Our Team

Mónica Haydeé Ramos serves as the Associate Director in the Egan Office. Dr. Ramos oversees the urban school-based partnerships, family engagement, and community internships. She nurtures sustainable and successful community and university partnerships. Her areas of expertise are curriculum development, Latinx culture, heritage and identity, and community and family engagement.

Before Egan, she was the inaugural Latinx Cultural Center Coordinator in the Office of Multicultural Student Success (OMSS) at DePaul University and has held positions at National Louis University, Harry S. Truman College, and Connections for Abused Women and their Children (CAWC) in the Greenhouse Shelter. She received a Fulbright International Education Administrators (IEA) award and a UNESCO CONFINTEA fellowship. At UNESCO, she researched intergenerational learning in immigrant communities. She contributed to the UNESCO Institute of Lifelong Learning with the publication Learning Together Across Generations: Guidelines for Family Literacy and Learning Programs.

She holds an Ed.D. in Teaching and Learning with a concentration in Curriculum, Advocacy, and Policy from National Louis University. Recently, she was awarded the inaugural Comunidades Latinas Académicas con Visión de Éxito [Latino Academic Communities with Vision of Success] postdoctoral fellowship. Her research focuses on family and community engagement and their relationship with higher education in Hispanic Serving Institutions.

Walidah G. Bennett, is the founder and Director of the Multi-Faith Veterans Initiative (MVI), housed in DePaul University’s Egan Office for Urban Education & Community Partnerships. The initiative works citywide to integrate mental and behavioral health with faith institutions in developing community circles of support by linking veterans and their families to local services and resources available within the community. Walidah has worked with numerous non-profits and Faith-based organizations and has served as a mental health consultant at the local, state and National levels. In addition to her work with MVI, Walidah is on faculty in the Social and Behavioral Science Department South Suburban College.​​​​

For more than thirty years, as a consultant, trainer, training designer, and ordained minister, Rev. Patricia Novick has focused on issues of social justice, diversity, health, and the environment.  She holds doctoral degrees in clinical psychology and in ministry, as well as master’s degrees in sociology and divinity.

In 2018, she was one of three persons awarded the prestigious Belfer Fellowship by the Anti-Defamation League for her activities to combat discrimination and advance social justice. She is currently a research fellow at the Field Museum of Natural History as well as a returning fellow at the Egan Office for UECP at DePaul. In the past she has been a research fellow at Loyola, De Paul, and Harvard universities. 

She has provided extensive train-the-trainer workshops on mental health, resilience, and personal vitality to leaders from the Latinx, African-American, Asian, and other minority communities in Chicago and beyond. The self-care wellness program she designed has been taught to more than ten thousand people in the United States and other countries.

Danielle Zepeda was born and raised in Chicago, Illinois. After graduating high school, she moved to Galesburg, Illinois to pursue her undergraduate degree in Psychology at Knox College. Upon returning to the city, she began a career with an education focused non-profit called City Year Chicago, where she has served as the Civic Engagement Program Manager for 5 years. Looking to return to the psychology field, Danielle is beginning her master's in clinical counseling program with DePaul this fall. She is also excited to be serving as the Urban School Initiatives Coordinator for the Egan Office and to continue supporting the amazing ongoing community initiatives happening everyday across the city.

Sophia Eidson is the School Community Organizer at William P. Nixon Elementary School, and it is her first year with the Egan Office. She is also beginning a graduate program at DePaul, pursuing a Masters in Clinical Mental Health Counseling. 

Sophia grew up in Columbia, Maryland and then obtained her Bachelor’s in Psychology and Spanish from the University of Miami in Florida. There, she worked on research projects that investigated science learning in Hispanic/Latinx preschoolers. She moved to Chicago in 2022 for a year of service with City Year AmeriCorps, where she worked as a near-peer mentor and tutor to high schoolers at Orr Academy HS. 

When not in a school, Sophia loves exploring the Chicago food scene with friends. In the summer, she loves the beach, and in the winter, she loves cozying up with a book or TV show. 

