Publications

  • The Compassionate Response: An Evidence-Based, Survivor- and Trauma-Informed Approach to Supporting Victims of Interpersonal Trauma, Exploitation, and Human Trafficking (2025) Private Organizational Training Guide for law enforcement, first responders, and educators. Commissioned by The Exodus Road. Co-authored with Dr. Rusan Lateef and Dina Unger, CEO/Founder of EVENforOne

 

  • Centering justice in the codesign of mindfulness and compassion-based college curricula (2025) Centering justice in the codesign of mindfulness and compassion-based college curricula. McKimmy C, Avalos N, Mejia D, Dimidjian S. Centering justice in the codesign of mindfulness and compassion-based college curricula. American Journal of Orthopsychiatry. January 2025. doi:10.1037/ort0000817

 

  • THE COLLECTIVE WORKSHOPPING OF OUR EMERGING GLOBAL CITIZENSHIP IN TRANSCULTURAL FUSION DANCE (TcFD) Featured as “Best of 2023” publication in the International Journal of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences: Abstract: Transcultural Fusion Dance (TcFD) is a global, hybrid genre that fuses dance traditions of North Africa and the Arab World with Hip Hop and Electronica. Starting in the 1990‘s, TcFD participants utilized the genre to enact their enthusiasm for intercultural exchange, visual cultural mashup, and embodied exploration of global citizenship. The momentum shifted after being confronted with decolonization calls from BIPOC communities in the U.S.A., and is now collectively building ethical practices and interdisciplinary contextualization that also offers a critique of contemporary dance education for its sluggish awakening to decolonization. The author details the historical events that instigated a global decolonization conversation of TcFD practices, conventions, and language, and the unfolding evolution of Fair-Trade Cultural Exchange practice. 

 

 

  • 2022, Picture a Professor: Interrupting Biases about Faculty and Increasing Student Learning (Edited by Jessamyn Neuhaus) .Chapter 13 Authored by Donna Mejia, https://wvupressonline.com/picture-a-professor.
    • Summary
      • Picture a Professor is a collection of evidence-based insights and intersectional teaching strategies crafted by and for college instructors. It aims to inspire transformative student learning while challenging stereotypes about what a professor looks like. Representing a variety of scholarly disciplines, the volume’s contributing authors offer practical advice for effectively navigating student preconceptions about embodied identity and academic expertise. Each contributor recognizes the pervasiveness of racialized, gendered, and other biases about professors and recommends specific ways to respond to and interrupt such preconceptions—helping students, teachers, and others reenvision what we think of when we picture a professor. Educators at every stage of their career will find affirming acknowledgment of the ways systemic inequities affect college teaching conditions, as well as actionable advice about facilitating student learning with innovative course design, classroom activities, assessment techniques, and more.
      • “Does a service to all who would prefer a different path, offering realistic strategies to engage students in undermining scholarly stereotypes.”—Science
      • “Raising awareness of challenges diverse instructors can face when teaching in higher ed classrooms and sharing empowering and tested solutions are both much needed. Picture a Professor does both and more. Grounded in the experiences of scholars teaching in the classroom, the book is a valuable resource for instructors, administrators, those responsible for promotion and tenure decisions, and educational developers partnering with a diverse faculty. Much praise to Jessamyn Neuhaus and chapter authors for addressing the often undiscussed truth that not all instructors who teach are afforded the same privileges.”—Tracie Marcella Addy, coauthor of What Inclusive Instructors Do: Principles and Practices for Excellence in College Teaching
      • “In this collection, the authors weave scholarship, personal narratives, and practical teaching ideas into an intersectional call to action that, when reflectively implemented, will positively transform our college classrooms for years to come.”—Travis Thurston, coeditor of Resilient Pedagogy: Practical Teaching Strategies to Overcome Distance, Disruption, and Distraction