President: Aishe Suarez

Hello, and thank you to the members of SCOR who have honored me with a nomination for
SCOR president. My name is Aishe Suarez and I am a first year in Health Behavior and
Health Education and the Global Health certificate program of the School of Public
Health. Since my arrival, I have had the privilege of calling myself a member of SCOR,
the A/PIA Caucus, the Asian American Public Health Student Association (AAPHA) and the
Philippine Studies Graduate Student Association (PSGSA). Most of my involvement has been
with the A/PIA Caucus, where I helped with the annual Lunar New Year celebration in
conjunction with Students of Color in Public Policy (SCPP). However, I also had the
pleasure of working with e-board members Ramon Stern and John Paul Stephens on publicity
for the annual SCOR conference. All of my experiences with SCOR have been extremely
fulfilling and I feel it is time for me to give back to the community and play a more
active role. My prior leadership experience from my undergraduate days at Oberlin College
include two years as co-chair, and two semesters as treasurer of the Asian American
Alliance, two semesters as treasurer of the Filipino American Students Association, two
semesters as dining loose ends coordinator of Third World Coop, and treasurer of the
thirteenth Biennial Asian American Midwest Students Conference. My goal as president is
to further strengthen the SCOR family by involving more students and tackling more
issues. To quote Audre Lorde, "There is no such thing as a single-issue struggle because
we do not live single-issue lives." I look forward to working with the other e-board
members to ensure that we meet the needs of our constituency and continually challenge
ourselves to strive to do more for the larger community and beyond.

Vice President: Aja Woods

My name is Aja Burrell Wood and I hope to serve as the Vice President of SCOR in the next academic year.  As a second year PhD student in Ethnomusicology at the University, I have encountered both the ups and the downs of graduate life.  As one of the very few minorities in my program, I understand that connectedness to graduate students of color across the university is integral not only to quality of life, but also academic success.

Although the university has made public statements regarding its commitment to diversity, I believe it is also our responsibility as members of SCOR to provide an example of the positive impact and academic contribution diversity makes on this campus.

A little about my experiences:

I am a Detroit native and completed my undergraduate work at Howard University.  Prior to beginning my master's work at the University of Maryland in Ethnomusicology, I spent one year working in Hikone, Japan as an ESL teacher and then two years as a professional fundraiser in Washington, DC. My leadership experience while at Michigan has largely taken place in the classroom as a GSI. Beyond this, I have had solid leadership
experience and membership in several organizations (such as local chapters of the Society of Ethnomusicology, Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Incorporated, Student Council, National Council of Negro Women, Phi Sigma Pi National Honor Fraternity, etc) while at the University of Maryland and Howard University.  Some of the positions I have held within these organizations have been treasurer, historian, social chair, and volunteer
coordinator amongst others.   I believe my most useful professional experience and talents (before I gave it all up for grad school) as it relates to SCOR are fundraising, development, and public speaking.


I would like to serve as the Vice President, as a personal commitment to the goals of SCOR, to contribute to the needs of its members, and to continue to facilitate our positive presence on campus in anyway possible.  I truly appreciate your time, and would enjoy serving in this position.

Media and Publicity Chair: Open

Social Co-Chair: Jeremy D. Brown

Thank you for the Social Chair Nomination. My name is Jeremy Brown. I am in my fifth year as a Dual Degree Engineering student with Morehouse College and the University of Michigan, majoring in Applied Physics and Mechanical Engineering. Although I am not officially a graduate student, graduate school has always been the next step in my career path, thus I have been an active participant in many of the graduate school organizations around campus, including SCOR. I believe the college experience and graduate school experience is as much a factor of the quality of the school as is the environment and community the school is located in. That environment and community is where organizations like SCOR have played a major role in making Ann Arbor a great location for graduate school. The graduate school social scene was taken to new heights this years in part because of SCOR's contributions. I believe I am qualified to not only uphold the standards that have already been established, but to also set new ones. In addition to bringing my own ideas to the table, I am open to the suggestions and advice of the SCOR membership and anyone who has SCOR's best interest in mind. Thank you for your consideration.

Social Co-Chair: Kyla Day

Secretary: Cristina Marie Solis

Greetings! My name is Cristina Marie Solis and I just completed my first year in the American Culture doctoral program. I am extremely excited and honored to learn that former SCOR President Sharon Lee has nominated me for the position of Secretary for the SCOR Executive Board. During my first year at U of M, I have attended several of the SCOR events, including a game night and a formal, and have enjoyed myself thoroughly. In addition, I was part of the organizing committee for the Campus Lockdown: Women of Color Negotiating the Academic Industrial Complex Conference. Thus, I am committed to creating a space at U of M that privileges our experiences as students of color and I am certain that as SCOR secretary, I can continue to play a role in ensuring that we meet the needs of this important population.

