IDEAL Lead Volunteers
Inclusion, Diversity and Equity Across Laurentians
IDEAL is a group open to Laurentians and allies who wish to stay connected to, and involved with, St. Lawrence diversity and inclusion initiatives. Six Laurentians currently serve as leaders of the IDEAL membership. They work closely with the University and provide knowledge, expertise, and perspective to help propel St. Lawrence and IDEAL forward.
Read and learn more about our IDEAL Lead Volunteers below!
Sajana Blank ’08 is an Assistant Director in the Study Abroad office at Fordham University. She has worked as an international educator for over ten years and started her career at SLU in the CIIS office. She loves the chance to travel both internationally and domestically for her job as it allows her to meet new people and learn about new cultures and assisting students in becoming global citizens. Sajana was a Global Studies major and African Studies minor while in college and studied abroad on the Kenya Semester Program as well as in India. She was also a member of SLU Dance Team and the Dance Ensemble all four years of college, held leadership roles in Oxfam and Amnesty International and lived in I-House and in the Intercultural House when she was on campus. She is passionate about peace and social justice and joined IDEAL because issues of diversity and inclusion have always been incredibly important to her. She hopes to help make SLU a more inclusive space for all students as well as help engage alumni who come from underrepresented backgrounds. In addition to being a part of IDEAL, Sajana is also a member of the SLU Alumni Executive Council.
Katie Green '13 currently works as a Senior Associate for the Health Care Transformation Task Force, a non-profit health care policy organization in Washington, DC. She has a background in anti-hunger policy and advocacy, and also worked in Admissions at St. Lawrence immediately following graduation. At St. Lawrence, she majored in Government and Philosophy; as an alumna, she participates on the IDEAL committee and is a LINC Mentor and a Laurentian Admissions Associate.
Jennifer Grygiel ’01 is an Assistant Professor of Communications (Social Media) & Magazine at the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse University. Grygiel is a social business professional and also founded No Gay Left Behind, which advocates for the development of virtual gay-straight alliances (VGSA) via social media.
Ashley Jeffress Ladd '13 is the Program Manager for Women@HubSpot, where she creates innovative digital content, events, and strategy for the advancement of women in the workplace. She works to build leadership programming that empowers women by identifying opportunities and providing resources for every stage of career growth. She oversees this initiative for HubSpot’s seven global offices. At St. Lawrence she majored in Performance and Communication Arts and minored in Sociology, was an Admissions Ambassador, member of the Singing Sinners, Recruitment Chair for Kappa Kappa Gamma and is now a McCurdy-Sprague member of the St. Lawrence Board of Trustees.
Artūrs Saburovs ’10 is a career diplomat currently serving at the Embassy of Latvia in Washington, DC. While at St. Lawrence, he studied Environmental Studies/ Government and French, he was also the I-House and international students coordinator. He studied abroad twice - in the Francophone Studies program and the Kenya Semester Program. For the last several years he has also been a career mentor with the LINC program. As an LGBT person, he stands for visibility, better understanding and inclusion of all persons.
Brandon Studler ’17 an Adirondacks native, graduated from St. Lawrence University with a Bachelor’s Degree in Sociology and a minor in Gender and Sexuality Studies. His first year Brandon began giving lectures and trainings on ally-ship and sensitivity for the LGBTQ community as well as Trans 101 that continued through his four years at SLU; including training staff, faculty, administration, CA’s, OL’s, fellow students and speaking at national conferences. Brandon lead LGBTQ organizations on campus as Vice President and President then went on to become Vice President of the Advocates program, as a NYS Rape Crisis Counselor. Brandon now resides in Vermont where he works with at-risk and homeless youth in a residential program and volunteers as a snowboard instructor for an afterschool program.