Sutapa Basu, PhD (she/her)
Executive Director and Affil. Assistant Professor
Email: sbasu@uw.edu
Phone: (206) 685-1090
Assistant Director of Making Connections Program
Born and raised in Tacoma, WA, Maria joins Making Connections with a deep passion for youth advocacy and educational justice. She applies over five years of experience as a community and electoral organizer in various local and national campaigns, political action committees, and nonprofit programs. A common thread throughout her work has been accessibility in education. As Maria states, “Through education, we strengthen our communities’ abilities to explore, collaborate and find solutions to the shared problems of our world. And once we are rooted in knowledge, and we come together across differences with our voices, stories, talents, and resources, we have the collective power needed to build movements that work towards the liberation of oppressed and marginalized peoples everywhere”. Maria knows firsthand that addressing educational disparities with youth and girls of color is a necessary step towards antiracist workplaces and communities. She graduated from the UW in 2017 with a B.S. in Biology, and felt that having support in school was especially essential in environments and classes where very few people came from backgrounds like hers – low-income, first-generation students, and immigrant families. Maria’s involvement in a similar pipeline program as a high schooler helped make her success possible. She found community support while working with the Black Student Union and Office of Minority Affairs and Diversity and learned how to utilize her perspective as a Black and Filipina woman in her work after graduating. In her free time, Maria is also a visual artist who enjoys balancing her volunteer and community activism with creativity, holistic joy, and lifelong learning.
Email: womens@uw.edu
Safiya Karmy-Jones, PhC (she/her)
Assistant Director of Returning and Non-Traditional Student Program and Special Projects
As assistant director of the Re-Entry/Non-Traditional Student program and special projects, Safiya utilizes her experience in teaching, advising, tutoring, and mentoring non-traditional students of all backgrounds. This experience includes working as an instructor in the University’s Interdisciplinary and Expository Writing Programs, a teaching assistant for the American Ethnic Studies Department, a tutor for the City of Seattle’s Upward Bound program, and a volunteer educator for the Freedom Education Project Puget Sound.
Safiya credits who she is today as well as her academic and professional passions to the communities and people that raised her, most centrally the stories and convictions of her sitty (paternal grandmother), whose teachings were deeply informed by her status as a Palestinian refugee. Safiya is also proud to be the sibling of an autistic self-advocate, her brother, to whose example she owes her identity as a disability studies scholar. Both of these role models impressed upon Safiya the importance of stories, history, and education from a young age.
As Safiya states, “The people I love taught me to be someone who strives for access and equity in my scholarship, professional work, and personal life. In my experience, the Women’s Center is an organization dedicated to and built on these ideals. I am proud to join the Center’s team and to be of service to students, staff, faculty, and community members.”
Email: womens@uw.edu
AM Weatherford (he/him)
Making Connections Program Coordinator
Alan-Michael (AM) Weatherford has been teaching and researching at the UW since 2012. At the Women’s Center he supports program development and coordination with the Making Connections program.
Email: womens@uw.edu
Srushti Chaukhande (she/her)
Srushti is currently pursuing her Master’s in Information Management at the University of Washington. Prior to relocating to Seattle, she worked as a Software Engineer in Delhi for 4.5 years, where she navigated the tech field and developed leadership skills that honor independent thought while fostering it in herself and those around her.
As a first-generation graduate student, Srushti is driven by a desire to inspire others to dream big, push boundaries, and create opportunities for themselves. In her spare time, she enjoys writing, tinkering with code, working out and exploring ways to be a more productive “ninja.”
Srushti is thrilled to join the team at the Women’s Center, eager to apply her past experiences while continuing to learn and grow. She looks forward to connecting with individuals from diverse backgrounds and contributing to the development of an inclusive and vibrant community.
Email: womens@uw.edu
Alice Ma (she/her)
MC Academic Enrichment Intern
Alice is currently a senior at UW majoring in Communication and Education. Since childhood, she has participated in educational volunteer work alongside her parents, gradually developing a passion for this field and aspiring to pursue a career in it.
Born in Anhui, China, Alice is an international student. She particularly enjoys traveling and eating hotpot, and she loves trying different bubble teas. In her daily life, she prefers quiet solitude and enjoys listening to music—R&B being her favorite genre.
Alice is thrilled to join the Women’s Center team. She hopes to connect with friends from around the world here and gain valuable experiences to apply to her future career.
Email: womens@uw.edu
Marinette Zhao (she/her)
MC Academic Enrichment Intern
Marinette is a senior at the University of Washington majoring in Education, Communities, and Organizations. As a first-generation student navigating international learning in the United States, she has drawn inspiration from her own journey to pursue education as a career. Marinette has been actively involved in tutoring and volunteering both in her hometown in China and in Seattle, experiences that deepened her commitment to youth development and equitable opportunities.
She is eager to bring this passion into her internship with the Women’s Center, where she looks forward to learning more about counseling and enhancing programs that support high school students. Outside of her academic and professional pursuits, Marinette is a big fan of animation and manga, enjoys traveling, and finds comfort in the company of her cat, who has accompanied her on the long journey between China and the U.S.
Email: womens@uw.edu