Student & Community Spotlights
We invite you to share about recent successes and spotlights on students, faculty, and staff! Contact AAPIcenter@usfca.edu.
Dr. Matilda Tavares
Matilda Tavares is USF’s Director of Alumni Engagement, Reunion, and Affinity. She is the facilitator of the AAPI Center’s Staff and Leadership Learning Community focusing on “Practices of Care for Multiracial AAPI Students.
Nicola Andrews
Nicky Andrews is the Open Education Library at Gleeson Library Geschke Center and the Subject Liaison for Sociology and Critical Diversity Studies. She is also a poet and the USF liasion for the OER for Social Justice grant; a multi-year project between Loyola Marymount University, St. Mary’s College, Santa Clara University, and USF with $1,533,300 in funding from the US Department of Education.
Dr. Maria Cristina Samaco- Zamora
Nina is an Assistant Professor of Psychology at USF. She is also the faculty coordinator of the AAPI Center's Peer Counseling program, set to launch in March 2025. This month, we invited Nina to share more about her teaching experiences and journey to USF!
Dr. Saera Khan
Saera is professor of psychology at USF. She is also the faculty facilitator of the 2024-25 Faculty Learning Community, Exploring the Unique Histories and Common Identities of APIMEDA Communities. This month, we sat down with Saera to learn more about her journey as a social psychologist and her work with the AAPI Center!
Malia Hansen '26
Malia (they/them pronouns “for now”) is a third-year Critical Diversity Studies major and identifies as Japanese, Native Hawaiian, and Tongan all at once. We are thrilled to have Malia in our first cohort of AAPI Leadership Fellows! In our spotlight, they share how they understand some of the complexities and tension of the term AAPI.