Mayra Guevara
METS Director
510.430.3126, mguevara@mills.edu
Education: San Jose State University, BA Social Work
Favorite College Experience: Making meaningful friendships with people from places
I had never heard of.
Yadira Gonzalez
METS Program Coordinator
510.430.3267, yagonzalez@mills.edu
Education: Bachelor's, double major from Holy Names University–Latin American and
Latino/a studies and Liberal Studies with a Multiple Subject Emphasis. Master of Education,
Holy Names University with an emphasis in Urban Education
Favorite College Experience: Going on our university trips and building lifelong memories
and relationships with other students. Coming from a university that takes pride in
being social justice advocates, I had the opportunity to travel to Oaxaca, Mexico
and learn about the annual teacher's marches and political climate of the state; go
on a civil rights tour through Georgia and Alabama; build houses with Habitat for
Humanity for low income families in Tutwiler, Mississippi; and most memorable of all,
travel to Nogales, Arizona and Sonora, Mexico to learn more about and defend immigrant
rights.
Lynna Din
METS Academic Advisor
510.430.3320, ldin@mills.edu
Education: Laney College, AA Social Science; San Francisco State University, BA Asian American
Studies; San Francisco State University, MS School Counseling
Favorite College Experience: Being able to do internships. Through these experiences I was able to gain a better
perspective about working with various stakeholders (principle, teachers, counselors,
parents, students, and community leaders) within the Oakland Unified School District.
I learned to become humbled and open-minded when working with students from diverse
backgrounds. This is where I found my joy working with adolescents.
Javarte Bobino
Director, Upward Bound
510.430.3337, jbobino@mills.edu
Education: Doctoral Degree in Educational Psychology from Alliant International University. Masters
Degree in Counseling Psychology and Personnel Pupil Services Credential Saint Mary's
College of California. Bachelor of Arts Degree in Mass Communication from Xavier University
of Louisiana.
Favorite College Experience: All of my undergraduate years were great. I had to chance to learn about New Orleans
and people from all over the world.
Shavonne Clark-Lowe, MPA
Upward Bound Associate Director
510.430.3128, shaclark@mills.edu
Education: BA in Political Science, Education Studies Minor, UCLA; MPA in Public Management
& Policy Analysis (In Progress), CSU East Bay.
Favorite College Experience: Finding my passion by creating a student community service
group that exposed students to college readiness, art, and activism in Compton & South
Central Los Angeles.
Sagaree Jain
Upward Bound Academic Coordinator
510.430.3346, sjain@mills.edu
Education: BA in History and English from UC Berkeley
Favorite College Memory: I had a great time engaging with campus community on different ways to approach justice,
including acting as director of the CalSLAM slam poetry organization, co-founding
an organization of South Asian folks interested in social justice, and writing an
original thesis on women's issues in postcolonial India. There was always so much
to learn!
Mario Castro
Upward Bound Academic Advisor
510.430.3208, macastro@mills.edu
Education: BA in Sociology, BS Anthropology
Favorite College Experience: All the friendships and relationships. Having friends
close by was nice.
Adam Ezell
Upward Bound WCC Academic Advisor
510.430.2055, aezell@mills.edu
Education: BS in Finance from Florida State University, MBA from Mills College
Favorite College Moment: My favorite college memories include attending football games in the Fall (Go ‘Noles!),
participating in on-campus organizations like Progressive Black Men, Inc. and Delta
Sigma Pi, and meeting my future wife!
Vanessa Varko-Fontana
Program Office Manager, Upward Bound
510.430.2064, vvarkofontana@mills.edu
Education: AA City College of San Francisco, BA New College of California–emphasis
on activism and social change
Favorite College Experience: Travelling to Manzanar with my political science class
to meet Japenese Internment camp survivors and honor their experience and struggles
part of US history. We bonded as classmates and were able to see the impacts of US
politics on communities. This experience helped me find my advocate voice and political
awareness.
Jennifer Guevara
Student Services Coordinator
510.430.2234, jguevara@mills.edu
Magi Brizuela
Upward Bound Academic Advisor
510.430.3145, mbrizuela@mills.edu
Education: Mills College, BA Environmental Science
Favorite College Experience: My favorite college experience was walking the stage
at commencement, looking into the crowd and seeing my children, parents, and all my
family cheering me on.
Tanaya S. Reid, AMSW, PPSC
Upward Bound Academic Advisor
510.430.3145, tareid@mills.edu
Education: Associate's of Arts in Behavioral and Social Sciences, Modesto Junior College; Bachelor's
in Psychology, San Francisco State University, Master's in Social Work, California
State University, East Bay; Pupil Personnel Services Credential, San Francisco State
University
Favorite College Experience: Interning at the Juvenile Justice Center and for Peer
Health Exchange helped me see my passion for working with high school students; and
of course, dropping in on my TRiO staff, who believed in me and helped me succeed!
Liset Rodriguez
Upward Bound Student Office Assistant
lisrodriguez@mills.edu
Education: Mills College UB alumni, Currently pursuing BS at Mills College
Favorite College Experience: I love college so far because I have so many friendly people to support me.