Staff Biographies
Elaine Meyer-Lee, Ed.D.
Director, Center for Women's InterCultural Leadership
Assistant Professor of Education
Email: meyerlee@saintmarys.edu
Bonnie Bazata, M.S.
Associate Director, Center for Women's InterCultural Leadership
Email: bbazata@saintmarys.edu
Joy Evans, M.S.W.
Assistant Director, Scholarship and Research
Email: jevans@saintmarys.edu
Siqin Yang, M.A.
Assistant Director, International and Intercultural Learning
Email: syang@saintmarys.edu
Coordinator, InterCultural Living Community Program
Email: dcarr@saintmarys.edu
Linda Biggins, M.S.
Administrative Assistant
Email: cwil@saintmarys.edu
Administrative Assistant
Email: cwil@saintmarys.edu
Elaine Meyer-Lee, Ed.D.
Dr. Elaine Meyer-Lee is Director of the Center for Women’s Intercultural
Leadership (CWIL), and assistant professor of education. Her doctorate in human development
and psychology is from Harvard University’s School of Education,
where she began her studies of college student development around issues
of difference and the effects of intercultural education.
Before coming to Saint Mary's College, Dr. Meyer-Lee taught college courses in developmental psychology, psychology of women, research methods, diversity issues, and experiential learning. She also led a summer service-learning study abroad program in Honduras and served on several institutional committees on international education, affirmative action, and diversity. Her ongoing research in the field has included a post-doctoral position at Yale, a competitive research fellowship at the Harvard/Facing History Project (with principal investigator Carol Gilligan), and a position as senior researcher for a three-year comprehensive evaluation project at Cambridge College. She has been invited to give numerous talks and juried presentations and is active in national professional associations.
Earlier Dr. Meyer-Lee taught English as a New Language, worked in mental health counseling, and in adult education administration. She was profoundly affected by her own experiences living and studying in France and Haiti, and has a life-long passion for providing intercultural learning opportunities as an integral part of a liberal arts education.
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Bonnie Bazata, M.S.
Bonnie Bazata has developed CWIL's Community Connections component to create meaningful and powerful connections between Saint Mary's College and diverse women leaders in the Michiana area. These innovative programs include the Wellsprings of Wisdom conference, the Catalyst Trip, the Bridging College with Community Partnership grants, the WiLOC (Women in Leadership in Community Organizations) project, several courses, and the Women's Intercultural Leadership model. For her work, she was awarded an Indiana Torchbearer award in 2006 from the Indiana Commission for Women and in 2006 was given a community service award from the Martin Luther King, Jr. Foundation of St. Joseph County.
For the last 25 years, Bonnie has been involved in a wide range of organizations for social justice and community development. A graduate of Antioch College, she received a Watson Fellowship to study Gandhian nonviolence in England and India, and then worked in community based organizations working for peace and social justice. Later, she worked with several education programs to create success for culturally diverse and economically disadvantaged youth in Tucson, Arizona.
Her Master's is in bilingual/ multicultural education from the University of Arizona, and she also studied elementary education with Prescott College. Originally from the Michiana area, she was excited to return and join the vibrant work of CWIL at Saint Mary's College.
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Joy Evans, M.S.W.
Joy Evans, M.S.W., is Assistant Director for Scholarship and Research at the Center for Women’s InterCultural Leadership. She is responsible for the ongoing assessment plan and dissemination of the best practices, research and scholarship of CWIL. Previously, as research analyst for CWIL, she collaboratively developed program assessment tools, oversaw research on the model of women's intercultural leadership, and conducted a longitudinal assessment of study abroad students' intercultural learning. Currently, she is evaluating the cumulative impacts of the Center for Women’s InterCultural Leadership and working on a new initiative, a certificate in intercultural leadership, to synthesize students' curricular and co-curricular intercultural learning at Saint Mary's College.
In her master's program at the University of Michigan School of Social Work, she focused on social policy and evaluation, with a minor in community organizing. Her training included a variety of social science methods, including program evaluation and assessment, qualitative research, feminist research methods, and collaborative/action research. She received her B.A. in cross-cultural perspectives on gender from Vanderbilt University with high honors in History for her thesis on “Women’s Agency in British India: Challenging Culture through Women’s Education". Her interests include participatory and reflexive assessment processes, women's agency for social justice, and the development of intercultural knowledge and skills. She has worked for non-profit organizations and foundations to evaluate program quality and impacts, and to consult on programmatic strategic planning.
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Siqin Yang, M.A.
Siqin Yang is the Assistant Director of International and Intercultural Learning. She offers services for international students and supports the faculty-led study abroad programs. She is in charge of the student intercultural travel grants and is involved in the academic component of the Intercultural Living Community Program. She is engaged in the development of university women and intercultural leadership skills.
Before joining the CWIL, Siqin studied in the Ph.D. Program of Comparative and International Development Education at the University of Minnesota, where she received intercultural training and gained international educational exchange skills. She helped design and manage the Beijing Summer Study Abroad Program and the Master of Law Program (LL.M.) for Chinese Lawyers in Beijing for the University of Minnesota Law School. Her internship experiences at the Minnesota International Center and the American Association of University Women Minnesota helped her gain leadership and development skills.
Siqin has successfully applied for a grant from the Ford Foundation and did her Ph.D. dissertation research fieldwork on women’s development and gender mainstreaming in higher education in South China. She received her master’s degree in women’s studies from the University of Northern Iowa and has published her thesis, which was a national student survey on the internationalization and multiculturalization of women’s studies graduate programs in the United States. Siqin has been actively involved in various women’s organizations. She taught college English for nine years before her own study abroad experience in the U.S. With her educational background in women’s studies and work experience in international and intercultural education, she is excited about the work opportunity in international educational exchange at the Saint Mary’s College and has a passion for campus internationalization.
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Dana Carr, B.S.
Dana Carr is the Coordinator for the Intercultural Living Community Program, assisting the International and Intercultural Learning Assistant Director, Alice Siqin Yang. Dana coordinates programming for the Intercultural Living Community, and works with Community Connections in joint efforts to facilitate student involvement in South Bend community outreach programs. Dana is a Saint Mary’s College alumna 05’, and graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Philosophy. Currently, Dana is attending Bethel College, Mishawaka, IN working toward a Masters in Ministry.
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Linda Biggins, M.S.
Linda Biggins has been working at Saint Mary’s since 1994. Her role as Administrative Assistant in the Center for Women’s InterCultural Leadership is comprehensive: she coordinates events, calendars, and budgets for the central administration as well as the Research and Scholarship and International and Intercultural Learning components of CWIL. Linda recceived a master’s degree in secondary education from Indiana State University in Terre Haute, and has experience teaching in the classroom. In addition to her passion for education, she also enjoys gardening.
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Pamela Blair
Pam Blair is a new addition to the CWIL staff. Her position is the administrative assistant to Bonnie Bazata, associate director of CWIL, and director of Community Connections. Her interests lie in the social healing of our society, loving who we are, appreciating our cultural diversity, and working together to make a better world. She studied at the Columbus College of Art and Design, Columbus, Ohio. In her spare time she is an artist, poet, and singer.
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