Meet the Staff

Aimee Mangan
Interim Director 
she/her
amangan@ucsc.edu

My name is Aimee Mangan and I am the Associate Director at SHOP. This role supports all functions of health promotion services by designing and implementing health promotion and primary prevention programs for UCSC students. 

I have direct service delivery and volunteer management experience with multiple populations including students, families, and domestic violence and sexual assault survivors. I have strategic planning and management experience with a variety of local nonprofits including Monarch Services, and Big Brothers Big Sisters of Santa Cruz County, in addition to over a dozen years at the County of Santa Cruz. In my 25 years of social services work, I have developed and implemented proactive and sustainable community initiatives such as The Santa Cruz Meth Project and Community Prevention Partners. 

I was born and raised in the Bay Area, attended high school in Colorado, community college in California and graduated from the University of Washington with a B.A. in Literature. In 1997 I completed a Certificate in Professional Addiction Counseling to enhance my professional development and efficacy. I am a first-generation college student that did not complete high school or have a traditional start to community or 4-year college. 

I know the educational path is not always straight and that people and policies impact the odds of success. I am excited to work directly with students to optimize their experiences while supporting policies to increase equitable student success. I stand for dignity, equity and unconditional positive regard.

In my free time I enjoy surfing, gardening, hiking, cooking and traveling with my grown-up twin boys.  

Emily Giovanelli, MPH/MSW 
Mental Health Educator 
she/her
egiovane@ucsc.edu

Hi everyone, my name is Emily and I am the Mental Health Educator at SHOP! I was a transfer student at UCSC and graduated from the Psychology and HAVC programs. While at UCSC I worked with the Santa Cruz Office of Education, and provided health education and college prep information to youth in the alternative education system. After graduation I served in AmeriCorps in the Bay Area for two years. During my second year I was a health educator in a school-based health center in Oakland where I did birth control and STI education. 

After AmeriCorps, I made the decision to leave California, move to the Midwest, and get my Master in Public Health and Social Work. I attended the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor (Go Blue!). Outside of my classes I was a wellness coach and worked with students on a variety of topics including alcohol and other drug harm reduction, body image and mindful eating, stress reduction, and sleep hygiene. After three brutal winters, I decided it was time to come home to the beautiful west coast. I will miss the changing of the seasons, the lakes, and people saying “Ope, just gonna sneak right past ya” (all one word).  

I am so excited to be SHOP’s mental health educator. In this position I wish to cultivate a culture on campus where students can thrive and be their authentic selves, while navigating college with full support from the university. Well-being looks and sounds different for everyone, and there is no one size fits all approach to mental health. I also know that we cannot talk about mental health without addressing the greater systems which we interact with every day. I am thrilled to be working in an office that pledges to be for students, by students and welcomes students in with no judgment and unconditional positive regard. 

When I am not on campus I am either walking along West Cliff, reading, cooking, or doing embroidery! My favorite food in the Bay Area is the lemon sugar cookie ice cream sandwich from Curbside Creamery in Oakland, and I will sometimes drive to get one.