Award Recognition and Reception
Presenters Biographies
This page contains all the presenter's biographies, thus it is very long. Use the Find feature of your browser. You can also find the biography of your Workshop, Poster Session, or Roundtable leader by clicking on their name in the Presenter section of the respective workshop/poster session/roundtable.Ellen Alcorn is the Assistant Director of the Harward Center for Community Partnerships. Her work is primarily with education-based community-based learning and student leadership development. She directs the Bonner Leaders program.
Ian Altendorfer is a junior majoring in Natural Resource: Resource Planning in the Rubenstein School of Environment and Natural Resources at the University of Vermont, with a minor in Biology. In addition to his participation in the Stewards program is a Senator in the Student Government association and is an active leader UVM's Outing Club. Since June 2009, Ian has been an intern at Sopher Investment Management researching Social Responsible Investing. He hopes to become involved in environmental policy for the state of Vermont after graduating from the University of Vermont.
Benoni Amsden is a rural sociologist whose teaching and research meet at the intersection of rural recreation and tourism, agritourism, local food, the economic impacts of rural development, and volunteer stewardship. In addition to working with students and maintaining an active research agenda, Ben oversees the Coös County Outreach Initiative, a program of collaborative partnerships between Plymouth State University faculty, staff and Coos County partners. Ben earned his bachelor’s degree at Rochester Institute of Technology in Economics, his masters in Parks Recreation and Tourism Resources at Michigan State University and earned his doctorate in Rural Sociology from Penn State University.
Daniel Baker is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Community Development and Applied Economics (CDAE) at the University of Vermont, teaches multiple undergraduate project-based service-learning courses in both Vermont and Honduras. Project topics have included municipal and economic development, affordable housing, technology transfer and implementation, environmental monitoring, computer mapping and resource analysis and agricultural development.His recent research has been in transdisciplinary community-based action research. Dr. Baker received the UVM Kroepsch-Maurice Excellence in Teaching Award in 2003 and the UVM Outstanding Service-Learning Faculty Award in 2006.
Sarah Barr After graduating from Chatham Collage with a BA in Global Policy Studies, Sarah joined the Lutheran Volunteer Corps for a year of service in Washington, DC as the Legal Clinic Coordinator at Bread for the City. In 2000, she joined the staff of the Holleran Center for Community Action and Public Policy at Connecticut College where she worked with students to develop interdisciplinary programs of study that focused on a variety of community-based issues including food security, affordable housing, education, environmental sustainability, and public health. She is particularly interested in working with students to connect their academic programs of study with internships and other community-based experiences at local, national, and international levels. Sarah coordinates the Civic Engagement Scholars program and the Amherst Select Internship Program (ASIP), and she collaborates on a variety of projects with community partners. She is currently pursuing a master’s degree in Theology and Ethics at Hartford Seminary.
Robert R. Basow teaches the capstone course (Journalism 676 Strategic Campaigns) in which students work in teams to solve a current problem for an actual client – this semester the KU Center for Sustainability and KU Energy Council, with research funding from Kansas City Power & Light and Westar Energy. The purpose is to create campaigns to engage 100 percent of the university community in developing a conservation culture that helps KU achieve sustainability. He has also taught Strategic Campaigns at KU for 20+ years, after working in marketing for a global corporation for 20 years. Previous clients have included CReSIS, the Center for the Remote Sensing of Ice Sheets, a KU-based NSF-funded research institute that monitors the polar ice caps. With CReSIS colleagues Basow published an article for an online journal about teaching students to communicate about climate change.
Rick Battistoni is Professor and Chair of Political Science and Professor of Public and Community Service Studies at Providence College. For the past 20 years, Rick has been a leader in the field of service-learning, especially as it relates to questions of civic education and engagement. From 1994-2000, he served as the founding Director of the Feinstein Institute for Public Service at Providence College, the first degree-granting program combining community service with the curriculum. Rick also has developed and directed service-learning efforts at Rutgers and Baylor Universities. His major service-learning publications include Civic Engagement Across the Curriculum: A Resource Book for Faculty in all Disciplines.
Connie Bauman is an Associate Professor at Wellesley College and directs and coordinates the Sports Medicine and Wellness programs. She served as athletic trainer for the 1982 and 1983 World Games, the 1984 Olympic Games, and the World Cup Women's Lacrosse Championships in 1986. Connie is currently engaged in a three-year longitudinal research study identifying risk factors associated with athletic injuries in Wellesley College varsity athletes. The Wellesley College Sports Medicine Outreach/Mentoring program was launched in 2009 with the Science Club for Girls in Newton and Cambridge, Massachusetts. Connie also directs the Employee Wellness program, which assists faculty and staff campus-wide to integrate exercise and healthy eating habits into their busy lifestyles to enhance well being.
Christina Bechstein is Asst. Professor and Head of Sculpture, as well as Faculty Coordinator of Service Learning at the Maine College of Art. She is a social and public artist whose practice works to foster dialogue and collective action among community members. She has lectured and co-facilitated workshops both nationally and internationally including The Politics of Design in Ulm, Germany; Engaging Creative Communities by Choice Not by Chance at the World Cultural Economic Forum in New Orleans; and at Convergence: Art and Activism at Tufts University. She coordinated the community partnership between CC and the faculty at Maine College of Art (MECA), co-developed the course FY-In with her colleagues, and will be working to launch a new minor in Social + Public Practice at MECA in 2010.
Jason Beck graduated from Miami University ( Ohio) in 2007 with a degree in Political Science and English/Creative Writing. Since graduation, he has worked as Colgate University’s AmeriCorps VISTA member to expand the school's outreach in the city of Utica. Before serving at Colgate, Jason worked a summer with an affordable housing agency in Cincinnati called Over-the-Rhine Community Housing. While at Miami, he worked in the university's Office of Community Engagement and Service, leading service trips of student volunteers to work in the Over-the-Rhine community and co-wrote an honor's thesis on community engagement and higher education.
Frances Belcher's extensive experience in community development, multi-sector collaboration, public policy, and philanthropy has been a perfect fit for PSU's Center for Rural Partnerships. Prior to joining the Center in November of 2008, Fran served as Director of the NHHEAF Network Educational Foundation and served as program officer to numerous charitable foundations focused upon higher education, family development and community health programs in NH. In addition to teaching Non Profit Management and Philanthropy at PSU, Fran facilitates the Northern Forest Higher Education and Resource Network, a consortium of colleges and universities extending from the Adirondacks to the Maritime Provinces of Canada. Fran obtained her BA in Psychology and Organizational Behavior from Shippensburg State University of Pennsylvania and Master's in Education, with a specialization in school and community systems, from Temple University in Philadelphia.
Elizabeth Bieber is the Massachusetts Campus Compact Americorps*VISTA for the Five Colleges, Incorporated Community Based Learning Committee based at Mount Holyoke College. She serves as a liaison between the Five Colleges and surrounding communities to improve campus-community relations. In this role she works most closely between the five campuses and the city of Holyoke; serving on the planning committee for the Campus-Community Compact, directing a new Five Colleges-Holyoke Partnership website, and creating a new series of student trainings focused on skill-building and social justice development. Prior to this position she was a Smith College student active in Holyoke community-based research and interning in youth development in Holyoke. She graduated in spring 2009 with a BA in Anthropology and Urban Studies.
Alan Bloomgarden Ed.D. is the Coordinator of the Community-Based Learning Program at Mount Holyoke College. In that role he supports 15-18 CBL courses annually, supervises 25-30 student "community fellows" and "CBL mentors," and teaches several courses including the "Engaging the Pioneer Valley" introduction to the region's non-profit sector and the theory and practice of campus-community partnership. Prior to this role he served for 12 years as Director of Faculty Grants and Government Relations at Smith College, where he was involved in campus-community partnership work in Holyoke and throughout the region. Alan's dissertation, "Prestige Orientation and Community-Based Faculty Work," received the 2009 dissertation of the year award from the International Association of Research on Service Learning and Community Engagement.
