Soumia Bardhan (she/her) earned her PhD in Communication from the University of New Mexico. She arrived at CU Denver in Fall 2019. Bardhan is associate professor of Communication and interim director of International Studies. As a foreign-born female faculty member, scholar of intercultural/global communication, an advocate for mental health awareness, and proponent of equity, diversity, and inclusion in higher education, she was particularly drawn to the holistic approach this program offers in nurturing women, gender diverse, and non-binary leaders within academia. And she is excited about the opportunity to engage in substantive self-reflection, receive career mentorship, enhance leadership capabilities, and contribute to existing equity initiatives and development of future leaders, especially with minority identities, at CU Denver. A recently heard line that impacted her thinking about what means to be a leader is: “You have been assigned this mountain so that you can show others it can be moved” (Mel Robbins)

I have been at CU Denver since 2010 (14 years) as faculty. I am also an alumni of this institution. On top of my faculty role, I also am the Director of CEDC's Academic Integrity. I hope the women’s leadership program will provide me with the skills and knowledge needed to strengthen my leadership capabilities and discover new opportunities in the future. “Leadership and learning are indispensable to each other.” - John F. Kennedy

Katy has been at CU Denver for 12 years. She heads the Collection Development and Strategies Department at the Auraria Library which is responsible for the strategic selection, acquisition, development, management, and assessment of high quality, diverse, inclusive and equitable Learning Material collections in all formats and across all disciplines to support the learning, research, teaching, and administration needs of students, staff & faculty of the Auraria campus. Katy is looking forward to participating in the women’s leadership program because of the opportunity to contribute to the success of CU Denver, make connections across the university and build her leadership skills. Dare to lead : brave work, tough conversations, whole hearts / Brené Brown

I've been at CU Denver in some capacity for 25 years, full-time since 2007. I am the Director of the Composition Program and an Assistant Teaching Professor of Rhetoric & Composition. I’m here to explore what courageous and compassionate leadership looks like alongside a strong, psychologically safe group of women who see the value of challenging the cavity of autocratic leadership and championing each other's contributions. “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed people can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has” - Margaret Mead

Mia Fischer (she/her) is an Associate Professor in the Department of Communication at the University of Colorado Denver. Working at the intersections of critical media, sports, queer, trans and surveillance studies, her work has appeared in various academic journals, including Feminist Media Studies, Communication, Culture & Critique, Communication and Critical/Cultural Studies, Intelligence and National Security, Journal of International and Intercultural Communication, Communication & Sport among other venues. Her book, Terrorizing Gender: Transgender Visibility and the Surveillance Practices of the U.S. Security State (University of Nebraska Press, 2019) is the winner of the National Communication Association's 2020 Diamond Anniversary Book Award. She is currently working on a larger project that contextualizes the rise of anti-trans legislation since 2020 within the broader resurgence of white supremacy and anti-democratic forces in the U.S. Between 2017-2021, Dr. Fischer co-led Denver Pen Pal Collaborative (DPPC), a collaborative prison-pen-pal project that connects with folks all across the country through various forms of artistic expression as a means of empowering those who are subject to mass incarceration. At CU Denver, Dr. Fischer's service focuses on promoting a welcoming and inclusive climate for LGBTQ+ students, faculty, and staff. She served as chair of the LGBTQ+ Faculty Assembly committee from 2021-2023. She also selectively consults on DEI implementation and LGBTQ+ inclusive teaching- and workplace practices.

Kate Goodman (she/her/hers) is an associate teaching professor in the College of Engineering, Design, and Computing and has taught at CU Denver since 2016. Her teaching includes human-centered design and fundamentals of computing. Since 2023, she has also served as the Director of the Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning (CETL). She holds a PhD in Technology, Media, and Society from the ATLAS Institute, University of Colorado Boulder, and a Master of Professional Writing from the University of Southern California. “Fight for the things that you care about, but do it in a way that will lead others to join you.” – Ruth Bader Ginsberg

Dr. Erin Hackel is a Professor at the University of Colorado, Denver, and has been for 20 years. She has founded two award-winning a cappella groups, MIX and Lark, who have been praised for their innovation and have been singled out for their boundary-changing work in collegiate a cappella. Both groups have been BOSS and SoJAM champions, are recipients of multiple performance awards, and have won several Contemporary A cappella Recording awards. One of Dr. Hackel’s greatest passions is contemporary singing techniques, and teaching singers how to belt in a sustainable and healthy way. She presents widely on that topic and publishes regularly about historical contemporary female singers. Dr. Hackel is the interim chair of MEIS and the current chair of VA. "There are no problems, only solutions"

Julia Kantor is a Senior Instructor with ASPIRE to Teach, the CU Denver alternative licensure program that focuses on developing teachers across Colorado. A former elementary teacher, Julia primarily supports elementary teachers through ASPIRE to ground their work in anti-oppressive practices and concepts of equity literacy. She is also the faculty advisor for the Curriculum and Instruction: Critical Pedagogy MA program that emphasizes similar ideals. She has taught courses at the undergraduate, Masters and Doctoral levels. Most recently, she has taught an MA course, Culture of Education Policy, that emphasizes the ways in which education policy both reflects and helps sustains inequities.

Kristin Kilbourn has been a member of the faculty at CU Denver for over 17 years. She is an Associate Professor in the Department of Psychology and a core faculty member in the Clinical Health Psychology Doctoral Program. She is involved in a mix of teaching, research and service work. Teaching activities involve the instruction, training and mentoring of doctoral students in the Clinical Health Psychology program as well undergraduates and post-doctoral students. She has an active research lab focusing on cardiovascular disease prevention, oncology and palliative care with an emphasis on developing and testing psychosocial interventions. Additionally, Dr. Kilbourn engages in a variety of service and leadership activities both within the CU system as well as at the state and national level.

Annika Mosier is an Associate Professor in the Integrative Biology Department at the University of Colorado Denver, where she has been a faculty member since 2014. Annika’s research seeks to expand our understanding of the role of microbial communities in maintaining ecosystem health in the face of environmental threats. She brings her enthusiasm for microbiology into the classroom to engage undergraduate and graduate students by drawing them into the intersection between microscopic life and macroscopic issues. Annika is particularly passionate about promoting diversity, equity, and inclusion for students, faculty and staff across the university. Through the CU Denver Women's Leadership Program, her goal is to learn to lead with authenticity while living into her values and advancing the University's strategic goal to be an equity-serving institution.

I have been at CU Denver for five years; I sit on the Coalition for Women's Identities directorate board as the Endorsed Program Review Chair for the American College Personnel Association (ACPA) and I also sit on the Strategic Planning Committee for the Organization for Transformative Works (OTW). I am the current Director of Student Transitions at CU Denver, contract lecturer in FYE for a class called Anime Goes to College, current researcher on fandom identity in college students with a focus on Japanese anime fandom in America. I hope to learn more about building stronger networks throughout my time in higher education and I hope to continue making headway to gain more leadership experience and roles within the university system. "The institution cannot love you" - Dr. Tressie McMillan Cottom