Laïla El-Métoui
Equity Educator, lemEducation

Laïla is a UK-based Equity Educator, listed in the Top 100 Pride Power List 2021. She is the Stonewall Lesbian Role Model of the Year (2020) and has been nominated twice for DIVA Magazine’s Unsung Hero Award and also as a Positive Role Model at the National Diversity Awards.
She is the founder of two bi-yearly global virtual conferences Educating Out Racism and Pride in Education.
She also founded and chairs Proud London Councils and UK Queer Arabs. Her published works include:
Rainbow Pilgrims: The Rites and Passages of LGBTQI + Migrants in Britain; Twilight People: Stories of Faith and Gender Beyond the Binary and Haringey Vanguard Learning Resources.

She has been published in academic journals, the press and contributed to the national British Council ESOL Nexus Research Awards Exploring LGBT Lives and Issues in Adult ESOL

Lisa M. Nunn, Ph.D.
Professor, Department of Sociology
Director of the Center for Educational Excellence
University of San Diego

Dr. Nunn earned a BA in English Literature and Theater from Whittier College and a Masters and PhD in Sociology from the University of California, San Diego. She is currently a Professor of Sociology at the University of San Diego where she is also the Director of the Center for Educational Excellence. She is a cultural sociologist and an organizations scholar and the author of three books and multiple chapters and articles on students’ experiences; student’s ideas about success; and students’ sense of belonging. Her most recent book came out in 2020: “College Belonging: How First-Year and First-Generation Stuents Navigate Campus Life.” And her 2019 book, “33 Simple Strategies for Faculty: A Week-by-Week Resource for Teaching First-Year and First-Generation Students,” won the Scholarly Contributions to Teaching and Learning Award from the American Sociological Association.

Nelson E. Soto, Ph.D.
Provost and Vice President Academic Affairs
Union Institute & University

Dr. Nelson Soto is provost and vice president for academic affairs at Union Institute & University headquartered in Walnut Hills. He holds a Ph.D. in educational policy studies from Indiana University, Bloomington, a master’s in education and a bachelor of arts in business from the University of Cincinnati. As provost at Union, he is in the unique position to advance the university’s mission as a vehicle for change in the community through diversity and education. He provides leadership in engaging and empowering adult learners in the larger society in which they live and work, building a mutually beneficial, expansive and collaborative community that lives beyond the classroom.

Dr. Soto has focused his career on enabling and encouraging change and access. Dr. Soto is deeply committed to ensuring that all individuals, no matter their background or circumstances, have access to higher education and opportunities to improve their own lives and those of their families. In his leadership role at Union Institute &University, he brings the mission and vision to life: to engage, enlighten and empower each adult in a lifetime of learning and service.

Martell L. Teasley, Ph.D.
Interim Senior Vice President of Academic Affairs, University of Utah

Martell L. Teasley is Interim Senior Vice President of Academic Affairs and Provost. Appointed dean of the College of Social Work in 2017, Martell is in his second terms as president of the National Association of Deans and Directors of Social Work. Martell was Professor and Chair of the Department of Social Work in the College of Public Policy at the University of Texas at San Antonio from 2012 until 2017. As the lead investigator on the Social Work profession’s Grand Challenge to Eliminate Racism, his major areas of research interests are African American adolescent development, school social work practice, and diversity in social work education. He is the former Chair of the Social Work and Disaster Recovery Program at Florida State University College of Social Work. He served in the U.S. Army from 10 years and participated in the First Persian Gulf War as a Licensed Practical Nurse. His education includes a Bachelor of Science in Psychology and a Bachelor of Arts in Sociology from Fayetteville State University in North Carolina in 1994. He received a Master of Social Work from Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond, Virginia in 1996, and his doctorate in Social Work in 2002 from Howard University, located in Washington, DC.