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Our Staff

Whether you’re a first-year undergrad or in your second doctoral program, students have a lot to juggle and a lot on their minds. UNC Student Wellness offers an array of services and resources to help you cope with, be persistent through, and bounce back from the challenges of daily student life – Our programs, services and resources are designed to support you in making informed decisions, choosing healthy practices, and being better prepared for whatever life throws at you.

We’re staffed by understanding people who enjoyed being a student so much we want to help make sure you do, too. We are highly trained, certified, knowledgeable and experienced health education professionals, clinicians, coaches and accomplished student associates who enjoy what we do and the satisfaction we receive through helping you succeed in everything you do here at Carolina, and beyond.

Check out our profiles and feel free to email us directly if there are things we can help and support you with. We’re here for you!

Administrative Group

Dean Blackburn

Director of Student Wellness, & Associate Dean of Students
Email Dean Blackburn

Dean has worked in Student Affairs at Carolina for over 20 years, and has worked in the field of health education/health promotion and primary prevention work for almost 30 years.  He enjoys working with students, staff, faculty, alum, parents, and community partners to create an atmosphere that promotes students’ healthy decision making regarding their health and safety.

Dean is interested in the intersections of identity, culture, education, politics, and economics as they impact the health outcomes, disparities, and access to wellness for all students.  He believes that breaking down barriers, developing coalitions, and advocating for equitable access is primary to ensuring every student has the necessary resources to be both healthy and whole, as well as personally and academically successful at Carolina and beyond.  He enjoys doing this work through individual conversations with students; teaching; outreach to larger groups; collaborating with colleagues across campus and the community; broad based committee involvement; research/policy development; and state and national involvement and leadership in the field.

Dean received his formal education in social work and psychology through an undergraduate degree from Elon University and later a graduate degree from Duke University, but considers himself a student of life, and enjoys reading on public health, well-being, justice, queer theory and just about every other topic.   When not having a great time with his Wellness colleagues and students on campus, he enjoys outdoor activities, public service, traveling to new places, time with family and friends, and hanging out with his two amazing Labrador mix rescues, Sampson and Sebastian.

Sharon Seymour

Administrative Assistant Specialist - Advanced
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Sharon “Shay” Seymour is the Administrative Assistant Specialist -Advanced to the UNC Student Wellness Team.  Sharon provides direct administrative support to the Director and to the Student Wellness office, as well as provide a high level of customer service to create a welcoming environment for all who enter the space.  Sharon has over 27 years executive administrative experience, including event and conference planning, travel planning, and human resource coordination. Sharon comes to us most recently from the UNC Kenan Institute of Private Enterprise and from RTI as the Senior Administrative Assistant to the Vice President of Finance. Sharon was employed at RTI for over 20 years. Sharon enjoys spending time with her daughter, twin sister, Mother and planning events to keep the fun factor an all-time high for all.

Devetta Holman-Nash

DeVetta Holman-Copeland

Resiliency and Student Support Programs Coordinator
Email DeVetta Holman-Copeland

Dr. Holman-Copeland serves in the capacity of Coordinator for Resiliency and Student Support Programs. She is a professionally trained public health educator at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where she earned her undergraduate degree and a Masters Degree in Public Health from the Gillings School of Global Public Health.  DeVetta earned her Ph.D. degree from North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University.  It is her dissertation: “Perception Analytics of an In-depth Observational Analysis of African American Male Students’ Personal Agency”, emphasizing self-concept and its relevance to personal agency in the classroom, which propels her to educate, mentor and affirm the lived experiences of all students, particularly, historically marginalized students. Her guiding principle is Esse Quam Videri, “To Be, Rather than to Seem”.   

“Dr. D.” has spear-headed several groups and organizations on campus such as, SISTER TALK; S.T.A.D. (Sister Talk After Dark); P.E.A.C.E.; R.E.A.L.Talk  (Resiliency Education And Leadership) and DICE (Diversity & Inclusion in Collegiate Environments).  Her body of work emphasizes persistence, self-awareness, resiliency, a growth mindset and its relevance to personal agency both, in and out of the classroom.  She serves as the UNC Faculty Advisor for several UNC student organizations and is a campus liaison and collaborator for many UNC departments. She is a Duke Certified Integrated Health and Well-being Coach and works closely with Covenant Scholars.  She is an advocate of the human spirit and is committed to “meeting students where they are.”