Treasurer: Matthew Alemu

I am Matthew Alemu, current 1st year graduate student at the Ford School of Public Policy. I am running for treasurer of SCOR and greatly appreciate your nomination for the position. I feel that I would be a good addition to the SCOR E-Board for a few reasons. First I have had the pleasure as serving as Social Chair of the Students of Color of Public Policy and would definitely appreciate a chance to contribute more broadly to the students of color at the University of Michigan. As far as credentials prior to attending the university, I was an Accounting major where I had significant training in dealing with numbers (how fun). Aside from academics I also served in the boards of several organizations at the University including the C/O 2006 Executive Board. I have served two stints as treasurer, and one as vice-president in several organizations while in undergrad including the National Association of Black Accountants (how fitting, right?). I appreciate your consideration for this position and for reading this far into my blurb. I truly appreciate your time and look forward to serving SCOR in some capacity this next school year.

Conference Co-Chair: Nishaant Choksi (right)

Nishaant Choksi is a second year in linguistic anthropology.  He has worked previously in
India on issues of indigenous language revitalization and currently working on a project
on indigenous language scripts in Eastern India.  He is also interested in activism
around issues of diversity and representation, and diaspora politics among South Asian
American youth.  He is on the board of the Anthropology Diversity Initiative in the
Anthropology department, has presented at SAAN (South Asian Awareness Network) and last
year, presented a paper at the SCOR Conference.

Conference Co-Chair: Gbenga Olumolade

Nomination statement forthcoming

Political Action Chair: Lani Teves

This year has been crazy for students of color on campus. Crazier than usual! As one of the organizers of the Campus Lockdown conference, I saw first hand the power of graduate and undergraduate students (faculty, too!) to organize within the local campus community to bring international and national attention to the tenure crisis. In the face of efforts to systematically marginalize us (and those that come after us), we are still here. 

Community Service Chair: Meagan Denise Brooks

Thank you for the community service chair nomination. I have always been interested and invested in Community Service, and Community Service Learning programs. Since being at Michigan I have been involved in many community service  programs, for instance being the Program Assistant for Student Affairs at the Ginsberg Center working with student organizations that do outreach with k-12 students in the community. I have also had the opportunity to GSI for Psychology 211 Project Outreach Big Sibs which is a community service learning class that promotes mentoring relationships between undergraduate college students and youth in the Washtenaw County area. I look forward to the upcoming Fall 08 semester and I am very excited to work with SCOR in promoting community service not only on campus  but within the Ann Arbor community as well.

Scholarship Chair: Hope Cummings

Hello SCOR...thank you for nominating me for Scholarship Chair. I believe I have what it takes to fulfill this position. As Scholarship chair, I would enjoy reading the hopes and dreams of upcoming intellects. It will also bring me great pleasure to know that we have helped to shape and bring happiness to the lives of others. SCOR was the first organization I sought after when I came to the University of Michigan and it has served me well. I am a PhD candidate in Communication Studies, and my research interest focuses on the roles that electronic media (tv, videogames, music, internet) play in the social and cognitive development of individuals across the life span.

Professional Development Chair: Aaron McCloud

I would be honored to accept your nomination for the Professional Development Executive Board position. I will add value to SCOR in this position because of the nature of my academic program coupled with my goals at the University of Michigan. I am currently a first year dual degree student seeking a MBA and a MS in Engineering, which allows me the opportunity to create relationships with students, alumni, and faculty across the university. I will further leverage those relationships by creating opportunities for people to connect with each other across the university and within the alumni family. My goal is to connect people from various backgrounds and enhance the forum that SCOR has created to facilitate networking and the passing of knowledge from alumni to student to prospective student.

At Large Representative: Annie Ro

I accept the nomination to be the SCOR At-Large Representative.  As a Caucus Chair, I have a special place for the SCOR caucuses.  I recognize their importance as social and emotional sanctuaries for grad students who are feeling overworked, overwhelmed or homesick.  As the at-large rep, I hope to be a valuable resource and ally for the caucuses.

Executive Board Rackham Representative: Davin L. Phoenix

By continuing to serve on the Executive Board, I look forward to providing guidance and support to the fresh new faces of SCOR leadership, who come from across the graduate community and bring a range of ideas to the table that will help us sustain the momentum built over past years, while also blazing new trails for the future. I also intend to utilize my role as the representative to Rackham to continue to build our alliances with influential actors wtihin the administration. We've got unfinished business, fam. Let's get to it...