How SJSU’s Black Faculty and Staff Are Shaping the Spartan Experience

This year marks the 100th anniversary of Black History Month. As we celebrate a century of honoring Black achievement and culture, we also recognize the impact Black students, staff and faculty make every day across SJSU's campus. This series of articles shines a light on their achievements and the ways they help make San José State a more vibrant, welcoming and empowering place to be.

In this article, we celebrate several Black faculty and staff members who are making an impact at SJSU: Monica Allen, professor and chair of the Department of Public Health; Kristin Dukes, chief diversity officer; Cottrell Hill, assistant athletics director for facilities and events; Jackie Rabouin, counselor; and Wendy M. Thompson, assistant professor of African American Studies.

Monica Allen
Professor and Chair of the Department of Public Health

Throughout SJSU's entire history, Monica Allen is believed to be the only Black woman chair of a department that isn't African American Studies.

Professor Allen has been serving as chair of the Department of Public Health in the College of Health and Human Sciences since 2022. In her research work, she specializes in health disparities and is a qualitative disparities researcher.

Higher education is a second career for Allen. Since she got her master's degree in public health from Loma Linda University in 1991, she has served in a variety of roles in public health, including working for county public health departments, nonprofit organizations and a private hospital.

In 2013, Allen started working as a lecturer for SJSU. She also started serving on the newly-created Black Student Success Task Force.

"We gave a lot of input on what we could do to better support Black students," says Allen. "Our data showed us that Black students have gaps in grade point average, retention and graduation. That was when we committed to do organized work around supporting Black students."

The group launched into action, hosting leadership retreats and providing extra advising to students. All of this helped to pave the way toward opening the Black Leadership Opportunity Center (BLOC) in 2016.

"So all of the work we did got centralized into the BLOC," says Allen.

This year, the BLOC is celebrating its 10-year anniversary. Allen is still involved in supporting Black student success in any way she can. One of the ways she does this is by going to the BLOC for an hour a week and letting students know that she's there to offer any support they might need.

"I ask them if they have questions about advising or need anything from faculty. I help them problem-solve, strategize and craft emails," says Allen.

The California State University (CSU) Office of the Chancellor currently has an initiative focused on Black student success, and has given campuses financial support to address declining Black student enrollment and retention.

Allen is working as the lead in enhancing the environment to support Black students during their time at SJSU. She has been working for over a year with the Housing Department to find ways to improve the Black Scholars Floor.

"I'm chair of the Advisory Board for the Black Scholars Floor, and we're working on developing programming and community-building activities," says Allen. "We're also trying to work for a longer-term project to have more Black scholars floors in more dorms. We're really focused on doing what we can for academic and social programming to assist Black students to make sure they're graduating on time. And we're focused on closing those gaps that exist between Black students and other students."

Kristin Dukes
Chief Diversity Officer

In her role as SJSU's chief diversity officer, Kristin Dukes works to promote a campus culture based upon inclusion, diversity and mutual respect for all students, staff, faculty and alumni. She has devoted nearly two decades of her life to leading institutional diversity in higher education; here at SJSU, she is excited about all that is transpiring.

"A lot is coming to fruition right now," says Dukes.

She was charged by President Cynthia Teniente-Matson to lead the newly-created Interfaith Task Force , which launched in December 2024. The Task Force began meeting in February 2025 and has been working to conduct a campuswide assessment of religious, secular and spiritual identity.

Dukes has also been tasked with re-establishing the Institutional Excellence Council , which works toward ensuring that SJSU stays consistently student-centered, and that the improving of access, learning and on-time education are always top priorities.

"When I came on board, I was asked to change the structure and stabilize it, so that DEI work could be embedded into it," says Dukes.

She is also involved in integrating restorative practices into the way that San José State handles conflict. Restorative practices are based upon building relationships and resolving conflict through harm repair, rather than punishment. To start, Dukes is working to organize Sense of Community circles this spring. The circles will be an opportunity for employees to share and reflect on their experiences at SJSU. From there, insights will be taken and used to find ways to strengthen belonging and connection for employees.

"This is an intentional step to build community," says Dukes. "And also to find out where people find belonging and where we might need to improve."

Dukes' affinity for education runs deep. It stems back to her great-great grandmother, whom she was fortunate to know and form a close bond with as a child.

"My great-great grandmother made her way to Northeast Texas in the early 1900s with a small child and a baby in her belly," says Dukes. "She had no formal education. She raised both of her girls, and they didn't have a formal education either."

One of those girls grew up to become the mother of Dukes' grandmother. And despite not having a degree, Dukes' grandmother became the first Black registered nurse in Hunt County, Texas. Dukes' mother was the first in their immediate family to go to high school; and Dukes herself was the first one to get a master's degree and a doctorate.

"There was a push for education in my family," says Dukes. "But as a young Black girl, I was getting all these messages that I wasn't smart enough or good enough and would never get into college. But I knew that if I had a formal education, it would open my world."

Cottrell Hill
Assistant Athletics Director for Facilities and Events

As an undergraduate student at SJSU, Cottrell Hill, '15 BS, '22 MS Kinesiology, was drawn toward athletic competition…

"I was always trying to find ways to be near sports," he says.