Janet Bossange is a Senior Lecturer at the University of Vermont where she is also serving as Associate Dean in College of Education and Social Services. In 1995 Dr. Bossange began her work as a lecturer in the Secondary Education Program and until 2007, served as the Professional Development Site Coordinator in South Burlington School District as well as a Faculty Service Learning Fellow. Dr. Bossange continues her research in the areas of service-learning, action research, and professional development in her current role as Associate Dean for Community Outreach & External Affairs with the College of Education and Social Services.
Vincent Breslin is an Associate Professor in the Department of Science Education and Environmental Studies at Southern Connecticut State University. He received a BS in Marine Biology from the University of New England, ME, a MS in Marine Environmental Studies from SUNY at Stony Brook, NY and a Ph.D. in Oceanography from the Florida Institute of Technology, FL. He currently serves as the faculty coordinator for both the undergraduate Marine Studies and Environmental Studies minor programs. Dr. Breslin teaches undergraduate courses in the Marine Studies minor program, the Environmental Studies minor program, the Honors College program and the graduate Environmental Education MS program. In 2007, Dr. Breslin was awarded the J. Phillip Smith Award for Outstanding Teaching at SCSU. He also serves as a co-coordinator Connecticut State University Center for Coastal and Marine Studies. The CCMS enhances faculty-directed student research and curriculum development in support of addressing regional issues of concern to coastal Connecticut.
Yohanna Briscoe is a senior at Amherst College from Burlington, Vermont, majoring in Black Studies. For the past three years she has worked in the Center for Community Engagement as a Student Coordinator for the Winternship Program and the Summer Internship Program. She expanded her interest in community engagement to the international arena, when she studied abroad in South Africa, giving her the opportunity to work with children who have been orphaned by HIV/AIDS. Outside of her work at the Center for Community Engagement and academics, Yohanna plays rugby, dances with the Swing and Ballroom Dance Club and volunteers with Girls Inc. of Holyoke. She is uncertain about what she wants to do after graduation but hopes to pursue a career in the non-profit sector.
Allison Broadwater is a 2009 graduate of Wellesley College with a degree in Neuroscience. During her time at Wellesley, she took Sports Medicine 205 and then adapted it to a middle school summer curriculum when she accepted an education internship with Breakthrough Cambridge, part of the national Breakthrough Collaborative, in the summer of 2008. She chose the subject material for its high interest accessibility, classroom adaptability, and low exposure for students at such a young age. She was so engaged and inspired by her experience at Breakthrough Cambridge that she returned to teach in the 2009 summer and immediately followed that summer by beginning her teaching career at Mother Caroline Academy, a private, tuition-free middle school serving underprivileged girls in Dorchester, MA, where she teaches science and math.
Aramie Brooks-Salzman is a senior in Human Development and Family Studies. Aramie has developed a plan to intern in the spring with Linking Learning to Life, a statewide initiative to help high school students find meaningful internships. Aramie is also a member of the Youth Summit planning team. She will be earning course credit for both projects.
Lauren Buckley graduated from Holy Cross in May of 2009, and returned to campus this year through the AmeriCorps*VISTA Program. As a student, Lauren worked with St. Mary’s Healthcare and the Refugee and Immigrant Assistance Center.
Kathleen Buckley is a junior and a Secondary Education student focusing in the area of Social Studies. Kathleen is the Chair of the student group planning the March 5 th Youth Summit. Kathleen will earn course credit for her leadership of this group.
Stephanie Burrell is an Assistant Professor of Curriculum and Instruction and teaches courses in multicultural education and participatory action research. In her role as Co-facilitator of Academic Assessment she has worked with several departments and programs to develop assessment strategies to enhance teaching and learning.
Jan Carney, MD, MPH is Associate Dean for Public Health at the UVM College of Medicine and brings both academic and public health practice and policy experience. She directs College of Medicine efforts to integrate public health into medical education and develops community public health projects with the United Way of Chittenden County.
Andrea Chang is a junior majoring in Biology at Wellesley College. She enjoys studying anatomy and physiology, and hopes to get a doctorate in physical therapy someday soon. When not in lab, Andrea can be found working in the athletic training room or sharing her love of sports medicine with others, either through teaching or diagnosing friends' injuries.
Malcolm Chu is currently serving as the Student Bridges MACC AmeriCorps *VISTA in Amherst, Massachusetts. Originally from Brooklyn, NY, Malcolm graduated through the NYC public school system and graduated from the University of Massachusetts Amherst in 2009. There, he worked to develop an individual concentration (BDIC) focusing on Alternative Public Education Models, Youth Empowerment and Social Justice. While serving as a VISTA, Malcolm's primary role has been to develop Student Bridges capacity to work with community partners in Springfield, Massachusetts, including but not limited to: developing comprehensive "College Positive Tutor-Mentor Trainings" for Student Bridges students, developing site curriculum for partner sites and coordinating community-based orientations. While a student Malcolm took part in various Community Based and Community Service Learning Opportunities, including co-facilitating the Young Men of Color Leadership Project--a youth empowerment program in Amherst, Massachusetts. He is excited to be joining NECC for the conference and looks forward to fighting for justice and equality in the future.
William Cioffi is a senior at Brown University, pursing a degree in Biology. Will has been a mentor in a high school science outreach program at the Swearer Center for Public Service for four years and is current one of the coordinators of the program with Jennifer Park. In the summers, Will works on a whale watch boat in New Hampshire and hopes to pursue a career in biology and teaching.
Rebecca Clark is an Assistant Professor of Human Services and Assistant Director of Civic Engagement at Bristol Community College. She has been working with the Civic Engagement Program since Fall 2008. Prior to coming to BCC, Rebecca served as a Professor of Behavioral Sciences at Ohio Valley University in Parkersburg, WV, for over ten years. While there, she was recognized as the “Professor of the Year”, for the 2006-07 school year. Rebecca is certified in Conflict Resolution and Mediation through the Pittsburgh Center for Conflict Resolution.
Casey Leigh Cullen is an Environmental Science student in the Rubenstein School of Environment and Natural Resources at the University of Vermont, with a minor in Green Building and Community Design. She serves her school community as a member of the Stewards Program (on which she is presenting), Diversity Task Force, Student Advisory Board, 2011 Class Council, and as the sole student Representative on the RSENR Board of Advisors.
Billie Jo Day M.Ed., is a Massachusetts Campus Compact AmeriCorps*VISTA serving as a College Access and Success Coordinator at Simmons College in Boston, MA. Ms. Day currently trains student volunteers and designs college access curricula for student groups and community partners. In the past, she has done work with Groups Student Support Services, TERI COACH program, New England Board of Higher Education - College Ready New England, POSSE, and Citizen Schools. Ms. Day received a Bachelor of Arts degree in Psychology from Indiana University – Bloomington in 2001 and a Masters in Education from Harvard Graduate School of Education in 2009. She is co-author of two reports on college access: Readiness revised: Strategies and innovations to improve college and career success for underrepresented students and Aligned by design: Models and lessons for linking K-12 and higher education to measure and achieve postsecondary readiness .
Verónica de Darer, Ph.D. in Multilingual/Multicultural Education, Senior Lecturer in Spanish and Education, has taught courses on Diversity in Education, Latin American Culture and Civilization, and Classroom Discourse Analysis. Her research interests focus on classroom ethnographies in order to understand student's learning opportunities during classroom interactions. Currently she is working on analyzing student diaries written during a short-term abroad experience. Professor Darer has co-authored a Spanish language textbook and authored several academic articles and chapters on teaching and learning. She serves as the Faculty Director of the Lumpkin Service Learning Institute and was the Director of Programs of the Pforzheimer Learning and Teaching Center at Wellesley College.
