate assistant and program coordinator for three consecutive summers for the Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation (LSAMP) Program at SU where she guided undergraduate BIPOC students majoring in the STEM fields as they conducted research alongside faculty mentors. Claudine has also co-facilitated multiple Conversations about Race and Ethnicity (C.A.R.E.) Circles and C.A.R.E. Speaks through the Office of Multicultural Affairs (OMA) to undergraduate students across the SU colleges and departments including RAs in an effort to impact demonstrative change in diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility on campus.

Claudine is a licensed Social Worker (LMSW). She graduated from Hunter College of the City University of New York (CUNY) with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Psychology and a minor in Communications, and later went on to pursue a Master’s degree in Social Work from Fordham University. Claudine began her social work career in the field of child welfare where she facilitated adoptions for children diagnosed with special and exceptional needs. She also co-led a group of adult adoptees and trained prospective foster and adoptive parents.

Claudine has seventeen years of experience working at New York University (NYU) in a variety of roles including mentor, counselor, Interim Director of the Science and Technology Entry Program (STEP) and Building Excellence in Science and Technology Program (BEST). She also worked as an academic advisor and counselor at the College of Arts and Science (CAS) for students admitted to the University through the Arthur O. Eve Higher Education Opportunity Program (HEOP) and the Collegiate Science and Technology Entry Program (CSTEP).

Claudine served as an Administrative Representative for the Office of the Provost on the Administrative Management Council (AMC), a member of the Academic Progress Committee, a member of the CAS Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, and International Students team, and she is a current member of the annual STEP Student Statewide Conference Planning Committee and Co-chair of the Entertainment committee. Claudine consults as an adoption social worker on private adoptions, and is an Educational Consultant with the New York City Department of Education (NYCDOE) in partnership with the Department of Labor (DOL) on the Youth CareerConnect Mentoring Initiative (YCC).

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I am a Black woman PhD fellow who delights in co-creating worlds that embrace expansive processes of being. “How do us Black women, girls, and femmes know ourselves?” is my most persistent query. Flavorful food, Black sci-fi books, bound-less writing, impromptu exploration, and laughing endlessly fill my dreamiest days.

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