Marisa Cabrera - Communications/Membership/Outreach Committee

marisa.cabrera@itesm.mx

Marisa Cabrera is currently an Associate Professor and coordinates Service-Learning activities nationwide for the Academic Vice Presidency at the Tecnológico de Monterrey, México. She has vast experience as consultant for various Mexican companies (ELEKTRA, ASA, and many Small and Medium size companies) in Technology Management as well as teaching experience in The School of Business and The School of Engineering of Tec de Monterrey, Mexico City, Cuernavaca and Monterrey Campus. She has worked for the Anderson Center at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, New York. She coordinates one of the largest service-learning programs in Mexico and is working on her doctorate researching how service-learning and civic engagement forms the development of character and civic interest.  Her doctoral studies focus on social and citizenship competencies developed by faculty across the curriculum in a university setting where the scope and structure -as well as the designed actions for improvement, – have been detailed in the Enhanced Quality Plan (EQP) entitled “Ethics and Citizenship Education: Our Commitment” for the Tecnologico de Monterrey.

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Patti Clayton - Publications Committee

patti.clayton@curricularenagagement.com

Patti has over ten years of experience as a practitioner-scholar in community-engaged teaching and learning, including leading a multi-faceted scholarship agenda, College-level institutionalization efforts, discipline-based and multi-disciplinary faculty learning communities, engaged graduate and undergraduate education initiatives, and a range of intra- and inter-institutional collaborations. Her work focuses on building the capacity of individuals, units, institutions, and the field as a whole for scholarly community-engaged teaching and learning.

Patti has co-developed with students and faculty a leading critical reflection and assessment model (the DEAL Model for Critical Reflection), models for student leadership in service-learning, and a variety of faculty development and curriculum development processes. Her research interests include the processes and outcomes associated with capacity building and mutual transformation among all partners in community engagement as co-educators, co-learners, and co-generators of knowledge.

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Lina Dostilio - Graduate Student Network

Dostiliol@duq.edu

Lina Dostilio is the Director of Duquesne University’s Office of Service-Learning (OSL). The OSL supports students, community partners, and faculty members engaged in community-based learning. In this role Lina has introduced a number of faculty to the Center of Life and the broader Hazelwood community. Lina also facilitates the Pittsburgh Plunge, a cross-cultural mission experience that occurs over Spring Break. The Plunge introduces students to Pittsburgh’s local neighborhoods and spends one day in Hazelwood visiting with Pastor Tim Smith and getting to know the families and community members that gather at the center of Life. The OSL serves as the University host to the Hazelwood Partnership AmeriCorps*VISTA, a position that supports the Hazelwood Partnership and the Center of Life’s FUSION program.

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Patrick Green - Conference Committee

pgreen@luc.edu

Patrick M. Green, Ed.D., serves as the Director of the Center for Experiential Learning (CEL) at Loyola University Chicago, which houses service-learning, academic internships, student employment/federal work study, undergraduate research program, and electronic portfolios. He also serves as a Clinical Instructor of Experiential Learning and teaches several experiential learning and research courses, engaging students in service-learning, internship experiences, and undergraduate research. Dr. Green received his doctorate in education from Roosevelt University, specializing in leadership in higher education, and has focused his research on service-learning and experiential education. He serves with National Campus Compact as an Engaged Scholar and is currently co-editing a volume on International Service-Learning (Stylus Publishing).

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Barbara Holland - Chair

barbara.holland@sydney.edu.au

Professor Barbara A. Holland joined the University of Sydney in 2010 after serving as Pro Vice-Chancellor Engagement at the University of Western Sydney since June 2007.  Prior to this appointment she was Director of the U.S. Learn and Serve America’s National Service-Learning Clearinghouse and a Senior Scholar at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis.

She has been Editor of Metropolitan Universities journal since 1998 and is co-editor of two refereed journals related to engagement. She earned her Bachelor and Masters of Journalism from the University of Missouri and a Ph.D. in higher education policy from the University of Maryland.

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Vincent Ilustre - Treasurer

vilustre@tulane.edu

Vincent Ilustre is the Executive Director of the Tulane University Center for Public Service.  He provides leadership to the Center’s staff and works with the Center’s Faculty Executive Committee to ensure the Center’s academic mission is met. Vincent received his Bachelor’s degree in Sociology and Political Science from Tulane’s Paul Tulane College and his Master’s in Business Administration in Management and Marketing from Tulane’s Freeman School of Business.  He is a member of the Board of Directors of VIAlink and was recently appointed by Governor Bobby Jindal to be a Commissioner with the Louisiana Serve Commission where he serves as Treasurer.