Claudia DeCesare has spent 10 years at Swearer Center involved in Campus/Community collaborations that facilitate learning and teaching and community impact. This work includes technical and organizational support to local grass root non- profit organizations. 20 years of non-profit work experience in program development, administration, evaluation, grant writing and community organizing.
Xavier DeFreitas is a graduate student in CESS’ Higher Education and Student Affairs Program (HESA). He has an assistantship with the Dean’s Office and in this role serves as a co-instructor for EDSS 195. Xavier is also the leader for one of the courses community projects. The project is the E ighth Grade Academy Program. Xavier will be developing this program with the help of one of the undergraduate interns taking EDSS 195.
Kimberly DePasquale is a recent Rubenstein School graduate and is currently the Coordinator of Community-based Learning and an Americorps* VISTA volunteer in the School’s Office of Experiential Learning. She is a primary facilitator of the Rubenstein School’s Engaged Department Process and supports faculty, TAs, community partners, and students involved in collaborative learning partnerships.
Jelisa Difo is a Double Major in Social Thought and Political Economy and Political Science with a Double Minor in Spanish and Portuguese. Jelisa has been a part of Student Bridges for the last 4 years. With her she brings a wealth of experience as a tutor-mentor, a site coordinator, a leader and an advocate for effective, accessible and affordable higher education. Currently, Jelisa is working to strengthen the ability of Student Bridges Alumni to advocate and support higher education access and success, as well as connecting Alumni resources and her own resources with current underrepresented students at UMass to promote increased retention and success. She has served on the board of the United States Student Association as the Vice Chair of the Latino Student Caucus. Devoted and committed to the pursuit of free higher education for all. Jelisa is an education enthusiast!
Kyle Dodson is the Director of Community Service and Civic Engagement programs at Champlain College in Burlington, VT. Before joining the Champlain College staff in August of 2008, he founded and spent four years as the Principal of the Lee Academy Pilot School in Dorchester, Massachusetts. He was a member of the inaugural cohort of the Boston Principal Fellows Program, a one-year intensive program to train new leaders for the Boston Public Schools. Before becoming a Principal, Kyle spent eight years as a Student Life Administrator at Saint Michael’s College in Colchester, VT. Prior to his career in education, he was a vice president of mortgage-backed securities trading at PaineWebber, Inc. in N.Y.C. He is currently working toward the completion of his doctorate in Educational Leadership and Policy Studies from the University of Vermont
Corey Dolgon is a Professor of Sociology and the Director of Community-Based Learning at Stonehill College. He was the founding Director of the Center for Service Learning and Civic Engagement at Worcester State College and has authored a Social Problems text book for Pine Forge Press entitled: Living Sociology: Social Problems, Service Learning and Civic Engagement.
Jordan Duffy is a junior at the College of the Holy Cross from Colchester, CT. She is an English Major with a Latin American Studies Concentration and works closely with the Lutheran Social Services Unaccompanied Refugee Minor Program in Worcester teaching English as a Second Language to Latin American Refugees. She is also the current president of the Holy Cross Marching and Pep Band.
Megan Dwyer is an International Business major with minors in Asian Studies and Marketing at Fairfield University. Her interests are in global humanitarian issues and corporate practices’ impact on the environment, employees, and communities.
Eliese Dykstra is a senior Wildlife Biology major in the Rubenstein School of Environment and Natural Resources at the University of Vermont. She is active within her local community as an employee at the student center and an intern at the ECHO Lake Aquarium and Science Center, and globally as a recent participant in field research projects in greater Vermont and the Ecuadorian Highlands. She hopes to let field research take her around the world following graduation this spring.
Lauren Eby is a senior at Wellesley College majoring in Neuroscience and minoring in Women's and Gender Studies. She is currently applying to medical school, and hopes to find a career that combines clinical medicine with public health. When not at Wellesley, she can usually be found on the beach in her hometown, Santa Cruz, California.
Susan Edelman is the co-principal investigator on the Universal Design for Learning grant at the University of Vermont. She holds the title of Research Associate Professor in the University of Vermont’s Center on Disability and Community Inclusion department of the College of Education and Social Services. She provided assistance and expertise during the initial work of the Equity and Excellence grant on UD topics.
Kaitlyn Elias is a senior Education Major at Champlain College. She has been part of the Center for Service & Civic Engagement’s staff for two years. Active involvement in her communities over the past nine years has given her experience in developing a new pedagogy in the teaching community. Over the next year, she will receive a 300 hour service award. She is motivated by a passion for the greater good.
Julie Elkins is the new Director of Academic Initiatives with National Campus Compact. She provides leadership and strategic focus for Campus Compact’s work to embed civic and community engagement within teaching and research activities at the more than 1,100 member colleges and universities representing over 6 million students. Dr. Elkinsadvises and collaborates with the network of 35 state Campus Compact offices on strategies to promote engaged campuses and the scholarship of engagement, including professional development opportunities for faculty and administrators. Dr. Elkins hold a BA in Social Work from Central Missouri State University, a MS in Student Personnel Service and Counseling from Indiana University of Pennsylvania, and a Doctorate of Education from UMASS-Boston.
Andi Elledge is a full time employee at UVM working at the Vermont Advance Computing Center and is currently a graduate in the MPA program at UVM. Andi serves as the TA for the ESDSS 195 course through the CUPS office. She has been trained in reflective writing processes through CUPS.
DonnaJean Fredeen is the dean for the School of Arts & Sciences at Southern Connecticut State University (SCSU). She earned a B.A. in chemistry from McMurry College in Abilene, TX and a Ph.D. in chemistry from Texas A&M University. As dean, DonnaJean has strategically positioned the School of Arts & Sciences as the cornerstone of the university and has championed the role of liberal education in higher education, the revision of the Honors College and general education programs, and the implementation of the SENCER ideals throughout campus. She has actively supported science and mathematics outreach programs in the greater New Haven community and has supported faculty in their efforts to improve enrollments in all mathematics and science programs on campus. Through her efforts, the Connecticut State University Board of Trustees established the Center for Excellence in Mathematics and Science at SCSU. She is co-director of the SCI – New England and a SENCER Leadership Fellow.
Reagan Furqueron is Assistant Professor of Woodworking and Furniture at the Maine College of Art. A woodworker by training and trade, Reagan has been experimenting with service-learning since 2008. His FY-In course this year built both a canoe, and a cold frame for our community partner CC so that they could grow food in the late Winter. Reagan studio practice merges function and the decorative and he has shown his work both nationally and internationally.
Laura Gabiger teaches technical communication at Johnson & Wales University and has practiced project-based service learning since 2001. She has recently designed a curriculum for a new technical communication minor, and is currently developing a course in advanced business communications for undergraduates.
Ulrike Gencarelle has been involved in the Johnson & Wales University community-service learning program since 2006. As a full-time faculty member she teaches film, graphic-, web- and interactive design with focus on environmental and social themes. She is board member and Co-Education Chair of AIGA Rhode Island, the professional association for design, and utilizes her work experience in computer graphics research and as senior designer and art director to prepare her students for life outside of college.
Andrea Gewirtzman is a 2009 graduate of Merton College, University of Oxford, where she was involved in promoting higher education to students from underrepresented groups. As the AmeriCorps*VISTA with Campus Compact in Champlain College's Center for Service & Civic Engagement she is working hard to strengthen the partnership between Champlain College students and local schools.
