Instructor and Staff Profiles

Professional Staff

Bethlehem “Betty” Aynalem

Bethlehem “Betty” Aynalem is the Director of the Leland Scholars Program (LSP) and Stanford Summer Fellows Program (SSFP). She grew up in American Canyon, California, and earned her degree in Sociology at the University of California, Santa Barbara, (UCSB) and her master's from the University of San Francisco (USF) in Higher Education and Student Affairs. Betty is a proud first-generation college student and has dedicated her career in higher education to first generation and/or low income (FLI) students and families... Read more about Betty.

Cecilia Martinez

Cecilia is the Assistant Director of LSP. She graduated with her BA in Public Health from UC Berkeley and with her Ed.M in Higher Education from Harvard University. She worked as a college advisor for three years and most recently, as a program coordinator at Cal Poly, supporting students from low-income backgrounds...Read more about Cecilia

Kylee Beck

Kylee is the Program Manager for LSP. She grew up in Northern California and graduated from Stanford in 2020 with a major in human biology. She is grateful to be a part of the LSP team, working together with folx across campus who are dedicated to ensuring that all of Stanford’s resources are made accessible to all students. Having been a fist-generation, low-income (FLI) student herself, she is excited by the strong student support networks and community-centered goals of programs like LSP... Read more about Kylee.

Graduate Fellows (GFs)

Nelia Lechuga

Nelia (she/her/hers pronouns) was born and raised in the East Bay and is a senior majoring in Human Biology. She is a first-generation college student, and daughter of Mexican immigrants. When she is not home, she enjoys exploring different parts of the Bay Area, and looking for new coffee spots! At Stanford, she is involved with Comunidad for Health Equity and volunteers as a Spanish Interpreter for Pacific Free Clinic... Read More about Nelia.

Paw Mar Gay

Paw Mar (she/her pronouns) is a graduating '24 senior majoring with a B.S. in Human Biology. Her concentration Genes and Behavior: Pediatric Health, Development, and Disparities reflects her passion for working with and uplifting the voices of youth from all age ranges and backgrounds. During her undergraduate career, she was a part of the LSP IX cohort, an RA for LSP XII, a Haas Center Education Partnership Fellow, and FLIP (FLI Partnership) Co-President... Read more about Paw Mar.

Instructors - Program in Writing and Rhetoric (PWR)

Megan Formato

Meg Shields Formato is a lecturer in the Program in Writing and Rhetoric at Stanford and a tutor in the Hume Center for Speaking and Writing. She holds a PhD in History of Science from Harvard University and a BA in English from Amherst College. As a historian of modern science and technology,...Read more about Megan

Jennifer Johnson

Jennifer Johnson holds a B.A. in Art History with Honors from the University of Maryland at College Park and a M.A. and Ph.D. in Education (Language, Literacy and Culture Division) from the University of California, Berkeley.

Prior to Stanford, Jennifer taught courses in the Linguistics...Read more about Jennifer Johnson

Nissa Cannon

Nissa Ren Cannon grew up in Santa Cruz, CA, and earned her B.A. in Comparative Literature and Italian at UCLA, and her M.A. and Ph.D. in English at UC Santa Barbara.
Prior to arriving at Stanford, she was a Postdoctoral Fellow in the Honors College at Boston University, ... Read more about Nissa

Rebecca Richardson

Becky Richardson is a Lecturer in PWR. She attended Mount Holyoke College and holds a Ph.D. in English from Stanford University. Having recently taught courses on "The Rhetoric of the Confession," "The Rhetoric of Coming of Age," and "The Rhetoric of Sympathy," she is especially interested in encouraging ... Read more about Rebecca

Instructors - Math

Dana Paquin

Dr. Dana Paquin earned her Ph.D. in Mathematics at Stanford University in 2007. She is currently an Associate Professor of Mathematics at California Polytechnic State University, and a Visiting Assistant Professor of Mathematics at Stanford University. Previously, she was the Division Head of...Read more about Dana