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Abby Kiesa - Communications/Membership/Outreach

As Youth Coordinator & Researcher at CIRCLE, Abby Kiesa serves as liaison to practitioner organizations across the country.  She communicates research findings and tracks recommendations from young people, youth-serving organizations, and educators for future research. Abby also coordinates CIRCLE’s qualitative research and selected evaluation projects. She is coordinating CIRCLE’s ongoing research focused on young people who do not have college experience. Through this project and others she has moderated many focus groups and interviews.  Previous to CIRCLE, Abby organized students around the country as part of a national campaign of Campus Compact to increase youth involvement in public life. She has contributed to several publications and co-edited ‘Raise Your Voice: A Student Guide to Making Positive Social Change’. In 2007 Abby was named an Emerging Leader in Service-Learning, “a two-year intensive experience designed to elevate and prepare a new, culturally diverse generation of service-learning leaders committed to working with traditionally under-served populations, schools, and communities.” In addition to working at CIRCLE, she is a graduate student in American Studies at the University of Maryland College Park.

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Mellissa Kruger - Graduate Steering Network

Mellissa Kruger is a Lecturer and Course Coordinator in the Social Work Degree Program at the Centre for Regional Engagement, University of South Australia. She currently coordinates and teaches five courses which include several introductory Psychology courses, law for human service workers, research methods and child centred practices in social work. She has a degree in Behavioural Sciences, a Masters in Administrative Studies and several graduate certificates, one in Public Sector Management and the other in Education (University Teaching). In June 2011, she began a PhD which will investigate community perspectives on Service-Learning. Before joining the University of South Australia in 2004, she worked as the Senior Youth Practitioner at the Port Augusta Office of Families SA, in the field of Youth and Juvenile Justice.

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Barbara Moely - Conference Committee

moely@tulane.edu

Barbara E. Moely is Professor Emerita in Psychology and Research Affiliate of the Center for Public Service at Tulane University.  She has been involved in service learning for more than a dozen years, teaching courses, conducting funding projects, and serving as the founding Director of Tulane’s Office of Service Learning.  She served as Principal Investigator of a Learn and Serve consortium grant that supported the institutionalization of service-learning at higher education institutions.  She is a co-editor of the 2009 and 2010 volumes of the Advances in Service-Learning Research series and serves as Senior Associate Editor of the Michigan Journal of Community Service Learning.

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Brian O'Donnchadha - Leadership Development and Recognition Committee

Bio and Photo coming soon

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KerryAnn O'Meara - 2012 Conference Program Chair

komeara@umd.edu

KerryAnn O’Meara currently serves as an Associate Professor of Higher Education in the College of Education at the University of Maryland, College Park. Her research and practice focus on the academic profession and the civic mission of higher education. She is particularly interested in how reform in academic reward systems and in opportunities for professional growth can advance faculty work and institutional missions. She is currently P.I. on a collaborative project with the Kettering Foundation to study the origins of faculty civic agency and serves as the Associate Editor for Research Articles for the Journal of Higher Education Outreach and Engagement, and Associate Editor for the Journal of the Professoriate.

Prior to joining the faculty at the University of Maryland in fall of 2007, she served on the Higher Education faculty at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. Previous to this appointment she spent two years at the Harvard Project on Faculty Appointments, and 5 years as a professional in Student Affairs and Academic Affairs, directing service-learning programs, undergraduate research, and in residence life.

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Susan Root - Vice Chair and Finance/Fundraising Committee

Sue Root oversees the evaluation of NYLC projects such as the Generator School Network and WalkAbout and has major responsibility for the content of Growing to Greatness and related research events. She was a professor of education at Alma College for 16 years, where she taught courses in educational psychology, child and adolescent development, and early childhood education. She was a regional director of the National Service-Learning in Teacher Education Partnership and the lead author of Service-Learning in Teacher Education: A Handbook. Most recently, Sue was a Senior Research Associate at RMC Research Corporation in Denver, where she directed or co-directed studies of the Center for Civic Education’s Project Citizen and We the People programs and was project manager for a national study of service-learning and civic engagement funded by the Carnegie Corporation. Sue holds a doctorate in Educational Psychology from Michigan State University, a master’s in teaching, early childhood education from Oakland University, and a bachelor’s in English from Michigan State University.