Audra Grady is the Academic Administrator for Experiential Learning at Brandeis University where she works with staff and faculty to increase utilization and quality of experiential teaching methods, including service-learning. She also works to increase student involvement and leadership in the campus movements for experiential and service-learning. Previously she led the Bodwell Center for Service and Volunteerism at the University of Maine, in Orono, ME. She is completing a Master’s of Science in Management from the School for International Training and anticipates graduating in May 2010. Her thesis is focusing on strategic management of community engagement in higher education; this workshop is based on her current research.
Kate Grimsley-Houran
is a Wildlife Biology major studying at the Rubenstein School of Environment
and Natural Resources at UVM. Most recently, Kate was the Vermont recipient
of the 2009 New England Outdoor Writer's Association. An avid outdoorswoman,
Kate hopes to apply her love for wildlife and natural resources by reforming
public school curriculum to include an eco-literacy requirement so that
the public can make more informed decisions about the environment. Kate
is also the secretary for the Rubenstein Student Advisory Board.
Thaddeus Guldbrandsen is the founding director of the Center for Rural Partnerships and a member of the faculty of Social Science and Environmental Science & Policy at Plymouth State University. He is co-author of the award winning book Local Democracy Under Siege: Activism, Public Interests, and Private Politics (NYU Press 2007) and several other articles and book chapters on topics related to globalization, local democracy, regionalism, sustainable development, and social inequality. He earned his bachelor’s degree in Anthropology at the University of New Hampshire, graduating with highest honors in 1995. He earned his doctorate in Anthropology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 2001. His dissertation, Bull City Futures, examined economic globalization and regional planning efforts in the Research Triangle and Durham, North Carolina as that city made the postindustrial transition from “the City of Tobacco” to “the City of Medicine” at the end of the 20th Century. In 2008, he was named as part of the Union Leader’s “40 Under Forty” young people who make a difference in New Hampshire. Before joining PSU, Thad was a member of the anthropology faculty at UNH (2001-2005) and director of the Center for the Study of Community.
Kelly Hamshaw is Program Assistant in the Office of Community-University Partnerships and Service-Learning (CUPS) as a Vermont Campus Compact AmeriCorps*VISTA volunteer and serves as the liaison between CUPS and CDAE where she facilitates CDAE’s Engaged Department Process. She also supports faculty with their service-learning courses. She received the UVM Outstanding Service-Learning Student Award in 2006. Ms. Hamshaw is completing her MS in Community Development and Applied Economics where she is actively engaged in a long-term community-based action research project focused on affordable housing in Vermont.
Megan Harding is the Project Manager for Peck's Full Service Community School initiative where she has the opportunity to coordinate multiple community and family partnerships in order to strategically collaborate on supporting students and their families at a K-8 school in Holyoke, MA. Megan's background is in youth development and school-based health care work. Before coming to MA, Megan worked within and outside of both schools and jails in domestic violence and school climate initiatives, always focusing within the intersection of community-based and school-based work. Megan received her MSW from, and is currently an Adjunct Professor at, Smith College School for Social Work teaching a course in Agency and Community Practice.
Lisa Harris is a senior in the Environmental Program at UVM. She has been working as a student employee for the CUPS office since August 2008. Lisa’s work there has mostly been focused on student engagement particularly in that of service-learning courses. She is currently writing her senior thesis on service-learning courses and how they can help integrate sustainability into higher education curricula with the support of the CUPS staff and the Environmental Program at UVM. Lisa is originally from New Jersey and currently resides in Burlington.
Melissa Hawkins is Director of Service and Stipend Programs at Wellesley College and has been involved with community service programs in higher education for over twenty years. She received her B.S. in Human Services from Springfield College (1991) and her M.Ed. in College Student Development from Northeastern University (1993). She oversees the Lumpkin Service Learning Institute and helps direct the Psychology Practicum and Internship Program. Her interest in community service stems from being raised in a family dedicated to volunteerism and not-for-profit management.
Jay Helmer is in his second year with Massachusetts Campus Compact and currently serves as the Civic Engagement Coordinator at Salem State College where he is helping to build a Civic Engagement Center. Prior to coming to Salem, Jay earned a Master's Degree in College Student Personnel from Ohio University where he spent two years as the Graduate Assistant for Community Service. In 2006-2007, Jay served at American International College in Springfield.
Tina Hinojosa is the Interim Director of the Center for Art and Community Partnerships at Massachusetts College of Art and Design. A writer and photographer in her own time, Tina grounds her community-based work on the foundation that the visual arts provide a unique opportunity for relationship and community building. She believes that reinforcing citizen-artist values in her students will prepare the next generation of artists to tackle community concerns in and through the visual arts.
Katelyn Horowitz is a junior at Bentley University majoring in accounting. She has worked as a student assistant in Professor Zlotkowski's course and co-authored a chapter with Edward Zlotkowski on "The Potential of Service-learning Student Leadership," in the forthcoming book, The New Leadership: Civic Engagement and the Revitalization of Democracy. She is also actively involved with service as the Bentley Service-Learning Center's Coordinator of Alumni Relations and Project Manager.
Carrie Hutnick is a master's candidate at the University of Massachusetts Amherst in the Higher Education Program. She works as an Academic Programs Manager for the Community Engagement Program in the Commonwealth Honors College coordinating the service experiences and in-class reflections for three undergraduate courses. She received her BA in Public and Community Service from Providence College and has worked for six years in both university and non-profit settings with college students in service-learning.
Arielle Jennings serves Lesley University as an AmeriCorps* VISTA sponsored by Massachusetts Campus Compact. In this role, Arielle works to offer quality service opportunities for Lesley students and local non-profit organizations in the Cambridge and Greater Boston area. Her goal is to help Lesley students engage their communities in more meaningful ways through community service, student leadership training, and community building activities. Arielle received her Bachelor or Arts degree in Psychology from the George Washington University and her Masters in Education from the Harvard Graduate School of Education.
Timothy Kane is the Director of the Office of Community Service at the George Washington University in Washington, D.C. He received his BA in Theology and Philosophy from Hamilton College, his MDiv in Justice and Peace Studies from Harvard University, and his MTh in Justice and Peace Studies from the Maryknoll School of Theology. He has worked 15+ years in service-related positions, including positions in offices of community service and service-learning at the University of Vermont, Loyola College of Baltimore and the University of Hawai`i at Hilo.
Art Keene is a Professor in the Anthropology Department at the University of Massachusetts where he has taught for the last 30 years. He is co ‐founder and co ‐director of the UMass Citizen Scholars Program and founder and faculty director of the UMass Alliance for Community Transformation, the organization that coordinates academic alternative spring breaks at UMass. His current research project, entitled The Ethnography of Us: How Millennials Learn, engages teams of student ethnographers to explore the culture of undergraduate learning at UMass ‐Amherst.
Amy Keir is a senior at Wellesley College and has worked in the Center for Work and Service as a Community Service Intern since her first year at Wellesley. She has participated in service trips to the Gulf Coast as well as the Lumpkin Summer Institute for Service Learning. Her passion for service learning springs from her year of service in AmeriCorps National Civilian Community Corps. She studies French and Peace & Justice Studies at Wellesley and plans to work in the not-for-profit field after graduation in May 2010.
Imre Kepes works with community-based and other organizations to assist them in planning, developing and implementing projects, building capacity and achieving their full potential. Over the past two years, he helped to initiate and acted as Coordinator for the Holyoke Campus-Community Partnership Project which featured a series of community forums and resulted in the creation of the Holyoke Campus-Community Compact. He also helped to develop and was the Coordinator of the Education Component of a COPC ( Community Outreach Partnership Center) project. He is also the Coordinator of the YES (Youth Empowered to Succeed) Initiative, and was Co-Director of the El Arco Iris Youth and Community Arts Center, a community-based after school youth program. He is also the recipient of the 2007 University of Massachusetts Distinguished Academic Outreach Award for Community Partnership.
