Monday, September 29th at 5PM: The CMU Office of the Vice Provost for Community, Culture and Engagement presents "Latine Legacies: Bridging Knowledge, Culture and Community"

Susan Baida is the Executive Director of the Center for Applied Research on Targeted Violence (CARVt). She provides strategic direction, in collaboration with CARVt's Co-Directors, to build the capacity of the center to nurture innovative applied research in understanding and mitigating targeted violence stemming from group hatred. She builds upon CMU and Pitt’s current research strengths and fosters growth in areas such as faculty and student involvement, educational offerings, external partnerships and philanthropic engagement.  

She brings over 30 years of experience in entrepreneurship, global marketing, community engagement and fundraising. Prior to her current role, Baida served as the Director of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion at UPMC, Pennsylvania's largest healthcare system, and co-founded a healthcare technology venture. During the first half of her career, she held executive positions at Fortune 500 companies, including Avon, Estée 

Lauder, and Starwood Hotels. Baida holds a Bachelor of Arts from Emory University and has completed executive leadership training at Vassar College.

She serves on the board of Women's Center & Shelter of Greater Pittsburgh, La Promesa Foundation, and Instituto Cimarron. She is co-leading a new organization of Latinas in western Pennsylvania to help mobilize the Latine vote.

Afro-Latina opera singer, scholar, and social worker Zuly Inirio has appeared as a soloist throughout the US and Europe. Dr. Inirio also serves as Co-Director for the Center of Ethnic Studies at the University of Pittsburgh. She is a specialist in Ethnic Studies, the arts, and social justice and works toward equity and nuance in the dissemination of Afro-Latin and Afro-Latinx narratives through her ‘Afro-Latinx Song & Opera Project’. She brings her expertise in collaborative work with the Black Opera Alliance, the Asian Opera Alliance, and Latina Women in Opera. Dr. Inirio recently received the following awards: Advancing Black Arts in Pittsburgh (Pittsburgh Foundation and Heinz Endowment), Scale Fellowship (Equity Impact Center), the National Association of Latino Arts and Cultures (NALAC) Leadership Institute and Advocacy Institute, Sphinx Organization’s SphinxLEAD Fellowship, and 1Hood Media’s Artivist Academy Fellowship.

Dr. Milagros Pereyra-Rojas is a nonprofit executive and scholar with extensive experience in strategic leadership, global academic administration, and social entrepreneurship. Since 2003, she has served as the Executive Director of the Latin American Studies Association (LASA), where she led the transformation of the organization into a globally recognized consortium with 13,500 members, and innovative programs such as the LASA Continental Congresses.

She holds a PhD in Management from Case Western Reserve University, a Master’s in Public Management from Carnegie Mellon University with a concentration in finance and information systems, and a Master’s in Legal Studies from the University of Pittsburgh School of Law, with a focus on business, commercial, and international law.

Dr. Pereyra-Rojas is the co-author of the book Practical Decision Making: Introduction to the Analytic Hierarchy Process Using Super Decisions (Springer, 2016; updated editions in 2018 and 2020), a widely used resource in the field of operations research and public policy. She has spearheaded successful fundraising campaigns, created alternative income-generating ventures such as MaestroMeetings, and significantly expanded LASA’s international footprint.

In addition to her executive work, she is a published scholar, mentor to doctoral students, and co-founder of the Engaged Management Review. She has served on national and international boards, and is fluent in English, Spanish, and Portuguese.

Michael Trujillo is an assistant professor of psychology at Carnegie Mellon University. Their research examines the social and health consequences of stigma, the pathways that link stigma and health, and the strengths exhibited by stigmatized populations that mitigate these experiences. They apply an intersectional framework to their research questions to move towards greater health equity for all. They received their BA from California State University, Long Beach, PhD from Virginia Commonwealth University, and additional postdoctoral training at University of California, San Francisco.