ASU Chief Well-Being Officer

Founding Director, ASU Center for Mindfulness, Compassion and Resilience

Professor and Dean Emerita, College of Nursing and Health Innovation Arizona State University

Dr. Teri Pipe is Arizona State University's Chief Well-Being Officer. Formerly Dr. Pipe served as the Dean of the College of Nursing and Health Innovation at Arizona State University (ASU). She also is the founding director of ASU's Center for Mindfulness, Compassion and Resilience. Before coming to ASU in 2011, Dr. Pipe served as director of Nursing Research and Innovation at Mayo Clinic Arizona and was an associate professor of nursing at the Mayo Clinic’s College of Medicine. In 2014 she was selected as a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Executive Nurse Fellow.

Executive Director, University Engagement at Center: Mindfulness, Compassion and Resilience at ASU

Nika Gueci is the inaugural Executive Director for University Engagement at the Arizona State University Center for Mindfulness, Compassion and Resilience. Under her direction, Center advances an environment of well-being through the promotion of skills such as mindfulness and compassion to support lifelong resilience. Creating a culture where wellness is of vital importance to the development of human potential is her daily call to action.

Program Manager, Center for Mindfulness, Compassion, and Resilience as an alumni of Arizona State University

Tiara Cash, Program Manager, comes to Center for Mindfulness, Compassion, and Resilience as an alumnus of Arizona State University. She holds a Bachelor’s degree in Exercise and Wellness from ASU and a Master’s degree from Western Illinois University in Kinesiology with a concentration in Sports Psychology. Her practice of mindfulness spans the last 19 years of her life, and as a practitioner she has worked in various higher education settings including: athletics, campus recreation, and student success.

Tiara has been granted scholarships, grants, and awards for her work with mindfulness in the student-athlete population, mindfulness and equity/social justice, and creating art with a foundation of mindful practice. In 2018 and 2019 she traveled internationally to present on her research involving mindfulness and overlooked populations. Her career focuses include delving into the intersections of mindfulness in marginalized and unrepresented populations, resilience training for life transitions, and mindful performance art.

In her current role with Center, she works to create innovative programming through workshops, trainings, presentations and events. Her vision is to engage ASU and the surrounding community in life-long learning and personal development with an emphasis on mindful practices and connection through compassion.

Doctoral Student and Research Associate in the College of Nursing and Health Innovation at Arizona State University

Dara James is a Doctoral Student and Research Associate in the College of Nursing and Health Innovation at Arizona State University. She works in the behavioral science field of integrative oncology exploring the use of meditative movement (Tai Chi Easy/Qigong) to improve health-related outcomes in breast cancer survivors. Dara has over a decade of curriculum development and program implementation devoted to mind-body sciences with specific focus on the work of mindful eating and self-compassion. Dara has extensive training in mindfulness, mindful eating, and self-compassion from several institutions. Recently, Dara has incorporated the neurophysiological biofeedback practices of heart rate variability and heart rhythm coherence to improve stress response, self-regulatory behaviors, and overall quality of life. Dara is a Consultant for Center for Mindfulness, Compassion, and Resilience at Arizona State University.

Center for Mindfulness, Compassion, and Resilience as an alumni of Arizona State University

Hanna is employed by ASU’s Center for Mindfulness, Compassion and Resilience as the student outreach coordinator. In this role she serves to foster a more compassionate and connected student body at ASU. She acts as a liaison between student organizations and the Center to spread mindfulness through planning events, writing curriculum for the online programs, and leading practices that students can apply to their daily lives. She has also spearheaded Centers sustainability initiative, working to ensure that the the programming and events incorporate care for environmental resilience. Her ultimate goal in this role is to help students manage their daily stresses through healthy practices so that they can more easily achieve their academic goals.

Miquella graduated from Arizona State University with a B.S. in Integrative Health and Dance. During her time, she researched the mind-body-spirit connection through psychoneuroimmunology, holism and quantum kinesiology with the University of Metaphysics in Sedona. With a background in martial arts, and a career in dance film, Miquella traveled to India, Peru, and Europe, to study transcultural health and environmental phenomenology with her company, Kraken Still and Film. Miquella believes in nothing more than the power of mindful movement to heal, as she continues her studies in Naturopathic and Classical Chinese medicine at National University of Natural Medicine.

