About Us

Chelsie Berg-Geist, M.A.

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Chelsie is responsible for the conceptual oversight and day-to-day management of the logistics, student life, and co-curricular elements of FSI Online. This involves strategic planning, interfacing with campus partners, developing and instructing workshops, running large scale events (e.g., orientation), and managing student/alumni staff. Chelsie leads the program evaluation for both FSI and SIFP, including background research and data analysis, to improve the evidence-based academic and co-curricular programming. During the academic year, she co-manages the SIFP Head and Graduate Fellows, and meets one-on-one with students for general check-ins, thesis planning, and more!

Hailing from South Brunswick, NJ, Chelsie is a first-gen student who completed her BA in Psychology, with minors in Biology and Cognitive Science at Rutgers University. She completed her Master’s at NYU, where she worked as a Teaching Assistant in the Psychology department and a Graduate Research Assistant with the Epilepsy & Cognition Lab. Her published work details the effects of aging, genetic variation, and aerobic fitness on memory, brain health, and hippocampal function. Throughout her professional journey, mentorship and student connections remained integral to her success. Outside of work, you can find Chelsie tending to her pets and plants, and baking!

Contact Chelsie: chelsie.bg@princeton.edu

Anna R. Cabrera, M.A.

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From Trenton, New Jersey, Anna is a proud member of PUPP's inaugural Cohort. She has since returned to PUPP and works directly with parents and families of EBCAO students to equip them with tools and resources to better support their students "to, through, and beyond" their college journeys.

Anna enjoys spending time with her husband, two kids and three dogs. Preferably, hanging out by the pool on her hammock reading a good historical fiction book or on a beach in the Caribbean with a fancy cocktail in her hand. Holding true to her love of knowledge, a saying she holds dear to her heart is, “Nunca te acostaras sin saber una cosa mas./You will never go to bed without knowing one more thing.”

Contact Anna: a.cabrera@princeton.edu

Monique Clark Dabney

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Monique Clark is the Emma Bloomberg Center for Access & Opportunity's inaugural Finance and Personnel Coordinator. 

In this role she supports the daily financial operations and reporting of EBCAO, helping to manage the various financial systems and processes in support of the Center’s operations. Monique also supports the onboarding/offboarding and payment of student participants, student employees, casual hourly employees, summer faculty, and other short-term staff. Monique previously worked as an administrative assistant/onboarding specialist in the Office of the Dean for Undergraduate Students at Princeton University. Also, as an expense processor in Procurement Services; Office of Finance and Treasury, and as an administrative assistant for Diversity and Inclusion, Office of the Vice President for Campus Life. 

Monique calls Egg Harbor Township, NJ her hometown and expresses herself through fashion, complete with jewelry and other accessories such as headbands! If spending time with Monique, you may hear her say, "Everything will be okay." 

Contact Monique: monique.clark@princeton.edu

Eleni Koukourdeli

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Eleni is a native of Greece and immigrated to the United States in 2011, where she found another home at Princeton University. She worked in the Financial Service Center before joining the School of Public and International Affairs (SPIA). At SPIA, she supported multiple professors in implementing their curriculum, organized special events, coordinated workshops, and helped with research activities.

She then joined the Office of Religious Life and served as the Center for Jewish Life administrator. She returned to SPIA as the Liechtenstein Institute on Self-Determination manager at Princeton University.

After that she joined the Program in Gender and Sexuality Studies and is thrilled to join the Emma Bloomberg Center for Access & Opportunity as she continues at Princeton.

Contact Eleni: elenik@princeton.edu

Khristina Gonzalez, Ph.D.

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Dean Gonzalez directs the Emma Bloomberg Center for Access and Opportunity. She is responsible for programs and initiatives within the Office of the Dean of the College that support and advance Princeton’s commitment to an inclusive undergraduate student body. She plays a leading role in the creation, implementation, and management of strategic initiatives designed to enhance the experience of students from lower socioeconomic backgrounds and other historically underrepresented groups. Her work is in service of the University’s efforts to support and empower students to, through, and beyond their college experience. 

