Presenters

Derek Attig
Assistant Dean for Career & Professional Development, Graduate College, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
PhD, History, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

Derek Attig is Assistant Dean for Career & Professional Development in the Graduate College at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, as well as President-Elect of the Graduate Career Consortium, an international professional organization for those working in graduate-level career development. Derek was part of the team that built the ImaginePhD career planning tool for humanists and social scientists and writes regularly for Inside Higher Ed’s Carpe Careers column. Before working in career development, Derek advised graduate students at a teaching center and worked in nonprofit marketing.

Allison Kemmerle Barbu
Software Engineer, HubSpot
PhD, Greek and Roman History, University of Michigan

I'm a software engineer at HubSpot, a SaaS company based in Cambridge, Massachusetts. My interest in programming languages is closely tied to my love for the ancient languages I studied as part of my graduate studies at the University of Michigan. I'm passionate about helping folks transition out of academia and get into the tech industry.

Lauren Beriont
Co-founder Emergence Collective
B.S, MSW

Lauren Beriont is experienced in working alongside community organizations to increase their impact and effectiveness through equitable means. Lauren has a wide range of experience working with nonprofits and foundations providing organizational support, technical assistance, and advancing their evaluation efforts. Recent projects include partnerships with a coalition of organizations fighting homelessness, a national environmental funder initiative, and a community-university evaluation partnership. Lauren is passionate about reimagining the way people work together through mutually beneficial partnerships for community well-being. She approaches each project with her love for evaluation, community-centered work, nature-based solutions, facilitation, and systems thinking.
 

Michelle Bolofer
Program Director, InsideOut Literary Arts

BA, English, University of Michigan- Ann Arbor; BA, Psychology, University of Michigan- Ann Arbor; MA, Mathematical Statistics, Wayne State University

A native Detroiter, experienced educator, and lifelong Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion advocate, Michelle Bolofer is dedicated to closing the opportunity gap for students and communities. As a former classroom teacher, corporate educational consultant, and start-up nonprofit director, she has worked to improve educational equity and expand access to resources. With her passion for youth development and community empowerment, Michelle directs and executes the program vision for InsideOut Literary Arts’ youth programming.
 

Antoinette Burton
Director of Humanities Research institute, University of Illinois and Humanities Without Walls Consortium, Professor of History and Gender and Women's Studies
Ph.D., History, University of Chicago, 1990

I’m a historian of 19th and 20th century Britain and its empire, with a specialty in colonial India and an ongoing interest in Australasia and Africa. I’ve written on topics ranging from feminism and colonialism to the relationship of empire to the nation and the world. Women, gender and sexuality have always been central to my research, much of which has been concerned with the role of Indian women in the imperial and postcolonial imagination. I’ve edited collections about politics, mobility, postcolonialism and empire.
 

John Paul Christy
Senior Director of US Programs, ACLS
PhD, Classical Studies, University of Pennsylvania

John Paul Christy is the Senior Director of US Programs at ACLS, where he develops and oversees programs that support humanities scholars working within and beyond the academy. He also designs and refines the Council's peer review, award, and engagement processes to promote equity and inclusive excellence and advance innovative approaches to research and education in the humanities and interpretive social sciences. Before joining ACLS in 2012, John Paul was a Presidential Management Fellow in Washington, DC, where his portfolio included projects related to US public diplomacy, Internet anti-censorship programs, and the public humanities.
 

Sarah Jo Cohen
Senior Acquiring Editor, University of Michigan Press
BA, English, Rutgers University,
PhD, English, University of Minnesota

Sara Jo Cohen is senior acquiring editor at University of Michigan Press, where she handles acquisitions in American studies, music, and media studies. She's been working in scholarly publishing since 2011, holding posts at University of North Carolina Press and Temple University Press before beginning her work at University of Michigan in 2019. Prior to working in publishing, Sara earned a PhD in English from the University of Minnesota.
 

Anne Cong-Huyen
Digital Scholarship Strategist, University of Michigan Library
PhD, English, UC Santa Barbara

Anne Cong-Huyen is a senior associate librarian and Digital Scholarship Strategist at the University of Michigan Library, and is affiliate faculty in the Digital Studies Institute and Asian Pacific Islander American Studies. She was previously the digital scholar and coordinator of the Digital Liberal Arts Program at Whittier College, and a Mellon Visiting Assistant Professor of Asian American Studies at UCLA. She holds a PhD in English from the University of California, Santa Barbara. She is co-founder of #transformDH and the Situated Critical Race and Media (SCRAM) collective, and is currently the vice chair of the Digital Humanities Caucus of the American Studies Association. Her work has been published in American Quarterly, The Global South, The Journal of e-Media Studies, and in the Debates in the Digital Humanities series.

Amanda Campbell Crawford
Archaeologist, United States Forest Service
BA, History and English
MA, Anthropology/Archaeology, Western Michigan University

Amanda Campbell Crawford is an Archaeologist for the US Forest Service. She developed Sites of Civil Rights and Resistance, a heritage-based civil rights program currently being implemented in the US Forest Service. Amanda also serves as the Chair for the Michigan Freedom Trail Commission which aims to preserve, promote, and interpret Michigan's Underground Railroad Community. Her research focuses on the use of historical narratives and the archaeological record to promote racial equity work.

