Meet the College of Social Science Office of Institutional Access Team

The Michigan State University College of Social Science Office of Institutional Access (OIA) welcomes two new staff members to its team, Veda Hawkins and Victoria Pierce. Dr. Nwando Achebe returns to her role of Associate Dean for Access, Faculty Development, and Strategic Implementation as well as Director of the Office of Institutional Access.

 

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  Nwando Achebe (pronounced: Wan-do Ah-chě-bě; [pronunciation key: ě as in pet]), University Distinguished Professor, Jack and Margaret Sweet Endowed Professor of History and Associate Dean for Access, Faculty Development, and Strategic Implementation, is a multi- award-winning historian and teacher at Michigan State University. She is founding editor-in-chief of the Journal of West African History, a 2022-23 ACE Fellow and a 2022 HERS Leadership Fellow. Achebe is also a member of the Nigerian Academy of Letters, and Vice President/President-Elect of the African Studies Association.

  Achebe is the author of six books. Her first book, Farmers, Traders, Warriors, and Kings: Female Power and Authority in Northern Igboland, 1900-1960 was published by Heinemann. Achebe’s second book, The Female King of Colonial Nigeria: Ahebi Ugbabe (Indiana University Press, 2011), winner of three book awards—The Aidoo-Snyder Book Award, The Barbara “Penny” Kanner Book Award, and The Gita Chaudhuri Book Award—is a full length critical biography on the only femalewarrant chief and king in colonial British Africa. The writing was funded by a generous grant from the Wenner-Gren Foundation. Dr. Achebe is co-author of the 2018 History of West Africa E-Course Book. She is also co-editor, with William Worger and Charles Ambler of A Companion to African History (2019), co-editor with Claire Robertson of Holding the World Together: African Women in Changing Perspective (Wisconsin University Press, 2019); and sole-author of Female Monarchs and Merchant Queens in Africa (Ohio University Press, 2020).

  In addition to the Wenner-Gren, Dr. Achebe has received a number of other prestigious grants including awards from Rockefeller Foundation, Woodrow Wilson, Fulbright-Hays, Ford Foundation, the World Health Organization, and the National Endowment for the Humanities.

   

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  Hawkins is a doctoral candidate in the department of Geography, Environment and Spatial Science and has worked at the College for over 15 years in a number of roles. Hawkins has dedicated countless time toward advancing access and student success. Her previous roles include serving as Assistant Director of Academic and Student Affairs for the College. She previously served as Assistant Director and Interim Assistant Dean in 2022 for the office. Prior to these roles, she spent time as an Academic Specialist in the Center for Integrative Studies in Social Science.  She was awarded the MSU Outstanding Advising Administrator Award in 2021 and the Dean’s DEI excellence staff award in 2022. Her research focuses on the intersection of race, space, place and undergraduate degree completion for Black students, which she hopes will help to educate and eliminate spatial education opportunity gaps for minoritized individuals.

   

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  Pierce is a College of Social Science alumna and enters her first year as Access Office Manager. She earned her undergraduate degree in economics from Michigan State and earned an MBA from Cleary University. Prior to returning to MSU, she spent time in the financial services and healthcare sectors before discovering her true passion for working in higher education. Having grown up in a small town before moving to Houston, Texas, her experiences taught her that not everyone is afforded the same equal opportunities in life, which inspired her to pursue a career in access with the hopes of creating space where those barriers can be reduced. She is a lifelong MSU fan influenced in part by her mother, a fellow Spartan graduate, and looks forward to working with theteam to make campus a better place for all.

   

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  Ashley Hayden holds a BA in Social Work from Christopher Newport University and an MSW from Columbia University. Before joining OIA, she was the Support Coordinator for MSU's FAME Program, where she built a strong mentor program and provided essential resources to help students succeed. In previous roles, Ashley has worked with high school students pursuing their diplomas and with unaccompanied refugee minors (URMs) within the foster care system. Currently, she is President of the Board of Directors for The Global Institute of Lansing (GIL), ensuring refugees can obtain their high school diplomas. Ashley is committed to fostering educational success and looks forward to continuing her impactful work within the College of Social Science.