Staff Directory

Dr. Cook previously served as an associate dean in UGA's Franklin College of Arts and Sciences. She is an affiliate faculty member in the Institute for African American Studies and the Institute for Women’s Studies. She is also a member of the Foot Soldiers Project faculty. Dr. Cook was the inaugural dean of the Franklin Residential College and she was a 2008 faculty-in-residence at the UGA Oxford program in Oxford, England. Dr. Cook is co-principal investigator for the Peach State Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation.

She holds a bachelor's degree in history from Princeton, a master's in African-American Studies from Yale and a doctorate in history from Duke.

Read more about Dr. Michelle Cook in Columns.

Randolph Carter rejoined the Office of Institutional Diversity in January 2022. Randolph has served in a number of capacities at UGA including leading the Auxiliary Services Human Resources team, serving as Office of Faculty Affair’s (OFA) Functional Lead on the OneSource Project (UGA’s Human Capital and Financial Management Infrastructure implementation), and HR Senior Managing Consultant at the Learning and Development Center (T&D).  His previous role in OID included serving as Coordinator for Faculty and Staff Development. 

Randolph’s work spans over 20 years in regions such as Africa (East, West and South), the Middle East and North Africa, South East Asia, the Balkans and North America. This work has included thematic areas such as diversity and inclusion, conflict transformation, peace education, leadership development, staff and community capacity building, organizational development, strategic planning, trauma counseling and post-war reintegration. 

Dr. Birkes joined the University of Georgia as the Alliance Director for the Peach State Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation (Peach State LSAMP) in the Office of Institutional Diversity in August 2010.  The Peach State LSAMP program is funded by the National Science Foundation. As the Alliance Director, she manages and oversees the Alliance-wide activities for the program.  In addition she provides fiscal management of the program budget and ensures that all reporting requirements are met.

Dr. Birkes also serves as Co-Principle Inverstigator (Co-PI) for the UGA Engineering Science, Technology, EnginEring and Math Educational Diversity (ESTEEMED) program. The UGA ESTEEMED program is an NIH-funded opportunity for undergraduate students from underrepresented groups who are interested in seeing first-hand how their major contributes to biomedicine and exploring potential careers paths. 

She holds a BS degree in Mechanical Engineering from Howard University, a MS degree in Mechanical Engineering, as well as a MS degree and Ph.D. in Civil and Environmental Engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology.

Marques R. Dexter serves as the assistant director of student initiatives within the Office of Institutional Diversity. Under this role, Marques leads the office in the creation of programmatic and institutional efforts that focus on academic success, achievement, and engagement of students who hold identities within historically underrepresented and marginalized populations. Additionally, he serves as the Georgia African American Male Experience (GAAME) program's assistant director, a University System of Georgia African American Male Initiative funded program. Currently, Marques is a Sport Management & Policy doctoral candidate in the Department of Kinesiology within the Mary Frances Early College of Education. Hailing from Philadelphia, PA., Dexter received his Bachelor of Science in Business Administration with a Sport Management concentration from Robert Morris University (PA), and a Masters of Science in Kinesiology, specializing in Sport Management & Policy from UGA.

Wendy Starnes joined the Office of Institutional Diversity in March 2022, as the Administrative Coordinator. She provides administrative leadership in the coordination of office programs, communications and processes, management of student workers, and the compilation of information for OID reports.

She holds a Bachelor of Science in Psychology with a minor in Justice Studies from Georgia Southern University, as well as a Master of Education with a concentration in Higher Education Administration from Columbus State University.

Alejandra joined the Office of Institutional Diversity in 2021 as a Graduate Assistant for Diversity Education. She is originally from Ecuador, where she earned a B.A. in Clinical Psychology from Universidad San Francisco de Quito. She holds an M.S. in Third Generation Psychotherapies from Valencian International University and an MS.Ed in Mental Health Counseling from the University of Miami. Working bilingually with people of diverse ages, origins, and backgrounds in Ecuador and Miami has taught her the importance of human connection and social support. Alejandra has a commitment to diversity and social change; her approach with clients is to promote empowerment and use their multicultural and diversity factors as resources to develop strengths and skills.

Alejandra is currently enrolled in the Counseling Psychology Ph.D. program at the University of Georgia’s Mary Frances Early College of Education. Her research interests include intersectionality, multiculturalism, and Latinx mental health. Alejandra is part of ¡BIEN! Research Team and La Clinica In LaK'ech, which provides bilingual counseling services to the Latinx community in Athens.