The youngest of six children born in Guyana, South America and raised in New York, Janel Alleyne never thought she’d end up in the Midwest. But the University of Northern Iowa assistant dean of students, a proud member of the LGBTQ community, has found a home here helping support Panthers of all backgrounds.

Alleyne’s path to UNI was unique. She grew up in a single-family home in a residential neighborhood in Brooklyn. Her mother, an EKG Technician and phlebotomist, and father, a Traffic Enforcement Officer for the NYPD, worked hard to give her and her siblings a better life than they had in Guyana, and encouraged them to pursue higher education.

At her parent's insistence, Alleyne originally planned to pursue a degree in law to become a corporate attorney, but found she loved working with students. She especially enjoyed building connections with those who had never before seen someone like her in a leadership role.

“I didn’t realize how much of an impact it was going to have,” Alleyne said. “I don’t lead with my sexuality, I don’t lead with my racial identity … because my identity doesn't dictate the work that I do.

“But knowing that someone might not have been told before that you can have your identity, but also still be a professional person and have a career and a job and a family … is an impactful thing.”

That’s why Alleyne joined the Out and Ally Network when she began her job at UNI in 2018.

“A lot of students don't know who their resources are; some students, especially within the LGBTQ community, much prefer to talk to someone who identifies with them,” she said. “I've been able to talk honestly and openly and hopefully have been impactful in some lives of some students. I don't necessarily share my life story, but I can relate and I can connect them to different resources.”

Alleyne also supports diversity on campus as a member of the President’s Council for Inclusion, Transformative Social Justice and Advocacy, a group that develops goals and strategies for increasing diversity and advocating for minority populations on campus. Supporting students has been a lifelong passion for Alleyne, which she developed early in her career. While pursuing her bachelor’s in business administration at SUNY Canton, she served on student government and worked as a resident assistant. 

Residence life is where she planted the seeds of her 13-year career in higher education. She went on to pursue a master's in business administration while working as a graduate hall director at Mount Saint Mary College in Newburgh, NY. The MBA program wasn’t a great fit, but she continued working in residence life as a hall director when she transferred to SUNY Potsdam for a master's in organizational leadership.

After graduate school, she took a job as a residence hall coordinator at the University of Missouri, where she focused her work on helping students make the best of their collegiate experience through self-authorship and  personal responsibility. A few months after taking on the role, she was asked to step in as advisor for Mizzou's Queer People of Color (QPOC) student group. She hadn't intended taking on this sort of role, but she quickly understood the power that visible representation had on students, especially black students. 

She then became the Coordinator of Student Conduct at Columbia College, where she shifted focus to student support, and especially student conduct and accountability. The work further inspired her goal of becoming a dean of students. Once at UNI, she decided to pursue her doctorate in education at UNI to further prepare her for a future role as dean. She took her first class in spring 2019 and is in the process of finishing up the program.

Her first semester, she had some classes with her supervisor, Dean of Students Allyson Rafanello, as well as some graduate assistants from their office.

"Since the first moment I met Janel, I've been impressed with her determination to continuously grow personally and professionally,” said Rafanello. “Janel demonstrates this on a daily basis through her work with students, her committee work to grow our campus, and her enrollment in a doctoral program.”

Alleyne is passionate about supporting all students, and says LGBTQ pride can teach everyone an important lesson about self-worth.

“For me, pride is just about … the fact that I don't have to subscribe to anyone's label of who they think I am,” she said. “Any student, LGBTQ or not … if they’re struggling, the idea is to get them to realize that who they are is good enough and they should be proud of that.”

This attitude reflects her own ideas about pride and what she’s most proud of in her own life. From her identity to her career, she refused to let anyone else’s expectations influence her choices.

“I think I’m proud of the fact that I paved my own path and I’ve done it unapologetically,” she said. “I take risks and I don’t let other people dictate how I move in this world.”