Graduate Peer Profile: OBSD's Anne Berry

In response to a strong culture of Black student activism, the Office of Black Student Development (OBSD) advances the experiences of all Black students, advocates for their needs, and fosters their personal and academic achievement through graduation and beyond. Through the development of innovative and sustainable programs and services aimed to increase the recruitment, retention, academic achievement, holistic support, and self-advocacy of UCSB's Black community, OBSD addresses the needs of the Black student community and holds itself and the university responsible to meet those needs. They strive to engage, develop, and activate these experiences to promote an inclusive campus experience that fosters a sense of belonging and leaders of social change.

ANNE'S STORY Anne Berry (She/her/hers) is a doctoral student in the Gevirtz Graduate School of Education Ph.D. program, emphasizing Leadership and Policy. My hometown is Virginia, known as the "Commonwealth," but my second home in California is "Golden State California." I earned B.A. in Black Studies with a minor in Applied Psychology here at UCSB. My research emphasis is on policy, leadership, and the methods to foster underrepresented undergraduates' success and educational excellence.

HER ROLE AS GRADUATE STUDENT ASSISTANT As a graduate student intern for the Office Black Student Development, I support their efforts to advocate for the Black student community at the University of California, Santa Barbara, which upholds the mission of the institution and the SASS cluster. My intern position allows me as a Black Indigenous Student of color to showcase my talent in leadership in order to foster those underestimated who are sometimes unaware of their opportunities to share the perception of academic success. This organization allows those of anti-blackness to have a sense of belonging through an epistemological intentional community of educational excellence at the University of California, Santa Barbara.

Thanks for your work, Anne!