Honoring the changemakers

CEHSP Celebrates its 2020 Distinguished Alumni

The College of Education and Human Service Professions (CESHP) is recognizing four of its graduates this week with the 2020 Distinguished Alumni Award, an honor reserved for key alumni that have made significant contributions to their communities and fields.

The awardees were named in 2020 and will be celebrated at the CEHSP Honors & Awards Ceremony on campus this week, along with students who received CEHSP scholarships in 2021.

“We’re so pleased to be honoring the extraordinary work of four alumni: Yusuf Abdullah, Christopher Beasley, J.J. Kelley and Angie Miller,” says Jill Pinkney Pastrana, CEHSP Dean. “These individuals have had dramatically different life and career paths. Yet they’re united by their exceptional passion, dedication and drive to make the world a better place.”

Distinguished Alumnus for the Department of Education - Yusuf Abdullah

Yusuf Abdullah dressed in graduate robes speaking at a podium
Yusuf Abdullah

Yusuf Abdullah was a first-generation college student who overcame challenges related to race and class to achieve a high level of academic success. He has a personal philosophy, “No one should go through life without giving back to what has been given.”

Abdullah earned a Bachelor of Applied Science in Physical Education with a minor in coaching and also a Master of Education and Leadership at UMD before moving on to St. Cloud State for licensure in Educational Administration and Leadership. For ten years, Abdullah has been a school administrator for the Minneapolis Public Schools. He leads through a social justice, equity, community-based and student-centered lens and prides himself on being a culturally responsive leader.

For the last six years, he has served as principal of Patrick Henry High School in North Minneapolis, which was ranked in 2021 as the number one high school in Minneapolis Public Schools and one of the top schools in Minnesota by U.S. World News and Reports.

Jane Carlson, associate professor and former head of the Department of Education, nominated Abdullah for the CEHSP Distinguished Alumni Award. “I am so proud of him and all he has accomplished,” she says, noting that he’s one of the rare students she’s maintained a close relationship with after more than two decades. “Yusuf Abdullah has been an incredible role model for Black youth for the past 20 years,” Carlson says. “He has truly made a difference in many people's lives—he walks the talk!”

Distinguished Alumnus for the Department of Psychology - Christopher Beasley

Christopher Beasley
Christopher Beasley

Christopher Beasley, Ph.D., is an assistant professor at the University of Washington Tacoma. He has spent more than a decade organizing and supporting college students and graduates who were formerly incarcerated and advocating for social change.

Beasley is particularly invested in this work because of personal experience. He served time in prison and made the rare transition from prisoner to social change agent and scholar.

His experiences as a UMD student provided a foundation for the social justice advocacy and activism that have been instrumental in Beasley’s life path. Along with his teaching and scholarship, he is co-founder and board director for the Formerly Incarcerated College Graduates Network as well as a board director for Prison to Professionals.

Associate Professor Lara LaCaille recognized potential in Beasley nearly 15 years ago when he was a student in her Abnormal Psychology and Internship classes. "He was clearly a gifted student but lacked confidence in his abilities. I encouraged him to apply to doctoral programs--though he didn't at first," she recalls.

LaCaille says she nominated Beasley for the CEHSP Distinguished Alumni Award because he's a stunning success story. "He overcame significant barriers such as addiction, incarceration, poverty, and identifying as LGBTQ," says LaCaille. "He realized he had what it took to get his doctoral degree and then engaged his passions to develop meaningful programs to reduce barriers and help lift up others who have been incarcerated."

Distinguished Alumnus for the Department of Applied Human Sciences - J.J. Kelley

J.J. Kelley
J.J. Kelley

J.J. Kelley is an Emmy-nominated filmmaker and explorer who focuses on issues of conservation and wildlife crime. An avid adventurer, Kelley is an Appalachian Trail thru-hiker who has biked the length of Alaska to the Arctic Ocean, paddled from Alaska to Seattle in a homemade kayak, and journeyed the full length of India’s Ganges River.

Kelley’s travels have instilled in him a desire to protect the planet. While Kelley was a student in UMD's Environmental and Outdoor Education program, Professor Ken Gilbertson encouraged him to apply for an internship at National Geographic. Kelley's senior project won the UMD Frozen Yeti Film Festival, which helped him secure the internship and launch his career.

“J.J. graduated in 2006, did his internship at National Geographic, and has since gone on to do wonderful things to inform the world about social justice and wildlife protection,” says Gilbertson. “He is the epitome of an outstanding alumni. He is remarkably kind and modest—I believe he can be a big inspiration to students, faculty and staff.”

Three of Kelley’s documentaries have been featured on the cover of National Geographic magazine, including the Emmy-nominated “Warlords of Ivory,” and he is a producer and correspondent for National Geographic Channel’s flagship documentary series, “EXPLORER.” Kelley is the host of a new 8-part Travel Channel series, "Lost In The Wild," which investigates some of history's greatest adventures gone wrong. A fellow at the Explorers Club, his work has also appeared on NOVA, Discovery Channel, PBS and more.

Kelley is the winner of the Jackson Hole Wildlife Film Festival’s Best Conservation Film for “Battle for the Elephants,” a NGTV-PBS special on the slaughter of African elephants for their tusks. He received the Conservation Achievement for Media and Film Award from TUSK and Best Short Film winner at the Blue Ocean Film Festival for GYRE, a National Geographic documentary he directed about ocean trash killing wildlife on Alaska’s remote coastlines.

Distinguished Alumna for the Department of Social Work - Angie Miller

Angie Miller
Angie Miller

For more than 30 years, Angie Miller worked tirelessly to advocate for people and address issues related to poverty and homelessness.

She received an undergraduate degree from Valparaiso University in Indiana and then came to the UMD School of Social Development to study Community Organizing (which in 1985 became the Department of Social Work), graduating in 1979.

Most of Miller's career was in the nonprofit sector. She worked as a community organizer, paralegal, union organizer, child care business developer and financial coach before becoming the executive director of Community Action Duluth in 2008. She led Community Action until her retirement in 2018, greatly expanded the agency’s services to include a free tax site, green job opportunities, farmers markets, innovative transportation programs, culturally specific MFIP employment services and community engagement and leadership programming. She was also instrumental in creating the Community Action Financial Opportunity Center.

A passion for helping people has always been evident in Miller’s lifestyle. She met Steve O’Neil (also a School of Social Development grad) at UMD. They were married for 32 years until he died in 2013. Miller and O’Neil started the Loaves and Fishes Community in Duluth in 1989, opening their home to people experiencing homelessness. They lived at the Dorothy Day Hospitality House with their two children for five years. They were also licensed foster parents for eight years.

“Angie Miller has exemplified social work values, from fostering babies to housing people and running a community agency focused on improving the lives of people in poverty throughout her life,” says Sandra van den Bosse, UMD’s Bachelor of Social Work program director. UMD social work students have gone on to volunteer and work at the organizations Miller helped develop, according to van den Bosse, demonstrating her lasting community impact.

More about past CEHSP Distinguished Alumni.

Campus-Wide Events with the Distinguished Alumni

J.J. Kelley, explorer and Emmy-nominated filmmaker, will be giving a talk, "From Duluth to the world’s edge and back," on Tuesday, September 28. 

Christopher Beasley, assistant professor at the University of Washington Tacoma, will give a talk on Friday, October 1 called "The Power of Possibility: Barriers of False Narratives & the Potential for Self Transformation."