Danielle is a proud California native, growing up in the San Francisco Bay Area and attending UC San Diego for her BA in Economics and BA in Political Science. She moved to the east coast to earn her MA in Global Development Economics from Boston University. Prior to joining the UCDC team, she worked at the World Bank in the Poverty and Equity Global Practice. In her free time, she enjoys baking, traveling, exploring the food scene in DC, and spending time with friends and family.

Marc Sandalow has been at UCDC since 2011. He teaches the Media and Washington Focus seminars, and oversees the center’s Monday night forums. He was previously UC Merced’s Washington director. Marc spent 21 years at the San Francisco Chronicle, where he served as Washington Bureau Chief, covered city halls in Martinez, Berkeley, and San Francisco, earthquakes, World Series (including an earthquake at a World Series), the impeachment of a president, a contested presidential election, and the 2001 terrorist attacks. He is the author of "Madam Speaker; Nancy Pelosi's Life, Times and Rise to Power,'' and co-author of "Ballparks: A Panoramic History.'' He can be heard daily on KCBS-radio in San Francisco and appears regularly as a political analyst on Hearst television stations.

Sabrin Said currently serves as the Administrator of Academic Services at UCDC, supporting the curricular side of the academic program. She assists students and instructors as they navigate courses, enrollment, grades, and everything in between.  She is a California native and a proud product of its public education system.  As an undergraduate at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), Sabrin discovered her passion for education.  After receiving her bachelor’s degree in International Development Studies she became the director of an educational access project that worked to ensure that the underrepresented populations of Los Angeles had access to institutions of higher education.  Sabrin later returned UCLA’s Graduate School of Education and Information Studies for her master’s in Social Science and Comparative Education.  After completing her degree, she spent the following three years in the classroom at a small start-up high school in the Bay Area.  She now lives and enjoys everything that the DMV has to offer.

Drew was born and raised in Northern California.  She attended Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo where she received a B.S. in Kinesiology.  Following graduation, Drew worked in Career Services at Cal Poly.  In her role, she worked closely with employers through her efforts as a Career Fair Coordinator.  She then earned her Master of Education in Counselor Education (Student Affairs) from Clemson University. At Clemson, she supported new student academic programs as well as volunteered as a graduate career advisor.  Drew returned to California after receiving her MEd to work with new student and supporter programs at San Jose State University.  In her free time, Drew is an avid Bay Area sports fan, loves to be active and travel.

Marlee was born and raised in Tucson, Arizona and attended the University of California, Irvine where she majored in history. Participating in UCDC in Spring 2017 and interning at the Supreme Court of the US, Marlee is excited to be living and working in DC again. She enjoys spending her free time reading, listening to music, and hanging out with her friends and family.

Dione is a Birmingham, Alabama native, and she relocated to D.C. in 2018 to continue her work in higher education. She received her bachelor’s degree from Ashford University and a graduate certification in Leadership and Management from the University of Maryland.  In her spare time, Dione loves to travel and spend time with her family and friends.

Jacob brings nearly 15 years of experience in higher education that includes academic & career advising, teaching, designing & delivering experiential education programs, research, and directing nonpartisan efforts to empower college students to vote in local, state, and national elections. Additionally, he has interned and worked on several campaigns, interned at the U.S. Department of Education, and most recently worked at American University as an instructor and advisor.

Jacob is an alumnus of Iowa State University (’11), where he received his BA in Political Science and Women’s and Gender Studies and then earned a MA in Higher Education Administration from The George Washington University (’13). He and his partner live in the Park View neighborhood of Washington, DC, with their two pups. In his free time, he enjoys traveling, exploring DC restaurants, sharing DC’s vibrant history and culture with visiting friends and family, trivia, and living in the new golden age of television. Jacob is also the founder and an executive board member of the Missouri Courage Scholarship, a nonprofit organization which acknowledges, affirms, and rewards the courage of college-bound high school seniors working to enhance the lives of LGBTQ+ people and advance social justice.

Chey is from the Baltimore area. She graduated from Bowie State University with a B.S. in Sociology. She worked as an Administrative Coordinator at Johns Hopkins University for 2 years and was an Executive Assistant for 5 years at a small family office prior to that. Chey has a pet bunny. Her hobbies include traveling, watching TV shows, and cooking. She is part of a women’s walking club.