Khristina grew up in Poughkeepsie, NY with her dad, Andy (who immigrated from Peru), her mom, Colette (who hails proudly from Queens), and her brother, Grant. She went to Dartmouth College, where she majored in English and Women's Studies and fell in love with studying gothic and horror literature (particularly about vampires). At Dartmouth, she was mentored by an amazing Italian Studies professor who nominated her for the Mellon Mays Undergraduate Fellowship (MMUF), which ultimately led to her pursuit of a Ph.D.

After a brief stop-over for a Master's degree at Notre Dame, she completed her Ph.D. in Victorian Literature at Brown University, with a dissertation on monster narratives and social reform programs. She came to Princeton in 2012 as a Writing Program faculty member and started her current role in 2015. She is a proud product of educational pipeline programs like the MMUF and hopes to foster educational systems that ensure every student has the mentorship and support that they need to identify and achieve their personal and professional goals. 

Khristina is an eternal optimist who loves running, chatting, road trips to Weird New Jersey roadside attractions, bingeable streaming shows about cults, and hanging out with her kids, husband, and parents. If you hang around Dean G. long enough, you’ll likely hear her say, “We should have a party! With bouncy castles!”

Contact Khristina: kfg2@princeton.edu

Andy Hakim, Ph.D.

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Dr. Hakim coordinates the academic side of FSI and SIFP, including developing course offerings and curricula, wrangling faculty and course fellows, leaping over bureaucratic hurdles, making sure trains run on time, providing comic relief, mentoring and providing supplemental advising to students, and keeping Evil Dr. Shaw in check. Andy also liaises with campus partners to make Princeton's arcane curricula more accessible, engages with alumni, and teaches in the Freshman Seminars Program!

Andy was born right-handed, but always wanted to be left-handed. He has lived in Connecticut, California, Louisiana, Virginia, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, and New Jersey. He received his Ph.D. from the University of Southern California, and has taught at USC, NYU, Harvard, and of course, Princeton. He is a diehard New York Yankees fan, lives his life to a soundtrack of Prince albums, movie scores, and 70’s progressive rock. In his free time, he enjoys exploring Middle Earth, The Stillness, Hogsmeade, Earthsea, Bas-Lag, and other real and fictional worlds. He also dabbles in cartography, cinematography, cryptography, and horology. Nightshade is his nemesis, so please don’t feed it to him. 

Contact Andy: ahakim@princeton.edu

Christina Inyang, LCSW, LCADC

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Christina is a New Jersey-based Licensed Clinical Social Worker and Licensed Clinical Alcohol and Drug Counselor, bringing over a decade of experience in therapeutic, administrative, and research roles.

As the Assistant Director for Student Support and Assistance, Christina’s work centers around collaborating directly with students to offer thought-partnership, wellness coaching, and resource connections. She is dedicated to enhancing co-curricular experiences and focusing on wellness initiatives. Her role integrates cross-campus support, advising on patterns and trajectories in student needs and providing insights on wellness trends, shaping a holistic educational experience for students.

Originally from Queens, New York, Christina is passionate about human potential, behavior, and the power of owning our stories, she approaches her work with a social-ecological framework.

“Deep transformational change is never transactional. It is always relational” – Aiko Bethea

Contact Christina: christina.inyang@princeton.edu

Christy Kahler

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Christy oversees the budgets and logistics for the various programs in the Center.  

Christy considers Branchburg, NJ her hometown. In her free time, she loves to play with her high-energy dogs, go for hikes, and travel the world. A fun fact about her is that she competed in trampoline internationally while an exchange student in England! 

Contact Christy: christyk@princeton.edu

Jason R. Klugman, Ph.D.

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Dr. Klugman leads the college preparation ("to") area within the EBCAO, providing leadership for the Princeton University Preparatory Program (PUPP) and oversight of the Princeton Summer Journalism Program (PSJP). He is also the co-founder and co-chair of the Greater Trenton College Access Network. He has broad expertise in college access and success, urban education and teacher preparation. 

Hailing from Fountain Valley, California, he received his B.A. in Political Science from Johns Hopkins University. He went on to earn his M.A. in Secondary Education and his doctorate in Education, Culture and Society from the University of Pennsylvania’s Graduate School of Education. From 2001-2004, Jason was a high school history teacher at West Philadelphia High School and a leader in that school’s college and career guidance team. He came to Princeton in 2004 to lead PUPP and also served as a Lecturer and Program Associate in Princeton’s Program in Teacher Preparation from 2004 to 2017. He occasionally teaches in Princeton’s Department of Anthropology and serves as an advisor to programs in Princeton’s Pace Center for Civic Engagement as well as an Academic-Athletic Fellow for the Princeton’s Men’s and Women’s Varsity Swimming and Diving Teams. He has presented at a range of professional and academic conferences about college access and success, urban education and teacher preparation. 

