Elder Baba Eric Anthony Ivory
Umoja Elder Council & Board Representative Umoja Elder CouncilBy DNA research, Elder Baba Eric Anthony Ivory can trace his maternal ancestry to the proud Mende people of Sierra Leone. His Mende name is Sundima — a boy born on a Sunday. In Ghana, his Ga name for Sunday is Kwasi or Kwesi.
His Umoja purpose and his why as an Elder is drawn from an old African proverb: to listen and provide wisdom and insight not because elders are always right, but because they have more experience at being wrong.
Elder Ivory became a member of the Umoja Elder Council in 2024 and joined the Board of Directors as Elder Council representative in 2025. His experiences in education span 39 years, including student club advising, EOP/S Counseling, Coordinator of TRIO SSS, and serving as an original co-founder of the Umoja Community at Modesto Junior College. He has taught Umoja-focused courses and provided counseling in direct service of Umoja students throughout his career.
Outside of his professional life, he loves growing his own vegetables almost year-round, fishing, exercising, cooking, and traveling. He is educationally, emotionally, and spiritually trained as a collage and decoupage artist whose work focuses on the diversity and commonality of human experiences.