Meet the Team

Vincent L. Stephens (he/him/his) serves as the Assistant Provost for Faculty Development and Success and leads BU Faculty Development. Stephens is a seasoned leader and academic administrator who served as the Associate Dean for Diversity and Inclusion in the College of Arts & Sciences (2021–25). In this role he advanced CAS’s strategic priorities through launching faculty development initiatives related to mentoring, inclusive pedagogy, and curricular advancement, coordinating professional development for staff and providing student engagement opportunities.  Stephens completed his PhD in American Studies at the University of Maryland College Park and is the author of 2025’s  Broads, Sisters, Exes: Feminist Millennial Television  (Wayne State University Press) and 2019’s  Rocking the Closet: How Little Richard, Johnnie Ray, Liberace, and Johnny Mathis Queered Pop Music  (University of Illinois Press), and co-editor of 2017’s  Post Racial America? An Interdisciplinary Study  (Bucknell University Press). His essays on popular culture have appeared in various peer-reviewed journals, anthologies, and encyclopedias.  He has also written about inclusive pedagogy (Encyclopedia of Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Spirituality), peer mentoring (The Chronicle of Mentoring & Coaching), and high impact educational practices (National Forensic Journal). Previously the Director of the Popel Shaw Center for Race and Ethnicity at Dickinson College (2015–21) and Director of Multicultural Student Services (2011–15) at Bucknell University, he has presented at national conferences hosted by the American Association of Colleges and Universities (AAC&U), National Conference on Race & Ethnicity (NCORE), and Peer Mentoring Institute. Previously, he held leadership roles in the Pennsylvania Association of Liaisons and Officers of Multicultural Affairs (PALOMA) and the Pennsylvania Chapter of the National Association for Multicultural Education (PA-NAME). He is a Lecturer in the College of Fine Arts (CFA), and has also taught at multiple institutions, most recently as a Contributing Faculty member in the Department of Music at Dickinson College (Fall 2018–Fall 2020). 

As Faculty Actions Coordinator, Gracie Schufreider (she/her/hers) works with the offices of Faculty Affairs and Faculty Development.  Before moving into higher ed, she worked in the Los Angeles entertainment industry, with roles in international film sales, administration, and creative development.  She holds an MFA in Creative Writing from Boston University and a BA in Screenwriting from Loyola Marymount University. 

Naveen Inim (she/her/hers) is the Senior Digital Communications Manager for the Office of the Provost. She previously worked as the Senior Communications Manager for BU Diversity & Inclusion, supporting communications efforts at all the units under Community & Inclusion. As a former student at BU, Naveen worked on communications teams for Boston University Libraries and The Newbury Center. Naveen returned to BU in Spring 2024 after working as the Social Media Content Specialist on the central administration communications team at the University of Southern California. Naveen received a BA in Psychology and BS in Film & Television as well as a MFA in Film & Television Studies from Boston University. 

Professor Margarita Guillory (she/her/hers) has taught at BU since 2018 and is a nationally recognized expert in the study of African American and Africana religious traditions. In addition to authoring  Africana Religion in the Digital Age (Routledge) and  Spiritual and Social Transformation in African American Spiritual Churches: More Than Conjurers (Routledge), she serves on the editorial boards of numerous academic journals and is an active member  of the American Academy of Religion  and Society for the Study of Black Religion, among others. Her prior experience serving as associate director for the BU Center for the Humanities (2023-25), a steering committee member for the Center for Innovation in Social Sciences (2021-23), director of undergraduate studies in the department of religion (2019-20), as well as her current role as director of AABDS, inform her passion for helping faculty colleagues develop as scholars and educators. As a Faculty Fellow, she will prioritize collaboration and building bridges with colleagues across fields of study.

The Department of Energy and the National Science Foundation are among the prominent organizations that have recognized the innovative scholarship of Professor Indara Suarez (she/her/hers) – who specializes in high-energy particle physics and is a researcher affiliated with the renowned CMS Collaboration at CERN. Alongside her scholarly achievements, she has prioritized mentoring new generations of physicists and making STEM fields more inclusive for scientists from historically underrepresented groups. She has partnered with the Graduate School of Arts & Sciences and the Associate Provost of Graduate Affairs to improve graduate student recruitment at BU, served on the College of Arts & Sciences (CAS) Society of Fellows Postdoctoral Program Committees (2021-25), and partnered with BU’s chapter of the Graduate Women in Science and Engineering (GWISE) on various initiatives. In 2023, CAS recognized Suarez as one of the inaugural recipients of the annual CAS IDEAL (Inclusion, Diversity, Equity, Access, Leadership) Award for her commitment to inclusion. As a Faculty Fellow, she hopes to develop interdisciplinary faculty learning communities, create accessible resources and programming for faculty, and expand support structures for historically underrepresented faculty in STEM.