Dr. Jimmy Ellis is passionate about experiential learning, internships and early career development, and helping students be their best. With nearly two decades of experience in higher education, Jimmy has led strategic planning, program design, and curriculum development at public and private institutions. His strategic direction has expanded experiential learning portfolios to include DC internship programs, undergraduate research, student teaching, and faculty-led experiences in the nation's capital.

At UCDC, Jimmy strongly advocates for a culture of belonging and inclusion, which is crucial for the program’s mission and the community's success. He champions experiential learning as a powerful tool to equip individuals with the skills to address complex challenges and drive positive change. Jimmy is deeply committed to integrating experiential learning principles—learning, reflection, action, and growth—into all aspects of UCDC. He works with talented colleagues to build equitable, sustainable, and joyful pathways from California to DC and bring the city’s vibrancy to students via unsurpassed curricular, internship, and residential experiences that only UCDC can provide.

Before UCDC, Jimmy served as Associate Dean of Undergraduate Education at American University, where he led efforts to create a synergistic network of programs, services, and curricula, ensuring exceptional educational experiences for all students. His efforts in reorganizing academic advising over a multi-year period led to the closure of gaps in Black and Hispanic students' self-assessments of belonging and the elimination of retention gaps by race. Jimmy co-created the American University Experience (AUx) courses, a curricular sequence incorporating anti-racist pedagogy and practices. These courses fostered a community of learners ready to engage in meaningful dialogues about diversity, equity, and inclusion. His portfolio at AU also included academic advising, tutoring and academic support, academic coaching, assessment and evaluation, student-athlete support, and student success, retention, and thriving initiatives.

Jimmy holds a PhD in Public Administration and Policy from American University, a Master’s in Student Affairs in Higher Education from Colorado State University, and a Bachelor’s in Finance and Multinational Business Operations from Florida State University. Growing up, Jimmy moved frequently and has called South Korea, Florida, South Carolina, North Carolina, Hawaii, and Colorado home before moving to Washington, DC in 2011. In his free time, he loves going on adventures with his partner and two kids, watching and playing sports, and spending as much time as possible outdoors.

Kim Y. Jones, a native Washingtonian, is an experienced leader, advocate, and attorney with 20+ years of non-for-profit leadership experience. Kim has devoted her career to: 1) developing, operationalizing, and fundraising for community based programs; 2) providing technical assistance to non-profit organizations in the area of capacity building, compliance, and effective program monitoring; 3) effective policy advocacy in support of stakeholders and community priorities.

Kim holds a Bachelor of Science from Northeastern University and Juris Doctorate from the District of Columbia School of Law (now the David A. Clark School of Law at UDC) and is a member of the DC Bar and the US District Court of the District of Columbia. Kim is the recipient of several honors including the Eugene and Agnes Meyer Foundation Exponent Award for Excellence in Non-Profit Leadership and the Advocate for Justice Award by David A. Clarke School of Law (formerly Antioch School of Law/D.C. School of Law), awarded to an alumni dedicated to serving the public interest.

Kim formerly served in several Executive Director roles where she was responsible for improving organizational efficacies through program improvements, automation and compli-ance. Past positions held were as Executive Director of One Common Unity, The Washington School of Psychiatry, The Advocacy Center of Louisiana, Inc., in New Orleans, LA and Execu-tive Director/Co-Founder of Advocates for Justice and Education, Inc. in Washington, DC. She has been responsible for building and maintaining sustainable organizations over the course of her career. She has contributed to the conceptualization, development and capacity building of several non-profit organizations including School Talk, the DC Alliance of Youth Advocates, Cybertorial, Asian American Lead, Columbia Heights Family Support Collabora-tive, Columbia Heights Youth Club, Friends of the Anacostia Public Library and countless others.

In her spare time, Kim serves on the the Financial Policy Committee of Cedar Lane Unitarian Universalist Congregation and Board of Directors Cybertorial, Inc.  She served four (4) years as volunteer General Counsel to the Nation’s Capital Child Development Center in Washington D.C. Kim is passionate about the development of leaders in the non-profit sec-tor and has been coordinating Black Female Executive of Washington since 2020, an organi-zation committed to supporting the professional development of Black Female Leadership in the non-profit organizations.