The Institute for Trauma, Adversity, & Resilience in Higher Education is lucky to have the support and active professional contributions of the following individuals.
Director
Trauma Institute Higher Ed
MassBay Profile
email: jtietjen@massbay.edu
Jeanie Tietjen
Dr. Jeanie Tietjen is Professor of English at MassBay Community College, and founded and directs the Institute for Trauma, Adversity, and Resilience in Higher Education. The Institute promotes an understanding of the profound impact trauma and adversity have on academic resilience in higher education as well as how a strengths-based, trauma-informed campus and community support student success. She served on an 18-month consensus study “Supporting the Whole Student: Mental Health and Well-Being in Higher Education” with Washington D.C.’s National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, and contributed an article “Naming the Urgency: The Importance of Trauma-Informed Practices in Community Colleges” in the edited collection on Trauma Informed Pedagogies: A Guide for Responding to Crisis and Inequality in Higher Education. She earned her doctorate from the Department of English at Brandeis University in 2016, and her dissertation examined representations of excremental violence in Holocaust literature. She has taught for over 20 years in diverse settings: two and four year colleges, prisons and homeless shelters, residential treatment facility for adolescent girls. She esteems the diversity, resilience, and commitment to best educational outcomes in community college from students, faculty, staff, administration and community stakeholders.
Affiliate Scholars
email: uuzoeghelu@massbay.edu
Ugo Uzoeghelu
Dr. Uzoeghelu serves as an Associate Professor of Health Sciences and an Affiliate Fellow & Scholar with the Institute for Trauma, Adversity, and Resilience in Higher Education at MassBay Community College. He is also an Epidemiologist at the Massachusetts Department of Public Health. Dr. Uzoeghelu holds an MD from Nnamdi Azikiwe College of Medicine, an MPH in Infectious Diseases Epidemiology from the University of North Texas, and an MSc in Clinical Investigation from Harvard Medical School. He is certified in Public Health (CPH) by the U.S. National Board of Public Health Examiners (NBPHE).
Dr. Uzoeghelu has dedicated his career to advancing health equity in the prevention and treatment of HIV/STIs and other infectious diseases. Currently, his work involves applying technical expertise and clinical research findings to develop and implement trauma-informed strategies that reduce HIV/STI risk and vulnerability. This includes maximizing the uptake, retention, and adherence to crucial HIV/STI interventions within communities disproportionately affected by the epidemic in the U.S. This commitment to understanding and mitigating vulnerability also informs his keen interest in evaluating the impact of trauma on student success in higher education.
email: Abrogna@massbay.edu
Ashleigh Brogna
Ashleigh Brogna serves as an Adjunct Professor of Psychology at MassBay Community College, where she teaches courses including Introduction to Psychology, Career Planning, and Lifespan Development. She holds an M.A. in Community Social Psychology from the University of Massachusetts Lowell and a B.A. in Psychology from the University of Maine.
Ashleigh plans to pursue a doctorate in Clinical Psychology with a specialization in trauma, furthering her commitment to understanding trauma, resilience, and the development of trauma-informed practices across clinical and educational settings.
Ashleigh has contributed to research spanning a variety of psychological and public health topics, including cognitive impairment among individuals with late-stage chronic kidney disease and the relationship between prison overcrowding and inmate suicide rates. Her current research interests focus on trauma-informed higher education, student motivation, and stress coping. Specifically, she examines how external stressors, including food insecurity, intimate partner violence, financial hardship, and other adverse life experiences influence students’ motivation, academic engagement, attendance, and persistence in higher education. Through this work, Ashleigh aims to identify strategies that foster resilience and promote student success by creating more trauma-informed learning environments.
email: keskine@massbay.edu
Kendall Eskine
Dr. Kendall Eskine is an Associate Professor of Psychology and Affiliate Scholar at the Institute for Trauma, Adversity, and Resilience in Higher Education at MassBay Community College. As a Cognitive Scientist, he’s interested in how minds make meaning. From linguistic metaphors to sensorimotor experiences, Dr. Eskine is fascinated by our innate capacity to ground and communicate meaning through symbols. With 15 years of teaching experience and nearly a decade working in corporate environments among user experience designers, Dr. Eskine is focused on helping students find clarity in complex educational systems. He holds graduate degrees from The City University of New York (Ph.D., M.Phil., M.A.) and undergraduate degrees in Philosophy and Psychology from Loyola University in New Orleans.
