My name is Kamaria, it means “like the moon” in Swahili.   

Me and my sister, Marjani. Her name means “coral” in Swahili

I grew up on Chicago’s South Side, shuttling between my parents and great grandmother’s house in South Shore, Auburn Gresham, and Englewood, respectively. After graduating from the University of Notre Dame in 2006 with a BA in History and a concentration in US Labor History, I worked as a community organizer with United Power for Action and Justice in Chicago. Our organization mobilized members from religious congregations for local and state-wide campaigns to build affordable housing, increase health care access, and close shops linked to illegal guns sales and crime in the city. 

In 2010, I transitioned to the education sector by joining the staff of Christ the King Jesuit College Prep, then a brand new Cristo Rey model school on Chicago’s West Side. Students at CTK worked one day each week at corporate internships, which funded their tuition and provided professional job skills to students. With our innovative education model, I began to wonder how students at CTK would experience college. Not if our students were college-ready (that I was certain of), but would colleges and universities be equipped or even interested in cultivating the rare skill set brought by these first generation college students? This led me to the higher education field. 

My mother, Debra, and I at Loyola University Chicago

In 2012 I started a Masters in Higher Education at Loyola University Chicago and became active in sexual assault prevention and support programs as a rape crisis counselor. During my time at CTK, several people disclosed instances of sexual violence to me. I supported and listened to them, but I wanted to do more.

I received 60 hours of training on sexual and domestic violence, legal remedies, medical procedures, crisis intervention, and secondary victim support. During my Masters program, I met rape survivors in emergency rooms and accompanied them as they navigated the confusing landscape of legal and medical decisions. 

With the #PosseltExperience Research Team

I entered the doctoral program at the Center for the Study of Higher and Postsecondary Education at the University of Michigan in 2014. My research interests include racial and gender inequalities in higher education, especially institutional response to sexual assault, graduate education, and faculty experiences. My dissertation examines how perceptions of the legal system across race affects students’ decisions to report to sexual violence to their university.