Human Development & Family Science  News

As a Human Development and Family Science major, Calen Headley spent last spring as an intern at InterFaith Works of Central New York, where he worked with refugees who arrived through the federal refugee resettlement program. “Overall, you just know there’s a bigger reason to everything being done here, which is to provide help to all of the refugees in Syracuse,” says Headley, who earned his undergraduate degree in May.

While continuing his work at InterFaith Works as Health and Integration Administrative Assistant, Headley is also pursuing his master of social work (M.S.W.) degree at Falk College. He hopes to use his internship and work experience at InterFaith as a springboard to one day returning to his high school in Brooklyn, New York, to help students as a mental health counselor.

Before graduating in May 2023, Human Development and Family Science major Julia Lee spent the spring semester working as an intern at the Korean Church of Syracuse near the Syracuse University campus. “When I met Julia, she was already so passionate to meet the refugee kids and ready to interact with them. It was very impressive,” says Yunhee Kim G’09, an office administrator at the Korean Church of Syracuse.

In September, Lee started her professional career as a teacher assistant at Twin Parks Montessori Schools in New York City that offer programs for children from three months to six years of age. “Because of this internship class, I feel like I got to build more experiences and find if I’m right for this path,” Lee says.

Mary E. Graham, Ph.D., professor in the Department of Sport Management, has been named Falk College Associate Dean of Faculty Affairs effective Jan. 2, 2024. This newly created leadership position reports to Falk College Dean Jeremy Jordan and is dedicated to faculty development and success. In this role, Graham will guide all Falk College efforts related to faculty development—from hiring to retirement—and work closely with university offices and leadership in Academic Affairs, University Counsel, Equal Opportunity Compliance, Human Resources, and Office of Research.

“I am excited to appoint Dr. Graham to this new role for Falk College,” says Jeremy S. Jordan, Dean of Falk College. “I am very confident that she will be able to further the support and development of our faculty based on her wealth of professional experiences and academic expertise.”

As Falk College Associate Dean of Faculty Affairs, Graham will work with department chairs to develop strategic hiring plans for faculty and oversee the successful execution of faculty searches. She will participate in faculty review processes, including recommendations for contract renewals and promotion and tenure, and manage operational aspects of faculty affairs. Together with Falk College leadership, Graham will steer the college towards enhanced faculty research and teaching excellence.

“Falk College has an exceptionally talented, diverse faculty with unparalleled dedication to the student experience and the creation of new knowledge,” says Graham. “I am honored to serve as Associate Dean of Faculty Affairs in service to my faculty colleagues and the linked missions of Falk College and Syracuse University. I look forward to collaborating with our visionary Dean, Jeremy Jordan, and his leadership team on strategic and operational faculty matters.”

Graham joined the Falk College faculty in 2012 and is also affiliated faculty in the Whitman School of Management. She teaches applied courses in organizational behavior and strategic human resource management, as well as diversity in sport organizations at the undergraduate, graduate, and executive levels. An expert in gender disparities in employment, she has conducted numerous American Association of University Women salary negotiations workshops for students since 2009.

In 2022, Graham was named Syracuse University’s faculty athletics representative (FAR) to the NCAA and the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC). In this capacity she serves as a key advisor to Chancellor Kent Syverud and Provost Gretchen Ritter on policy proposals and issues affecting student-athletes’ academic and overall wellbeing, working closely with Tommy Powell, Assistant Provost for Student-Athlete Academic Development; Athletic Director John Wildhack; and their teams of professionals. Graham chairs the Faculty Oversight Committee on Athletics, which reviews student-athlete academic data and conducts exit interviews of departing student-athletes.

She previously served as a Syracuse University Provost Faculty Fellow from 2018 to 2020, where she worked with the Provost and University Senate to develop and implement campus-wide shared competencies for undergraduate students. Graham has been a University Senator since 2018, and she currently serves on the Senate Committee on Athletic Policy.

Prior to joining Syracuse University, Graham held faculty positions in business schools at Clarkson University, George Washington University, and Georgia State University. She has served as a visiting scholar at National Taiwan University of Science and Technology, National Central University in Taiwan, and at the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta. She also has prior work experience with several members of the U.S. House of Representatives. Graham has published extensively and has been widely cited in the areas of human resource management (HRM), public policy and employment discrimination, gender in employment and HRM in supply chains. She is currently studying the equal employment opportunity transparency among professional sport teams, and the impact of concussions on player misconduct.

