Shaya Gregory Poku

I am a proud mom of two, wife, sister, daughter, niece, friend, and native of California (Richmond and Oakland to be specific).

As a peacebuilder, educator-scholar, and staunch advocate for social justice, I am committed to spanning gulfs of experiences and ideological understandings. I care most  about the “quiet,” but insidious patterns of social inequality that decimate lives and communities.

My breadth of professional experiences spans more than 20 years across the nonprofit and higher education sectors in domestic and international contexts. I am a certified mediator through the Program on Negotiation at Harvard Law School, and I hold three interdisciplinary degrees. I have a master of arts degree in intercultural relations with a concentration in intercultural conflict management from Lesley University, a master of science in security and resilience studies from Northeastern University, and a bachelor of arts degree in international relations from Agnes Scott College.

As an accomplished strategist, organizational development and change management leader, I currently serve as the Vice President for Equity and Social Justice at Emerson College in Boston. I previously was the Chief Diversity Officer at Wheaton College in Norton, Massachusetts.. 

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