Contact Jason: jklugman@princeton.edu

Lane Marsh

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Lane assists the TVN and Postgraduate Pathways teams in planning and executing events focused on providing new opportunities and support for transfer, veteran, and non-traditional students throughout their Princeton journey. He also acts as a valuable resource to students as they become interested in various postgraduate options and exploring their future selves. 

Lane is originally from Virginia Beach and graduated from Princeton University in 2023 with a major in Visual Arts and a minor in German Language and Culture. He’s always been his happiest when seeing others achieve what they thought impossible. Having the opportunity to help students from backgrounds not dissimilar from his own gives him a chance to create space as well as give back to and broaden his own community. 

Contact Lane: bsmarsh@princeton.edu

Afia Ofori-Mensa (Dr. O), Ph.D.

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Afia Ofori-Mensa provides strategic leadership of the Emma Bloomberg Center for Access & Opportunity’s efforts to make postgraduate pathways in academia and higher education more equitable. In that capacity, Dr. Ofori-Mensa designs and directs life design and professional development programs for undergraduates at Princeton and beyond. She is the Administrative Director of the Mellon Mays Undergraduate Fellowship (MMUF) at Princeton, a PhD pipeline initiative of the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation that aims to diversify the professoriate in the humanities and humanistic social sciences. She is also the founding director of Princeton’s Aspiring Scholars and Professionals (ASAP) program, an undergraduate research and professional internship program that pairs non-Princeton students with faculty and staff mentors both at Princeton and at the students’ home institutions. The ASAP program seeks to introduce undergraduates to careers in higher education as well as to foster cross-institutional connections among faculty and staff by engaging them in collaborative student mentorship.

Dr. Ofori-Mensa's work focuses on managing strategic partnerships with colleges, universities, consortia, and other organizations in higher education--as well as with various units at Princeton--to expand the range, and increase the visibility, of postgraduate resources for Princeton and non-Princeton undergraduates. She leads program development, curricular design, and student success for MMUF and ASAP; designs new Postgraduate Pathways initiatives; and provides advising and support for undergraduates who are interested in pursuing PhDs.

Dr. Ofori-Mensa is a Ghanaian American educator, storyteller, and performer who was the first in her family to be born in the United States and refers to Piscataway, New Jersey as her hometown.. Afia came to Princeton from Oberlin College, where she initially held a postdoctoral fellowship in Comparative American Studies and Africana Studies before going on to serve as Assistant Professor, Director of Undergraduate Research, and Assistant Dean of the College of Arts & Sciences. She earned her BA in English from the University of Pennsylvania, where she was a recipient of MMUF. She earned her MA and PhD in American Culture from the University of Michigan. Her research interests explore relationships among gender, race, and national identity in the 20th- and 21st-century US, with a focus on beauty pageantry. She has had media mentions and interviews on BuzzFeed, New Hampshire Public Radio, NPR, and in the New York Times. If you spend time around Dr. O, you’re likely to hear her say, “Okay, tell me… everything.”

Contact Afia: afiao@princeton.edu

Queenie Reda, DSW, LCSW

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Queenie actively supports and mentors community college students participating in the Transfer Scholars Initiative (TSI) program. Support for the program includes but is not limited to: logistical coordination, curriculum development, and community outreach. She is hands-on with the TSI community as students enter the program and prepare to apply for transfer to four-year institutions, engages with students during their summer on Princeton’s campus, and offers continued support after they return to their community college spaces and prepare their four-year institution applications. 

Queenie is from Queens, New York, an irony that does not escape her! She is a novice gardener and enjoys learning new things about gardening. She’s the proud Mom of a beautiful human and two rescued dogs, who are the center of her universe. While Queenie loves trying new foods, she does NOT love cooking! If you are around Queenie enough, you’ll likely hear her say, “No worries!”