Joel Halexander-Johnson is a School Community Organizer at St. Pius V. He is a third-year student at DePaul, majoring in English with a concentration in Creative Writing and minoring in Music with a concentration in Sound and Production. Recently accepted into the Combined Degree Program, Joel is also currently pursuing a master’s in Writing and Publishing. Originally from a small town in Southwest Missouri, he moved to Chicago in 2021 to begin lessons at DePaul. This is his first semester working for the Egan Office; however, he is deeply invested in asset-based community development and is excited to begin serving the St. Pius V community.

George Rohde possesses a great appreciation for giving back to those less fortunate. Whether it is through his philanthropic desire to help others who are stricken with poverty or animals that have been abandoned, George relishes the time he spends making other people and animals’ lives better.

It is fair to say that George is an educator through and through. A Double Demon in journalism, George spent two years in broadcast news in Tennessee before returning to Chicago---and back at DePaul. After accepting a teaching position in the College of Communication, George changed focus and earned a second master’s degree in higher education.

George is now pursuing his PhD in higher education at DePaul University. His research is centered on how to shepherd and empower foster children and children who are experiencing homelessness through to attaining a college degree. George’s goal is to establish an initiative that provides mentorship, advocacy, and educational opportunities.

In addition, George is working under the direction of Walidah Bennett to serve the Mulit-Faith Veterans Initiative. In conjunction with the College of Education, George has collaborated the Veterans Read program, an initiative that partners with Egan Schools to engage veterans while assisting grade-school students in reading fluency and provide students with consistent mentorship. Furthermore, George has served the communications committee, women veterans project and the veterans in higher education research study.

Combined with his work in higher education, Rohde turns to another passion to help him decompress-dogs. From the age of 10, George has been involved in breeding and showing collies. George competed in junior showmanship of the American Kennel Club and has a slew of best junior handler wins. George has bred multiple champions in both rough and smooth coat varieties. All this work culminated in 2020 when George’s collie, GCHS Country Cove Hay and Honey won Best of Opposite Sex at the prestigious Westminster Kennel Club dog show.

Janvier NDUWAYEZU is a doctoral student in education, specializing in higher education, at DePaul University. He holds a Master of Arts in International Higher Education from Boston College, where he developed expertise in qualitative and quantitative research methods, as well as international and comparative educational frameworks. His academic and professional career reflects a strong commitment to understanding the complexities of global education systems and fostering inclusive learning environments. Currently, his research focuses on trauma-informed educational leadership, as well as the experiences of migrant and international students.

Janvier has a wide range of professional experience, both nationally and internationally. As a graduate assistant at Boston College's Center for International Higher Education, he conducted extensive research, literature reviews, and data analysis - skills that are essential to his current work. In Rwanda, Janvier was Director of the National Secretariat for Catholic Education, leading numerous high-impact initiatives to improve the quality of education in 1,648 Catholic schools. Under his leadership, Catholic schools deepened partnerships with local communities, tackling issues such as school dropout and early pregnancy among young girls. These partnerships also led to the development of a program that engaged young people in peace-building and conflict-management clubs in schools across Rwanda.

His work with diverse student populations aligns with DePaul University's mission to promote social justice in education. He is currently a School Community Organizer at BVM Maternity, where he wants to meaningfully contribute to the engagement between the school and its community, focusing on creating supportive and thriving educational environments. In his free time, Janvier enjoys self-care practices such as prayer, reflection, meditation, and walking.

Ashanti Simmons was born and raised on the Southside of Chicago. She is a DePaul Double Demon and is currently pursuing her Master’s in Public Policy with a certification in Strategic Writing and Advancement for Nonprofits. Growing up on the Southside Ashanti has always been civically engaged with her community, which is what inspired her to go to grad school and pursue policy analysis and research. Working as the CPI Coordinator is an exciting new chapter and a unique way for her to be active and connect with the diverse communities around the city.