Graham is on the Editorial Board of the journal Human Resource Management (Wiley), where she previously served as an associate editor. Her professional memberships include the Society for Human Resource Management; and the Academy of Management, where she serves on the executive committee of the Research Methods Division.

A former CPA, Graham has a B.S. in Accounting from Le Moyne College and work experience in public accounting and human resource management. Graham earned both her M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Industrial and Labor Relations from Cornell University, specializing in human resource management, organizational behavior, and gender studies.

What five words best describe you?

Well, this is what I would hope for: Kind, empathetic, fun(ish), focused, humble.

Three fun facts about yourself that others may not know?

I have run 12 marathons and 25 half-marathons. I love live music and try to go to as many concerts as a I can. One of my favorite places to visit is Japan—I love the people and the culture.

Do you play a sport or follow a sports team?

During COVID I bought a Peloton bike, so now I spend a lot of time riding a bike that goes nowhere. After living in Philadelphia for 15 years, I tend to root for the Phillies and Eagles.

Favorite band?

Pearl Jam, I am old.

Favorite podcast, book, movie or hobby you’ve enjoyed recently?

I have been reading Lincoln in the Bardo by George Saunders. It is a unique book that I have enjoyed quite a bit. Fun that he is a faculty member at Syracuse.

Most interesting travel experience you’ve had?

I love to travel abroad and experience all that is available at the destination, especially the food. The most epic travel day I have had was in Tokyo. The day started with a bike tour through the city where we stumbled upon one of the best Oktoberfest celebrations I have seen (it was in May by the way). The day ended with some amazing street food and a visit to the robot bar. I got to share this day with my spouse, Laurel, and a good friend, which made it even more special.

Best advice you’ve received?

Listen more, talk less.

What most appeals to you about living in Central New York?

I have really enjoyed learning about all the different outdoor activities and festivals.

How do you bring out the best in your students?

Understanding their academic and career aspirations and making sure we provide the necessary support and resources for them to be successful. We work collaboratively with our students to help them achieve their goals.

What do you look most forward to in your role as dean?

Working with the faculty and staff to provide a transformational experience for our students. We will tell the story of Falk, in part, through the outcomes of our students.

An SU Story by Maren Powell originally published on November 3, 2023.

Catherine García wants to know how and why the fastest-growing segment of older adults in the United States—those of Hispanic/Latine origin—are at higher risk for chronic diseases, such as Type 2 diabetes, kidney disease and Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias. She’s particularly interested in discerning how social factors “get under the skin” in those populations to influence biological functions and overall health.

García is an assistant professor of human development and family science in the Falk College of Sport and Human Dynamics. She’s also a faculty affiliate at the University’s Aging Studies Institute, Center for Aging and Policy Studies and Lerner Center for Public Health Promotion and Population Health. García came to Syracuse in 2021 from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, where she was an assistant professor of sociology and a core faculty member of the Minority Health Disparities Initiative. Her award-winning research has been supported by the National Institute on Aging and the National Institutes of Health.

You’re a gerontologist with training in sociology. What attracted you to the Falk College, and how does a social lens influence your research on health outcomes and biological functions?

I jokingly call myself the “resident gerontologist” at Falk, since I have the training and specialize in the older adult population. What attracted me to the college was the interdisciplinary focus of scholarship and service to the local community, including the many partnerships that Falk espouses. As part of the Falk community, I have been invited to join the Syracuse University/SUNY-Upstate Medical Center Aging Collaborative and Upstate’s Community Research Recruitment Accelerator, which reviews and recommends changes to studies to increase recruitment and retention rates of underserved communities.

One of my current projects, “Pathways to Cognitive Function among Older Hispanics/Latines,” emphasizes my sociological training in social stratification and how those factors translate into health risks generally within the Latine population in the United States and in Puerto Rico. I am assessing the effects that education, physiological factors and cognitive function have among a diverse sample of older Hispanics/Latines. I’m also studying how social factors have predictable and enduring biological impact and the significant consequences those social factors have for cognitive health across the life course.

What are your research goals?

I hope to better understand the pathways that social and material disadvantage present in an individual’s health and how societal disadvantages can become biologically embedded.

