UC Davis Wellbeing Summit: Presentations and Presenter Information

Keynote Speaker

Ruben Canedo (he/they)
Co-Chair of the UC Systemwide Basic Needs Committee

Growing up in a mixed status and binational family with a disabled body introduced me at an early age to harm, trauma, injustice, and oppression. Most importantly, it taught me how brilliant, resilient, loving, and transformative our family and community relationships are. I survived and am here today because of family and community. Growing up, everyone would take care of each other to make sure folx had food, shelter, and community. I believe in a world that will learn and heal beyond its current white-supremacy, capitalism, patriarchy, and ableism. The way I can contribute to that direction is through our basic needs efforts. I'm humbled and privileged to share this community journey of belonging and justice.

Morning Breakout Presentations (10:15–11:00 a.m.)

Thinking Beyond Education: Using a Public Health Framework to Address Students’ Health and Well-Being Needs
Location: Ballroom A
Presenter: Shantille Connolly, Senior Health Promotion Specialist
Session Description:
This presentation will include a short (20-minute) overview of the Spectrum of Prevention model and how the Health Promotion team uses it to address students’ health and well-being needs, specifically focusing on influencing policy and legislation, changing organizational practices and fostering coalitions and networks. The majority of the workshop will include an interactive activity that will challenge participants to develop interventions across all levels of the Spectrum of Prevention model utilizing health and well-being data from our National College Health Assessment. The workshop will conclude with a discussion about how our campus partners can use the Spectrum of Prevention model to synergistically work together to address students’ health and well-being needs.
Presenter Bio:
Shantille Connolly is a Senior Health Promotion Specialist with Health Promotion and is passionate about embedding health and well-being in our policies, practices and environments. She graduated from UC Davis in 2011 and received her MPH from San Diego State University then returned to UC Davis to join the Health Promotion team in 2015. A few of her major initiatives include Helmet Hair Don’t Care, Thriving in Graduate School and Decline to Weigh.
Health 34: Streamlining Access and Navigation to Strengthen Student Wellbeing
Location: Ballroom B
Main Presenter: Lisa Mills, Medical Director, Health 34
Co-Presenters: Health 34 staff
Session Description:
Health 34 strengthens student wellbeing by improving access, navigation, and coordination across campus and community services. This interactive session will facilitate a discussion of barriers, fragmentation, and referral gaps. Participants will collaborate to identify solutions that enhance utilization, streamline handoffs, and advance an integrated, student-centered model of care.
Presenter Bio:
Lisa Mills is a leader in Emergency Medicine at UC Davis and a key architect of Health 34, a coordinated access and navigation program designed to improve student wellbeing. Through Health 34, she advances student-centered strategies that improve access, facilitate care, and enhance cross-unit collaboration to better support the UC Davis community.
Strength through Vulnerability: Making Space for Wellness and Growth in STEM Classrooms and Other Professional Spaces
Location: Meeting Room 1
Presenter: Colleen Bronner, Professor of Teaching, Civil & Environmental Engineering
Session Description:
The session will begin by presenting some common mental health challenges that are exacerbated in STEM fields. The presenter will share their own experience with mental health disorders and how isolating it felt. The next section will focus on steps for folks to know they are not alone and focus on what faculty can do (e.g., discuss mental health in class, making space for students to discuss impostor phenomenon, and scaffolding group activities where students are rewarded for supporting teammates. Strategies for facilitating teams (in and outside the classroom) that focus on strengths and now weaknesses of team members will be discussed.
Presenter Bio:
Dr. Colleen E Bronner is a Professor of Teaching in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering (CEE) at UC Davis. Before Davis, she worked at CSU Chico. Her degrees are from the University at Buffalo (BS and PhD) and UC Berkeley (MS).
Her teaching, scholarly, and service activities are focused in the area of equity, inclusion, and social justice. She has also served as PI on NSF grants, including an S-STEM and REU award. Bronner has been recognized nationally and at the campus level for advising and dedication to undergraduates and commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion: 1) 2019-2020 Chancellor’s Fellowships for DEI; 2) Department’s 2020 Teaching Award; 3) 2020 UC Davis Outstanding Faculty Advisor (campus-wide); 4) 2020 UC Davis Associated Students of UC Davis Excellence in Education (by student government); 5) 2021 NACADA The Global Community for Academic Advising Outstanding Faculty Advisor; 6) 2023 UC Davis Women and Philanthropy Impact Award; and 7) the 2024 American Society of Engineering Education Pacific Southwest Section’s Outstanding Teaching Award.
She is active in the American Society of Engineering Education. At the society level, Bronner is part of the LGBTQ Virtual Community of Practitioners facilitating safe zone workshops and the Commission on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI). She joined the ASEE Pacific Southwest Section’s Board in 2016. She has served the board in a number of roles, including chair.
Colleen generally loves being in academia, but is aware it can sometimes be a toxic environment. She has struggled her whole life with mental health and hopes to help her students have a better experience than she sometimes had.
Reflect and Release with CAN Counselors
Location: Meeting Room 3
Main Presenter: Mary Schellentrager, LMFT (she/her), SHCS CAN Counselor
Co-Presenters: Maria Helena Buitrago Cohoon, PsyD (she/her/ella), CAN Community Counselor, Student Health and Counseling Services (SRRC & USRC)
Session Description:
This presentation will be an experiential opportunity to creatively connect with emotions while discussing the CAN Counselor program, including services offered and how to refer and collaborate. Additionally, this will serve as a community building and connection space where participants can discuss mental health needs and opportunities for support. Participants will create art as a means to destress.
Presenter Bio:
Mary Schellentrager - CAN Counselor for the LGBTQIA+ Resource Center
Maria Helena Buitrago Cohoon- CAN Counselor for the SRRC and USRC

