Timeica E. Bethel
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While Timeica E. Bethel (she/her) began her tenure as Director of the Afro-American Cultural Center at Yale in August 2022, her leadership within The House and Black Yale communities spans fifteen years. From 2007 to 2011, when she was a student in Yale College, she was heavily involved in many of The House’s student organizations. She took on an executive board role with the Black Student Alliance at Yale (BSAY) weeks after arriving as a first-year student, and she served on the BSAY board until she graduated. Throughout her four years on campus, she was a leader of multiple House organizations, including the Black Church at Yale (BCAY), the Dominican Students Association (DSA), and the Urban Improvement Corps (UIC). For her high level of engagement, she was awarded the inaugural Caroline Jackson Smith House Leadership Award. As an alumna, Bethel volunteered to lead the planning of the 50th Anniversary Celebration of the Afro-American Cultural Center as an alumni co-chair. Over the five years of planning for that celebration, she collaborated with Yale staff, alumni, and current students to plan and execute the event, which brought together over 600 members of the Yale community. Prior to returning to Yale, Dean Bethel has been a Program Director at LINK Unlimited Scholars, a robust fellowship that illuminates the path to-and-through college for Black middle and high school students in the Chicagoland area, for three years. She also brings experience as a previous Teach For America (TFA) corps member/teacher in her hometown of Chicago. After teaching for four years, she joined TFA’s staff, serving as a Manager of Teacher Leadership Development and Recruitment Director for four years. She brings her leadership experiences as a student, alumna, teacher, and counselor with her as she proudly returns to Yale. Dean Bethel is a lifelong learner and educator. She lives by her high school’s slogan, “everything to help; nothing to hinder.” She is passionate about educational equity and providing people with the opportunities and resources necessary to be successful. Dean Bethel earned her B.A. in Sociology from Yale College |
Nick Wantsala
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Nick Wantsala is the new Kenya S. Flash Resident within the Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, & Accessibility department of Yale Library. Nick is a librarian with over ten years of experience working in Access Services. Between 2018 and 2023, he worked at the Robert W. Woodruff Library at Emory University, where he served as a Library Coordinator for Access Services, Student Supervisor, and Research Specialist. Throughout Nick’s undergraduate career at the University of Cincinnati, he worked at Langsam Library and built on his dedication to librarianship by becoming a Technical & Equipment Specialist. He earned his master’s degree in Library and Information Studies from the University of Alabama this past May. During his graduate work, Nick was a member of the Society of American Archivists and helped create and develop “Archives & Communities,” a podcast series through which archivists from across America share how they entered the profession. With a deep passion for librarianship and student and community engagement, he uses his creative ideas and initiatives to bring those communities together. |
