Rachel Kleit, PhD
Associate Dean, Faculty Affairs, College of Engineering
Email: kleit.1@osu.edu
An interdisciplinary social scientist, Kleit’s research focus is on affordable housing and social inequality. Her work has concentrated on the social network impacts of mixed-income housing, the influence of public housing redevelopment on the lives of original residents, the combination of social services and housing, and housing mobility. In her roles as a college professor, Head of the City and Regional Planning Section at OSU (2012-2018), and Associate Dean for Faculty Affair (2018-present), she has mentored many students, undergraduate and graduate, and faculty. As associate dean, she had broad responsibility of moving faculty through the tenure and promotion process as well as offering them professional development opportunities. Her goal as associate dean is to foster the most inclusive college of engineering in the Big 10. Her research, training, and experience, has made her an adept facilitator of diverse groups. She has had specialized training the Art of Hosting Difficult Conversations focusing on implicit bias, Civil Discourse Training, and in academic leadership. She is eager to bring mentoring training to faculty at OSU to enhance institutional efforts in the area of faculty diversity and diversity in STEM.
La’Tonia Stiner-Jones, PhD
Associate Dean of Graduate Programs and Associate Professor of Practice, Department of Biomedical Engineering
Email: stiner-jones.1@osu.edu
As Associate Dean in the College of Engineering, Dr. Stiner-Jones is responsible for providing leadership on graduate affairs and professional development for graduate students and postdoctoral trainees and supporting diversity and inclusion of these groups. As Associate Professor, she is responsible for teaching, scholarship and service to the department. Her research interest is in understanding the barriers to female and minority student access and participation in graduate education in engineering and the role of temporal intervention strategies in facilitating participation and completion. She has been mentoring students for 17 years and understands the role of mentoring in student persistence, success and professional development. Dr. Stiner-Jones received her Bachelor’s and PhD. degrees from Wright State University in Dayton, OH and her MBA from Capital University in Bexley, OH. After completing her PhD in Biomedical Sciences, she completed postdocs in neuroimmunology and psychoneuroimmunology at Ohio State.
Gunjan Agarwal, PhD
Professor, Mechanical and Aerospace College of Engineering
Email: agarwal.60@osu.edu
Dr. Agarwal is a Professor in the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering with an active research program in the area of Bioengineering (extracellular matrix remodeling and biomagnetism.) She is a faculty mentor in five different graduate programs at Ohio State and has served on various committees for the Graduate School. She is a recipient of the 2021 Inclusive Excellence Certificate and was recently awarded a student academic success research (SASR) grant to examine the sense of belonging in underrepresented minority students in Engineering. Dr. Agarwal received her PhD in Biophysics from the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Mumbai, India, and completed her postdoctoral studies in two different institutions in the US before joining Ohio State.
Marcela Hernandez, PhD
Assistant Dean of Faculty Affairs and Recruitment, College of Engineering
Email: hernandez.16@osu.edu
Dr. Marcela Hernandez received her BS, in Molecular Genetics, and an MS and PhD in Biochemistry. Her current role is to design and implement programs to enhance and support postdoctoral scholars including a special focus on those from underrepresented backgrounds. Her scientific training and research in biochemistry and molecular biology focused on control of gene expression at the transcriptional and posttranscriptional levels. She is also the mother of twin boys, one of which has learning disabilities, which has made her active in the area of support and advocacy of students with disabilities at the K-12 and college levels. Dr. Hernandez became a scientist thanks to an awesome PhD mentor whose enthusiasm and love for science made her want to become a researcher. He taught her how to think like a scientist. This made her realize the importance of good scientific training and mentorship. She believes this is the single most important factor in becoming a successful STEM professional. She also cultivated a mentoring network that has helped her grow professionally. Dr. Hernandez is very passionate about mentoring and hopes to help the next generation of STEM professionals to retain their love for science and to maneuver around the traps that are responsible for the leaky STEM pipeline.