About Us
As part of your Dean of Students (DOS) office, IEE provides students with information, skills, and opportunities for constructive engagement across difference, in support of SAIE and the University's larger missions.
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Our Approach
Having a demographically diverse campus community is educationally important (cf. Gurin for University of Michigan), and continues to be the focus of much quality scholarship and programming in US higher education, with similar applications in the workplace, marketplace, and civic involvement (eg, the legal professions [PDF]). Such compositional diversity, including a wide diversity of identities, is a necessary, but insufficient, element of equity and excellence.
Using the oft-cited food metaphor, it is not enough simply to have a range of individual ingredients present in the kitchen; they must also come together for their still-distinct colors, textures and flavors to create an engaging and nourishing dish. In fact, the critical-thinking, communication, collaboration skills and experience, strengthened when engaging constructively across difference are among those employers most seek (ref NACE). Thus having diverse individuals learning, living and working on campus is little more than cosmetic, if they do not interact across identities, or if their interaction is infrequent, superficial, or outright negative.
Our Staff
Thomas Walker, PhD (he/him/his)
Director
303-871-4614 | email
Thomas previously served as the Assistant Director of Arizona State University's (since closed) Intergroup Relations Center, where he coordinated diversity education programs, provided social justice training, and served as a diversity consultant for the ASU and larger community. While at ASU, he also served as liaison to the LGBTQ+ communities, as Tempe campus Classified Staff Council president, as advisor to several student organizations, and as volunteer textbook reader with Disability Services.
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More About Thomas
He has been engaged in the diversity and social justice field for three decades, working with NCCJ-Anytown, the National Coalition-Building Institute, the Southern Institute for Education and Research, C Harris Companies, Inc, the Social Justice Training Institute, and the University of Michigan-based Multiversity Intergroup Dialogue (MIGR) Research Project. At ASU, he taught public speaking, small group communication, intro to communication, intro to intergroup relations, and intergroup dialogues.
At DU, he's taught for the undergraduate Compass First-Year pilot and International Living and Learning Community and the graduate Higher Education programs. He has served on the DU Sustainability Council, Campus Safety Advisory Board, and numerous working groups and search committees. He is currently an officer with DU's Phi Beta Kappa chapter, and a reviewer for NADOHE's Journal of Diversity in Higher Education .
Thomas studied at the University of Manchester (England), completed his bachelor's degree in Interpersonal and Group Communication at Tulane University, and earned both his master's and doctorate in Intercultural Communication at Arizona State University.
Dr Krystoff Kissoon (he/him/his)
Assistant Director, Social Justice Education
email
Dr Kissoon leads IEE student workshops and online resources, and will create our new peer educator program.
Krystoff earned his Bachelor of Political Science and International Studies in 2017, and his Master of Public Administration and Doctor of Arts in Political Science in 2022, at Idaho State University (ISU).
Throughout his time at ISU, he served in leadership positions including President of the International Students Association, President of the Political Science Club, and Senator in the Associated Students of Idaho State University Student Government for three terms. He worked in the Office of Marketing and Communications, the Office of Alumni Relations, and the Department of Political Science as a Graduate Teaching Assistant. He also hosted and produced his own award-winning public affairs program, Navigating Diversity, at KISU-FM, ISU’s NPR-affiliated public radio station.
His research interests include Identity Politics and International Relations, looking particularly at the intersection of race, gender and sexuality and their combined impact on government policies. He presented research at the Midwest Political Science Association Conference and Intermountain Gender & Sexuality Conference.
His hobbies include creative writing, taking walks in nature, listening to podcasts, watching foreign films and shows, and cooking. He is a proud national of Trinidad & Tobago, a twin-island country in the Southern Caribbean. He was born to a Hindu father and a Muslim mother--descended from Indian Indentured Laborers--and has four loving and supportive older siblings.
Maria England (she/her/hers)
Resource Coordinator
Maria is second-year master’s student in the Social Work program at DU. She earned her bachelor’s in Psychology at the University of Michigan-Flint. She has a passion for helping individuals in the homeless community which stems from her time spent in Flint. In her free time, Maria enjoys listening to music and traveling.
Kiristen Hubbard (she/her/hers)
Resource Coordinator
Kiristen is a second-year master’s student in the Graduate School of Professional Psychology Forensics program at DU. She earned her bachelor’s in Psychology, with minors in Criminal Justice and Sociology at Wayne State University.
Caleb Smith (he/him/his)
Resource Coordinator
Caleb is a first-year student studying Political Science and Public Policy at DU. He hopes to enter law school and find a career in government, politics, or public policy. Caleb enjoys football, basketball, and spending time with his friends.
