Team Bios

Tania G. Hernandez is a Project Manager at the Harvard & the Legacy of Slavery (H&LS) initiative. She supports communications and community engagement efforts for the initiative. Before joining Harvard, she served as a Senior Community Engagement Specialist at Count Me In, a non-profit patient-partnered research initiative at the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard bridging the gap between cancer research and historically marginalized communities in medicine. In addition to her work, she is deeply passionate about mentoring students and supporting their academic and professional careers.

Hernandez holds a B.S. in biology and a minor in psychology from the University of Massachusetts, Boston.

Tenzin Gund-Morrow is a Student Ambassador at the Harvard & the Legacy of Slavery initiative. He supports the team in communications, student outreach, and event coordination. Outside of this role, he is Co-Chair of the John F. Kennedy Jr. Forum at the Institute of Politics, serves on the Editorial Board of the Crimson, and is a member of the Art Board of the Harvard Advocate. Off-campus, Tenzin has interned at the White House Office of Communications, the Office of New York City Councilman Chi Ossé, the New York Civil Liberties Union, and the Innocence Project. He is a New York City native interested in domestic policy implementation and strategic communication, specifically in criminal justice, green infrastructure, and public arts.  

Gund-Morrow is currently pursuing an A.B. in Government from Harvard College. 

Dr. Shahara C. Jackson is the Program Director for HBCU Strategic Initiatives within the Harvard & Legacy of Slavery (H&LS) initiative. She will foster collaborations with Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), overseeing partnerships and ensuring the successful implementation of HBCU initiatives.  Her inaugural project involves leading the development and implementation of the DuBois Scholars Program, a transformative summer research initiative designed to strengthen Harvard’s ties with HBCUs. Leveraging her extensive experience, Shahara will serve as a liaison between Harvard and HBCU stakeholders.

Shahara’s diverse background spans leadership on all grade levels, K-16, showcasing improvements in student performance during her tenure as an Assistant Principal in NYC Public Schools and the founding principal of a groundbreaking 6-12 school in Red Hook, Brooklyn. As the former Director of Educational Services for NYC’s largest children-serving non-profit agency, she spearheaded initiatives that left an indelible mark on countless lives.

Jackson holds a B.A. in English Arts Education from Hampton University, an M.A. in Educational Leadership and Administration from CUNY-Baruch, and an Ed. L.D. from Harvard Graduate School of Education.

Ruth Simmons, a nationally recognized leader in higher education, and president emerita of Smith College and Brown University, serves as a senior adviser to the president of Harvard University on engagement with Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs).

In the role, Simmons advises on efforts to support the recommendations of the Presidential Committee on Harvard & the Legacy of Slavery. Her work will focus on engaging in meaningful and enduring partnerships with the nation’s HBCUs, as laid out in Recommendation 3 of the report. Simmons brings a unique perspective to Harvard’s implementation efforts, having led Brown University’s reckoning with its history of slavery and injustice during her 11-year tenure at the helm of the institution. Simmons formed the Brown University Steering Committee on Slavery and Justice to help the community think seriously, deeply, and rigorously about their past, a model that has served as a blueprint for institutions like Harvard that have since also begun to address their own injustices.