At UNC, DeVetta serves as Co-chair of the UNC Campus Safety Commission. She is also a member of the Carolina Women’s Center Advisory Board ; Women of Worth Initiative Advisory Board; Executive Board for Carolina Black Caucus and formerly served as a lead on the Provost’s Committee on Inclusive Excellence and Diversity. In the greater community, she remains just as committed leading and serving others on the following boards: SHIFT NC (Sexual Health Initiatives For Teens), a statewide nonprofit leading North Carolina to improve adolescent and young adult sexual health, formerly The Adolescent Pregnancy Prevention Campaign of North Carolina.  She was a lead team member of the North Carolina Governor’s Academy for Prevention Professionals, first in the nation, to put an academic base to primary prevention and trained prevention professionals. She is the executive director of the Global Health Connections International Summer STEAM Camp, a 2-week residential camp for middle school students to shift the paradigm in developing and molding future 21st century STEM leaders. She is the past recipient of the C. Knox Massey Award, Member of the Frank Porter Graham Honor Society, recipient of the University Association for the Advancement of Women and Inducted into the Order of the Golden Fleece.

Tray Good

Student Success and Wellbeing Programs Coordinator
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Tray Good joined Student Wellness in August 2024 to serve as a full-time Coordinator for Student Success and Wellbeing.

In 2015, he received a B.S. in Business Administration from the Kenan-Flagler Business School and a minor in Chinese. He also obtained a master’s in social work from the UNC School of Social Work. He oversees the Carolina Empowerment Network and serves as Staff Advisor for UNC’s annual MLK, Jr. Week of Celebration. Tray has worked in various college access and success roles that have focused on helping students from underserved communities navigate their college experience successfully. He is passionate about helping students develop professionally and advocate for themselves, and emphasizes holistic wellbeing when supporting students.

In his free time, he enjoys hiking, working out, play and watching sports, spending time with close family and friends, and traveling.

Victoria Cooper

Recovery Programs Coordinator
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Victoria (Vic) Cooper joined Student Wellness full-time as the Collegiate Recovery Programs Coordinator. A Northeastern Tennessean and longtime Tar Heel fan, Vic returned to UNC-Chapel Hill to complete her undergraduate degree after entering long-term recovery.

In 2019, she received a B.A. in Women’s and Gender Studies with a minor in Mathematical Decisions Sciences. She is currently an M.S.W. candidate online at Virginia Commonwealth University. There, she served as a Research Assistant at the Institute for Research on Behavioral and Emotional Health with their Spit for Science initiative. She is also an active member of their collegiate recovery program, Rams in Recovery. Her professional areas of interest include the following: intersectional approaches to recovery; social justice reform; the elimination of barriers to healthcare and social services; and the destigmatization of substance use, substance use disorders, harm reduction, and recovery. Vic previously worked at the Orange County Rape Crisis Center as an Advocacy Intern and Crisis Response Assistant. This experience has honed the trauma-informed approach she will bring to her new role. In addition, Vic recently appeared on the homepage of the NPR website in an article about being a woman in recovery.

In her free time, she enjoys thrifting, traveling, and exploring new food spots. More recently, she has become an amateur runner, aspiring to keep up with her two pets–a cat named Raja and a dog named Meeko. 

Danny DePuy

Danny DePuy

Lead Substance Use Counselor
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Danny has worked in Student Affairs at Carolina for over 6 years and has worked as a Licensed Clinical Social Worker for over 7 years providing individual and group therapy to young people working to recover from various life stressors.

She welcomes people of all backgrounds and enjoys working collaboratively to uncover individualized strategies for wellness and healing. One of her main intentions is to create a safe space to show up as one’s authentic self and to approach all parts of oneself with curiosity and friendliness in hopes of finding a more peaceful experience both internally and in the world.

She obtained her bachelor’s at University of California Santa Cruz and her Master of Social Work from University of North Carolina Chapel Hill. During graduate school Danny pursued the substance use and addiction specialist track and was awarded the Prime Care grant focused on providing integrated healthcare. Danny obtained her Clinical Addiction Specialist License and worked as a Residential Therapist to those seeking residential treatment for substance use. 

Danny’s therapeutic approach draws from Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction, Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, and Dialectical Behavioral Therapy. She has experience working with people on a variety of issues including adjustment issues, anxiety, depression, PTSD, sexual assault and trauma, racial identity development, gender identity and sexual orientation identity development, relationship issues, HIV, and substance use.  Danny’s primary role in Student Wellness is to help students confidentially explore their relationship with substance use, whether they may want to consider any changes related to it, and to help with making direct connections to a number of our off-campus partners (therapist, outpatient programs, treatment programs, etc) that may be an additional resource and support for students on this journey.

Currently Vacant

Health Communications & Marketing Specialist

Currently Vacant

Health Promotion Coordinator

Currently Vacant

Associate Director

Currently Vacant

Substance Use Counselor

Currently Vacant

Substance Misuse/Prevention Coordinator

Post Graduate Fellows Program Assistants

Cassidy Crump

Communications & Programming

Yavin Bizarretty

Assessment & Programming

BASICS Social Work Interns

MK Morris

Daniela Marciano

Jordan Binkowitz

Student Office Assistants

Winnie Tettey

Chloe Whitfield

Sara Kwak

Jocelyn Loyola-Lonjinos