Social adversity and life course experience—and how that gets translated and incorporated in a person’s body at the cellular level—can translate to chronic conditions. In the Latine population, a lot of people don’t have access to health insurance (thus access to routine medical care). So, a diagnosis can come at later stage when the disease is more severe. There’s a difference there compared to someone who’s had more socioeconomic advantage in accessing regular health care and thus in their potential for healthy aging.

What are you discovering?

In a forthcoming book chapter, my colleagues and I use data from the American Community Survey, an ongoing, nationally-representative household survey conducted by the U.S. Census Bureau throughout the United States and Puerto Rico. We found that when solely considering Latine heritage, Puerto Ricans had the highest probabilities of self-reported cognitive impairment at all ages, followed by Dominicans, Cubans and Mexicans. (Cognitive impairment is a precursor to cognitive decline and dementia and one of the earliest noticeable symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias.) When birthplace or nativity status is combined with Latine heritage, some Latine heritage groups displayed an immigrant advantage that further widened with age. (The phrase “immigrant advantage” refers to the fact that, upon arrival to the United States, most foreign-born Latines have relatively good health as they have not yet suffered the full biopsychosocial consequences of othering/marginalization, known as the Hispanic epidemiological paradox.) Additional consideration of age at migration revealed that the immigrant advantage does not extend to Latine immigrants who arrived in the United States at age 50 or older, particularly for Cuban, Dominican and Puerto Rican women. Lastly, we find that higher educational attainment is associated with lower probabilities of self-reported cognitive impairment for many Latine groups.

With data from the Health and Retirement Study (a nationally representative survey of adults over age 50 in the U.S. that has been conducted biennially since 1992), preliminary findings show that social positioning and adversity do have different influences on physiological functioning, which may help explain why certain groups of Hispanics/Latines may be more likely to experience chronic disease in middle and older adulthood.

Socially disadvantaged groups are more likely to have lower levels of education, are more likely to live in areas where they are disproportionately exposed to harm through factors such as air pollution and poor housing quality, and they tend to exhibit adverse health behaviors, such as poor nutrition, compared to their more socially advantaged counterparts. Other studies express that local economic, service, social, natural and policy environments are primary causes of health disparities. Multiple forms of social disadvantage can trigger a cascade of pathophysiological processes that may trigger disease-related processes. There’s also evidence that certain groups of Latines have worse health outcomes relative to other Latine groups, particularly older, island-born Puerto Ricans.

How can we level out health disparities among the diverse populations in the U.S.?

At minimum, we need to create protected, community-supported spaces to create healthy environments for older adults from diverse communities. Given the range of origins of Hispanics/Latines in the U.S. in ethnicity, birthplace and current residence, it is crucial to understand how these factors get “under the skin” to affect biological processes that influence chronic disease in middle and older adulthood. That’s my essential question.

A Syracuse University News Story by Diane Stirling originally published Oct. 6, 2023.

Why Falk College? And why OttoTHON?

For Grace Brashears, the answer to both questions is the same: She has dedicated her life to helping children and their families “while they walk the terrifying path that is pediatric illness.”

Brashears is a double major at Falk (human development and family science, and public health) who’s working toward becoming a certified child life specialist. In that role, Brashears will help children and families navigate the process of illness, injury, disability, trauma, and hospitalization.

But Brashears is helping children and their families even before she graduates in 2025. The junior from Holland, Michigan, was recently named the youngest executive director in the 10-year history of OttoTHON, Syracuse University’s 12-hour dance marathon that raises money for Upstate Golisano Children’s Hospital, which is adjacent to campus.

“It’s quite an honor,’’ says Matthew Mulvaney, associate professor and undergraduate director of the Department of Human Development and Family Science (HDFS). “This will be a wonderful representation of Syracuse values and an important show of support for children managing these challenges.”

OttoTHON is a part of a larger international movement of students fighting for a future without childhood illness. Hundreds of Dance Marathon programs throughout North America raise funds and awareness for Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals. In recent years, OttoTHON has raised more than $100,000 a year for Golisano.

In a recent meeting with her HDFS faculty advisor and mentor, Professor of Practice Colleen Cameron, Brashears mentioned that she had been named executive director. Happy and excited for Brashears and how her work with OttoTHON reflects the social justice values of HDFS and Falk, Cameron asked Brashers to write a reflection about her appointment that Cameron could share with the department leadership.

