Higher Education and Student Affairs Program

Dr. Milagros Castillo-Montoya

Associate Professor

milagros.castillo-montoya@uconn.edu
Gentry 240A

Dr. Castillo-Montoya is a first-generation scholar who studies Black and Latinx students’ learning and critical consciousness, critical and equitable pedagogy, and equity in higher education teaching and learning. She previously worked in student affairs administration and academic affairs. In the HESA program, Milagros teaches Structured Dialogues in Student Affairs and Social Justice Leadership, Equity & School Change.

In addition, she currently serves as the Faculty Fellow for the UConn Office of Diversity and Inclusion. Visit Milagros Castillo-Montoya’s profile page.

Dr. Adam M. McCready

Assistant Professor in Residence

adam.mccready@uconn.edu
Gentry 240E

Dr. McCready’s research examines the college student experience with the intent of identifying and challenging oppressive structures in higher education. He has studied the masculine norm climates of college social fraternities, college men and masculinities, and the encounters of students of color with racial hostilities on social media. Prior to his faculty career, Adam worked as a student affairs educator for more than a decade. He has professional experience in residential life, student activities, fraternity and sorority life, and assessment. In 2014, he received the MIT Infinite Mile for Student Life Award, the Institute’s highest honor for student affairs professionals.

Adam is originally from Baltimore, Maryland. He earned a B.S. in Environmental Studies from the George Washington University, and an M.A. in College Student Personnel from Bowling Green State University. He is active in ACPA - College Student Educators International, and serves as the Vice Chair of Scholar and Research for the APA Coalition on Men and Masculinities. He is also a member of NASPA - Student Affairs Administrators in Higher Education, and the Association of Fraternity/Sorority Advisors (AFA). He serves as the Associate Editor of The Oracle: The Research Journal of the Association of Fraternity/Sorority Advisors. Visit Adam McCready’s profile page.

Dr. Saran Stewart

Associate Professor
Global Education Director, Neag School

saran.stewart@uconn.edu
Gentry 240D

Dr. Stewart currently teaches courses related to college student development theory, inclusion and equity in higher education and student affairs as well as transformational leadership. In the past, she has taught comparative higher education, organization and administration, resource management and research methods courses. She was formerly a Senior Lecturer and Deputy Dean at the University of the West Indies in Jamaica. Dr. Stewart’s research examines issues in comparative education, decolonizing methodologies, critical/ inclusive pedagogy and access and equity issues in higher education.

She is a Salzburg Global Fellow and the recipient of multiple awards including the 2019 Vice Chancellor Award for Excellence from the University of the West Indies and the 2018 African Diaspora Emerging Scholar award by the Comparative and International Education Society. She is editor of Decolonizing Qualitative Methodologies for and by the Caribbean (Information Age Publishing) and co-editor of, Race, Equity and the Learning Environment: The Global Relevance of Critical and Inclusive Pedagogies in Higher Education (Stylus). Most recently she co-edited and co-authored a special issue in the International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education titled, Black Deprivation, Black Resistance and Black Liberation: The Influence of #BlackLivesMatter (BLM) on Higher Education.

She was also the co-author of the article, Transforming The Classroom At Traditionally White Institutions To Make Black Lives Matter. When not in the classroom, Dr. Stewart can be found planning her next adventure, satisfying her love for traveling and dancing with her 2 daughters around the globe. Visit Saran Stewart’s profile page. 

Dr. Franklin A. Tuitt

Vice President and Chief Diversity Officer
Professor, HESA

franklin.tuitt@uconn.edu
Budds Building 311

Dr. Tuitt, who has more than two decades of higher education administration experience, joined UConn in July 2020 as the Vice President and Chief Diversity Officer and Professor of Higher Education and Student Affairs. Dr. Tuitt has made a significant impact on research and practice related to diversity and inclusion in the field of higher education. In 2019, he received the National Association of Chief Diversity Officers in Higher Education Individual Leadership Award in recognition of “outstanding contributions to research, administration, practice, advocacy, and/or policy, and whose work informs and advances understanding of diversity and inclusive excellence in higher education.

Prior to joining UConn, Dr. Tuitt was a member of the University of Denver faculty since 2004 and was that school’s Chief Diversity Officer from 2015-19. He was most recently a visiting scholar at the Echo Center for Diversity Policy at The Hague, Netherlands. Visit Frank Tuitt’s profile page.