The staff who develop, lead, and coordinate IDP’s programs and courses.
IDP Leadership Team
Adi Grabiner-Keinan, Ph.D.
Executive Director for Academic DEI Education
Director, Intergroup Dialogue Project
Adi joined IDP after receiving her Ph.D. in Anthropology from Cornell University, an M.A. in Cultural Production from Brandeis University, and a B.A. in History from Tel Aviv University. Working closely with Cornell’s academic units and leadership, Adi develops and leads campus-wide educational programs and interventions, focusing on four key development areas: human connection, social identity, intergroup communication, and strategic change. By creating optimal conditions for multi-phase processes for faculty, students, and student-facing staff, she promotes the expansion of academic DEI education on campus in a direction that supports change at personal, interpersonal, and institutional levels. Adi has worked in a variety of educational and academic settings, with both educators and students, focusing on issues related to identity development, experiential learning, leadership, and teaching and facilitation skills.
Jazlin Gomez Garner, M.P.A.
Pedagogy Specialist
Jazlin was first introduced to IDP as an undergraduate at Cornell, and since then has been a facilitator, coach, curriculum developer, and student engagement coordinator. Jazlin studied inequality through majors in Sociology, English, and Performing and Media Arts as an undergraduate, and went on to complete her MPA in Human Rights and Social Justice at the Cornell Institute for Public Affairs. As IDP’s pedagogy specialist, Jazlin is responsible for providing leadership and implementation of Intergroup Dialogue programs for a wide range of campus constituents. She is also the co-instructor for EDUC 2610 (Intergroup Dialogue) and for our course for graduate students. She supports our training and curriculum development for student facilitators.
Kathryn Stamm, B.A.
Teaching Support Specialist
Kathryn first met IDP as an incoming student at a Community at Cornell session — immediately after which she sent an email to the program asking to enroll in EDUC 2610. She went on to become a peer facilitator and research assistant with IDP, roles which grounded her time in college, where she studied stories, structures, and social identity through majors in Literatures in English and American Studies. Kathryn joined the teaching team full-time after graduating; now, as a teaching support specialist, she is responsible for coaching student facilitators and supporting EDUC 2610, and she continues to support research and assessment efforts.
Kellie Ochs, B.S.
Curriculum and Project Development Specialist
Kellie graduated from Cornell with a B.S. in Industrial and Labor Relations. She discovered IDP in her junior year when she enrolled in EDUC 2610, and went on to join the team as an undergraduate facilitator in her senior year. In her current role, Kellie collaborates on curriculum development efforts for undergraduate students and other university-wide programs, and supports the development and implementation of IDP’s special projects and strategic initiatives.
Natasha Steinhall, M.P.A
Academic DEI Education Program Manager
Natasha completed her B.S. in Animal Science at Cornell, where she first discovered the Intergroup Dialogue Project when she enrolled in EDUC 2610 in her senior year. She went on to facilitate the course and continued to be involved with the program after she graduated, as a facilitator, a program assistant, a program coordinator, and now as the academic DEI education program manager. As the academic DEI education program manager, Natasha plays a key role in the management of both strategic and operational aspects of academic DEI education efforts at Cornell with a primary focus on the Intergroup Dialogue Project. She enjoys collaborating with IDP staff, campus partners, and IDP alumni to implement the vision of academic DEI education at Cornell. Natasha completed her Masters’s in public administration at the Cornell Brooks School of Public Policy. She also volunteers with the Office of Institutional Equity and Title IX as a hearing panel member and co-investigator, and with Cornell Companions doing animal-assisted therapy visits with her dog Avalanche.
Rachel Sumner, Ph.D.
Associate Director
Rachel arrived at Cornell as a Ph.D. student in the Department of Human Development, where her dissertation focused on the development of purpose in life and identity among college students and adults. Through subsequent roles in a nonprofit organization and then at Cornell’s Bronfenbrenner Center for Translational Research she collaborated with youth work practitioners to use data as a tool for understanding and informing programmatic decisions. In January 2017 Rachel participated in the second IDP session for graduate/professional students and postdocs; she’s been grateful to continue her involvement with IDP since then, first as a co-facilitator/coach and now as associate director.