Contact Queenie: qr1622@princeton.edu

Jordan M. Reed, Ph.D.

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Jordan joined the Emma Bloomberg Center for Access & Opportunity as the Associate Director for Transfer Programs in August 2022. Over the summer and fall, Jordan facilitates transfer students’ transition to Princeton. Throughout the year, he helps transfers navigate the wide variety of resources Princeton has to offer for every aspect of the student experience—from academic advising, to studying abroad, to social and professional programming. He also collaborates with the Princeton Transfer Association (PTA) and Princeton Student Veterans (PSV) to enhance the transfer and veteran community. 

Originally from Lansdale, PA, Jordan joined the EBCAO family after working as an Upper School History Teacher at Morristown Beard School and in graduate admissions at Drew University, where he also earned his PhD in History & Culture. His academic writing focuses on the history of textbooks, specifically the authorship of American history textbooks in the twentieth century. His writing has appeared in academic journals, including The History Teacher, Book History, and The Journal of Inclusive Scholarship and Pedagogy. He is also the co-editor of The Reimagined PhD: Navigating 21st Century Humanities Education, published in 2021 by Rutgers University Press.

Outside of work, Jordan is a semi-successful beekeeper and maintains a flock of rebellious chickens.

Contact Jordan: jordan.reed@princeton.edu

Miracle Santiago

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Miracle focuses her current professional energy around programmatic support and engagement for the Princeton University Preparatory Program (PUPP). She also frequently engages with alumni and supports them through and beyond their undergraduate journeys. As the Alumni Associate, she’s looking forward to supporting PUPP Scholars and College Alumni on their journeys to and through the world of higher education. 

From Trenton, New Jersey, Miracle is from the PUPP Class of 2018 and attended Trenton Central High School. Before returning to the PUPP community as a full time staff member, she attended the University of Richmond and earned her B.A. in Sociology. Throughout her undergraduate experience, she conducted research and completed coursework exploring different areas of interest including race, class, and education. With this research, Miracle curated resources that were used to create workshops for graduate students with hopes of initiating conversations regarding stereotype threat and racial microaggressions in higher education. In addition to spending her summers conducting research, she worked with the PUPP community as a Teaching Assistant for PUPP’s Class of 2023 during the 2020 PUPP Summer Institute. A saying that she lives by is, “Do everything in love!” 

Contact Miracle: mispupp@princeton.edu

Ashlee Shaw, Ph.D.

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Dr. Ashlee Shaw serves as the Director of College Success, Student Engagement at the Emma Bloomberg Center for Access and Opportunity. In this role, Dr. Shaw creates, implements, and manages programs and initiatives focusing on the co-curricular experiences of students involved in EBCAO programs. In particular, she administers and helps set a strategic vision for the Freshman Scholars Institute, an academically rigorous, multi-disciplinary seven-week program for entering Princeton students and the Scholars Institute Fellows Program, a four-year mentorship program for first-generation and/or lower-income Princeton students. She collaborates with faculty and staff from across the University to provide high-touch mentorship, programming, and supplemental advising for program participants and other students at Princeton.

Contact Ashlee: ashlee.shaw@princeton.edu

Keith Shaw, Ph.D.

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Keith took the lead on launching Princeton’s transfer and veteran programs in 2017-18, developing policy and support infrastructure, providing academic advising and in-class instruction, and working with campus partners to ensure nontraditional students would thrive at Princeton. Dr. Shaw is now overseeing expansion efforts in response to the University’s decision to substantially increase transfer enrollment, and won a 2022 Transfer Champion-Rising Star Award from the National Institute for the Study of Transfer Students. Additionally, he is working to launch a new pilot program – the Transfer Scholars Initiative – that invites New Jersey community college students to Princeton for a summer academic program that prepares them for transfer to highly selective four-year institutions. 

Dr. Shaw works closely with the Warrior-Scholar Project, serving on its academic advisory and leading its humanities and academic writing sequence for student veterans at Princeton each summer. He received his B.A. from Rutgers and his Ph.D. in political science from Stanford, and previously served as an associate director in the Princeton Writing Program. He is co-editor, with Amanda Irwin Wilkins, of The Pocket Instructor: Writing, forthcoming from Princeton University Press in 2024.

