Alycia West (she/her) is a 5th year Ph.D. candidate in Higher Education. She has her bachelor’s degree in psychology from the University of Northern Iowa, and her master’s degree in higher education from Iowa State University. Her doctoral research focuses on telling the stories of Asian American transracial/transnational adoptee communities and understanding how students within this identity make meaning of their racial identity. She believes in co-creating knowledge that centers truth-telling, collectivism, and care in working to dismantle systemic racism and violence in educational spaces. Alycia has been a senator in GPSS for the School of Education since 2023. She has served as College Chair, and Social Media Chair during her tenure. Alycia loves trying new foods, exploring new cities, crushing anyone who crosses her in a board game, and baking all the pastries!