Commission on the Status of Women

Susan Witte is a social worker and Professor at the School of Social Work, where she teaches courses in the clinical and advanced generalist methods of the master’s program, as well as in the doctoral program. In 2019, Dr. Witte was selected as a member of the inaugural cohort of the Provost’s Senior Faculty Teaching Scholars in recognition of her outstanding achievements in both teaching and research. Dr. Witte’s research and teaching involve prevention and treating HIV/AIDS, other STIs, intimate and gender-based violence, alcohol and drug use, and related social determinants of health and mental health.

Sen. Rebecca Schnall is a highly regarded scholar, interdisciplinary team scientist and a demonstrated mentor. She is a nurse scientist and behavioral interventionist who has committed to mentoring the next generation of nurse scientists and clinician scholars. As a member of the CUIMC community for over 20 years, she brings a unique and broad perspective shaped by her experience as an alumnus, former research coordinator, Associate research scientist and as a tenured faculty member since 2016. She serves as an educator mentor and researcher with continuous federal support totaling over 40 million dollars. Nationally, she serves on pivotal scientific leadership roles at NIH, CDC and AHRQ. At Columbia, she has served on multiple key committees including the CUIMC faculty affairs and the Institutional Review Board. Across all these roles, she has remained grounded in Columbia's mission: to generate and disseminate knowledge, and to foster an inclusive and dynamic learning environment.

Paola Valenti is an economist with expertise in development economics, applied econometrics, applied microeconomics, and economics of antitrust and intellectual property. Dr. Valenti's has expertise in industries such as pharmaceuticals, medical devices, industrial chemicals, consumer products, food, and computer hardware and software.

Dr. Valenti previously served as a consultant at NERA Economic Consulting, developing economic research and quantitative analysis. She has also worked as a consultant for the World Bank's Human Development Network and Social Protection Group, conducting research on poverty among the elderly in Bulgaria, Mauritius, Nepal, Nicaragua, Panama, Peru and Tajikistan.

Dr. Valenti holds laurea and Dottorato di Ricerca degrees in economics from the University of Rome La Sapienza, an M.Sc. degree from CORIPE Piemonte, and a Ph.D. from Cornell University.

Sen. Ovita Williams is Executive Director of the Action Lab for Social Justice and Lecturer in Discipline at Columbia School of Social Work. Dr. Williams worked with survivors of intimate partner violence in the forensic social work arena with ten years of experience in the Counseling Services Unit at the Kings County District Attorney’s Office. Prior to this position, Dr. Williams was a child and family therapist at the Children’s Aid Society. She is currently involved in racial equity facilitation and committed to social justice and ending gender-based violence. Dr. Williams has developed and facilitated interactive workshops for social workers, managers, and practitioners on facilitating courageous dialogues around our intersecting identities. At Columbia, Dr. Williams collaborates with students, alumni, faculty and administrators on the development of the course Decolonizing Social Work through a power, race, oppression, privilege (PROP) framework. The course centers undoing anti-Black racism and dismantling white supremacy culture.

Monica Goldklang, M.D., is Assistant Professor of Medicine (in Anesthesiology) in the Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons. Dr. Goldklang’s main area of research interest is in translational studies investigating the pathogenesis of smoking related lung disease. Her work involves understanding the mechanisms of protease upregulation in lung injury. She is currently working on a project investigating factors that alter MMP-13 expression and activity in lung disease. Moving forward, Dr. Goldklang has received NIH K08 funding to investigate the role of ion channels in smoking related lung disease. 

Sen. Michelle Rivera-Lopez, a lifelong New Yorker, has been a dedicated member of the Columbia University community since 2006. Over the past two decades, Sen. Rivera-Lopez has accumulated deep institutional knowledge through a series of progressive leadership roles across the university's financial and academic sectors. Sen. Rivera-Lopez began her Columbia journey as an Accounting Manager in the Mailman School of Public Health's Finance Office. She later transitioned to the central Treasury Office, where she served as the Associate Director of Cash Management and Investments. Today, she has returned to Mailman to serve as the Department Administrator for the Department of Sociomedical Sciences (SMS). In this role, Sen. Rivera-Lopez is thrilled to partner with faculty, staff, and students alike, leveraging her diverse administrative expertise to ensure the university remains one of the absolute best places to work and learn.

Sen. Mahlon Mathieson, MS ’25, is a Doctor of Nursing Practice student in the Midwifery Program at Columbia University School of Nursing and serves as the School’s representative to the Columbia University Senate. Entering her second term, she remains committed to shared governance, student advocacy, and ensuring that diverse perspectives are represented in university decision making.

