Student Employees
Our Team
Meet the Director
Rebecca Block (she/her) is the current Director of the Mindful University Project. Rebecca is the Health Promotion Specialist – Student Well-Being at the UHS Health Promotion Office. She holds a BA in Health, Behavior, and Society from the University of Rochester and an MS in Community Health Education from Teachers College, Columbia University. She is a Certified Health Education Specialist (CHES®), a College Health and Wellness Professional (CHWP), Registered Yoga Teacher (500 RYT), and a Certified Koru Mindfulness Teacher. She is also a current student in the Mind-Body Healing / Wellness Certificate at the Warner School of Education.
Founding Director
Amy McDonald (she / her) is the founding director and creator of the Mindful University Project.
Student Employees
Lilin Qiu (she/her) is the current Graduate Program Assistant for the Mindful University, studying mental health counseling at the Warner School of Education. Lilin is trained is also a RYS-200 certified yogi.
Areej Abid (she/her) is an undergraduate assistant with the Mindful University Project. As a student at the University, Areej studies Psychology and Brain Cognitive Science, with a special interest in religion.
Mindfulness Instructors
Rebecca Block (she/her)
Health Promotion Specialist – Student Well-Being
Rebecca is the Health Promotion Specialist for Student Well-Being at the UHS Health Promotion Office, a Registered Yoga Teacher (500 RYT) and a Pain Reprocessing Therapy and Somatic coach.
Debra Corea (she/her)
Lecturer
Program of Dance and Movement
Debra Corea is a Lecturer in UR’s Program of Dance and Movement Mind-Body Somatics Cluster. She is a RYT-500 yoga instructor and trained in ETT, Pranayama, Advanced Relax and Renew®, Yoga for Scoliosis at Open Sky Yoga; YTT, Insight Yoga, Integrative Restorative (iRest) Yoga Nidra at the Kripalu Center.
Kyle Trenshaw (he/his/him or they/them/their)
Assistant Director for STEM Education
Learning Center
Kyle Trenshaw is the Assistant Director for STEM Education at the Learning Center on campus.
Whitney Gegg-Harrison (she/they)
Associate Professor
Writing, Speaking, and Argument Program
Whitney Gegg-Harrison is an associate professor in the Writing, Speaking, and Argument Program.
Deontae McLachlan (he/him)
Academic Counselor
Office of Minority Student Affairs
Deontae McLachlan is an Academic Counselor for the Office of Minority Student Affairs. He is an alum of the University having completed his degree back in 2015.
Erin Lee (she/her)
Department Program Specialist
Department of Health Humanities & Bioethics
Erin Lee joined the University of Rochester in 2015. While working full-time, she decided to take advantage of the tuition reimbursement benefits for employees and embarked on the journey of getting her Master’s degree in Higher Education Administration. Now she is getting ready to embark on a new educational journey to pursue a Doctorate in Education degree with a focus on brining mindfulness practices into the curriculum for graduate, medical and nursing students to teach them how to take care of themselves as well as patients.
Sean Watson (he/they)
Associate Director
Office for Residential Life & Housing Services
Sean Watson (he/they) is an Associate Director in Residential Life. Sean completed their MS in Student Affairs from the University of Rochester in 2012, received their MS in Human Resource Development from Rochester Institute of Technology, and is currently pursuing their PhD in Higher Education at the University of Rochester.
Jennie Peck (she/her)
Dean of Curriculum
She is currently the Dean of Curriculum and Instruction at a local private school. She earned her Master’s in Teaching and Curriculum from the Warner School at the University of Rochester.
Yoga Instructors
Jesse Amesmith
Jesse is the owner of Yoga Vibe in Rochester and is an E-RYT 500 yoga instructor.
Rebecca Block (she/her)
Rebecca is a 500 hour Registered Yoga Teacher.
Chris Hinkle
Chris is a Yoga Alliance certified RYT-500 yoga instructor with additional experience in Rocket® Yoga.
Coco Elliott
Coco has a 200hr YT certification and currently ongoing the pursuit of a 300hr training.
Julie Olney
Julie is a Yoga Alliance certified RYT-200 Hatha yoga teacher trained in Yin and Restorative yoga, children’s yoga, and trauma-sensitive yoga. She has also trained in yoga for all bodies, Thai yoga massage, yoga dance, meditation, and yoga philosophy.
Loc Cain (she/her)
Loc received her first yoga teacher training certification in 2018 and is now 500hr certified.
Consultants
Anna Olivieri (she/her)
Anna Olivieri (she/her) is a Pain Reprocessing Coach who works with clients with chronic pain or symptoms. Anna is certified in Pain Reprocessing Therapy and Emotional Awareness & Expression Therapy. She holds a B.S. in Psychology from the University of Pittsburgh and is an ICF-certified coach. To learn more about Anna’s services and neuroplastic symptoms, check out her website.
Sean Mulligan
Musician, Teaching Artist, Performing Arts Medicine Practitioner
Sean is a multi-instrumentalist teaching artist professional and performance arts medicine practitioner based in Rochester, NY. An alumni of the Eastman School of Music, Sean founded Anaglog Music in 2018. Sean is currently pursuing certification in music therapy at the Saint Mary of the Woods College.
Shamus Clancey, DACM, L.Ac
Doctor of Acupuncture and Eastern Medicine
Shamus is an acupuncture and Eastern medicine practitioner with over two decades of experience in holistic healthcare. He is the founder of ACU 585 in Brighton, NY. He holds a doctorate from Pacific College of Oriental Medicine and is a graduate of the Finger Lakes School of Acupuncture at Northeast College of Health Sciences, as well as advanced Chinese herbal medicine training at the Won Institute of Graduate Studies in Philadelphia, PA. Over the years, he has studied extensively, including medical Qi Gong under 5th-generation acupuncturist and Qi Gong master Grandmaster Tzu Kuo Shih, OMD, L.Ac.
Dr. Lisa Critchley
Mindful Leadership Consultant
Lisa is the Founder and President, Kirk Partners Consulting LLC. Dr. Lisa Critchley earned her doctorate in Executive Leadership at St. John Fisher College.
Student Executive Committee Members
Rishika Kannan (She/Her) is a graduate student at the Warner school pursuing a degree in Mental Health Counseling. She completed her undergraduate degree in Scotland at The University of St Andrews in Psychology and Biology.
Cooper Harris (he/him) is a senior undergraduate student studying psychology and religion.
Audrey Gan (She/Her) is a passionate graduate student in Mental Health Counseling at Warner School.