Grace Chao

Grace L. Chao graduated from Wellesley College in English in three and half years. She went on to earn a MA in Education from San Diego State University with a specialization in counseling as well as a certified Substance Abuse Counselor in the State of California. 2013, Grace L. Chao received her Ph.D. from Columbia University in Applied Anthropology.

Dr. Chao works as a Senior Advisor to the Department of Human Services, Behavioral Health Division of the State of North Dakota. Her current focus centers on mental health advocacy for Indigenous Teens. She is also co-founder of the Turtle Mountain Indigenous Youth Peer Support team which will provide the first Indigenous focused training curriculum for Youth Peer Support Specialists in the country.

Dr. Chao was a TED X Fargo 2022 speaker. Her talk: Surviving Depression with Indigenous Teens was given on July 21, 2022. She received a standing ovation as well as being named one of the most meaningful and impactful speeches at TEDx Fargo 2022.

Dr. Chao has co-authored an article on faculty of color and tenure for Journal publication. She has also presented several papers at the American Anthropological Association, the American Marriage Family Therapists Association, and the American Association for Marriage and Family Therapists.

Dr. Chao is married to the Honorable Gordon A. Hartogensis who is the current Director of Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC), a federal agency that insures all private pension plans in the United States. Gordon Hartogensis was at the helm of the PBGC during the passage of the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 which rescued approximately 200 multiemployer pension plans from insolvency and saved the pensions of approximately three million hard working Americans. Huge advocates of education, Dr. Chao and Mr. Hartogensis have sponsored an undergraduate scholarship and a graduate interdisciplinary scholarship at Stanford University. They are blessed with two wonderful daughters: Alexia (Harvard College Class of ’24) and Penelope (Harvard College Class of ’27).