Executive Committee
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Zeinabu Davis
Professor, Department of Communication
A veteran of independent film and video, Davis has produced numerous award winning works. Her vision is passionately focused on the depiction of African American women - their hopes, dreams, past and future. Her interests include altering and diversifying the terrain of mass media, film history, world cinema and folklore. She frequently writes and lectures on African and African American cinema.
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Adam Burgasser
Professor, Department of Physics
Adam Burgasser is a Professor in the Department of Physics and an astrophysicist whose primary research is the investigation of the lowest mass stars and extrasolar planets. Adam conducts both research, educational initiatives, and mentorship programs that aim to advance equity and inclusion in the physical sciences at all levels, and has been on the BSP Executive Committee since its founding.
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Jessica Graham
Professor, Department of History
Jessica Graham completed her Ph.D. in history from the University of Chicago (2010) and a master's degree in Africana Studies at Cornell University (2000). During a break from graduate school after leaving Cornell, Professor Graham spent two months in Brazil, where her experiences with Afro-Brazilian academics and activists led to an interest in Brazilian history. Her current book manuscript, Shifting the Meaning of Democracy: Racial Inclusion as a Strategy of the U.S. and Brazilian States, 1930-45, assesses Brazil and the United States during the Great Depression and World War II. Her book examines the impact of communism, fascism, the Second World War, and Brazil-U.S. relations on evolving racial meanings of political democracy in both nations. Research for the project has been supported by a grant from the Rockefeller Archive Center, a Fulbright-Hays Dissertation Fellowship, a University of Notre Dame Erskine A. Peters Dissertation Fellowship, and a University of Notre Dame Moreau Postdoctoral Fellowship, among others.
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Danielle Raudenbush
Professor, Department of Sociology
Danielle Raudenbush received her B.A. from Vassar College and her Ph.D. from the University of Chicago. Her research centers on questions that are fundamental for understanding the health and well-being of minorities and low-income people in the United States. Her recent work includes a book titled, Health Care Off the Books: Poverty, Illness, and Strategies for Survival in Urban America (University of California Press, February 2020). In it, she uses qualitative methods to examine the health care practices of the urban poor, and specifically the informal network strategies that low-income African Americans develop in attempts to treat health problems when they face barriers to accessing formal health services. This book was winner of the 2020 C. Wright Mills Award and received Honorable Mention by the 2022 Eliot Friedson Outstanding Publication Award. Currently, she is working on a project in which she investigates how living in the San Diego, California border region shapes health care experiences of Mexican immigrants, including how members of this group strategically use health services in Mexico to meet their health care needs and goals. In addition to research on health, Dr. Raudenbush is interested more broadly in questions related to social cohesion among low-income minorities and the role that people's social relationships play as they cope with material deprivation.
See a full list of Dr. Raudenbush's publications at UCSD's Department of Sociology website.
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Cecilia A. Ozkan
Chief Administrative Officer, Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering
BSP Ex Officio Board Member
Cecilia served as CAO to BSP during her tenure as manager and principal advisor to the Chair of the Department of Ethnic Studies, Andrew Jolivétte, service for which she was recognized as one among the Exemplary Staff Employees of the Year 2022-23. As CAO, Cecilia managed departmental administrative functions including finance and budget, faculty recruitment, human resources, facilities, and staff supervision. Cecilia was also the contact for all academic personnel tasks such as advancement, compensation, benefits, leaves of absence, and policies and procedures.
Cecilia has worked at UC San Diego for over 15 years, in various departments ranging from the Department of Psychiatry, Biological Sciences, Music, Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering and Scripps Institute of Oceanography (SIO), in the Dean’s office. She is a UC San Diego alumni with a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science and a Minor in Spanish Literature and a Master of Business Administration, from National University.