Dr. Michelle Villegas-Gold is a violence epidemiologist, trauma specialist, and the founder of the Be Well Collaboratory, LLC. Additionally, Michelle is the creator and facilitator of a free, trauma-informed yoga group funded by the Victims of Crime Act for survivors of interpersonal violence in Phoenix, Arizona. Michelle has a Ph.D. in Global Health from Arizona State University with a certificate in Women and Gender Studies (2018), a Master of Public Health degree within the Global Health and Leadership track from New York University (2014), and a Master of Counseling degree from Arizona State University (2009). Michelle completed her Bachelor of Arts degree at the University of Arizona in 2006 where she majored in Psychology and minored in French.

Jamie Valderrama is a Lecturer and Associate Coordinator at Arizona State University for the Integrative Health Initiative housed in the School of Social Work within the Watts College of Public Service and Community Solutions. Jamie is passionate about providing tools for responsive living via mindful practices and highlights the importance of understanding the physiological effect of stress in driving reactive behaviors. Jamie holds a B.A. in Biology Education and a M.A. in Interdisciplinary Studies with an emphasis on Integrative Health Modalities.

Laura Walton, MAS-MFT, LMFT is a mental health therapist specializing in working with grief and trauma. Laura works with individuals, couples, and families who have survived a traumatic event, and provides a space for pain to be heard and the opportunity for survivors to create their own healing path. Laura is also a certified yoga instructor and trained mindfulness practitioner. Laura views healing as a mind-body experience, and incorporates somatic elements into treatment, such as yoga, breathwork, and mindfulness. Laura also runs a grief support center that provides a space to allow various ways for memorialization of loved ones.

Linda Costigan Lederman is a full professor and Director of the Hugh Downs School of Human Communication at Arizona State University, having served as Dean of Social Sciences from 2007-2012, and the Inaugural Director of the Institute for Social Science Research (2006-2009). She is nationally recognized for her work on alcohol abuse prevention on college campuses, and on addiction and collegiate recovery. Author of Changing the Culture of College Drinking (2005), Voices of Recovery from the Campus (2015), Health Communication in Everyday Life (2017), 10 other books and textbooks, and more than 160 journal articles, book chapters and conference papers, her research has been funded by grants from federal agencies, such as NIAAA, NIDA and DoE totaling more than $8 million. Dr. Lederman has served as Editor of the Journal of Groups in Recovery (2015), and three other academic journals.

Jacob H. Gold is the Chairman and Chief Investment Officer of Jacob Gold & Associates, Inc., a private wealth management firm located in Scottsdale, Arizona. He and his team provide personalized, comprehensive financial guidance in the areas of investment strategies, retirement planning, and wealth preservation. In addition to being a CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ practitioner, Jacob is also a Faculty Associate Professor of finance at the W.P. Carey School of Business at Arizona State University.

Jacob holds a B.A. in Interdisciplinary Studies with concentrations in Economics and History from Arizona State University. He is an investment adviser representative and registered representative with Voya Financial Advisors, Inc. and holds FINRA Series 7, 63, 65 & 24 securities registrations.

Danah Henriksen is an Assistant Professor of Educational Leadership and Innovation in the Mary Lou Fulton College at Arizona State University. She received her Ph.D. in Educational Psychology and Educational Technology from Michigan State University. Her research interests examine creativity and transdisciplinary thinking skills in teaching and learning contexts. Her work has been presented at conferences such as AERA (American Educational Research Association), SITE (Society of Information Technology in Education), and CPED (Carnegie Project in the Education Doctorate), and published in high impact peer-reviewed journals such as Teachers College Record, Thinking Skills and Creativity, and Educational Technology & Society, as well as practitioner venues such as Educational Leadership, Phi Delta Kappan, and Art Education Journal. She serves as the creativity working group leader for EDUsummIT—which is UNESCO’s global consortium of leaders in policy, practice, and scholarship around educational technology; she is also the co-Chair of the Creativity special interest group for SITE. Danah has taught and developed courses on varied topics around educational psychology, research methods, systems change, leadership, creativity and design thinking. She has been recipient of the AT&T Award of Excellence, for technological-pedagogical innovation in the design and teaching of doctoral coursework, and a finalist for ASU’s Outstanding Doctoral Mentor Award. More information and her CV is available at http://danah-henriksen.com.

Tamara Rounds, LCSW is a licensed clinical social worker and family therapist. Professor Rounds is a Clinical Associate Professor at the ASU Watts College of Public Service and Community Solutions in the School of Social Work. You can reach her at Tamara.Rounds@asu.edu