We also asked Brashears to share her reflection with the wider Falk and Syracuse University communities. Here’s what she wrote:

“Throughout the year, OttoTHON plans and runs various small events, fundraising pushes, and support initiatives for the children and families who have been treated at Upstate Golisano. All of this leads to our large event in the spring, our 12-hour Dance Marathon. This 12-hour party is a celebration of all the kids and families who have and currently are walking the path of pediatric illness. Throughout this event, we play games, eat food, watch performances from several student groups, fundraise, hear stories from staff and families at the hospital, and, of course, dance.

“This year, I have the absolute honor of being the executive director for OttoTHON! After being a part of the OttoTHON Leadership Program as a first-year student and serving as the first-year recruitment co-chair on the executive board last year, I am thrilled to be able to step into this role during my junior year here at Syracuse.

“Pediatric illness is something that I have always been highly passionate about. Since I started the mini-dance marathon program at my high school (Holland Christian High School), my biggest ‘why’ for being a part of this movement is to ensure that no child or family ever has to feel that they are alone while they walk the terrifying path that is pediatric illness. Programs like Dance Marathon offer an opportunity for the local community to help fill the gaps in healthcare today through the funds they raise and the support they offer. This ‘why’ brought me to Syracuse University to pursue my degrees in human development & family science and public health with the goal of becoming a certified child life specialist.

“As executive director, I oversee the organization and set the top priorities and goals for OttoTHON; manage and ensure that initiatives, fundraisers, and events run successfully; and assist in whatever capacity is needed. I also serve as a liaison to Upstate Golisano Children’s Hospital, the Syracuse University community, the greater Syracuse community, Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals, and other key partners. My ultimate responsibility and personal goal as executive director are to be sure OttoTHON does absolutely everything we can to ensure that the families we work with know there is a group of passionate Syracuse University students across the street from them who will do everything in our power to do anything that will make this journey even the tiniest bit easier for them.

“I believe it is vital for Syracuse University students to get involved in experiences that will get them into the local Syracuse community in a way that benefits the members of that community. As an out-of-state student, it can be easy to look at Syracuse, New York, as just Syracuse University; this is why it is essential to know that Syracuse is an entire community of people that goes far beyond the University. OttoTHON is a great way to begin to do this.

“If anyone is interested in joining the internal side of OttoTHON at this time, they can apply to be a part of a committee (applications coming out soon), or our new Team Captain program! If anyone is looking to participate but not be a part of the planning side of things, they can participate in the various small events we hold on campus, donate to the hospital through OttoTHON’s Donor Drive page, or register through our donor drive to be a dancer (participant) at our main event this spring! For more information on where to sign up, donate, or any other questions, please follow us on our Instagram @ottothon or email me at Ottothon@gmail.com.”

In addition to her OttoTHON activities, Grace Brashears ’25 is a Falk College student ambassador, Falk research assistant, Syracuse University orientation leader, and a member of Kappa Alpha Theta sorority.

For Raven Campbell, who grew up in Jamaica and moved to the United States when she was 14, the journey to her chosen career path has at times felt just as long and daunting.

But in conversations with her family and Falk College advisor, Colleen Cameron, and through out-of-classroom experiences such as her observership this past spring at a hospital in Kingston, Campbell has transformed her passion for working with children into her career goals of becoming a child life specialist and then a developmental pediatrician.

While pediatricians offer general primary care services to children, developmental pediatricians assist in specific difficulties, struggles, or deficiencies in the growth and development of a child.

“I’ve always had a love for children and felt a spark when I was around them,” Campbell says. “But career-wise, I didn’t know what I was going to do.

“I had my first class with Professor Cameron, and she was talking about child life, and I thought that was something I wanted to do,” Campbell continues. “As time passed, I wanted to do more with that and this spring in Jamaica I met a developmental pediatrician and learned that’s something I’m interested in doing while also getting my child life specialist certification.”

Cameron, a professor of practice in the Department of Human Development and Family Science at Falk College, says Campbell’s child life coursework has provided a foundation that will benefit her as a developmental pediatrician because the curriculum focuses on the impact of illness, injury, trauma, and hospitalization on human development.