Rachel is responsible for assessing IDP’s transformative impact on individual participants and the campus community. She also collaborates on the development and delivery of meaningful learning opportunities, focusing primarily on offerings for faculty and staff, in addition to serving as co-instructor of IDP’s credit-bearing course for MBA students.
Rachel is responsible for assessing IDP’s transformative impact on individual participants and the campus community. She also collaborates on the development and delivery of meaningful learning opportunities, focusing primarily on offerings for faculty and staff, in addition to serving as co-instructor of IDP’s credit-bearing course for MBA students.
Ryan Vega
Teaching Support Specialist
Ryan first encountered IDP during their sophomore year as a student participant of EDUC 2610 and has continued to stay passionate and involved since. As an undergraduate, Ryan facilitated multiple sections of EDUC 2610 and led IDP workshops throughout the Cornell community. Since earning their degree, Ryan has returned to the program full-time to serve as a teaching support specialist, assisting the teaching team and providing coaching and support to undergraduate facilitators.
Stephen Kim, Ph.D.
Assistant Director of Programs & Pedagogical Innovation, ILR WIDE
Curriculum Specialist, Intergroup Dialogue Project
Stephen participated in the first iteration of IDP’s course for graduate students and has worked for IDP in various positions since. Through his work both at ILR WIDE and IDP, he is committed to creating a robust academic program that fosters connection, examines power, and imagines more inclusive ways to communicate and lead. At ILR WIDE, he designs academic programs for students to become more effective workplace DEI leaders and dialogue practitioners. He also collaborates with faculty to incorporate dialogic pedagogies into their teaching. At IDP, he supports new curricular initiatives on dialogue-based education at Cornell. He completed his Ph.D. in Literatures at English at Cornell, with minors in American Studies and Feminist, Gender, and Sexuality Studies. He also serves as a volunteer instructor for the Cornell Prison Education Program.
IDP Co-Instructors & Coaches
Our professional staff partners who co-facilitate for and coach IDP courses and programs for graduate students, staff, and faculty.
Cortney Johnson, Ph.D.
EDUC 2610 Coach
Cortney (she/they) learned about IDP for the first time in graduate school at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst where she pursued an M.Ed. in Social Justice Education. Cortney was able to create a curriculum for and facilitate an intergroup dialogue course as the practicum for her master’s program. They went on to teach more IDP courses at the University of Alabama at Birmingham while earning their PhD in Educational Studies in Diverse Populations. Cortney’s dissertation focused on the experiences of Trans students in higher education in the Southeast which led to their current role as an Associate Dean of Students and Director of the LGBT Resource Center at Cornell. Cortney also gets to work as a coach for IDP peer facilitation teams on campus, supporting these peer leaders as they navigate this amazing experience.
Steph Cowling-Rich, M.Ed.
Co-Instructor for Advising Across Difference: Course for Academic Advisors
Steph Cowling-Rich (affirming pronouns: she/her) works for Cornell as an Assistant Director of Student Advising and Engagement and an EOP/HEOP Advisor. She particularly focuses on advising and crafting programming for undergraduates who are the first in their families to go to college, low-income students, and students of color. Her professional life has focused on young adult post-secondary transitions through college and career. Academically, she received her Bachelors in Sociology and Masters in Education both from UC Berkeley. Additionally, she has studied Women’s Spirituality, Non-Violent Communication (NVC), Insight Meditation, Brazilian dance, and, of course, Intergroup Dialogue. Steph co-facilitates “Advising across Difference,” IDP’s course for academic advisors with Adi, for the past two years. She is particularly interested in integrating practices of reflection, mindfulness, social justice, goal setting, visioning, and deep interpersonal communication within the spaces she engages in at Cornell.
Trevor Franklin, Ph.D.
Co-Instructor for Intergroup Dialogue for Graduate Students
Trevor is a PhD Student studying bacteria-surface interactions as part of Rong Yang’s lab in the Smith School of Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering. His research focuses on designing materials using a vapor deposition technique to manipulate the behavior of bacteria that grow on those materials, and harness the advantageous potential of bacteria. Long involved and interested in equality in access to higher education, Trevor was excited to partake in IDP and work towards furthering that mission at Cornell. Along with his leadership of the Diversity & Inclusion Program at the Smith School, Trevor hopes to use the tools of IDP to promote engagement in difficult issues that work towards the greater good at Cornell, in engineering communities, and beyond.