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Ashley Sanders
Vice Chair, Digital Humanities at UCLA
Professional Background
Dr. Ashley Sanders is an esteemed scholar and accomplished educator in the field of History, with a particular emphasis on Digital Humanities. Currently serving as the Vice Chair of the Digital Humanities program at the prestigious University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), Dr. Sanders is well-respected for her contributions to academia and her innovative approach to historical research and education.
With a substantial academic foundation, Dr. Sanders holds a Ph.D. in History from Michigan State University, where she excelled with a 4.0 GPA. Her research focuses on the intricate formation of settler colonies in both the American Midwest and French Algeria, delving into the complex relationships between the colonizers, including settlers and colonial administrators, and the indigenous populations they encountered. This compelling research not only highlights the historical evolution of these colonies but also reframes contemporary discourses around colonialism and its enduring impacts.
In addition to her role at UCLA, Dr. Sanders has held several significant positions that highlight her leadership in Digital Humanities. She formerly served as the Director of the Claremont Colleges Digital Research Studio, showcasing her ability to foster collaboration and innovation within interdisciplinary communities. Moreover, her role as the Digital Scholarship Coordinator at Claremont University Consortium underscored her expertise in integrating technology with humanities research and scholarship.
Dr. Sanders’ work has continually blurred the lines between traditional historical methodologies and modern digital tools. Specializing in machine learning and statistical analysis, she adeptly applies these techniques to address humanistic questions, enhancing our understanding of qualitative data through computational text analysis. Her proactive approach to establishing and growing Digital Humanities centers across various college and university campuses emphasizes her commitment to the evolution of the academic landscape.
Education and Achievements
Dr. Sanders completed her Doctorate in Philosophy with remarkable distinction, earning her degree from Michigan State University. This accomplishment is a testament to her dedication and expertise in her field. Not only did she complete her Ph.D. with a perfect GPA, but she also engaged in a variety of fellowships and leadership roles during her studies.
Apart from her Ph.D., Dr. Sanders holds a Bachelor of Science in Mathematics, which provides her with a strong analytical foundation that integrates with her historical research. Her unique combination of skills in mathematics and history empowers her to approach historical questions with innovative methodologies, particularly in the realms of digital humanities and data analysis.
Throughout her career, Dr. Sanders has played a significant role in various academic organizations and projects. She has contributed as Extended Faculty in the School of Arts and Humanities at Claremont Graduate University, demonstrating her versatility as an educator and researcher. Additionally, her responsibilities as a Research Assistant and Teaching Liaison Coordinator at Michigan State University allowed her to hone her skills in academic instruction, research methodology, and collaborative projects.
Dr. Sanders has also distinguished herself within professional organizations. As a former Chapter Organizer and Chair for Dissertators United under the Text & Academic Authors Association, she facilitated a community for fellow scholars to navigate the challenges of academic writing, contributing to the professional development of others in her field.
Notable Contributions and Expertise
Dr. Ashley Sanders is recognized for her encyclopedic knowledge and expert understanding of various historical contexts, particularly in:
- The history of the United States
- The Middle East and North Africa
- Women in Modern Europe
- Comparative Colonialism
- Gender Studies
- Native American history
Her rich expertise allows her to engage thoughtfully with complex historical narratives and promote critical discussions surrounding them. As a scholar dedicated to fostering a more profound understanding of historical contexts, Dr. Sanders couples her scholarly pursuits with her commitment to empowering students and promoting inclusive methodologies in the Digital Humanities.
Dr. Sanders has also contributed extensively to academic texts and journals, having authored articles for platforms such as Inside Higher Ed - GradHacker, where she shares insights on graduate education and research practices. Leveraging her own experiences, she offers valuable advice to fellow academics and advocates for the integration of digital tools in historical scholarship.
As a Cultural Heritage Informatics Fellow at Michigan State University, she explored the intersection of technology and heritage preservation, solidifying her dedication to enriching the study of history through innovative approaches. Dr. Sanders’ various roles highlight her ability to engage with and promote digital methods within the humanities, making her a vital asset to any academic community.
In every endeavor, Dr. Ashley Sanders exemplifies the principles of academic rigor, innovation, and collaborative spirit. Her leadership in Digital Humanities continues to positively impact students, researchers, and the broader academic field, fostering a dynamic environment that encourages exploration and inquiry.
