Team Bios
Meet the Vice Provost
Sara Bleich
Dr. Sara Bleich is the inaugural Vice Provost for Special Projects at Harvard University, Professor of Public Health Policy at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, and a faculty member at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government. With more than 180 peer-reviewed publications, she is a policy expert and researcher who specializes in diet-related diseases, food insecurity, and racial inequality. Prior to this, Dr. Bleich served in the Biden Administration as the Director of Nutrition Security and Health Equity at the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Food and Nutrition Service and as the Senior Advisor for COVID-19 in the Office of the Secretary at USDA. As a White House Fellow during the Obama Administration, she worked at USDA as a Senior Policy Adviser for Food, Nutrition and Consumer Services and on First Lady Michelle Obama’s Let’s Move! initiative. Dr. Bleich was elected to the National Academy of Medicine in 2023 and holds a B.A. in psychology from Columbia University and a PhD in health policy from Harvard University.
Project Manager, Communications & Community Engagement
Tania G. Hernandez
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.
Project Manager
Alex Glomset
Alex Glomset is a Project Manager for the Harvard & the Legacy of Slavery (H&LS) initiative. He previously worked at Brandeis University as the Research Program Manager for the National Initiative of Gender, Culture and Leadership in Academic Medicine and as the Assistant Director of Programming, Communications and Marketing for the Brandeis National Committee. Prior to Brandeis, Alex worked and interned with various human rights organizations including Cambridge-based Cultural Survival and Physicians for Human Rights. Alex has also completed academic programs and internships in international criminal law and human rights in both the Netherlands and Geneva.
Glomset holds a B.A. in international & global studies from Brandeis University and an LL.M. in public international law from Leiden University in the Netherlands.
Senior Associate Director, Communications
Julita Bailey-Vasco
Julita Bailey-Vasco is the Senior Associate Director, Communications of the Harvard & the Legacy of Slavery (H&LS) initiative. She leads the development and implementation of H&LS’s communications strategy, elevating its story and activities.
Previously, Bailey-Vasco led communications at the Nellie Mae Education Foundation, working to advance racial equity in public education for all New England youth. Bailey-Vasco brings a wealth of expertise in strategic communications, racial equity and justice, and postsecondary education through her work at the Nellie Mae Education Foundation, JFF (Jobs for the Future), Bunker Hill Community College, and Eastern Nazarene College.
Inclusive of her commitment to racial equity and justice, Bailey-Vasco is dedicated to the arts and co-chairs the Development Committee at SpeakEasy Stage Company in Boston, MA.
Bailey-Vasco holds a B.A. in organizational communications from Cedarville University, an M.S. in Management from Eastern Nazarene College, and a graduate certificate in Higher Education, Leadership, and Management from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst.
Director for HBCU Strategic Initiatives
Shahara C. Jackson
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.
Executive Assistant/Project Coordinator
Aleena Hill-DaCosta
Aleena Hill-DaCosta is the Executive Assistant | Project Coordinator of the Harvard & the Legacy of Slavery initiative. As an executive assistant, she directly supports the Vice Provost for Special Projects Sara Naomi Bleich. As a project coordinator, she aids in organizing the reparative efforts and operational activities of the initiative. Hill-DaCosta joins the H&LS team with a background in corporate marketing, driving growth and engagement on dynamic marketing teams across the legal, private equity, and international student services’ industries. She now brings this passion for growth and engagement, coupled with her work in higher education administration at UMass Dartmouth’s Office of Student Affairs, to Harvard University.
Hill-DaCosta holds a B.S. in Marketing with a minor in Management from University of Massachusetts Dartmouth Charlton College of Business.
Senior Adviser to the President on HBCU Engagement
Ruth Simmons
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.