Newsroom

Join us in celebrating faculty, staff, and students for Black History Month. 

 Alaina McClue

Alaina McClue, MIE '20, grew up in New Orleans, Louisiana, studying jazz music and art. During Alaina's time at Xavier University of Louisiana as an accounting major, she was able to attend the Summer Institute for Emerging Managers and Leaders at UC Berkeley, which inspired her to pursue the Merage School MIE program. Motivated by the many resources that the Merage School has to offer, Alaina hopes to develop her business idea for a wearable medical device to treat carpal tunnel syndrome.

Kimberly Murry

The life of Kimberly Murry, FEMBA '21, revolves around her family business, her coursework at the Merage School and most importantly, her family. As a full-time mother of two and the Operations Manager of Knollcrest, LLC, Kimberly has become accustomed to balancing work, life and school. Wanting to develop her knowledge of business, Kimberly chose the Merage School because of our FEMBA program's flexibility. Kimberly prides herself in representing black women in business at the Merage School and striving to achieve generational wealth, ultimately leaving a legacy for her family.

Asani Myers

Asani Myers hit the ground running in her new position as a Program Manager for the Full-Time MBA program at the Merage School. Even though she has only been a part of the Merage School team for less than a year, Asani had a vision to increase students’ daily awareness of their wellness and worked with a team of colleagues to create an event called Merage Matters: Supporting Your Wellness, a program in collaboration with the UCI Center for Student Wellness and Health Promotion, which will premiere later this month. Asani infuses her two passions of psychology and helping others in her position by helping MBA candidates with enrollment, scheduling and more. A fun fact about Asani: she recently performed at the Grammy Awards as a singer during the tribute to Nipsey Hussle and Kobe Bryant.

Tonya Williams Bradford, Assistant Professor

Tonya Williams Bradford, originally from the San Francisco Bay Area, enjoyed living in various cities (Atlanta, Chicago, London, Cape Town) while working in financial services before joining the academy. She earned her degrees (BA, Anthropology; MBA, Marketing and Economics; and, PhD, Marketing) at Northwestern University. She studied abroad in France during high school and participated in an archaeological excavation as an undergrad. She researches rituals, communities and identity across phenomenon including gifting (e.g., registry, organ, charitable), relationships with money, communities (e.g., tailgating and support), acculturation, and brand loyalty. And, through her research with undergraduate and PhD students she has developed more diverse interests. Her research is published in the Journal of Consumer Research, the Journal of Marketing, the Journal of Retailing, the Journal of Business Research, the Journal of Interactive Marketing, and Research in Consumer Behavior, has been presented at the Smithsonian Institute, and included in media reports through various outlets including the Wall Street Journal, National Public Radio, and Ladies Home Journal. Though she loves her research and teaching, she is happiest enjoying an adventure filled life with her husband and their fun-loving sons.

Kevin D. Bradford, Associate Professor

Professor Bradford is an associate professor of teaching at The Paul Merage School of Business at the University of California, Irvine and previously taught at the University of Notre Dame for 16 years. Bradford’s research generally focuses on the interactions between marketing, consumers and public policy. He is also on a University of California system-wide firearms research council. Professor Bradford says his favorite class to teach is, "Sales Management because of my experience professionally and academically and because of the course's instrumentality to students as professionals post-graduation."