Advisory Committee

Dr. Rickey Badua is Director of Bands and Assistant Professor of Music at California State Polytechnic University, Pomona where he conducts the Wind Ensemble, Symphonic Winds, Concert Band, teaches beginning & instrumental conducting, and oversees all aspects of the wind studies program. His scholarly research involves championing new wind band repertoire and studying the globalization of the wind band medium. Dr. Badua’s most current research project involves exploring the wind band developments of Australia and Asia.

Dr. Badua received his Bachelor of Music Education and Master of Arts in Teaching degree from the University of Puget Sound, where he studied conducting with Robert Taylor, he received his Doctor of Musical Arts in Wind Conducting degree from the University of Georgia where he studied with John P. Lynch.

Dr. Winny Dong is a Professor in Chemical and Materials Engineering.  Since joining Cal Poly Pomona in 2000, Winny has focused her efforts on creating an environment where all faculty and students can develop their strengths.  She is proud to see that some of these efforts have resulted in an improved campus climate and increased access to high-quality education for all students.

Winny is dedicated to serving the diverse population of Cal Poly Pomona and worked to bring various grants, totaling over $13 million, to increase participation by under-represented groups in science and engineering.

Tatiana Pumaccahua, Ph.D. (She/Ella) is a proud first-generation Indigenous Latina and a product of the California State University system. She was born and raised in Lima, Peru before immigrating to the US at the age of 10. She obtained her B.A. in Psychology and M.A. in Child Development from California State University, San Bernardino (CSUSB). She attributes the mentorship, supportive environment, and academic enrichment programs at CSUSB (e.g., Ronald E. McNair Scholars Program, Educational Opportunity Program, Student Assistance in Learning, and the Minority Access to Research Careers) as being key to influencing her decision to pursue a doctorate degree and a career in academia. She received her Ph.D. in School Psychology from the University of Rhode Island in 2018 and completed a 2-year APA-Accredited Child Clinical Psychology Postdoctoral Fellowship at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles from 2018-2020. Her various personal, academic, and clinical experiences have shaped both her clinical and research interests. She is passionate about providing and increasing access to quality mental health for children and families from underserved backgrounds, as well as increasing access to higher education, especially for underrepresented students. In terms of research, she is interested in socioemotional learning prevention and intervention programs; school-based mental health; parent education; as well as the cultural adaptation of evidence-based practices by utilizing creative methods (e.g., through games, pedagogic strategies). In the Spring 2021, she established the Socioemotional Learning Lab at CPP. She is excited to continue mentoring students in and outside her lab, as well maintaining ongoing collaboration with school districts. Her hope is to engage in research and community outreach that fosters the social and emotional learning of students. In her free time, she enjoys discovering new music to listen to, attending concerts, traveling (loves solo trips!), and making new cauliflower-inspired dishes!

Leticia Guzman Scott serves as the Executive Director of Student Support and Equity Programs. In this role, she leads a team of professionals who provide services for over 2,500 students in the Educational Opportunity Program (EOP), Renaissance Scholars Program, Summer Bridge, Transfer Bridge, Veterans Resource Center, and the Undeclared Student Program. Ms. Guzman Scott has 28 years of professional experience in Student Affairs, predominantly in student equity programs that serve first-generation, low-income, under-represented populations. She has also served as the Associate Director, Assistant Director, Coordinator of EOP Admissions and Enrollment Services, and a few more positions in Student Support and Equity Programs at Cal Poly Pomona. She has a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration with an emphasis in Management and Human Resources as well as her Masters of Business Administration (MBA) with an emphasis on Training and Education from Cal Poly Pomona. Ms. Guzman Scott is an EOP alumna and credits the EOP program for helping to successfully lay the foundation of her educational career.

Alvaro Huerta, Ph.D., holds a joint faculty appointment in Urban & Region Planning (URP) and Ethnic & Women’s Studies (EWS) at California State Polytechnic University, Pomona. As an interdisciplinary scholar, Dr. Huerta teaches and conducts research on the intersecting domains of community & economic development, Chicana/o & Latina/o studies, immigration & Mexican diaspora, social movements, social networks and the informal economy. Among other scholarly publications, he’s the author of the book Reframing the Latino Immigration Debate: Towards a Humanistic Paradigm. While born in the U.S., he was raised in a Mexican slum (Colonia Libertad in Tijuana, Baja California) and violent U.S. barrio (Ramona Gardens housing project or Big Hazard projects in Boyle Heights). He holds a Ph.D. in city and regional planning from UC Berkeley—one of the first Chicanas/os to do so. He also holds an M.A. in urban planning and a B.A. in history from UCLA.

