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Nola M. Butler-Byrd, Ph.D.
Professor
San Diego State University
CSUDH Women’s Leadership Workshops
When Women Lead & Operationalizing Strategic Plans for Equity
Held on:
Guest Panelists
Jessica Zacher Pandya, Ph.D.
Dean
CSUDH College of Education
Bethany Zecher Sutton
Leadership/Career Coach & Consultant
Guest Biography
Nola M. Butler-Byrd, Ph.D.
Professor
San Diego State University
Nola M. Butler-Byrd, Ph.D., LPCC is a multicultural counselor educator, social justice activist and Licensed Professional Clinical Counselor. Affiliated with SDSU for over 20 years, sequentially as a graduate student, part-time lecturer, full-time visiting professor, and currently as a tenured faculty member, she has an intimate knowledge of SDSU and the CSU system as an institution and culture. She is currently an Associate professor and director of the Community-Based Block (CBB) Multicultural Community Counseling and Social Justice Education Program. The 50-year-old CBB Program has prepared over 1000 counselor/change agents who serve diverse, marginalized communities. Additionally, she is a doctoral faculty member in the College of Education. Dr. Butler Byrd has served for many years on the SDSU University Senate as a member and chair of the Diversity Equity and Inclusion Committee, and currently as Chair of the SDSU Senate and Chair of the Justice Education and Diversity Committee of the Academic Senate of the California State University System. Dr. Butler-Byrd is a Past President of the California Association for Licensed Professional Clinical Counselors and the San Diego Chapter of the Association for Black Psychologists. Her teaching, research and service are in the areas of community-based multicultural counseling and social justice education, culturally responsive teaching and supervision, and deliberative democratic processes.
Jessica Zacher Pandya, Ph.D.
Dean
CSUDH College of Education
Jessica Zacher Pandya is Dean and Professor in the College of Education at California State University, Dominguez Hills. A former kindergarten teacher in the California Bay Area who earned her Ph.D. at UC Berkeley, her research focuses on children's literacy and identity work in diverse urban classrooms. Prior to coming to CSUDH, Dr. Pandya served as Chair of the Academic Senate (2019-21) and Chair of the Liberal Studies Department (2014-20) at CSU Long Beach. Her latest books are Exploring Critical Digital Literacy Practices: Everyday Video in a Dual Language Context (Routledge, 2018) and the coedited Handbook of Critical Literacies (Routledge, 2021). As Dean at CSUDH she supports faculty and staff offering undergraduate degrees, initial and advanced teaching credentials and masters’ degrees, and a nascent EDD; each program is grounded in justice, equity, and critical consciousness.
Bethany Zecher Sutton
Leadership/Career Coach & Consultant
Bethany Zecher Sutton works in blended space of coaching, leadership development, executive search, and community leadership. She has 25 years of experience working in higher education including at the University of Pennsylvania, the American Association of Colleges & Universities (AAC&U), and Academic Search with expertise in leadership development, executive search, nonprofit management, and strategic planning. Bethany holds a graduate certificate in leadership coaching from Georgetown University and is credentialed by the International Coach Federation. Bethany holds a bachelor’s degree in history from the University of Mary Washington and a master’s degree in history with a focus on US civil rights and constitutional history from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. She is a 2013 alum of the HERS Leadership Institute and, since 2015, has led a range of HERS programs, focusing on leadership and career development, inclusive leadership, change management, effective communication, balance and well-being, and other topics related to personal and professional development. Bethany lives in Arlington, Virginia where she is an active community member and currently is serving a four-year term as an elected member of the Arlington School Board (2023-2026).