Wesley Chamberlain is the director of research and strategy at NASPA –Student Affairs Administrators in Higher Education. Her research portfolio spans a variety of topics related to critical issues affecting student success. Her work focuses on advancing student-centered redesign of campus policies, practices, and systems. Prior to joining NASPA, she focused on federal postsecondary education policy and institutional finance strategies through internships at the Lumina Foundation, the Institute for Women’s Policy Research, and the U.S. Education Department. Alexa holds a master’s degree in public policy and a bachelor’s degree in government and politics from the University of Maryland, College Park.
Dunlap has also taught Political Science at multiple institutions in the Chicago area since 2016. She completed her Ph.D. in Political Science and Public Administration at Northern Illinois University, where her dissertation work focused on the experiences of students impacted by sexual violence on campus. Her research can be found in the 2016 book, Preventing Sexual Violence on Campus: Challenging Traditional Approaches Through Program Innovation, the 2019 book Contested Issues in Troubled Times: Student Affairs Dialogues on Equity, Civility, and Safety, and most recently in the 2022 textbook, Scandal and Corruption in Congress. Her current research focuses on equity and social change efforts in higher education including the report highlighted in this #EquityChat.Are you or someone you know engaged in exciting, transformative equity work? Let us know! We are always looking for more guests for #EquityChat!
Whether you are a practitioner, researcher, policymaker, advocate, leader, student or organizer, we want to get to know you! Email lauren@25comm.com to let us know if you’d like to be one of our featured guests and partner.
About the Equity Avengers
The Equity Avengers are community college presidents Dr. Keith Curry, of Compton College and Dr. Tammeil Gilkerson, of Evergreen Valley College, and President Emerita Dr. Pamela Luster of San Diego Mesa College. The Equity Avengers have made it their mission to lead the charge for a more equitable higher education landscape, increasing access for those historically marginalized by academia.
The Equity Avengers host the popular #EquityChat on Wednesday evenings on Twitter and are regularly invited to speak at state and national conferences to share their vision. The College Futures Foundation has generously supported the Equity Avengers’ mission through a grant, allowing them to support and develop leaders who act and drive large-scale change toward achieving racial equity in higher education nationwide.