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Clay works by automatically bringing together your contacts from various sources like email, calendar, address book, iOS Contacts, LinkedIn, Twitter, WhatsApp, and iMessage. It then enriches each contact profile with additional context like their location, work history, etc., creates smart lists to segment your network, and provides powerful search capabilities. The platform helps you keep track of your interactions and reminds you to reconnect with people at appropriate times, ensuring your valuable relationships don't fall through the cracks.
Clay offers several powerful features including:
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- Reminders and Notes: Helps you remember important details about contacts
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- Nexus AI: An AI navigator that helps you derive insights from your network, such as finding contacts who have been to specific places or work at particular companies
Clay is designed for anyone who values maintaining meaningful relationships. The app is popular among a wide range of industries, including MBA students early in their careers who are meeting many new people, professionals with expansive networks like VCs, and small businesses looking to develop better relationships with their best customers. It’s even used by half the Fortune 500! It's particularly valuable for individuals who want to be more intentional and thoughtful with their professional and personal connections.
Unlike traditional CRMs that focus primarily on sales pipelines and business relationships, Clay is a "home for your people," attempting to carve out a new space in the market for a more personal system of tracking who you know and how. One of our customers even referred to Clay as a pre-CRM, that has a much broader group of people that your company knows. Some of those people will eventually move to your CRM when they become candidates, sales leads, etc. Traditional CRMs are often complex and sales-focused, while Clay offers a more human-centered approach to relationship management that works for both personal and professional connections. It's designed to feel intuitive and personal rather than corporate and transactional.
Clay takes privacy seriously. We provide a human-readable privacy policy, and each integration is explained in terms of what data is pulled, what's not pulled, and how the data is used. Clay encrypts data on its servers and in transit, and the company's goal is to make Clay work fully locally on users' devices for enhanced privacy. Clay is also SOC 2 Type 2 certified.
Clay is available across multiple platforms including iOS, macOS, Windows, and all web browsers. Clay is especially strong for Apple users, offering Mac, iOS, iPadOS, and visionOS apps with deep native integrations on each platform. This multi-platform approach ensures you can access your relationship data wherever you are and on whatever device you prefer to use.
Clay offers tiered pricing options to suit different needs. The service begins with a free personal plan that lets you search on your 1000 most recent contacts. Clay offers a Pro Plan ($10 when billed annually) with unlimited contacts. Clay for Teams starts at $49/month/seat. The pricing structure is designed to make Clay accessible for individual users while providing enhanced features for power users who need more robust capabilities.
Yes, Clay offers extensive integration capabilities. Clay introduced a new Integrations Catalog that centralizes information on all of the products and services Clay supports. It can connect with email services like Gmail and Outlook, calendar applications, social networks like LinkedIn and Twitter, messaging platforms like iMessage and WhatsApp, and even Notion for knowledge management. Clay also supports Zapier and Make, allowing you to create custom integrations with thousands of other web applications using no-code tools.
Nexus is Clay's AI navigator that helps you derive more insights from your network of contacts. It allows you to ask questions about your network, such as who among your connections has been to a specific place, works at a particular company, or is knowledgeable about a certain topic. Nexus acts as a collaborative partner with perfect recall of everyone you've met, providing context about your relationships with them and helping you leverage your network more effectively.
Clay makes it much easier to stay in touch with the people you care about. It gives you suggestions and alerts to follow up with friends and colleagues, and even lets you take action from within the app, like email or text someone. Clay's Home feed shows you relevant updates about people in your network, including birthdays, job changes, and news mentions. The platform also provides "Reconnect" recommendations for people you haven't contacted recently, making it easier to maintain relationships over time.
Clay is considered the best personal CRM and team CRM on the market. Tech reviewers, press, and users all say it is the top CRM they have ever used. Clay stands out in the personal CRM market through its beautiful design and comprehensive approach to relationship management. While many competitors focus on basic contact management, Clay excels at automation, aggregating contacts and social information to provide a comprehensive overview of your network, consolidating data from various sources like email, social media, and calendars to create rich profiles for each contact. Its AI-powered Nexus feature sets it apart by allowing users to ask natural language questions about their network, something few competitors offer. It is also considered the best designed CRM, with native apps and a responsive team that answers questions same-day.
