Meet the BLUE Team

Katherine Martinez

Team Leader

Katherine is currently a Junior with a Dual Major in Sociology and Criminal Justice with a Minor in CyberSecurity. She is set to graduate Fall 2021. She is the current President of Student Veterans of America at Old Dominion University and became a part of Innovate Monarchs to help create a community on campus that is inclusive and supportive to all walks of life. Her intentions upon graduation are to work for the Federal Government as a Tactical Data Analyst or Victim’s Specialist. She has enjoyed her experience with Innovate Monarchs by being able to embrace the “know your why” concept of the model. She keeps community as a personal keystone in all of her work and it is reflective in the Prototype she has created with her team.

Taylor Diggs

Taylor is currently a Junior majoring in World Languages and Cultures with a concentration in World Cultural Studies. She is set to graduate in the Fall of 2022. Her goal is to work in Immigrations or become join the Peace Corps upon graduation. Taylor has had such an amazing experience since joining Innovate Monarchs. She wants to use the diverse set of skills she learned previously to build another project that could help change the college experience of her peers on and off campus. She is also excited to take these skills and transfer them to projects on an even larger scale.

Karly Grieve

Karly is a graduating senior with a B.S. in Psychology with a double minor in Human Services and Administrative Leadership and Ethics. Her plans after graduation are to work as a Leadership Consultant for the National Zeta Tau Alpha Organization helping mentor chapters all over the country. Karly has loved being a part of the Innovate Monarchs Project by sharing thoughts and ideas with her group to better the college experience for minority students at ODU. Our team hopes to build a model of training that can not only be implemented at ODU but at other schools as well.

Dr. FelEcia Commodore

Felecia Commodore is an Assistant Professor of Higher Education in the Educational

Foundations and Leadership department at Old Dominion University in Norfolk, VA. Felecia's

research focus areas are leadership, governance, and administrative practices with a particular

focus on Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) and MSIs. Felecia’s research

interests also lie in how leadership is exercised, constructed, and viewed in various communities,

and the relationship of Black women and leadership. Felecia currently has work published in the

Journal of Higher Education and the Journal of Negro Education. She is the 2019 recipient of

the ACPA Coalition for Women’s Identities Research & Scholarship Award for her work

centering Black women college students and their experiences within student affairs scholarship

and practice. She is a contributor to HBCULifestyle.com and Diverse Issues in Higher Education.

She is co-editor of the book Opportunities and Challenges of Historically Black Colleges and

Universities and Graduate Education at Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs):

A Student Perspective. She is also the lead author of the book, Black College Women: A Guide to

Success in Higher Education

Felecia has a background as an admissions counselor and academic advisor at Trinity University,

Washington, D.C., and the University of Maryland, College Park respectively. Felecia received

her Ph.D. in Higher Education from the University of Pennsylvania's Graduate School of

Education. She also obtained an M.A. in Higher Education Administration from the University

of Maryland, College Park, MD, and a B.S. in Marketing with a minor in Sociology from Drexel

University in Philadelphia, PA.

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