Committee Members

Moises Aguirre is the director of Multicultural Student Services at Brigham Young University. He completed a Master's degree in Social Work at BYU, to which propelled him into the Professional Educator Licensure Master’s Program at Utah State University in Counselor Education, School Counseling and Guidance Services. Moises spent many years working in secondary education, supporting American minorities in overcoming barriers towards a high school diploma. He became aware of the academic needs that existed among underrepresented students and their parents, therefore bridging the gap by developing programs, educational initiatives, resources and services that aligned them towards academic and personal success. His vast experience allowed him to help first generation, low socioeconomic students transition into higher education. His love for and appreciation of their individual stories motivates him to continuing advocating for the students he serves at BYU.

Ryan Gabriel is an Assistant Professor of Sociology at Brigham Young University. Ryan completed his PhD in Sociology at the University of Washington in 2016, where his research was supported by the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development and the American Sociological Association Minority Fellowship. During his time at BYU, Ryan’s research has focused on racial residential segregation, residential mobility and neighborhood attainment, and the legacies of racial violence in the United States. In 2019, he received the BYU Fulton Young Scholar Award which recognizes early career faculty who have demonstrated excellence in teaching, research, and service.

Lita Little Giddins is a seeker of truth and a Truth teller. Lita received her undergraduate degree in Socio-cultural Anthropology and her master's degree in Social Work with an emphasis in Expressive Arts Therapy from Brigham Young University. She also received an AA in Fine Arts from Citrus College in southern California. She is a licensed therapist. Her broad experience in the arts has afforded her the opportunity to present, teach, coach, train, and travel to many parts of the world where she worked closely with diverse populations and continues to do so. Lita was a full-time missionary in England, Leeds, has conducted workshops throughout Europe, Puerto Rico, Dominican Republic, and the United States using her expressive talents and her education to lift and inspire others toward growth, wellness, and peace within themselves, their organizations, and their community. Lita's work experience ranges from working professionally in the performing arts industry (stage, recording, and film) to utilizing her academic degrees to teach and help others to heal. Lita is Assistant Dean for Diversity, Collaboration and Inclusion for the College of Family, Home, and Social Sciences at Brigham Young University. Lita and her husband, Kevin, lives in Orem and has five big “little” people.

Vern is the Assistant to the President for Student Success and Inclusion at BYU. He has served in this position since 2018 after having served as Associate Student Life Vice President and Dean of Students previously. Vern received his bachelor’s degree in communications from BYU, his master’s degree in psychology from Utah State University and a doctorate in educational leadership from BYU. He has been at BYU since 1996 and was director of student affairs at Snow College prior to that time.

Carl Hernandez is a professor of law and serves as director of the BYU Community Legal Clinic, which provides pro bono legal representation to immigrants, refugees, and other socio-economically disadvantaged communities on a range of legal matters including contract, employment, expungement, immigration, housing, and public benefits. Carl was born into a migrant farm worker family in California’s San Joaquin Valley and worked in the fields and packing houses representative of those John Steinbeck wrote about in his classic novel, The Grapes of Wrath. Carl saw early in his life how families, churches, schools, businesses, government agencies and community-based organizations worked together to improve the quality of life for migrant farm workers, immigrants and underrepresented minorities both during and after the Civil Rights Movement. These experiences inform and serve as a foundation for the work he does to promote the unique mission of BYU and the Law School. Carl also teaches Civil Rights, Community Lawyering, Fundamental Lawyering Skills and a Legislative Clinic course. He also serves as an advisor to the Minority Law Students Association, the Government and Politics Legal Society and the Public Interest Law Forum. Carl actively participates in the law school’s Law and Social Justice and Criminal Law and Justice Initiatives, which focus on access to justice for marginalized communities and reform in the criminal and juvenile justice systems. In 2019, Carl was recipient of the Karl G. Maeser Professional Faculty Excellence Award.

Jon McBride is a media relations and social media manager in University Communications at BYU, where he combines those skill sets to build community and spread the digital reach of the university. His most unique professional accomplishment was landing a pitch to Beyoncé’s publicist and getting a post out to her 63 million followers, but his most meaningful work has been in using Instagram stories to address hard-hitting and impactful topics on campus such as sexual assault, consent, mental health, racism, hate speech, respect and more. Jon is a graduate of Weber State University ('08). He's been working at BYU since 2012. For his meaningful contributions to the higher education digital communications community, Jon was awarded the EduWeb Digital Summit Award for Industry Excellence in 2019.

Stephani Perkins is a BYU track & field assistant coach for women's sprints, hurdles, relays and men's and women's horizontal jumps at BYU. During her seven years at BYU, she has had four athletes compete at the USA Track and Field Junior Olympic Championships and has had nine NCAA Round 1 West Preliminary qualifiers. She coached a sprinter to The World Championship Team for Zimbabwe in 2015 and the Zimbabwe Olympic team in 2016. Stephani is a graduate of Oklahoma State University ('03). Stephani also serves on the BYU Athletics Diversity and Inclusion Committee. She has had a passion for these issues since her time as a student at Oklahoma State where she was a part of OSU's minority women's association and black student union. She is an advocate for involvement in such groups with her own student athletes, within the larger BYU campus experience and beyond the athletics department, and is an annual speaker at BYU's Foundations of Leadership conference.

Shane Reese was appointed as the Academic Vice President on June 3, 2019. Prior to his appointment, he served as the dean of the BYU College of Physical and Mathematical Sciences from 2017–2019. He is a member of the Department of Statistics faculty and an elected fellow of the American Statistical Association. Shane received BYU’s Young Scholar Award in 2004 and the BYU Karl G. Maser Excellence in Teaching Award in 2010. Reese was the Melvin W. Carter Professor of Statistics from 2012-2017. Prior to entering academia, he worked in the Computer, Computational, and Statistical Sciences Division of Los Alamos National Laboratory. Shane earned a doctoral degree in statistics from Texas A&M University and master’s and bachelor’s degrees in statistics from BYU.

Michalyn Steele (Francis R. Kirkham Professor of Law at the BYU J. Reuben Clark Law School), is a graduate of Georgetown University Law Center and joined the faculty of BYU Law School in 2014, following two years as a Fellow and a semester as a Distinguished Practitioner in Residence at the Law School. She teaches Civil Rights, Federal Indian Law and Constitutional Law. Michalyn began her legal practice at a nationally-recognized firm in Washington, D.C., whose clients were exclusively Indian tribes. She worked for six years as a Trial Attorney in the U.S. Department of Justice's Civil Rights Division, primarily enforcing the Fair Housing Act, where her work was honored with several Department awards. Beginning in late 2009, Michalyn worked for two years as a Counselor to the Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs, Larry Echo Hawk, at the U.S. Department of Interior. She is a member of the Seneca Nation of Indians of New York. Michalyn holds a B.A. ('92) and an M.A. ('94) in Humanities from BYU, with an emphasis in English literature and Native American studies.