Jambalmaa Khainzan has an M.D. from Irkutsk Medical University in Russia. She has worked with the Mongolian government in food safety, water, nutrition and sanitation programs. In 2002-2006, she was the country project coordinator for the Asian Development Bank Project “Improving Nutrition for Poor Mothers and Children in Central Asia and Mongolia.” She is currently a Visiting Research Associate at Brandeis Women’s Studies Research Center.
Jillian Kinzie is the Associate Director of Indiana University’s Center for Postsecondary Research and the NSSE Institute for Effective Educational Practice. Kinzie coordinates research and project activities to facilitate the use of student engagement data to promote educational effectiveness. She earned her Ph.D. in Higher Education with a minor in Women's Studies at Indiana University Bloomington. Prior to this, she was a faculty member in the Higher Education and Student Affairs department at Indiana University, served as Assistant Dean in the School of Interdisciplinary Studies at Miami University (OH) and had earlier experience in student affairs at Miami where she coordinated orientation, advising, and first-year experience activities, and also worked at Case Western Reserve University.
Ethan Kolek directs the evaluation activities of the Center for Community Engagement at Amherst College. In addition, he engages in a variety of research and assessment projects to support institutional planning and grant evaluation. Before arriving at Amherst in the spring of 2007, Ethan worked in the Student Assessment, Research, and Evaluation Office at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. His scholarly interests include the college student experience and research methods in higher education. His past research studies include examinations of student celebratory rioting, students’ use of The Facebook, and recreational prescription drug use among college students. Ethan received an A.B. in Political Science from Vassar College, an M.Ed. in Higher Education from the University of Massachusetts Amherst, and is currently pursuing his doctorate in Higher Education.
Christopher Koliba is the Director of the Master of Public Administration Program, and Associate Professor in the Community Development and Applied Economics Department (CDAE) at the University of Vermont. He served as the Faculty Director of the University of Vermont Office of Community-University Partnerships and Service-Learning (CUPS) from 2006 to 2008. He has published widely on action research pertaining to K-12 school and higher education adaptation of community engagement practices.
Allen Kramer: During the summer of 2007, Allen Kramer volunteered in Jinotega, Nicaragua, with a local NGO working on community development projects such as constructing environmentally sound compost latrines and installing a potable water system to serve rural communities. During the summer of 2008, he volunteered in Guayaquil, Ecuador, with an orphanage. He also participated in programs that sought to help teach English classes and provide homework help; Since at Brown University, he has been a participant in of Circles of Change, to build relationships with community leaders in Providence while discussing issues such as oppression and identity.
Jennie Krasker is a junior psychology major at Wellesley College. She hopes to attend medical school after graduation and ultimately work as a pediatrician. Jennie is a member of Wellesley's varsity soccer team and is interested in sports medicine because she loves being able to apply her knowledge to her everyday life as an athlete. Because she is so passionate about the material, teaching others about anatomy and injury prevention is something she finds very rewarding!
Sarah Kugel is a senior Resource Ecology major in the Rubenstein School of Environment and Natural Resources at the University of Vermont. In addition to being a co-leader of the Stewards program, she is also the Chair of the Rubenstein School Student Advisory Board and a member of the Diversity Task Force. She hopes to pursue a career in land conservation upon graduation in May.
Holly Lasagna is the Associate Director of the Harward Center for Community Partnerships for Bates College. She has worked at the Center for nearly ten years connecting faculty and student academic community-based learning and research with co-created community projects. Her current work is particularly focused on sustained interdisciplinary student research projects.
Alexis Lawlor is a freshman Project Manager with the Bentley Service-Learning Center. Among other volunteer activities, she manages a program that helps connect students with individuals with developmental disabilities.
William Lewis is an experienced facilitator, trainer & consultant. He is a senior Associate with Everyday Democracy, a member of the New England Resource Center for Higher Education (NERCHE) Multicultural Affairs Think Tank, and is a member of the National Association of Chief Diversity Officers in Higher Education (NAODOHE). Dr. Lewis enjoys spending time with his children, William and Jordan. He also enjoys playing golf. He admits that he is not that good, but he enjoys it nonetheless.
Melissa Lopes is an undergraduate in her sophomore year, at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. She is currently pursuing Bachelor of Arts in Political Science and Legal Studies. She is currently involved in SoulTV, Cape Verdean Student Alliance, Freshmen Achieving More Undergraduate Success (F.A.M.U.S.) and Student Bridges. In her work for Student Bridges, she is involved as a FAMUS liaison and also, is a tutor mentor in Springfield, MA. Her passion is fighting against social injustice, and later in life hopes to use law as an outlet to fight for the rights of people who are often unheard.
Wei Luo is an assistant professor of communication at Indiana University-Purdue University Fort Wayne. He teaches a variety of courses such as Intercultural Communication, Gender Roles and Communication, Global Feminism, and Qualitative Research Methods, to name a few. He received his Ph.D. in Communication and M.A. in English Rhetoric and Communication from the University of Utah.
Martha Maksym, MPA, has been the Director of Community Investments at United Way of Chittenden County since 1994 and provides direction and management of all community investment strategies as they relate to meeting the Impact agenda of the organization. She is also chair of the Leadership Champlain Board of Directors, and a member of many community boards.
Hendrika Maltby, PhD, RN, FRCNA is a registered nurse with a doctorate in public health. She has more than 20 years experience in community engagement, community-based participatory research, and cultural competency both in personal experiences and in teaching, with a strong global public health focus.
Joe Mark is Castleton State College’s chief academic officer. He works supervises all academic functions and departments. His responsibilities include oversight of the curriculum and the faculty as well as the Academic Support Center, Calvin Coolidge Library, Castleton Center for Schools, Fine Arts Center, and the Robert T. Stafford Center for the Support and Study of the Community. Dean Mark became academic dean in 1984 after serving as Castleton’s dean of students for four years. Previously he had been dean of students at Pitzer College in Claremont, California, and assistant professor of psychology at Hobart and William Smith Colleges in Geneva, New York. Dean Mark also served as Castleton’s interim president during the 1993-1994 academic year. Dean Mark is particularly enthusiastic about the civic mission of Castleton State College. After decades during which the college saw itself as an “ivory tower” set apart from the larger world and surrounding community, starting in the late 1990s Dean Mark and his staff began to urge a new vision of the institution, one based on the belief that the college had an obligation to reach out to its region in service while also providing rich off-campus learning opportunities for Castleton students. This shift in thinking led gradually to an increasing focus on service-learning and civic engagement and brought about the founding both of the Stafford Center for the Support and Study of the Community and of the Castleton Center for Schools.
Sarah Marshall is a local farmer and member of Cultivating Community (CC). Based in Portland, Maine, CC is dedicated to using organic and sustainable practices grow food in the community, in school gardens, and at partnering farms to feed those who are most vulnerable. CC's community food work is used as an engine for high-impact youth and community development programs that reconnect people to the natural and social systems that sustain us all. To this end, she has co-lead workshops and interacted closely with students in college studios including those at the Maine College of Art. www.cultivatingcommunity.org
Massachusetts College Advising Corps is a collaborative program that hires recent college graduates to work as full-time college advisers in high schools across the state. The aim of the Corps is to increase college enrollment rates and prepare students for college success in both urban and rural areas of Massachusetts, helping to ensure that higher education is an attainable goal for all, regardless of socioeconomic status. The advisers provide one-to-one college application guidance to low-income and first-generation students while working with MACC member colleges to raise awareness and strengthen the college access pipeline.
Liz McCabe Park has been the Executive Director of Maine Campus Compact since its inception in1994. Under her leadership, Maine Campus Compact has developed strong programming in campus grants, faculty development for service-learning, student service leadership, and campus/community partnerships. She approached Georgia Nigro in the spring of 2008 to oversee program evaluation on the relationship between service-learning and retention via her research methods class.
