CARE Center Staff

Ashley serves as the Associate Dean for Diversity and Inclusion and CARE Center Director. As a passionate advocate for DEI work, she is excited to serve the CMC community as it learns and grows. She is responsible for facilitating initiatives across the College to encourage an inclusive environment for students of a variety of backgrounds, identities, experiences, perspectives, and ideas. Moreover, she provides educational experiences and training programs, from orientation to more advanced programs, for student leaders, groups, and organizations; aiming to make CMC a better place.

Ashley is a native of Los Angeles who received her Bachelor’s of Arts degree in Sociology with a minor in Education from UCLA. Soon after she also completed a Master of Education degree, also from UCLA. Later on she went on to cross town rival, the University of Southern California, to pursue a doctoral degree in Educational Leadership with a concentration in Higher Education Administration. She focused her dissertation work on how academically and socially successful Black students persist, engage and graduate.

Upon completion of her degree she became the inaugural director of the Black Student Resource Commons at the University of San Diego. There she served for a little over 8 years, creating programs for the Black community on identity development, peer mentorship, academic success strategies, cultural celebrations and critical dialogues.

With 14 years in higher education, Ashley’s passion for diversity, equity and inclusion continues. She is dedicated to supporting campus-wide diversity efforts, while encouraging positive and fruitful collegiate experiences for students.

When she’s not out there trying to save the world through education, she can be found reading on the sofa or crafting!

Nyree Gray serves as the Associate Vice President / Chief Civil Rights Officer at Claremont McKenna College, where she is tasked with developing the overall diversity and inclusion for the College. In addition, she provides oversight and management over the College's civil rights-related policies, education and training programs and investigation and grievance procedures related to discrimination and harassment, including gender-based violence, and provides counsel on compliance with NCAA guidelines and Title IX compliance.

Prior to CMC, Nyree served as Associate Professor of Law and Dean of Students and Diversity Affairs at Southwestern Law School, where she provided academic advising and personal counseling to law students; taught in the areas of race and the law; interviewing, counseling, and negotiating; administered policies regarding academic attrition; in addition to supporting the recruitment, retention, personal development and successful academic matriculation of students from various racial, ethnic, cultural, and/or other diverse backgrounds.

Nyree has received the following distinctions: Selected as a Southern California Super Lawyer Rising Star for 2005, 2006, and 2007; Selected as Alumna of the Year by the Women’s Law Association (2011), Outstanding Alumna of the Year by the Black Law Students Association (2016), California State Bar Organizational Diversity Award (2013), and Higher Education Excellence in Diversity (HEED) Award (2012 & 2013). She is the co-author of a book that was released with Carolina Academic Press entitled Win or Go Home (2016), a guide to competitive negotiations.

Seyha joined the CARE Center staff the fall of 2018. Originally from Pomona, Seyha received an Associate’s degree from Mt. San Antonio College where he competed in Forensics. While at Cal State Long Beach, he worked as High School Outreach advisor and graduated with a BA degree in Communication Studies. In fourth grade his teacher conducted Joan Elliott’s discrimination exercise. Since then he has had a passion for diversity and inclusion. He’s a huge basketball fan, an avid movie watcher and critic as well as loves to read but hates books.