Lead With Action Meet the Panelists
Dr. Kimberly Battle-Walters Denu
Denu brings more than two decades of experience in Christian higher education and has served in various leadership capacities, including vice president and chief diversity officer, vice provost for undergraduate programs, and special advisor to the president and provost at Azusa Pacific University, where she has also taught as a full-time faculty member in social work and sociology. She is the recipient of two Fulbright Scholar Awards, most recently with the University of Gondar, Ethiopia, and previously to South Africa.
“Dr. Denu is an accomplished scholar, leader, and team builder,” says CCCU President Shirley V. Hoogstra. “I am confident that her breadth of experience in academic affairs, global engagement, and diversity initiatives will serve to advance the work of the CCCU and our commitment to academic excellence and the well-being of students. I am delighted that Dr. Denu has accepted this invitation to join us at the CCCU, and I know that she will bring outstanding vision to the work ahead.”
In her role as vice president for educational programs, Denu will serve on the president’s cabinet and will be responsible for creating and implementing the CCCU’s vision for the global education of students and the professional development of faculty and staff on CCCU campuses. Denu will oversee the CCCU’s BestSemester programs, a collection of faith-integrated, off-campus study programs in nine locations across the U.S. and around the world. These programs extend the educational mission of CCCU campuses by providing culturally-engaging learning experiences that foster students’ intellectual and spiritual growth and equip them to live out their Christian faith in the world.
“I am excited and honored to work with President Hoogstra and the amazing CCCU team,” Denu says. “The tremendous work that the CCCU does every day to support Christian higher education through advocacy work, professional development, and global education is crucial, and I am glad to be a part of it.”
Denu received her bachelor’s degree from Vanguard University of Southern California, her master’s degree in social work from Temple University, and her doctorate in sociology, with an emphasis in race and family, from the University of Florida. She has presented at Oxford University, and completed The Graduate School of Education’s Institute of Educational Management at Harvard University. She has published articles on African American issues, women and family matters, and international topics. Her book Sheila’s Shop: Working-Class African American Women Talk about Life, Love, Race, and Hair (2004) was listed in a Los Angeles newspaper as one of the top 10African American books that year. She and her mother are also co-editors of the book Mothers Are Leaders (2014). In 2017, she was chosen as the inaugural recipient of Azusa Pacific University’s Mary Hill Award, which honors outstanding women for their leadership and service. In addition, Denu is an ordained minister who has taught, done ministry, or completed service on six continents in over 40 countries.
Tamra J. Malone
Tamra Malone currently serves as the Chief Diversity Officer at Biola University in La Mirada,
California. Over the past 15 years she has served in multiple roles across the University from leading the University Cultural Center to University Enrollment. Tamra’s expertise includes advancing and transforming institutions through strategic planning, diversity education, advising leadership, cultural programming, mentoring, creating innovative programming for marginalized students, and developing recruitment strategies for students from diverse backgrounds. Tamra earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration at Biola, a Masters Degree in Counseling for Student Development in Higher Education from California State University, Long Beach. During her free time, she is passionate about mentoring young women, teaching, and traveling, and looking for ways to be creative.
Sandra Mayo
Sandra Mayo joined Seattle Pacific University (SPU) in July 2017 as the inaugural vice president for diversity, equity, and inclusion (now vice provost for inclusive excellence). With a doctorate in education from Claremont Graduate University, Sandra was formerly an associate professor and director of the doctoral program in educational leadership at Azusa Pacific University (APU). She also served as associate dean for academic affairs in the APU School of Education, with primary responsibility for student academic support, curricular management, and faculty development. In her academic and administrative roles, Sandra has long focused on equity-minded change leadership that identifies institutional and systemic causes of inequities in K-12 and higher education. Her scholarly work has explored historical contexts for racial disparities as well as frameworks that offer possibilities for racial reconciliation and repair. As a member of SPU’s senior leadership council, Sandra leads efforts to develop and implement a more comprehensive, integrated, and strategic focus on diversity as a key component of the university’s educational mission. To this end, she works collaboratively with and serves as a resource for academic and administrative units on campus as they establish, coordinate, and assess their contributions to university-wide diversity goals.
Lorna Hernandez Jarvis
Dr. Hernandez Jarvis is the Chief Diversity Officer and Associate Vice President of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion at Whitworth University. She is a cognitive psychologist with an extensive publication record in the fields of psycholinguistics, bilingualism, and the effects of acculturation on psychological well-being. She received her BA in Psychology from The University of Akron, and her masters and PhD in Cognitive Psychology from Kent State Univeristy. Dr. Hernandez Jarvis was a faculty member in the psychology department at Hope College for 24 years. She served as the director of cultural diversity courses in the general education curriculum at Hope College, and for three years as the Director of General Education and Interdisciplinary Studies. She also served on the Hope College Board of Trustees, and as Chair of the Psychology Department. For several years she served as a co-leader of the Hope College Teaching Enhancement Workshop program.