Contact Keith: kmshaw@princeton.edu

Mohamed Mustafa Siam, M.A.

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As the Veteran Coordinator Mohamed works with Princeton University Veteran students on a variety of topics including: veteran specific issues, transition to university and civilian life, building student to student support, and professional development. Mohamed often hosts events and leads workshops pertaining to the experiences of Veteran student experiences to aid in the building of community and support of our Veteran and Transfer students at the Emma Bloomberg Center for Access & Opportunity and Princeton University more broadly. 

Mohamed is a Palestinian American and a Veteran of the United States Marine Corps. He received his B.A. From Rutgers Newark in Political Science and History, and a M.A. from Villanova University for Higher Education. Mo believes in community service and it's his passion to help others! If you see Mo around campus, you may hear him say, "Keep on rolling."

Contact Mohamed: ms1558@princeton.edu

Madison Stewart-Aryabaho

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Madison manages, monitors, and updates the center’s social media accounts, handles website updates and liaisons with broader University communications networks and produces and distributes various program materials and resources. She’s also part of the coordination team, supporting the center with broader event and program planning in addition to liaising with external logistical partners. Madison also works closely with various student staff as they learn to navigate the professional world through outreach and community program as well as professional development sessions. One of her favorite parts of the job is brainstorming ways that alumni can continue to engage with the Center and its current students and seeing them be brought to fruition. 

Madison was born and raised in Maysville, Kentucky, birthplace of Rosemary Clooney and the first bourbon distillery. She graduated from Princeton in 2022 with a concentration in Anthropology and a certificate in Archaeology. During her time in college, she participated in FSI, SIFP and worked as an office assistant for PUPP and PSJP. In her free time, she spends a lot of time trying out random recipes she finds online, fighting the forces of evil in old school dungeon crawl games, and snuggling with her dog, Sully. If you spend a lot of time around Madison, you’ll likely hear her say, “Fun fact… / Did you know…”! 

Contact Madison: mns8@princeton.edu

Tieisha M. Tift, M.S.

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Tieisha divides her time between the Princeton Summer Journalism Program (PSJP) and the Princeton University Preparatory Program (PUPP). Tieisha supports sophomore and junior PUPP Scholars in the pursuit of their academic goals, in addition to assisting the team with programming, planning, and Scholar selection. She is also the administrative lead for PSJP, where she oversees the budget, recruitment, admissions, and college advising processes and supervises the summer interns in coordinating and running the summer program.

Tieisha is an alum of PUPP, a Trenton, NJ native and a first-generation college student. Before joining CPI, Tieisha was an Assistant Dean of Admissions and a member of the Diversity Team at Pomona College in California and worked as a College Adviser in Providence, RI through the Brown University College Advising Corps and AmeriCorps. She earned her B.A. in Urban Studies, specializing in Education, from Columbia University and is currently enrolled in a master's program in Organizational Development and Leadership. As she embraces her auntie stage, Tieisha enjoys traveling, teaching herself new skills (she's currently learning French and sewing), and falling asleep on the couch before 10pm while binge-watching reruns of 90's sitcoms.

If she had a catchphrase, it would be "goodness gracious" (because she  says that no less than 12 times a day) or "that's not today's problem."

Contact Tieisha: tieisha@princeton.edu

Dawn M. Wilson, M.A., LAMFT

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Dawn M. Wilson brings 15 years of admissions and college access and success experience to her role as Associate Director of PUPP.  Prior to joining PUPP, Dawn served as the inaugural Director of College Success for Cooperman College Scholars (CCS), where she supported the scholars on all points related to academic success, personal wellness, persistence, and retention.   As a first generation graduate herself, Dawn embodies her personal ethos: “be who you needed when you were younger.''  This sentiment fuels her work with students, allowing her to meet students where they are and aid in their “becoming”. Dawn takes great pride in having a living body of work– students whose lives have been changed by the work she has done.

Born and raised in New Jersey, Dawn is a proud product of the New Jersey public school system, having been educated there from elementary through graduate school.  Dawn earned her Master’s in Counseling from The College of New Jersey, holds a New Jersey Associate License of Marriage and Family Therapy (LAMFT), and is currently pursuing a Ph.D. in counseling. 

Contact Dawn: dawnmwilson@princeton.edu