Program Staff
Program Staff
Maria McKenna, Ph.D.
Senior Director, Undergraduate Scholars Programs
Dr. Maria McKenna '97 is a Professor of the Practice for the Education, Schooling and Society Program and the Department of Africana Studies. Dr. McKenna received her Ph.D. in Educational Foundations from Saint Louis University after completing undergraduate and graduate work at the University of Notre Dame and Northwestern University. Her teaching and research span the disciplines of education and ethnic studies, focusing on the social, cultural, and philosophical contexts of American education. As a qualitative researcher with expertise in community-based and youth-centered research methods, she focuses on youth voice, the value of the arts in civic engagement, and Montessori/peace education. She teaches exclusively at the undergraduate level, offering courses in youth empowerment, urban education, educational philosophy, and community-based learning. Dr. McKenna is a recipient of a 2015 Reverend Edmund P. Joyce, C.S.C., Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching, the 2017 Reinhold Niebuhr Award for Social Justice, and the 2023 Dockweiler Award for Excellence in Advising. She has four adult children, spreading their wings throughout the United States.
You can find Maria McKenna's TEDx talk on "Caring Education, Joyful Learning, and Human Integrity" here and more about her research here.
Amanda Hammond
Program Director
Amanda oversees the vision and execution of the AnBryce Scholars Initiative in all respects. She works directly with the students on a myriad of issues, including life discernment, financial aid, health care, immersion into adult life, and navigating campus as a first-generation student. She coordinates campus-facing outreach and serves as the primary point of contact for Financial Aid, the Center for Student Support and Care, the Enrollment Division, the Nanovic Institute, and other campus affiliates. Amanda directs the Global Immersion Experiences each spring for first-year students and works directly with the University Writing program for our unique, credit-bearing AnBryce Writing and Rhetoric course. She also handles all internal research and financial matters for the program.
Amanda holds a Master's in Not-for-Profit Administration from the University of Notre Dame and a Bachelor's degree in Spanish from Indiana University. A first-generation student herself, Amanda feels a deep connection with the program. She began working at the University in 2010 and has been with AnBryce Scholars Initiative since its inception in 2013. Amanda is from Granger, Indiana, and has two children.
Sarah Kubinski
Professional Education and Outreach Specialist
Sarah joined AnBryce in the fall of 2015. She coordinates professional networking initiatives, including support for summer internships, programming, and professional mentoring. Sarah also coordinates our domestic network immersion experiences and assists with career preparation, including the building of resumes, online presence, and personal statements. She also provides direct support for development relationships and outward-facing supporter communication.
Sarah graduated from Duke University, where she majored in French and studied abroad for a year in Paris. She moved to South Bend when her husband became the Head Men's Golf Coach in 2005. They have two children.
"What impresses me most about the AnBryce Program is both the tenacity of the students and the involvement of our donors. This coalesces into magical interactions where students gain knowledge and experience many of their peers acquire much, much later."
AnBryce Foundation Founders and Leadership
Beatrice Welters
Founder / Co-Chair
Beatrice Welters serves as the Founder and Co-Chair of the AnBryce Foundation, a foundation she established with her husband, Anthony Welters (LAW ’77), Esq., in 1995 as a way to provide opportunities to children in the metropolitan DC area. She established Camp Dogwood Summer Academy in 1996. In 1998, the foundation's mission was further advanced through the creation of the AnBryce Scholars Program at NYU Law School. Mrs. Welters is a former U.S. Ambassador to the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago. She serves on the board of the Brookings Institution and is a member of the Board of Visitors of Colin Powell’s School for Civic and Global Leadership and City College. She and her husband are recipients of the Woodrow Wilson Award for Public Service in recognition of their long-standing commitment to philanthropy. Mrs. Welters serves on the Perlmutter Cancer Center Board at NYU Langone Medical Center. In 2015, the Vincent Wilkinson Foundation made a generous gift to NYU Langone to build a model program to improve outcomes for medically underserved women by reducing barriers to quality care and advancing pioneering breast cancer treatments. She received her Bachelor of Arts from Manhattanville College and her Master of Arts from John Jay College of Criminal Justice in the City of New York. She resides in Virginia with her husband. They have two adult sons.
Anthony Welters
Co-Chair
Mr. Welters is the founder, chairman, and CEO of CINQCARE Inc., a physician-led, community-based ambulatory care delivery system that delivers whole-person care in the home, whenever possible. He is also Executive Chairman of the BlackIvy Group, an organization focused on building and growing commercial enterprises in Sub-Saharan Africa, and Chairman of Somatus, Inc., a value-based kidney care company.
Mr. Welters retired as Senior Adviser to the Office of the CEO of UnitedHealth Group, which serves more than 100 million people worldwide through its health and well-being companies. During his two decades at UnitedHealth Group, Mr. Welters also served as Executive Vice President and a Member of the Office of the CEO of UnitedHealth Group and led UHG’s Public and Senior Markets Group. Mr. Welters joined UHG upon its acquisition of AmeriChoice, a $1 billion health care company he founded in 1989. Mr. Welters continues to innovate in the health care industry as the co-founder and Chair of the Board for Somatus, Inc., an integrated and holistic kidney disease care management company.
Mr. Welters is a member of the boards of Loews Corporation, C.R. Bard, Inc., and the Carlyle Group. He is Trustee Emeritus of the Morehouse School of Medicine Board of Trustees, Chairman of the Board of New York University School of Law, as well as Vice Chairman of the Board of New York University and a Trustee of NYU Langone Medical Center. In 2012, President Obama appointed Mr. Welters to the Board of Trustees of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, where he serves as Chairman of the Finance Committee. Mr. Welters is a founding member of the National Museum of African American History and Culture and a recipient of a Horatio Alger Award, presented to those who have overcome humble beginnings and adversity to achieve success and contribute to society; he also serves on the board of that charitable organization. He is also a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, one of the oldest learned societies in the country. He was formerly on the board of West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. Finally, he and his wife, Beatrice, are also recipients of the Woodrow Wilson Award for Public Service, in recognition of their long-standing commitment to philanthropy.
Mr. Welters was born and raised in the New York City neighborhoods of Harlem and Bedford Stuyvesant. He earned a BA in economics from Manhattanville College and a JD from New York University School of Law. Mr. Welters is a member of the Bars of New York and the District of Columbia.
Faculty Emeritus
Dr. Paulette Curtis
Founding Faculty Director
Dr. Paulette Curtis was AnBryce's founding Faculty Director and served in that role from 2012-2019. Dr. Curtis is a graduate of Harvard University and resides in Louisiana.
Richard Pierce, Ph.D.
Faculty Director, Emeritus
Dr. Pierce is a professor emeritus in the Department of History and the Department of Africana Studies at Notre Dame. A historian of twentieth-century American history, he specializes in the urban experience of African Americans. His research focuses on the political economy of race and race relations in the Midwest, particularly in Indianapolis, during the 20th century. His approach is interdisciplinary, drawing on theory and methods from urban studies, political science, legal studies, sports, and the history of education. His first book project, Polite Protest: The Political Economy of Race in Indianapolis (Indiana University Press, Spring 2005), examines an African American urban community after 1945 and is one of the very few works that primarily address the political economy of African Americans in a particular city. Dr. Pierce has 3 children and resides in South Bend with his wife, Leigh.