Erin McCauley has been a Community Service-Learning Coordinator with the Feinstein Community Service Center since July 2007, working on civic engagement initiatives and service-learning projects with the College of Business and English Department, formerly with the Graduate School. Previously, she was a Rhode Island Campus Compact AmeriCorps*VISTA at Rhode Island College. She holds a Bachelor of Arts in History from the University of Connecticut.
Ellen McShane is the Director of Academic Support Programs at University of Vermont, which includes the ACCESS office, serving students with disabilities; Learning Cooperative, offering tutoring services to UVM students; TRIO/SSS, serving first-generation and limited-income UVM students; and TRIO/Upward Bound programs. She is currently a member of the Design Team for the UDL grant.
Charles Melcher is Associate Professor and Head of Graphic Design at the Maine College of Art. He studied graphic design at Yale University School of Art to broaden and amplify his experience making ideas come to life in visual form. His first professional connection to communication comes from his experience teaching creative writing since 1991 while he exhibited his photography nationally and internationally. He is currently Associate Professor at Maine College of Art and chair of the graphic design department. His students are often using their design skills in the service of others through partnership projects. Charles continues to do commercial and personal photography, teach writing, and together with Margo raise Jack and Cora, now astoundingly busy and independent kids who mostly need chauffeurs and cooks.
Ernesto Méndez is an Assistant Professor of Agroecology and Environmental Studies in the Environmental Program and the Department of Plant and Soil Science at the University of Vermont. His work analyzes interactions between agroecology, rural people’s livelihoods, and environmental conservation in agricultural landscapes. He is also interested in applying and critically evaluating community participatory action research (CPAR) approaches.
Lucy Mule is an Associate Professor in the Department of Education and Child Study and the faculty co-director of the Center for Community Collaboration at Smith College, in Northampton, Massachusetts. Her research interests include community-academic partnerships, community-based participatory research, service-learning, school-university partnerships, multicultural education, and literacy education. Dr. Mule is a seasoned educator in CBL, teaching multiple courses each academic year through which she urges students to extend their learning into nearby urban schools and community-based organizations. A fervent advocate for community-academic partnerships Dr. Mule is the faculty leader of community engagement work on the Smith College campus.
Kristen Mullin is the Coordinator of the Student Scholar Partnership Program (SSP). The SSP is a unique mentoring program at the WSRC. Kristen facilitates the recruitment and hiring of undergraduate student research assistants to work on a diverse array of projects proposed by Scholars and faculty each semester. Kristen earned her Bachelor’s Degree in Corporate Communications from Framingham State University, with a minor in Business Administration. She also has a Masters of Science in Human Resources from Suffolk University.
Jacqueline Mulvehill is a senior at the College of the Holy Cross from Needham, MA. Jackie serves as a Multicultural Peer Educator and Director of Diversity in the Student Government Association. She also works closely with ISLA, an academic afterschool program for Latin American elementary school students. Jackie will join Teach for America in Washington, D.C. when she graduates.
Deirdre Newbold has been a Community Service-Learning Coordinator with the Feinstein Community Service Center since February 2006, where she has instructed service-learning courses and coordinated School of Arts & Sciences, School of Technology and the Graduate School service projects. Prior to her work with JWU, she worked in both the arts and healthcare nonprofit sector. She holds a Bachelor of Arts from Susquehanna University and a Master of Business Administration from Villanova University.
Georgia Nigro is Professor of Psychology at Bates College. This winter term, she is also interim director of the Harward Center for Community Partnerships at Bates. She has used service-learning in her classes for over 15 years. The research that forms the focus of the Roundtable she is presenting here with Liz McCabe Park and Michelle Vazquez-Jacobus began as a class project in her research methods course.
Megan O'Connell is Adj. Associate Prof. Art History and Graphic Design at the Maine College of Art. For more than a decade, Megan directed the Typography Lab and taught in the first-year program at the University of Oregon. After relocating to Portland, Maine she helped to develop FY-In at MECA. There she has also curated exhibitions and offered courses in critical approaches and graphic design history. She has presented at TypeCon, the Fourth International Conference on the Book, and Convergence of Art and Activism at Tufts. She has participated in the Northeast Typographic Kingdom in Portland, Metaphor Taking Shape at Yale, and the Convivial Symposia at the Berwick Institute, Boston. The Dead Skin Press is the name of her imprint [ www.deadskinpress.com]. Megan has is a founding member of the non-profit arts collective, Creative Material Group [CMG].
Casey O'Keefe is a Senior at the College of the Holy Cross from Weymouth, MA. She spent a month this past summer in Kenya studying peace and social justice at the Catholic University of Eastern Africa and Hekima College. During this time, she also taught English at a primary school in Kibera. Casey has also interned with ReadBoston, and she serves on the Holy Cross House Council.
Jennifer Park graduated from Brown University in May 2009 with a Bachelor of Science degree in biology. This is her fourth year serving as a mentor for Brown Science Prep (BSP), a science educational outreach program at Brown University's Swearer Center for Public Service. BSP aims to excite Providence public high school students in grades 9-12 about science and college. Jennifer has been coordinating the program since September 2008. She is currently working as a full-time research assistant in a genetics laboratory at Brown University and will be starting medical school in Fall 2010. Jennifer hopes to continue her work in educational outreach as a medical student and physician.
Holly Parker is a Faculty Development Specialist at the University of Vermont's Center for Teaching and Learning(CTL). As part of her work at the CTL, she coordinates the Tech CATs program on campus to team up faculty with a student to mentor them in classroom technology integration. Holly is very interested in working with faculty on the implementation of Universal Design for Learning on the UVM campus. Holly is a member of the Design Team for the UDL grant and will also be working with the Universal Design Consulting teams.
Alida Payson is the Educational Coordinator of Cultivating Community (CC) and has worked closely with the implementation of a community-campus partnership with the Maine College of Art. Based in Portland, Maine, CC is dedicated to using organic and sustainable practices grow food in the community, in school gardens, and at partnering farms to feed those who are most vulnerable. CC's community food work is used as an engine for high-impact youth and community development programs that reconnect people to the natural and social systems that sustain us all. www.cultivatingcommunity.org
Judy Perry is a member of Making Connections Resident Leadership Network. Well respected community organizer and founder of Jubilee Center for the Performing Arts for Inner City Children. Judy is an active advocate for parents and children in the public school system, creating ways for families to effectively access resources to assist with issues that effect learning and economic stability.
Walter Poleman is a senior lecturer in the Rubenstein School of Environment and Natural Resources at the University of Vermont where he specializes in landscape natural history and ecosystem geography. He is faculty director of the GreenHouse Residential Learning Community at UVM, and director the PLACE (Place-based Landscape Analysis and Community Engagement) Program. He has taught ecology for the past ten summers at Vermont Law School, and serves as a trustee for the Vermont Land Trust.
Deborah Keisch Polin is a PhD student in anthropology at the University of Massachusetts. Prior to returning to graduate school, Deborah spent four years as a researcher for the Center for Children and Technology, where she investigated the impact of technology and media on teaching and learning, and where she continues to work part time. Since the fall of 2005 Deborah has been an instructor in the UMass Citizen Scholars Program, in which she teaches both the first and capstone courses. Deborah holds a Masters in Education from Columbia University’s Teachers College.
Melissa Quan has served as Director of Service Learning in the Center for Faith and Public Life for 3 years. She has experience in developing and facilitating professional development for faculty on a variety of service-learning topics including course development, designing and leading reflection, community partnership development and sustainability.