Dr. Hernandez Jarvis is an avid advocate of multiculturalism and diversity education. She collaborated in the development and implementation of an interdisciplinary course, Encounters with Cultures, as well as two different courses for the psychology curriculum, The Psychology of Latino Children and Multicultural Psychology. She developed a “Best Practices in Teaching Cultural Diversity” workshop for faculty, which has now become an annual event at Hope College for over 15 years. In collaboration with Dr. Johnston of the communications department, she designed and implemented the “Shalom: Global Learning Fellows,” a faculty and staff development program on using intergroup dialogue as a pedagogical tool to address conflict and multicultural issues. Through this intense program over 130 faculty members have been trained to most effectively address global learning.
Her own experience as a multicultural individual motivated and informed her scholarship agenda. She spent the first half of her professional career publishing in the field of semantic development, bilingualism and bilingual education. Later, she collaborated on publications studying the effects of acculturation and ethnic identity on psychological well-being, particularly on the development of adolescents who are second-generation immigrants.
Dr. Hernandez Jarvis has served on several Boards of community organizations in Holland, MI such as El Centro, Latino Americans United for Progress, The Tulipanes Art and Film Festival (of which she is one of the founding members), and Black River Public School, and as a facilitator at the Summit on Racism and Inclusion. She gives talks in churches, schools, and other organizations about multiculturalism, acculturation, ethnic identity development and Latino psychology, as well as corporate trainings.
Dr. Sheila Caldwell
Dr. Sheila Caldwell most recently served as the Advisor to the President on Diversity, Director for Complete College Georgia, and Principal Investigator for an Upward Bound grant at the University of North Georgia. During her tenure, she secured over $1.3 million dollars in educational grants, facilitated the creation of UNG’s first Diversity Leadership and Vision Statement, and implemented Diversity Champion Awards for team members who demonstrated strong commitment to an inclusive environment. Prior to that, she served as the High School Initiatives State Coordinator for the Technical College System of Georgia where she liaised with board members, legislators, and education departments to enhance equity and college completion for underrepresented students throughout the state of Georgia. She is a diversity and student success champion with nearly two decades of experience in higher education.
Caldwell earned a B.S. from Northern Illinois University, a M.A. from Argosy University, and a Doctorate in Education from the University of Georgia. She completed the Harvard Kennedy School Strategies for Building and Leading Diverse Organizations Executive Education program.
Caldwell is a seasoned public speaker who is regularly invited to serve as an expert panelist and deliver keynote presentations for both industry and academia. Her professional affiliations include memberships with National Association for Diversity Officers in Higher Education, Complete College America, and Southern Association of Education Opportunity Program Personnel. Her selected honors and awards include the Georgia Association for Women in Higher Education (GAWHE) Leadership Scholarship and the UNG North Star Award. Caldwell and her husband, Lyndric, have two daughters.
Dr. Lena Crouso
Rev. Dr. Lena Crouso is part of Southern Nazarene University community where she serves as the inaugural Vice President for Intercultural Learning and Engagement and Chief Diversity Officer. She is the first woman of color in a senior administrative leader appointment, at our Nazarene Institutions of Higher Education. She is also a Professor of Intercultural Studies and Community Engagement, and an affiliate faculty member for the School of Theology and Ministry. She has received numerous awards for her teaching, most recently the President’s Award for Excellence in Teaching at Mount Vernon Nazarene University, in her last full time faculty assignment.
She holds two doctorates, one in Christian Counseling from Andersonville Theological Seminary and one in Transformational Leadership and Culture from The Bakke Graduate University. She also holds an Education Specialist Degree in Leadership from Stetson University and Educational Counseling Degree from University of Central Florida. The Rev Dr. Lena Crouso is an ordained Elder in the Church of the Nazarene and has served in global pastoral assignments. Lena is a “third culture kid”, a daughter of Asian Indian Immigrants. She spent some time, during her of her formative years, in India- and has continued to do collaborative community development in her beloved India. Her diverse identity and life journey have given Lena a heart and mind for the empowerment of all people through a theological and biblical intercultural understanding and a desire to lead people in spiritual, emotional and social transformation and freedom. Her research and writing focus on intercultural behavior and development, identity trauma and healing, storytelling,
holistic pathways of reconciliation, and domestic and international equity and justice.
She is compelled by the two greatest commandments and desires to bring a deeper understanding to the question: “Who is my Neighbor?” She is a sought out international presenter and consultant on issues of race, diversity, equity and justice, seeking to build two way bridges of reconciliation and learning opportunities that transform communities in systemic and substantive ways. She believes nothing matters more than to be a conduit of God’s inclusive love in individual and collective ways.
Lena and her husband, Kendall, are the joyful parents of three grown daughters Kayla, Chloe and Addie Rose. They recently welcomed their son-in laws, Alan and Joshua, to their family, when Kayla and Alan were married in 2017, and when Chloe and Josh were married in 2018. Addie has just graduated from college in 2020 and is seeking what God has for her next season of life.