“Raven’s ambition to pursue dual credentials makes sense to me because she’s someone who wants to leave no stone unturned and is deeply committed to providing exceptional care to children and families,” Cameron says. “It takes a lot of work to become certified, but she sees the value in the knowledge, skills, and abilities of child life specialists and how having that skillset can take you far in meeting the needs of children, youth, families, and communities.”

‘Children Gravitate Toward Her’

Born in Brooklyn, Campbell moved to Kingston with her family when she was a baby. She grew up in a house that centered on children and education as her mother, Pauladene Steele, is in her 23rd year as a teacher, Coordinator of the International Baccalaureate Diploma Program, and now Vice Principal at the Hillel Academy, a private international school in Kingston.

“I saw very early that how she interacted with children really stood out,” Steele says. “I found it unique that children–ones she knew and ones she didn’t know–would easily gravitate toward her and it became more pronounced as she started to interact in Sunday School at church.

“She had this calming effect where children were involved,” Steele adds. “And she could take on the identity of an older one, a little one, a baby; she had that fluidity in terms of engaging and interacting with all children.”

When she was 14, Campbell moved to the United States to live with her uncle (Steele’s brother) in Virginia. Steele wanted her daughter to have a U.S. education, and Campbell spent four years at Bethel High School in Hampton, Virgina.

During that time, Campbell’s aunt had a baby, Mialani, and Campbell is proud to say that she helped raise her. While enjoying the time with her cousin, Campbell started to become curious about child development and the cultural differences between the United States and Jamaica.

“In Jamaican culture, it’s normal for conversations you have with a child to be more like the conversations you have with adults; it’s not baby talk,’” Campbell says. “With food as well; people here tend to wean their kids into solid foods, but Jamaican people give babies various kinds of foods from an early age. I had a different perspective than other people because I grew up in a Jamaican family and things were so different.”

When she was a senior in high school, which was also the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, Campbell became ill with sepsis and had to be hospitalized. Sepsis is a serious condition that occurs when the body’s immune system has an extreme response to an infection.

“After the care she received, she said, ‘Mom, I really want to work in a hospital. I don’t want to be a medical doctor, but I want to work in a hospital and work with children,’” Steele says. “She thought a big part of her recovery was because of the attention and care she received from the different practitioners who helped her, and she wanted to do just that.”

‘Feeling the Vibe’

Campbell’s uncle in Virginia had wanted to attend Syracuse University but ended up at Florida International University. But his fondness for Syracuse stuck with Campbell, who was accepted and enrolled as a freshman in the fall of 2020.

As she explored professions that focus on children, Campbell discovered Falk College and discussed her career goals with Falk academic counselor Malissa Monaghan, who recommended she take courses in human development and family science (HDFS).

“HDFS, in my opinion, is the best way to better understand underlying processes that impact health and wellness across cultural communities, contexts, and developmental stages,” says Cameron, Campbell’s Falk advisor. “Our degree provides an exceptional foundation for anyone who sees themselves providing healthcare services for individuals across the developmental continuum.”

As Campbell says, she “started to feel the vibe” of HDFS and met with Cameron, who says she always starts conversations with students by asking them to first identify and articulate what they are interested in before talking about specific career titles.

“I want to know what skills and abilities they hope to obtain, how do they envision their future, and in what settings?” Cameron says. “From there, we can begin to think about co-curricular experiences, and I have a ‘go-to’ list of opportunities that students can pursue each year of their undergraduate experience. Then, students can begin to see the careers and fields that link with their interests.”

In that first meeting, Cameron introduced information about the child life specialist curriculum, which was the first curriculum in the world to be endorsed by the Association of Child Life Professionals. With her child life classes, Campbell was starting to feel the spark that she felt around children when she was growing up.

Following Cameron’s advice, Campbell sought experiences outside of the classroom. She went on the HDFS immersion trip to New York City last fall, volunteered at Upstate University Hospital in Syracuse in the spring, and interned at the Bernice M. Wright School on South Campus in the spring. In May 2022, she attended the Association of Child Life Professionals’ Child Life Conference in National Harbor, Maryland, where “she was a rock star,” Cameron says.

But perhaps Campbell’s most life-changing experience would occur this past spring when she returned home to spend three weeks at University Hospital of the West Indies in Jamaica.