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Rob Shumer - Fundraising/Finance Committee

drrdsminn@msn.com

Robert Shumer has been involved in education for almost 40 years. He has taught in middle school through graduate school, operating community-based learning program in high schools and universities. Dr. Shumer is the former Director of Field Studies at UCLA and the founder/Director of the National Service-Learning Clearinghouse and Co-Director of the Center for Experiential Education and Service Learning at the University of Minnesota.

Dr. Shumer currently lectures in the College of Education and Human Development at the University of Minnesota. His courses cover topics such as experiential learning, service-learning, research and evaluation, and curriculum development. Dr. Shumer is the editor of the Information for Action: Journal for Research on Service-Learning with Children and Youth and serves on the editorial boards of several national and international journals/publications.

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Liberty Smith - Leadership Development and Recognition Committee

Liberty Smith, Ph.D., has managed Learn and Serve America’s National Service-Learning Clearinghouse (NSLC) since September 2006. While continuing her focus on supporting and growing the service-learning field, since October 2009, she has served as Associate Director of National Service Resources and Training (NSRT), the parent project of NSLC, the Resource Center, Vista Campus, and AmeriCorps Connect. Liberty has primary responsibility for service-learning content development, field support, and fostering collaborations for the Clearinghouse and, in collaboration with the Director, coordinates knowledge management activities for NSRT generally. Liberty received a master’s degree and doctorate from the University of California, San Diego in Literature – Cultural Studies (2003) and a master’s degree in library and information science  from the University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee (2006). Her research and teaching interests include the interdisciplinarity of the service-learning field and the connections between personal relationships, artistic and intellectual collaborations, and political impact in U.S. and Latin American women’s and lgbtiq cultural production.

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Elaine Ward - Publications Committee

Elaine Ward has worked in Higher Education for eleven years.  She worked 10 years at the University of Massachusetts Boston in multiple roles including as a lecturer, the Director of the Center for Immigrant and Refugee Community Leadership and Empowerment, the Director of the Office of Student Services and as a member of the senior management team at the University’s College of Public and Community Service.  Elaine currently holds the Arnold F. Graves Postdoctoral Research Fellowship at Dublin Institute of Technology’s Center for Social and Educational Research in the Higher Education Policy Research Unit.  Elaine is researching the value of Arts and Humanities Research for HEPRU as part of a collaborative project with the Center for Higher Education Policy Studies (CHEPS) at the University of Twente in the Netherlands and with the Norwegian Institute for Studies in Innovation, Research and Education (NIFUSTEP) in Norway.

Prior to her years in higher education, Elaine worked in the social services field as a care worker and mental health counselor, both in Ireland and the US.  Elaine bridged her work in the community with her work with her students and has taught undergraduate classes in adult learning theory, leadership, and community development and has co-taught doctoral and masters’ level courses in research methods and teaching and learning.  Elaine also has experience supervising doctoral level dissertation research and has presented internationally on successfully completing the dissertation process.

Elaine is an active and enthusiastic researcher and has presented at regional, national and international conferences on the topics of access to higher education for immigrant students, adult learning, and the scholarship of engagement.  Her work has been published in the New Directions for Higher Education series, and Advances in Service-Learning.  Elaine is a Visiting Fellow at the New England Resource Center for Higher Education (NERCHE), in Massachusetts and is active in a number of international research teams. Elaine is a core member of a US-based research team that studies institutions that received the Carnegie Foundation for Teaching’s Community Engagement Elective Classification since the classification was first established in 2006.

Elaine has studied both in Dublin and in Boston and received her doctorate in Higher Education Administration from the University of Massachusetts, Boston.  Her dissertation titled Women’s Ways of Engagement:  An Exploration of Gender, the Scholarship of Engagement, and Institutional Reward Policy and Practice has been nominated for numerous awards and is the winner of the New England Educational Research Organization’s Schmidt Award for Outstanding Dissertation Research 2009 and the International Association of Research on Service-Learning and Community Engagement’s dissertation of the year award 2010.

Elaine is an advocate of the public mission of higher education and her research explores how individual faculty and institutions navigate and operationalize this mission.  Specifically, Elaine’s research interests include faculty motivation for community-engaged scholarship, the institutionalization of civic and community engagement, the relationship between academic institutions and the community and related theories of epistemology, and international perspectives of civic and community-engagement.

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