During his second year, as an undergrad, he started working as a student event manager at both SJSU Athletics and the Provident Credit Union Event Center. At that time, he was also coaching track and field at both Notre Dame High School and Presentation High School. In 2014, he got a job working part-time in logistics at Levi's Stadium. He balanced that job while finishing up his undergraduate degree.

In 2016, he was offered a position as a facilities and event coordinator for the San José State Athletics Department. In 2021, he was promoted to director of facilities and events; and then, in 2022, he was promoted again to serve as assistant athletics director for facilities.

"Each sport has different needs," says Hill. "And there's a lot of coordination that happens to get those needs met."

Hill is usually at a football game seven hours before the game starts to ensure that everything is set up and ready to go. Working 14-hour shifts during game days can be challenging, but he feels deeply gratified when everything goes smoothly.

"When everything shows up, and the national anthem is going and the game starts, and everyone's watching, it feels really great," says Hill. "And the second part of the gratification is once we win. All the work we put in leading into a game - we can't control the outcome. We have to go with the ups and downs with the team. We work directly with them so much. To see them win is great."

After nearly a decade of working at SJSU, Hill has seen many student-athletes come through, from the time they're freshmen until they graduate.

"When those students come up to you and thank you for what you do…" says Hill. "…those are the little things that make you feel good about the job."

Hill always takes time in his schedule to hang out at BLOC, so that he can visit and connect with other students.

"I try to do the best I can, making that connection with students, talking to them about why they should go to games and events," says Hill. "I think that going to games really gives you an outlet away from class. Everyone loses touch with their junior high or high school friends over time because your lives change. So it's important to connect with people outside of the classroom. Because some of the people you meet right now might be the people that are your friends for the rest of your life."

Jackie Rabouin
Counselor, Counseling and Psychological Services (CAPS)

Jackie Rabouin works as a counselor with SJSU's Counseling and Psychological Services (CAPS), which operates under the Student Wellness Center. She provides services to San José State students, helping them to address a variety of concerns, whether depression, anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder, psychological abuse, sexual abuse or eating issues.

Students also come to her with social anxiety, which Rabouin feels is a residual effect of the COVID pandemic era, when students missed the development of social skills from being in-person with others.

"That time was lost to them so they're struggling a little," says Rabouin. "I'm trying to help them find a way."

In her work, she also supports Black students in feeling more comfortable in predominantly white spaces, helping them to navigate socially and academically.

Rabouin goes to the Black Leadership Opportunity Center every other Tuesday to connect with students and to let them know that she is there for them, if they ever need support.

Sometimes Rabouin has individual conversations with students who are curious and want to explore the possibility of working with her. For students who want to talk at a deeper level, Rabouin takes them somewhere private to speak more.

"Counseling shouldn't be stigmatizing," says Rabouin. "This is something that is supposed to be uplifting and empowering."

She also delivers presentations at the BLOC and other organizations on different topics. One of the presentations that she delivers is focused on post-traumatic slave syndrome (PTSS), which is a theory developed by Joy DeGruy based on multigenerational trauma from slavery. Rabouin also delivers a presentation each fall to introduce students as to why paying attention to our psychological well-being is necessary.

Rabouin has seen members of the Black community struggle with the idea of psychology and counseling. She hopes she can help others heal emotionally and reframe common stigmas.

"Black people have everything to be proud of," she says. "Our ancestors had the fortitude to make it possible that we have survived all of this, and now we're here today."

Wendy M. Thompson
Assistant Professor of African American Studies

Since fall 2018, Wendy M. Thompson has taught courses on race and health, race and the environment, and the history of Black communities. This current semester she began teaching a new class titled "Interracial Intimacies and Mixed Race Identity in the United States."

"I tend to be historically focused. So in this new class that I designed, I'm setting the groundwork in talking

about the history of race and the different processes," says Thompson.

When Thompson first came to SJSU, the Department of African American Studies was in a period of transition. A couple of core department faculty members were retiring, and Thompson was brought on to be one of their successors. At that time, enrollment was dipping, and there was a need to develop and modernize courses in order to attract and retain new students.

"I've grown a lot and it has been an honor to step into the position of this department, which was created by students during the student movement era and Black power era in the late '60s," says Thompson. "It's been an honor to be a part of it, to guide it, to shepherd and support it as it's transitioned."

Thompson's favorite part of her role as a professor is the students.

"There's something so rewarding and generative being in a classroom with the students we have here," says Thompson. "The students are so gracious and really kind. The learning for me has always gone both ways. There's a reciprocation when it comes to teaching. Students have always been generous in teaching me about themselves and their experiences, and the way they're experiencing our society and the institutions and systems in our society."

Thompson is also a poet and recently published her first collection of poetry, "Black California Gold." Her book "Chasing the Sun: Staging Black Life and Belonging in California's Bay Area" will be published later this year by the University of Washington Press; her debut nonfiction work examines the 1940-1970 period of the second migration of African Americans to the Bay Area.

And as far as her work at SJSU, she is excited to move forward and be a part of the ways in which the Department of African American Studies continues to evolve in the future.

"I love how innovative and generative we are as Black people. The field of Black studies is also generative. We are evolving it, this department is evolving," says Thompson. "It feels good at this moment to be here and to ride the wave of everything that's happening right now."