Beyond her role in the Senate, Mahlon serves on the American Association of Colleges of Nursing Graduate Nursing Student Academy Leadership Council, where she contributes to initiatives that support graduate nursing students across the country. She is also a teaching assistant and SAFE nurse, combining her passion for education, mentorship, and patient advocacy to support both students and survivors.

Mahlon's academic and research interests focus on maternal health equity, reproductive health, and trauma informed care. Her scholarship explores barriers to support and access for childbearing families, with particular interests in interpersonal violence screening, lactation support, and public health initiatives that improve maternal outcomes. Through her research and clinical work, she seeks to advance evidence based, person centered care that promotes safety, dignity, and health equity.

As a student leader, Mahlon is dedicated to fostering collaboration across schools and disciplines while advocating for policies and initiatives that strengthen the student experience. She approaches leadership with empathy, integrity, and a commitment to service, striving to create an environment where all members of the Columbia community feel heard, valued, and empowered to contribute.
 

Sen. Maeghan Sill (she/her/hers) is a Ph.D. student in the Education Leadership program at Teachers College, Columbia University. Driven by a deep commitment to educational equity, her passion for using data to drive meaningful change was forged by a teaching career spanning more than a decade in diverse school settings in the U.S. and overseas. While completing her M.S. in Learning Analytics, also from Teachers College, she served their Student Senate as a departmental senator and an active student advocate. She co-authored a bill that led to the rollout of free menstrual products in campus bathrooms and served on the Campus Safety Advisory Committee. She also represented student interests at the Student Library Advisory Council and worked to initiate a smaller meal plan option. Her research now lies at the intersection of education leadership and data science, where she explores how factors like school climate impact teacher retention and workforce diversity. As a University Senator, she is committed to serving as a bridge between students and university leadership, fostering greater equity, transparency, and community.

Sen. Kara Lamb is an Associate Research Scientist in the Department of Earth and Environmental Engineering at Columbia University, a senior researcher in the Learning the Earth with Artificial Intelligence and Physics (LEAP) Center, and an Affiliate of the Data Science Institute. She is also an Adjunct Professor in the Climate School and collaborates with researchers at NASA GISS on the NASA Digital Twins for Climate Science project. She serves on the American Meteorological Society’s Committee on AI Applications to Environmental Science and is a member of the U.S. CLIVAR Process Study and Model Improvement Panel. 

Dr. Lamb received her M.S. and Ph.D. in Physics from the University of Chicago. Prior to joining Columbia, she spent four years as a research scientist at NOAA’s Earth System Research Laboratory, where she contributed to several major international airborne field campaigns, including the NASA KORUS-AQ and AToM missions and the NOAA FIREX FireLab study. Dr. Lamb’s research lies at the intersection of atmospheric observations, high-resolution modeling, and scientific machine learning. Her work focuses on improving understanding of aerosol and cloud processes, and developing interpretable, physics-informed machine learning approaches to advance next-generation Earth System Models.

Sen. Amy Zhou is an Assistant Professor of Sociology at Barnard College. Professor Zhou received her BA and PhD in Sociology from UCLA as well as postdoctoral training at the UCSD Institute for Practical Ethics. Her research and teaching interests include healthcare, inequality, race/ethnicity, development, and science and technology studies. Professor Zhou's research has examined health inequalities in both the US and global setting. One line of research explores the impact of global health policies. Her current book project examines how global health efforts to address the HIV epidemic reconfigures local healthcare institutions and has unintended consequences for policymaking, healthcare practices, and the lives of providers and patients in Malawi. Another line of research looks at racial health inequalities in the US, focusing on the meaning of race in delivering racially targeted health services. Recently, she has started a new project that examines the social and ethical implications of gene drive technologies.

Sen. Afa Nuriyeva is a student at Barnard College majoring in economics and political Science. On campus, she serves as Co-President of the Alexander Hamilton Society, Editor in Chief of the Columbia International Relations Council and Association, and a Policy Fellow at Stanford University. She also writes for the Columbia Political Review and sits on the Business Division of the Columbia Undergraduate Law Review. Afa's professional experience includes spending two years as a youth representative and co-organizer with the United Nations Foundation, where she was one of 15 students selected globally to help organize the Annual Impact Meeting for KIDsforSDGs, bringing together over 35 countries, 150 global partners, and five NGOs. Over the past summer, she interned at Deloitte as a governance intern, and previously served as Sophomore Class Secretary of Barnard's Student Government Association. As University Senator, Afa is committed to amplifying student voices, particularly focusing on ensuring that Barnard's academic priorities and student concerns are represented in University Senate.