Briana Bivens

Briana Bivens, Ph.D., (she/her) is a postdoctoral research associate in the School of Graduate Studies and an instructor at Rutgers University. Her work focuses on diversity, equity, and inclusion strategic planning, and she collaborates directly with graduate students to envision and create more equitable and affirming educational experiences. She currently facilitates the new SGS DEI Graduate Student Advisory Committee and, alongside Douglass College partners, she coordinates the inaugural Mentoring for Social Justice and Community Project which aims to align mentoring practice with social justice principles and partner graduate student mentors with undergraduates invested in social justice action and community-engaged inquiry. Informed by her Ph.D. work at the University of Georgia in educational theory and her many years engaged in multi-issue community organizing in Georgia, Briana’s scholarship and advocacy explores community-based education, child and family care policy, and sustainability in transformative, justice-oriented social movements. Briana loves to cuddle her two sweet pups, learn new board games, and read speculative fiction that can help us imagine and create more just ways of being and living.