Meet Our People
Dr. Dan Zhu (she/her) | Executive Director, CIRCLE
Languages spoken: Mandarin Chinese, English
Favorite café in Seattle: Spicy Chongqing in Renton
Fun Fact: I am a mother of two little boys.
Chat 1:1 with Dan
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Dr. Ziyan Bai (she/her) | Assistant Director for Graduate Programs & Operation Manager, CIRCLE
Languages spoken: English, Mandarin Chinese
Favorite place to eat in Seattle: Tian Fu in Northgate
Fun Fact: My research area is graduate education, including access, student experience, finance, and education outcomes.
Marion Ferguson (she/her) | Assistant Director for Undergraduate Programs, CIRCLE
Languages spoken: English
Favorite place to eat in Seattle: Matcha Man in Georgetown and Coffeeholic in Greenwood
Fun Fact: I grew up on a goat farm in upstate New York!
David Huang (he/him) | Unite UW Program Manager, CIRCLE
Languages Spoken: English, Mandarin Chinese
Favorite place to eat in Seattle: Hong Kong Bistro in International District
Favorite book: Dune by Frank Herbert
Xinyue Yu (she/her) | Assistant to the Executive Director
Languages spoken: Mandarin, Korean, English
Love hiking, learning about diverse cultures, and travel around the world!
Maja Kelly (she/her) | Student Success and Wellbeing Coach
Languages spoken: English, Serbo-Croatian, Russian, (some) French
Favorite place to eat in Seattle: HaiDiLao Hot Pot
My favorite movie of all time is The Sound of Music.
Celia Malone (she/her) | Program Coordinator
Languages spoken: English
Favorite place to eat in Seattle: Retreat in Greenlake
Fun Fact: at age 9 I memorized over 200 digits of pi, but now I can only remember around 80.
Jiayu (Catherine) Xu (she/her) | RCG Communication Coordinator
Languages spoken: Mandarin Chinese, English, Korean (a bit)
Favorite place to eat in Seattle: Pipa Mountain Hot Pot
Hobbies: Love Dance; Love Sunset by the Ocean
Haeyoon Choi (she/her) | Communication Specialist
Languages spoken: English, Korean, a little bit of Chinese and Japanese
Favorite place to eat in Seattle: YGF Malatang
I grew up in three different countries: U.S., South Korea, and Vietnam. Love cooking, figure skating, dancing, and traveling!
Annie Xu (she/her) | Student Communication Coordinator
Languages spoken: English, Mandarin, Japanese, a little French
Favorite place to eat in Seattle: Bulldog News around UW and Santo Coffee in Roosevelt.
Fun Fact: I still brave the Seattle rain with just an umbrella.
Edward Yang (he/him) | Graduate Program Assistant
Languages spoken: English, Mandarin, a little bit Spanish
Exploring languages, diving into cultures, and chasing new experiences energize me! I enjoy spending time both outdoors and indoors.
Ellis Coulter (she/her) | Graduate Program Assistant
Languages spoken: English
I love exploring new places like farmers markets, restaurants, or parks with friends. I also enjoy staying in and watching movies with my cat, Hoshi.
Sangey Rinchen (he/him) | CIRCLE of Friends Peer Advisor
Languages spoken: English, Dzongkha, a little German
I enjoy long hikes, writing stories, and spending time with my family!
Erich Ang (she/her) | CIRCLE of Friends Peer Advisor
Languages spoken: English, Tagalog
I love singing, musical theater, watching TV shows (FRIENDS, Modern Family, and Grey’s Anatomy), and hanging out with friends!
Jessy Zhao (she/her) | CIRCLE of Friends Peer Advisor
Languages spoken: English, Mandarin, a little bit Japanese
I love writing song lyrics, singing, and reading novels with my friends!
Husna Mulyani (she/her) | Student Advisor Board Co-chair
Languages spoken: English, Indonesian
Fun fact: I can really spend 3 hours calling my mom to talk about nothing- it’s a way to decompress✨.
Ruyan Li (she/her) | Student Advisor Board Co-chair
Languages spoken: English, Mandarin, Japanese
Fun fact: I have 2 dogs and 1 cat.
Evelyn Hootman (she/her) | Unite UW Program Leader
Languages spoken: English, Spanish, some Chinese
Fun fact: Goal in life is to own an orange cat.
Chunya (Pie) Apichatpichien (she/her) | Unite UW Program Leader
Languages spoken: English, Thai
Hobby: I love playing wordhunt :D.
Rebekah Hinojosa (she/her) | Unite UW Program Leader
Languages spoken: English, Spanish
Hobbies: I enjoy going to museums and having movie nights with my roommates.
Heidi Nguyen (she/her) | Office Assistant
Languages spoken: English
Fun fact: I like eating tomatoes but I hate eating anything with ketchup.
Yishi (Reena) Zheng (she/her) | Office Assistant
Languages spoken: English, Mandarin
Fun fact: Recently I am obsessed with Young Sheldon.