Holly Roose

Biography

Holly Roose completed her bachelor's degree in Black Studies and English at Portland State University, her master's degree in African and African American Studies at Columbia and her PhD in History with an emphasis in Black Studies at UC Santa Barbara. Her first book, Black Star Rising: Multicultural Garveyism in the West, examines interracial and multinational resistance movements on the West Coast in the early 20th century. She has taught multiple upper division courses in History and Black Studies.

Alongside teaching and research, working with low income, first generation, and underrepresented college students has represented a decades long passion for her. She initially worked as the assistant director for the McNair Scholars program at San Diego State, and with the McNair Scholars program at UCSB as a graduate student mentor while in her PhD program. Leveraging these experiences, Holly initiated the program portion of the Promise Scholars Program in 2016. Originally only a monetary scholarship award conceived by Mike
Miller in 2015, the program quickly expanded from 124 students to now over 1200. Through generous support from donors, Holly continues to expand the Promise Scholars program and to provide support, while graduating on time to degree, as many students on campus who need access to resources.