Thavery Lay-Bounpraseuth has been in the field of student affairs for 20 years; she currently serves as the Coordinator for the Asian & Pacific Islander Student Center at Cal Poly Pomona. Over the six years span as the coordinator, Thavery has collaborated amongst various faculty and staff across disciplines in hosting diverse educational programs and events in educating the campus community on issues of diversity and social justice. Thavery also serves as the advisor to numerous student organizations, trains, and mentors on a variety of student engagement topics such as leadership, programming, etc.

Furthermore, Thavery serves as a steering committee on the California State University (CSU) Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) Initiative. Through her leadership with the CSU AAPI Initiative, she has partnered and built lasting relationships with various departments on campus as well as sister CSU campuses such as Dominguez Hills, Los Angeles, Long Beach, Fullerton, and others in training future AAPI student leaders. In connection to the AAPI Initiative, Thavery founded the Asian & Pacific Islander Peer Mentor Program (API PMP) in the spring of 2017; this program was created to serve CCP’s underserved student (Southeast Asian & Pacific Islander) in their transition and retention of first-year first time and first-year transfer students.

Thavery is passionate about working with first-generation college students in guiding, mentoring, supporting student success. She is constantly seeking new ways to find much-needed resources and services to provide students with access to resources and skills to be successful college students. She is also passionate about social justice issues and works hard to collaborate with like-minded folks to initiate and to act upon issues for communities and of people whose voices are often silenced.

She is a proud product of the CSU system and earned her bachelor’s degree in Human Services from California State University, Fullerton; and went on to earn her Masters’ degree in Counseling with an emphasis in Student Development in Higher Education (SDHE) from California State University, Long Beach.

On a personal note, Thavery enjoys spending time with her family, reading, watching Netflix, and most of all traveling. During her lifetime, she hopes to retire early and visit as many countries as her abled body, mind, and spirit will allow.

Dr. Jocelyn A. Pacleb earned her Ph.D. and M.A. in Comparative Culture from the University of California, Irvine. She earned her B.A. in Ethnic Studies and in Psychology at UC San Diego. She teaches courses on contemporary Asian Pacific Islanders, Filipina/o Americans, militarism, race and ethnicity, gender, labor, racial and ethnic representations in film, immigration, and community formation. Her current work examines the enlistment of non-U.S. citizens in the U.S. armed services and the emergence of communities near U.S. military bases in Southern California. Among her teaching and academic accomplishments, Dr. Pacleb is a Fulbright Hays Group Project Abroad Scholar. Before joining EWS at Cal Poly Pomona, Dr. Pacleb taught at Washington State University, CSU Fullerton, and UC Irvine.

Lise-Hélène Smith is Associate Professor of World Literature and Graduate Coordinator at Cal Poly Pomona in Pomona, CA. She received her doctorate in Comparative Literature from UC Davis in 2005.  Her research interests include exile, hybridity, and migration as linked to race and gender in the Southeast Asian diaspora, as well as in Francophone and colonial/postcolonial literatures. She has co-edited a collection of essays titled Reflections: Research Beyond Borders on conducting research abroad in a culturally and ethically sensitive manner. This interdisciplinary book sets out to reassess Western-based research practices and presents self-reflexive narratives on research experiences around the globe.

Dr. Jessie M. Vallejo is currently an Assistant Professor of Ethnomusicology and Director or Mariachi Ensembles in Cal Poly Pomona’s Music Department. Her research focuses on a hemispheric approach to Amerindian studies, Indigenous cultural-linguistic revitalization projects, and mariachi music. Dr. Vallejo co-produced, annotated, and provided photography for Smithsonian Folkways’ 2013 release ¡Así Kotama!: The Flutes of Otavalo, Ecuador. She has also published in the Smithsonian Magazine, Smithsonian Folklife Magazine, Ethnomusicology Forum journal, and the Ethnomusicologists’ Cookbook Volume II. Dr. Vallejo has been invited to speak on her research at local, national, and international events across California and the United States, as well as in Bangkok (Thailand), Limerick (Ireland), Guayaquil (Ecuador), Astana (Kazakhstan), St. John’s (Newfoundland, Canada), Salto (Uruguay), La Habana (Cuba), and Mexico City. In addition to her research and teaching, Jessie is an active freelance violinist in the Los Angeles area, and she enjoys taking public transit and speaking at BUSted storytelling slams. She received her Ph.D. from UCLA’s Ethnomusicology Department in 2014.