His work centers around highlighting our student needs/barriers, identifying institutional resources, and building artifacts that both engage and connect faculty and staff in their respective roles m. He uses a variety of research methods (ranging from discovery research to collaborative design), with the goal of building artifacts that promote student success.
email: jmyerson@massbay.edu
Joanna Myerson
Joanna Myerson is a research affiliate and community implementer at the Institute for Trauma, Adversity, and Resilience in Higher Education. Contributing to and implementing Institute research on trauma-informed practices in higher education, including the design of case study-based faculty development resources and professional training. With over 15 years of experience in academic and start-up settings, Joanna uses that experience to develop and deliver initiatives that educate key stakeholders. Her experience includes being a key contributor to the execution of program development efforts, creating a strategic advantage for collaborating with Harvard Law School and expanding the Master IRB Reliance Agreement to the national model, Smart IRB.
Joanna is interested in streamlining essential practices by analyzing data and formulating strategic improvement solutions and educational programs.
email: estapleton@massbay.edu
Liz Stapleton (PREVIOUS AFFILIATE)
As a previous affiliate scholar, Dr. Stapleton served on the primary research and writing team that culminated in the article “Hidden Challenges” published in April 2026. Dr. Stapleton is an Assistant Professor of Early Childhood Education. She obtained her doctorate in Educational Studies from Lesley University, with a focus on the intersection of traumatic stress, early childhood, and attachment theory. Liz’s research examines how preschool teachers’ perceptions of young children’s behavior can impact relationships within the classroom community, and through examining these perceptions, how teacher preparatory programs may better prepare preschool teachers for the field. Her passions include supporting systems-change within the field of early education to provide trauma-sensitive learning environments for young children and their teachers. Liz’s current research project analyzes held beliefs and attitudes related to trauma-sensitive teaching among early educators across Massachusetts.
Faculty Learning Community Academic Year 2025-2026
Trauma-Informed Higher Education Pedagogies & Practices
- Tracy Amaral-Tracey, Assistant Professor, English
- Daiane Antonio, Associate Professor, Early Childhood Education
- Ashleigh Brogna, Assistant Professor, Psychology
- Clarissa Codrington, Assistant Professor & Department Chair, English
- Kuang-Ming Covitz, Associate Professor, Anatomy & Physiology
- Jennifer Cullen, Assistant Professor, Behavioral Health
- Dolores Goyette, Professor, Surgical Technology & Health Sciences
- Carolyn Guttilla, Professor & Department Chair, Communications
- Joanna Herrera, Assistant Professor, English
- Deborah O’Dowd, Assistant Professor, Practical Nursing
- Tina Ramme, Adjunct Faculty, STEM
- Elizabeth Stapleton, Assistant Professor, Early Childhood Education
- Jeanie Tietjen, Professor, English
- Ugochukwu Uzoeghelu, Associate Professor, Health Sciences
- Matthew Walsh, Professor, English
Supported by
- Dr. Rebecca Heimel, Dean for Teaching & Learning
- Dr. Courtney Jackson, Provost & Vice-President for Academic Affairs
Key Strategic Advisors
- Dr. David Podell, President
- Dr. Courtney Jackson, Provost & Vice-President for Academic Affairs
- Dr. Elizabeth Blumberg, Vice-President for Student Development & Dean of Students
- Nina Keery, Dean of Humanities & Social Sciences
- Abigail Detweiler, Manager of Grants Administration
Institute Contributors
- Johanna Benavides, Assistant Professor, Accounting & Business
- Ashleigh Brogna, Adjunct Professor, Psychology
- Kendall Eskine, Assistant Professor, Psychology
- Laura McEvoy, Health & Wellness Coordinator
- Brandi Perri, Assistant Professor of Sociology
- Jennifer Rong, Social Media
Videos & Motion Graphic Design
- Carolyn Guttilla, Professor & Chair, Communications
Institute student Interns
Previous
- Luisa Nascimento
- Mia Campos
- Ashley Smith
- Madison Colleton
- Katerina Cipriano
- Anthony Neptune
- Max Morrongiello
Motion Graphic Design Interns
2026
- Oumaima Attioui, University of Massachusetts, Lowell
- Annalee Barbar, University of Massachusetts, Lowell
2025
- Isabella Faulkner, University of Massachusetts Lowell
- Ngoc Thuy An Nguyen, University of Massachusetts Lowell