Student Staff

Alethia Wittman
Development and Grant Writing Assistant

Aletheia is currently in the 2nd year of her Master’s in Museum Studies Program at the University of Washington.  Previously, Aletheia has worked as a research assistant and in curation and education departments at various arts and cultural organizations in Vancouver, BC, and Seattle.  She is currently writing her thesis on curators in museums of art and design that focus on local urban environments and landscapes.  She is interested in how these museums and curators are reaching out to diverse, underserved audiences who share a common neighborhood and city.

 Johnna White
Human Trafficking Research Coordinator

Johnna is in the first year of her Masters of Public Administration progam at the Evans School of Public Affairs.  She moved here from Washington, DC, where she started her career working for Congresswoman Betty McCollum and eventually moved off the hill to work on a government relations team advocating for public interests of her home state, Minnesota.  Concurrently, Johnna served as Communications Director for the National Organization to Insure a Sound-controlled Environment (N.O.I.S.E.), a small non-profit committed to reducing the adverse effects of airport and aviation noise on local communities.

Ellie Canter
NEW Leadership Program Coordinator

Ellie is in her second year of the Masters in Educational Policy and Leadership. Upon graduation from the University of Virginia, Ellie taught English in three primary schools in Northern France. After returning to the U.S., she began a two-year term with Americorps and the National College Advising Corps as a college advisor at a Virginia high school where she assisted first generation, low-income students in the pursuit of higher education. During her time at UW, Ellie has facilitated an undergraduate service learning project with the Pipeline Project and worked as a graduate reader in the Office of Admissions.

Mariana Llamas-Cendon
Marketing Coordinator

Mariana is a bilingual journalist with more than a decade of experience as a newspaper and magazine editor in the US and in Mexico. She moved from Los Angeles, California, where she worked as the Life and Style editor for La Opinion newspaper, the largest Spanish language daily in the country; as an Entertainment and Weekend Guide editor for Hoy newspaper; as a City editor for Univision online, and as the managing editor for the bilingual publication of the Ventura County Star newspaper. Currently, Mariana works as a freelancer for different online and print publications in both English and Spanish languages, and is a Master of Communication in Digital Media student at the UW.

Lilia Hueso-Perez
Administrative Coordinator

Lilia is in the senior year of American Ethnic Studies Program at the UW. She worked as peer navigator of the Commencement Achievement Program (CAP) while enrolled at Green River Community College. Lilia was also involved with the non-profit Latinos for Community Transformation and Para Los Ninos, an organization helping parents navigate the school district system. Lilia hopes to pursue a master degree in Education, become a high school counselor and close the education gap that prevents minority access to higher education.

Tagoipah Mathno
Administrative Assistant 

Tagoipah is finishing up her senior year at the University of Washington getting her undergrad in Bachelor of Arts in Social Welfare. She hopes to enter into the Masters of Social Work program at the University of Washington after graduation.  Once in the Masters program she wants to go into the concentration of Community-Centered Integrative Practice to become a social worker that works with immigrant communities in developing and delivering resources/services that meets their needs.  She is currently interning at a non-profit that works with the Vietnamese Community to help gain field experience.