Afternoon Breakout Presentations (1:55–2:40 p.m.)

Collaborative Interdisciplinary Post-Hospitalization Safety Net
Location: Ballroom A
Main Presenter: David Liu, MD, MS, Chief of Psychiatry, UC Davis SHCS
Co-Presenters:
Michelle Burt, PhD, Interim Clinic Director, SHCS
Predair Robinson, PhD, Director of Academic Satellites, SHCS
Renée Lopez, PhD, Case Manager, SHCS
Elissa Zavala, Case Manager, SHCS
Roann Belen, RN, Case Manager, SHCS
Sandy Santiago, Director of Support Services and Data Management, SHCS
Session Description:
Rates of psychiatric hospitalizations among colleague students have steadily increased over the past 5 year, with higher rates of representation among Multiracial, African American/Black, Females, transgender/nonbinary, and LGBTQ+ students. Hospitalized students are at significant increased risk for rehospitalization, suicide and dropping out (attrition) from school.
Post-hospitalization, care is often fragmented, access is limited, and these at-risk students often fall through the cracks of care and treatment plans. At UCD SCHS, we have developed a Collaborative Interdisciplinary Post-Hospitalization team which support these at-risk students in access, navigation, and utilization of available mental health services.
Presenter Bio:
David Liu, MD MS serves as Chief of Psychiatry at UC Davis Student Health and Counseling Services, specializing in integrated behavioral health, emergency psychiatry, and education. A board-certified, Psychosomatic Medicine fellowship-trained psychiatrist with extensive experience at UC Davis Health and Stanford Medicine, he focuses on innovative, collaborative care models and medical mentorship.
Reducing Barriers: Student-Led Rapid Response to Students Expressing Basic Needs
Location: Ballroom B
Main Presenter: Aggie Compass Intake Team (Student and Career Staff)
Session Description:
Annually, over 1,200 students submit basic needs request forms to Aggie Compass. This presentation focuses on how students support students to reduce waiting times and ensure the rapid resolution of their concerns. This session will delve into the process, describe its evolution, and seek participants’ input on how to improve it.
Presenter Bio:
The Aggie Compass Intake Team consists of six undergraduate peer navigators and five career staff members. This presentation will focus on the primary role of peer navigators who have been trained to reach out to students requesting support and rapidly connect them to the resources they need.
How Utilizing Data Collection Efforts Can Support Student Wellness
Location: Meeting Room 1
Presenter: Mark Savill, Associate Professor
Session Description:
In 2023, a UC Student Mental Health and Well-being Oversight Committee report recommended a shift away from deficit-oriented, large survey instruments to wellbeing-oriented pulse surveys, and a greater focus on using data to support service linkage and outcomes evaluation. During this session, we will describe our efforts to address these priorities across the UC.
Presenter Bio:
Dr. Savill is an Associate Professor at UC Davis, working primarily on projects focusing on evaluating service delivery and pathways to care for individuals experiencing behavioral health concerns. Dr. Savill has expertise in conducting clinical trials, program evaluation, qualitative work focusing on amplifying the perspectives of people who deliver or receive care, and supporting programs to deliver care in accordance with best practices. He is currently working with the UC Office of the President to explore ways in which behavioral health and wellness data collected across the UC system can be leveraged to support student wellness as part of the Equity in Mental Health Initiative.
Protecting Your Peace - Sustaining Wellbeing in Turbulent Times
Location: Meeting Room 3
Presenter: Tracy Thomas, CAN Community Counselor
Session Description:
We are faced with constant social, political, and environmental events that can leave us feeling overwhelmed, anxious, or burned out. This session will discuss our collective stress and the impact of the sociopolitcal climates has on mental health and actions we can take to foster resilience. We will discuss strategies to strengthen our capacity for empathy and mutual support in our campus community.
Presenter Bio:
Tracy Thomas works as a CAN Community Counselor partnering with the Veteran Success Center, Transfer Re-Entry Center, and the Women's Research and Resources Center providing outreach, consultation, and mental health support.
As a California Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist (LMFT), she has a person-centered, humanistic approach to therapy. For almost a decade, she has helped students at UC Davis navigate a variety of challenges such as academic stress, burnout, intimate partner and family relationship challenges, identity development, and social justice issues.