‘Brings Joy to My Heart’

Campbell’s mother, Steele, has a friend, Professor of Pediatrics and Infectious Diseases Celia Christie, who is a Senior Consultant Pediatrician for the hospital and is “very passionate about Raven’s development and progress,” Steele says. Through this connection, Campbell spent three weeks in June under the supervision of developmental pediatrician Dr. Andrea Garbutt.

Campbell spent her time observing–and speaking with–doctors, nurses, teachers, and social workers about the psychosocial care of children and families at the hospital. Jamaica does not utilize child life specialists, and Campbell’s “final exam” was a 22-page paper explaining why the hospital should employ a child life specialist who could help children and families navigate the process of illness, injury, disability, trauma, and hospitalization.

To Campbell, the reasons for having a child life specialist were clear. The hospital didn’t have toys or a playroom for children, many of whom were oncology patients who were placed in an adult ward and couldn’t be moved. That first night, Campbell and her mother purchased toys, coloring books, crayons, and other supplies that she could provide to the children to take their minds off their diagnosis and “allow them to be kids,” Campbell says.

“Their parents may be far away, or working to pay for hospital bills, and these children don’t have anyone around except for the doctors and nurses who are busy with several patients,” Campbell says. “So, to have someone who’s there for them, advocating for them, listening to them, and playing with them, that was all they needed.

“And even if I wasn’t playing and I was just sitting there watching them, they were coming around and laughing,” she continues. “I heard the joy, and it scared me that if I left it wasn’t going to happen anymore.”

While observing Garbutt, Campbell realized that being in a hospital setting as a developmental pediatrician would be the best path for her to take her child life skills to the next level.

“It’s opened my eyes to the fact that sometimes issues go undiagnosed, and I would want to be the person to diagnose it, saying this is what I observed, this might be what’s wrong, and this is how I can help,” Campbell says.

As with the journey from Jamaica to Syracuse, it won’t be easy. A double major in psychology and human development and family science who’s on track to graduate in May, Campbell will need seven more years of education, including four in medical school, to become a developmental pediatrician.

But when she thinks of her future, Campbell says she often refers to a quote attributed to the Chinese philosopher Confucius: “Choose a job you love, and you’ll never work a day in your life.”

“In that hospital setting, it was important to me that they were getting back to being kids rather than patients,” Campbell says. “If I can be part of that equation, that’s something that brings joy to my heart.”

Kamala Ramadoss, an associate professor in the Department of Human Development and Family Science in Falk College, is a member of the committee that’s organizing The D.E.I.A. Symposium that will be held from 8:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Oct. 3 in the Schine Student Center.

A daylong inaugural event, The D.E.I.A. Symposium is hosted by the Office of Diversity and Inclusion and will feature faculty, students, and staff showcasing their work through workshops, presentations, and posters that celebrate the substantial commitment by people across campus to DEIA (Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility) and the University’s DEIA Strategic Plan.

“Because we are always striving to create a better campus environment for our students, staff and faculty, there is a tendency to focus only on the areas that need improvement, which can feel like the glass is half empty,” Ramadoss told Syracuse University News. “While that is important, it is equally critical to periodically take stock of the progress being made and celebrate successful initiatives that strive to create a better campus culture for everyone. This symposium is an invitation to the attendees to learn about these initiatives that are working and to engage in conversations on how we can further improve the same.”

For more information about the symposium, how to register for any number of sessions during the event, and how to volunteer to help, please read this story on the Syracuse University News website.

In October 2022, after nearly 33 years at Syracuse University, Regina A. Jones ’07 retired as director of the University’s Native Student Program. She launched the program in 2006 along with Stephanie Waterman ’83, G’04, while simultaneously studying for a bachelor’s degree in child and family studies from Falk College (now the Department of Human Development and Family Science).

Bailey Tlachac G’23 recently took the reins as program coordinator while completing a master’s in the School of Education’s higher education program. Tlachac, Oneida Bear Clan from Wisconsin, previously served as the program’s graduate assistant, a role now filled by another higher education graduate student, Nicole Smoke ’17, G’24, Mohawk Wolf Clan from Akwesasne, on the New York-Ontario border.

Syracuse University News sat down with Tlachac and Smoke to discuss their roles, their experiences on campus as Native students, and more in this Q&A story.