Dear Students,
I have talked with a number of you about your excitement for the end of the academic year, and for those who are graduating, your anticipation of all the celebrations. I am excited too! Several of you have also told me that the semester’s end feels bittersweet. The year went by at warp speed and it’s hard to say goodbye to classmates, staff and faculty. In last month’s newsletter I mentioned the paradoxical feelings of grief and relief we often feel when experiences and relationships (and semesters and graduate programs) end. I, too, am feeling those conflicting emotions intensely, often at the same time.
I am thrilled that convocation is almost here because I love celebrating our students amidst the beautiful rituals, symbolism, music, speeches, regalia, and palpable pride and joy that a Teachers College, Columbia University graduation always delivers. I love meeting your families, hearing about your summer plans, and toasting your accomplishments over TC provided drinks and snacks. I am eager for such a happy occasion, for enthusiasm and high spirits. Whether you are graduating yet or not, all of you have worked very hard this year and have earned the right to celebrate the semester’s end. I love celebrating you.
At the same time, the daily news continues to try to knock the celebratory spirit right out of me. The unrelenting stories of gun violence in this country bring me to my knees. The absence of kindness and compassion, indeed, the explicit and demonizing othering of our fellow human beings renders me mute. I can’t even formulate coherent sentences to describe my horror at how we treat each other in this country. And, I am often not sure where even to begin to change that.
I try to remind myself that the only way out is through. I know I have to reach for what is good in my community, my neighborhood, my city, my country, and to join others in building on that goodness in order to push forward for the changes we want to see. I am grateful to all of you for joining all of us in the Social-Organizational Psychology program to work on the pressing problems in our shared world. You give me hope and keep me going.
I have been reading Michelle Obama’s book, The Light We Carry. She begins her book with a poem that reminds me of you and of this moment.
If someone in your family tree was trouble,
A hundred were not:
The bad do not win-not finally,
No matter how loud they are.
We simply would not be here
If that were so.
You are made, fundamentally, from the good.
With this knowledge, you never march alone.
You are the breaking news of the century.
You are the good who has come forward
Through it all, even if so many days
Feel otherwise.
By Alberto Rios
From “A House Called Tomorrow”
Indeed, you ARE the good who has come forward. All of us in the Social-Organizational Psychology program are proud of the work you have already accomplished and we are excited to see all the good that you will achieve this summer and beyond. And, as the poem mentions, remember you are not alone in this work and our community is always here for you, beyond the physical walls of TC. Congratulations on finishing the semester, the year, the program. We are delighted to celebrate you all and we are wishing you a wonderful summer!
Warmly,
Sarah J. Brazaitis, Ph.D.
MA Program Director
Current Student Profile
Kelechi Basil
Kelechi Basil is Social-Organizational Psychology MA student and a graduate from the Coaching Certification Program’s Front-End Intensive at Teachers College. Before attending this program, he received B.A.s in Spanish and Cognitive Science with focal areas in Linguistics & Neuroscience. Kelechi’s career has taken him across several industries in the business and not-for-profit sectors. These experiences are intricately woven around his education and have culminated in his passion for working at the cutting edges of psychology, business, and technology to create solutions for real-world problems.
Today, Kelechi is a Kinsultant at Simpel & Associates and EVP of Product at Transformation Insights (Simpel's tech subsidiary). As a practitioner-creator, he creates the first ever transformation management system: an industry agnostic SaaS organization intelligence suite designed to help change leaders at all levels achieve successful outcomes, by helping them understand their initiative in context and providing targeted change interventions.
Kelechi also has a private coaching practice dedicated to partnering with early to mid-career leaders and executives seeking to improve their leadership effectiveness through behavioral change. Being a trilingual Nigerian immigrant raised in a Latinx community, his coaching emphasizes empowering clients to understand and manage their unique cultural contexts and how it interplays with their work. His mission is to build a culture of leadership development and support for the senior executives of tomorrow.
Kelechi's hobbies include cooking, dancing, reading, discovering new music, and using any opportune moment to voraciously consume peanut butter and/or anime. He enjoys spending time exploring whatever city he’s currently in with local friends and family.
Alumni Profile
Khadeidra Le Gendre
Khadeidra Le Gendre is a change management and communications consultant. For over a decade, Khadeidra has supported several large-scale transformational change initiatives at Otis Elevator, NYU Langone Health, and Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) in NYC. She is known for convening senior leaders to promote alignment, engaging cross-functional teams to build change capability, and leading mindful communication streams to ensure all colleagues understand the value of change to sustain new ways of working.
Throughout her career, Khadeidra has had a unique perspective on navigating change, gained through her own experiences immigrating to the United States from Trinidad & Tobago. She found purpose influencing organizations to approach change with culturally and socially sensitive strategies that promote benefits realization and enabling people with methodologies to anticipate change and to navigate it confidently and competently, regardless of their roles in life and work.
Khadeidra graduated from the Social-Organizational Psychology MA program in 2015 and holds a bachelor’s degree in marketing and communication studies from Baruch College. She is also PROSCI certified in change management and train-the-trainer. Outside of business life, you’ll find Khadeidra navigating motherhood of twin boys, caring for her potted plants, or wandering the city looking for the best coffee!
Recommended Readings
This crowd sourced reading list offers an array of I/O Psychology related books recommended by SIOP attendees this year. Here's hoping you can dive into one or more of them over the summer break.
On this list includes Inclusalytics: How Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Leaders Use Data to Drive Their Work, a book rooted in organizational psychology to offer DEI stakeholders the tools they need to reshape their company’s culture and achieve their DEI goals.
Happy reading!