John Reiff taught courses on social issues and peace studies at the University of Michigan from 1973 to 1987 and directed a program of writing across the curriculum. For the next five years, he taught peace studies and writing at the University of California, Santa Barbara, and helped direct the Global Peace and Security Program. From 1992 to 2000, John helped lead the reconstruction of the curriculum at Tusculum College in Greeneville, Tennessee, to focus on the "civic arts"-the knowledge and skills needed by citizens to work collaboratively to build solutions to community and societal problems. He oversaw the introduction of service-learning into the curriculum, both creating and directing the service-learning center. Since 2000, Reiff has been Director of OCSL. For the 2005-2006 academic year, he was appointed as the first Visiting Faculty Fellow by Massachusetts Campus Compact. In this role John consulted with faculty and administrators at colleges and universities across the state to support the development of Community Service Learning and civic engagement.
Matthew Roy teaches both undergraduate and graduate students focusing on organizational behavior, communication, and leadership. His primary pedagogical approach is service learning with tangible benefits to both students and community. Prior to joining the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth, he taught for several years at St. Norbert College and Sacred Heart University. Strongly believing in the practical application of research, Matt stays current on business trends through his consulting ventures. Numerous organizations have benefited from his expertise including Pfizer Pharmaceutical, Raytheon Corporation, and Schneider National Trucking.
Dana S. Gulley is a senior Environmental Studies major in the Rubenstein School of Environment and Natural Resources at the University of Vermont, with a minor in Political Science. In addition to being a member of the Stewards program, Dana is the President of the Tower Society, UVM's senior honor society for women, the treasurer of Free 2 Be, and the teaching assistant for the Charlie Ross Practicum in Public Service. After graduation in May she hopes to spend a year immersed in environmental policy in Washington, D.C., before applying to law school.
John Saltmarsh is the Director of the New England Resource Center for Higher Education (NERCHE) at the University of Massachusetts, Boston as well as a faculty member in the Department of Leadership in Education in the Graduate College of Education. From 1998 through 2005, he directed the Project on Integrating Service with Academic Study at Campus Compact. He holds a Ph.D. in American History from Boston University and taught for over a decade at Northeastern University and as a Visiting Research Fellow at the Feinstein Institute for Public Service at Providence College. He is the author of Scott Nearing: An Intellectual Biography (Temple, 1991) as well as numerous book chapters and articles on civic engagement, service-learning, and experiential education that have been widely published.
Robert Sanford is Professor of Environmental Science & Policy and Chair of the Department of Environmental Science at the University of Southern Maine. He earned his Masters (1984) and PhD (1989) in Environmental Science from the State University of New York College of Environmental Science & Forestry at Syracuse. His teaching awards include the University of Southern Maine Provost’s Teaching Fellowship, Faculty Senate Award for Excellence in Teaching, EPA Region 1 Environmental Educator Award, EPA Region 1 Environmental Merit Award, Project WET Outstanding Contributor, and the Maine Campus Compact Award for Service Learning Excellence. He is co-director of the SENCER New England Center for Innovation. His research and teaching interests include environmental impact assessment, land use planning, environmental archaeology, and environmental education.
Evan Schwartz spent September 2008-April 2009 volunteering with the Foundation for Sustainable Development in Bolivia, first at a water and sewage cooperative and later at a rural development organization. Generally interested in participating in and working to facilitate creative, interdisciplinary collaboration to solve local and global problems, and helped to start the Creating Creative Spaces project which seeks to do just that.
Gail Scordilis is an adjunct Assistant Professor of Biological Sciences and Director of the Center for Community Collaboration at Smith College; guiding outreach programs and community partnerships, promoting a campus-wide culture of community engagement, responsive citizenship, and the active generation of knowledge to benefit society. In addition to administering the college’s community based learning and research efforts, over the past 20 years, Dr. Scordilis has developed innovative outreach programs that address the challenges of overcoming stereotypes and attracting, encouraging and retaining students in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM); establishing the Smith College Summer Science & Engineering Program for high school girls, promoting the advancement of over 1600 young women from around the globe in STEM study, and the Smith College Summer Institutes for Educators, addressing issues of gender and pedagogy in STEM education for hundreds of middle and high school teachers. The recipient of numerous grants and awards in recognition of her work in support of STEM study for all , Scordilis’ work has been highlighted in reports by the National Council for Research on Women and the Association for Women in Science.
Christin Scott is a senior at Wellesley College majoring in psychology with a minor in biology. She was a volunteer instructor with Lets Get Ready!, a college and SAT prep program for underprivileged high school students. After serving as head verbal coach in the Let's Get Ready program for two semesters, she assumed the Program Site Director position for two additional semesters. She now works as a volunteer for Sports Medicine Outreach with Science Club for Girls. Upon graduating, she will be teaching High School Biology as a member of the 2010 Teach For America Corps in Chicago.
Jess Sheldon is an Americorp VISTA working with the Maine College of Art. Jess co-organized in partnership with Cultivating Community over 15 garden visits, five co-curricular events and a stunning local food cafe celebration lunch all the while photo documenting our FY-In course this year. Originally from Cincinnati Ohio, Jess studied sociology at Beloit College and documentary studies at Salt Institute prior to being the VISTA at Maine College of Art. Her work in co-leading hiking and biking expeditions and her energetic nature served her in creating enormous momentum around co-curricular programming this year at MECA. Additionally, Jess focuses on campus community partnership, co-curricular events and service-learning support and planning.
Ana Marie Siscar is the professor of the Human Rights Course and has practiced Human Rights law. She is also the Program Manager of the Teagle Assessment Grant for JUHAN, a collaboration with Fordham University, and Georgetown University to utilize assessment in driving a proactive impact on course development and student engagement.
Elmer Stanley is the proud father of five children ranging in age from 6 to 27 years old and a grandfather of two. He is the Resident Engagement and Leadership (REAL) coordinator for Making Connections Providence, a community change initiative and a member of its management team. Elmer is the former director of Project Hope/Projecto Esperanza, a direct service and advocacy agency of the Diocese of Providence and also did ethnic ministry for the diocese, working with Brazilian and African continent communities. Elmer previously was an organizer with United Interfaith Action, also a correctional counselor and programs coordinator in the Massachusetts Department of Corrections and Director of Volunteer programs for the Samaritans of Rhode Island. Finally Elmer has worked with youth in a diagnostic setting and in community mental health.
Katrina Stearns is a sophomore at Wellesley college majoring in math and minoring in psychology or women and gender studies. She is a member of the Wellesley College Basketball team and plans on becoming a teacher and a coach.
John Stroup is an Assistant Professor of Education at Champlain College. While completing his Ph.D. at the University of Virginia’s Curry School of Education, he was a Research Fellow at the Federal Executive Institute where he designed and delivered leadership development courses for federal employees. He is a former high school and middle school teacher, administrator, and coach. John is committed to the preparation of future teachers and education leaders as well as the cultivation of engaged citizens. His research and teaching at Champlain College focus on the development of engaged citizens, especially how school and community leaders bridge barriers to active participation by designing and implementing optimal programs for academic and civic success.
Julianna Stuart is a senior at the College of the Holy Cross from Storrs, CT. She joined the CBL Scholars team in December. Julianna has served as a leader for the freshmen “Escape” retreat, and recently traveled to Fort Benning, Georgia to participate in the national protest against the School of the Americas. In the fall, Julianna moderated a Candidates’ Night Forum to engage and educate Holy Cross students about candidates running in the Worcester Municipal Election.
Ariel Sykes is a senior at Mount Holyoke College, pursuing a self-designed major in the philosophy of education. She currently serves as a community fellow and a mentor with the CBL Program. As a community fellow she provides research support to the William R. Peck School “ Full Service Community School” initiative, and serves on the planning/steering committee for Holyoke Bound orientation programs. As a CBL mentor, Ariel has been a teaching assistant to Professor Tom Wartenberg’s CBL class, “Philosophy for Children” which partners with several area elementary schools. For her excellence in developing and implementing philosophy curricula via that project, Ariel received the Sally Montgomery CBL Award in 2008.
