Marcy L. Peake is the Director of Diversity and Community Outreach Initiatives in the Western Michigan University College of Education and Human Development and is a faculty member in the Department of Family and Consumer Sciences. She teaches the graduate level course FCS 5680: Gender, Culture and Families and the undergraduate level course FCS 3150: Global Ecology of the Family. She is the Program coordinator for the WMU Future Educator Program and Funding the Advancement of Minorities in Education (FAME), and the faculty advisor for the register student organization Student Assembly for Racial Equity and Cultural Inclusion. She chairs the CEHD Inclusion and Diversity Committee and is a member of the WMU Diversity Steering Committee and Diversity Council. Her career has been dedicated to students, equity and public education, the first 18 years of her career were spent in K-12 and the last seven years at WMU. Ms. Peake is a former Kalamazoo Public School Board of Education Trustee, the author of the book Please Understand, the former Director of the Institute for New Leadership (a youth development social justice group) and the TRiO Future Educator Success Program. Ms. Peake is a Licensed Professional Counselor, National Certified Counselor, Certified Family Life Educator, and State of Michigan Great Start to Quality Trainer and a board member for the Boys and Girls Club of Greater Kalamazoo. She presents locally and nationally in the areas of youth development, family engagement, equity, public education, and effective strategies for working with students and diverse populations. In addition, she is the founder of Marcy Peake and Associates, a consulting firm specializing in cultural agility, youth development, and public education.