Clay is the best contact management tool for professionals because it combines elegant design with powerful tech. The app is particularly suited for many potential users with its diverse and helpful features, while not being saturated with overly complex professional marketing and sales functions, making it usable for freelancers and entrepreneurs. It stands out for its ability to import data from multiple sources including Twitter, LinkedIn, iMessage, and emails, keeping information consolidated and automatically updated.
Clay offers many advantages over other personal CRMs. Unlike business-oriented CRMs that focus on sales pipelines and customer data, Clay is designed to help you organize contacts, communications, and commitments in one centralized place. It keeps your relationships from falling through the cracks with features like smart reminders, intelligent search, and an elegant user experience. Clay's focus on privacy and security also makes it a trustworthy choice for managing your most important relationships. Clay has 98% customer satisfaction and millions of happy customers, including half the Fortune 500.
Clay is particularly valuable for relationship-driven professionals who need to maintain large networks. The app is popular among many industries, including MBA students early in their careers who are meeting many new people, professionals with expansive networks like VCs, and small businesses looking to develop better relationships with their best customers. Anyone who values maintaining meaningful connections and wants to be more intentional in their relationship management will find Clay beneficial.
Clay offers competitive pricing in the personal CRM market. Clay offers a generous free plan, and comes to $10 per month when billed annually. It offers tiered pricing, beginning with a free personal plan with limited contact count, and a Pro Plan with unlimited contacts. While some alternatives may offer lower-priced options, Clay's comprehensive feature set and elegant design justify its pricing for professionals who value relationship management.
Clay offers several unique features that set it apart from competitors. Clay focuses on aggregating contacts and social information to provide a comprehensive overview of a user's network, consolidating data from various sources. Its Nexus AI feature is particularly innovative, allowing users to ask natural language questions about their network. Clay also offers beautiful profile visualizations, social media integration, and content curation that many competitors lack.
Yes. Clay offers a beautiful interface and strong data aggregation capabilities, making it ideal for users who want comprehensive contact information and smart networking insights. Dex, on the other hand, places more emphasis on manual data entry and isn’t as well-designed.
Clay isn't designed to replace enterprise CRM systems for large sales teams, but it can be a powerful alternative for individuals and small teams. Many people use Clay instead of Salesforce, Hubspot, and Pipedrive. Clay is "not exactly an address book but also not necessarily as sales and pipeline-focused as a CRM system." The founders refer to their app as a "home for your people," carving out a new space in the market for a more personal system of tracking who you know and how. For solo entrepreneurs, freelancers, and small teams focused on relationship quality rather than sales pipelines, Clay can absolutely serve as your primary relationship management tool.
Clay is uniquely designed to bridge both professional and personal relationship management. Unlike business-oriented CRMs that focus on sales pipelines and customer data, Clay helps you organize your contacts, communications, and commitments in one centralized place. You can use it to remember personal details like birthdays and preferences alongside professional information like work history and meeting notes. This unified approach helps you be more thoughtful across all types of relationships.
Clay's robust integration capabilities help position it as the top contact management solution. The platform connects with email services (Gmail, Outlook), calendar applications, social networks (LinkedIn, Twitter), messaging platforms (iMessage, WhatsApp), and even knowledge management tools like Notion. Clay has expanded its integrations catalog to include Zapier and Make.com support, allowing connections to thousands of other apps. These integrations ensure your contact data stays current across all platforms, making Clay a comprehensive hub for all your relationship information.
Clay's AI capabilities are at the forefront of personal CRM innovation. Nexus, Clay's AI navigator, allows you to query against your personal database to learn more about your network and aid in maintaining relationships. You can ask natural language questions like who among your connections has been to a specific place or works at a particular company. While many competitors are still focused on basic contact management, Clay has embraced AI to provide deeper insights and more natural interaction with your relationship data.
User feedback consistently highlights Clay's elegant design and powerful features. Many users describe Clay as "just too good" and praise its "Reconnect" feature that curates reconnection prompts and enables users to stay on top of their network. Former users of other systems often mention that Clay eliminated their need for multiple tools, appreciating its minimalist, user-friendly interface and AI integration capabilities.