James Tait is an associate professor of marine and environmental studies in the Department of Science Education and Environmental Studies a Southern Connecticut State University. bachelor’s degrees in Earth Sciences and Psychology with a minor in humanities. He did graduate studies in Oceanography at Oregon State University and earned a PhD in Earth Sciences from the University of California at Santa Cruz. Dr. Tait has served for the past several years as the chair of Southern’s General Education Task Force. One of the goals of this committee’s work is to enhance the societal relevance of the general education curriculum including science courses. With his colleague Dr. Vincent Breslin, an environmental geochemist, Dr. Tait co-developed a science course for the University’s Honor College. The course focuses on scientific investigation of storm impacts and heavy metal contamination of the Connecticut coast. In the course, students working in teams undertake meaningful scientific studies that involve quantitative analyses and that are significant to the local coastal environment. This course, Science on the Connecticut Coast: Investigations of an Urbanized Shoreline, became a SENCER model is 2007.
Nancy Thomas works with campuses, education associations, public agencies, and communities organizing dialogue-to-change programs. She also directs the Democracy Imperative at the University of New Hampshire, a network of academics and practitioners committed to strengthening public life and deliberative democracy in and through higher education. Her experience includes campus and community conflict prevention and resolution, organizational change, strategic planning, faculty development, diversity initiatives, curriculum reform, ethics training, and community building. She is a seasoned organizer and facilitator of community dialogues, forums, think tanks, working groups, and other discourse communities.
She has served as director of democracy initiatives and the religion and public life initiative for the Society for Values in Higher Education; special assistant to the president for legal and policy affairs at Western New England College; director of Listening to Communities for the American Council on Education; adjunct faculty member at the Graduate College of Education, University of Massachusetts Boston; interim associate vice provost for multicultural and international affairs at the University of Connecticut; and facilitator for the American Association for Higher Education's community of practice on dialogue and deliberation as pedagogical tools.
Susan Thomson is a cultural anthropologist who has been involved with community engaged learning for the past decade, initially as an instructor at Middlesex Community College in Lowell, MA, and currently as a Visiting Research Associate at Brandeis Women’s Studies Research Center. From 2003-2006, she collaborated with students, colleagues and community members on The Lowell Civic Collaborative.
Alan Tinkler relocated to Burlington as an AmeriCorps* VISTA volunteer in summer 2009. As a program Assistant in the Office of Community-University Partnerships and Service-Learning (CUPS) he works to support faculty in service-learning through faculty training and development, the Faculty Rewards Initiative, and regular faculty consultation. He also works closely with UVM’s new Dewey House for Civic Engagement. Prior to this position, he taught at Shepherd University, located in West Virginia, in the Department of English. At Shepherd, he incorporated service-learning into a number of his courses, including composition, advanced rhetoric, and creative writing. While in graduate school, Alan was a Big Brother in Big Brothers Big Sisters. In addition to being a mentor, he served on the Board of Directors, including a term as President. Before graduate school, Alan was a Peace Corps volunteer in Papua New Guinea for two years. Alan’s undergraduate degree is from Bowdoin College. In addition to several short stories which have appeared in literary magazines, Alan has published articles on Jane Bowles, Italo Calvino, and Janet Frame in The Review of Contemporary Fiction.
Carson Townsend is a sophomore at the College of the Holy Cross from Albuquerque, NM. As a freshman, he completed a community research project on home and identity with Centro Las Americas in Worcester, and this year he helped to develop a Homework Help Center at the Refugee and Immigrant Assistance Center. He has also worked at the Creamer Center in Worcester. Carson will study abroad in Morocco next year.
Col Tulien is a sophomore at UVM. Col is an alumnus of the 8th Grade Academy and will bring his experience to planning this year’s visit and earn credit for his work with Xavier through the EDSS 195 course.
Michelle Vazquez-Jacobus is Assistant Professor of Social and Behavioral Sciences and Leadership and Organizational Studies at the University of Southern Maine. Michelle’s research interests include community capacity building; building resiliency in vulnerable children and youth; community organizing of disempowered peoples; and promoting diversity. She is a founder and steering committee member of the new Downtown Education Collaborative (DEC), an innovative service learning collaborative that includes Bates, CMCC, Andover College and USM LAC working collaboratively to foster cooperative community engagement projects.
Kate Westdijk is Program Coordinator in the University of Vermont Office of Community-University Partnerships and Service-Learning (CUPS). In addition to providing general support for faculty and students engaged in service-learning and community-based research, she facilitates the Executive Committee of the UVM Community-based Participatory Action Research (CPAR) Network and supports the University’s Community-based Participatory Research methods course. Kate holds a Master’s degree in Natural Resources.
Carrie Williams Howe is the Interim Director of the Office of Community-University Partnerships and Service-Learning (CUPS) at the University of Vermont and a member of the Vermont and National Campus Compact Consultant Corps. As the Interim Director of the CUPS Office, she is involved in a variety of strategic initiatives to support engaged scholarship, such as the Engaged Department Initiative, a Faculty Rewards Initiative, and strategic planning in alignment with campus vision. Carrie regularly leads workshops in academic service-learning on her home campus and across New England, on topics ranging from curriculum development to facilitating reflection and managing effective partnerships; she is a lead facilitator of UVM’s Faculty Fellows for Service-Learning Program and created the Service-Learning Teaching Assistant Program at UVM. In addition to her role in service-learning support and training, Carrie also teaches service-learning courses on topics such as civic leadership and nonprofit management. Carrie has a Masters in Higher Education and Student Affairs from UVM and is currently enrolled in the Educational Leadership and Policy Studies doctoral program. She received a BA from Middlebury College.
Amanda Wittman is currently serving Worcester State College as a Massachusetts Campus Compact AmeriCorps* VISTA. As the Coordinator for Research and Outreach at the Center for Service Learning and Civic Engagement, she oversees assessment and evaluation procedures, connects with community partners to increase faculty and student participation in civic engagement opportunities and service-learning partnerships, and provides on-campus programming aimed at getting faculty and students tied in to the local Worcester community. Amanda has her PhD in Politics and International Relations from the University of Edinburgh, Scotland, UK.
Mary Zahm is a Professor of Psychology and Director of Civic Engagement at Bristol Community College. She has been coordinating the nationally recognized Civic Engagement Program since Fall 2005. Mary implemented several program innovations such as a “Students as Colleagues” Leadership Program and a Commonwealth Honors Seminar in Community Leadership. She recently created a proposal for a Global Leadership Certificate Program. Mary has given presentations on the benefits of service-learning and student peer leadership at several international and national conferences.
Edward Zlotkowski is senior associate at the New England Resource Center for Higher Education and author of Service-Learning and the First-Year Experience. Edward is a professor of English at Bentley College and in 1990 founded the Bentley Service-Learning Center. He received his B.A. in English and his Ph.D. in Comparative Literature from Yale University. He writes and speaks extensively on a wide range of service-learning and engagement-related topics, and served as general editor of the American Association for Higher Education's 21-volume series on service-learning in the academic disciplines. He also served as editor of Successful Service-Learning Programs, published by Anker in 1998, Service-Learning and the First-Year Experience, published by the University of South Carolina in 2002, and as co-editor of Students as Colleagues: Expanding the Circle of Service-Learning Leadership, published by Campus Compact in 2006. A collection of his essays will be published in 2010 by Temple University Press. Dr. Zlotkowski is a senior associate at the New England Resource Center for Higher Education.