Michael Doan
Associate Professor of Philosophy, Oakland University
PhD, Philosophy, Dalhousie University

Michael Doan is an Associate Professor of Philosophy at Oakland University, specializing in social epistemology, social and political philosophy, and moral psychology. He is also a member of the Transitional Leadership Team at the James and Grace Lee Boggs Center to Nurture Community Leadership.
 

Kirsten Elling
Coordinator for Graduate Student Career Advancement, University of Michigan
BA, University of Michigan
PhD, Clinical Psychology, Loyola University Chicago
Licensed Clinical Psychologist

Dr. Kirsten Elling supports the career development of U-M's Ph.D. students through 1:1 career coaching and counseling, program development and delivery, and service as liaison to Rackham Graduate School. She has been engaged in gender and diversity issues throughout her career, and brings a holistic, collaborative approach to the important work of helping students navigate their career development and educational paths. Prior to her current role, Dr. Elling served for many years as Associate Director for Counseling & Programs at U-M's CEW+, and got her start in higher ed at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago's Counseling Services where she served as DEI Coordinator and Training Director.

Suzanne Fischer
Founder and Principal, Exhibit Coach
PhD, History of Science and Technology, University of Minnesota

Suzanne Fischer is a museum leader dedicated to putting people at the center of her work. After 15 years as a museum director and curator, she launched a consulting firm, Exhibit Coach, which helps organizations make amazing, engaging, inclusive exhibits. She previously directed 11 museums and historic sites for the State of Michigan. She believes that her PhD (History of Science and Technology, University of Minnesota) gives her a unique perspective on exhibit development.
 

Alyssa Greenberg
Community Engagement Director, Toledo Opera
BA, Art History, Oberlin College
MA, History and Theory of Museums, Bard Graduate Center
PhD, Art History, University of Illinois at Chicago

Dr. Alyssa Greenberg is an academic, facilitator, and organizer who specializes in community engagement and racial justice in the arts. As the Community Engagement Director at Toledo Opera, she manages the Community Engagement Advisory Committee and adult public programming, centering the relevance of opera to contemporary issues, as Toledo-area residents experience them.

She recently completed a postdoctoral Leadership Fellowship at the Toledo Museum of Art where she served on the Museum’s Executive Team, expanding the porosity between the Museum and the local community through initiatives including re-launching Circle as an affinity group to engage new audiences and establishing The Art of the Cut, an event partnering with local Black barbers as artists.
 

Amanda Healy
University-Community Partnerships Manager, Ginsberg Center, University of Michigan
PhD, English Language and Literature, University of Michigan

Amanda stewards and facilitates partnerships between the university, students, and the community. Taking into account the expertise and needs of potential partners, she forms new connections between Ginsberg’s various stakeholders, and she fulfills daily administration needs to ensure that existing partnerships continue to thrive. In addition, Amanda supports Ginsberg’s curriculum development and workshops for students and university partners.
 

Monica Huerta
Director Sales Enablement Operations, Snowflake, Inc.
PhD, History of Art, University of Michigan

Monica is a seasoned Sales Enablement professional, with over ten years of experience in the tech industry. With specialized training in teaching and learning, Monica has become a leader in her field for her innovative and creative approach to training.
 

Joyce M. Hunter
President/CEO, African American Cultural & Historical Museum of Washtenaw County
BA, Western Michigan University
MA, Michigan State University
Administrative Endorsement, University of Michigan

Joyce M. Hunter is the President/CEO of the African American Cultural & Historical Museum of Washtenaw County. As a founding member, she has been with the AACHM since the very beginning of planning and has been instrumental in guiding the development of the museum.

After retiring from Ann Arbor Public Schools as the Assistant Superintendent for Secondary Schools, she has continued her work with community organizations that service youth and the community at large. She has received numerous awards which includes the Woman of Achievement Award (Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity), Women Council Award (Washtenaw Community College Foundation), and The Distinguished Service Award (Ann Arbor Rotary) for her work in the community. She loves reading, the arts, and traveling.
 

Déanda Johnson
Civil Rights Historian/National Park Service, Region 2
BA, Anthropology, (minor in History), University of California, San Diego
MA and PhD, American Studies, College of William & Mary

Déanda Johnson has been a historian with the National Park Service (NPS) since 2010. In 2021, she accepted a position as the Civil Rights Historian for Region 2 (Legacy Southeast Region). Prior to that she served as the Midwest Regional Manager for the National Underground Railroad Freedom Program.
 

Yodit Mesfin Johnson
President/CEO, Nonprofit Enterprise at Work

Yodit Mesfin Johnson (she/her) is a mother, poet, visionary-strategist, and champion for human rights and social change. Yodit thrives in building community around the questions that matter most; how can we unlock the potential and possibility needed to radically transform our communities, see the ecosystem and the whole, and design and act in ways that bend the long arc of history towards balance and harmony?

She's been organizing, teaching and learning at the intersections of racial, gender & economic justice and liberatory practices for more than two decades. Full time, Yodit serves as President & CEO of Nonprofit Enterprise at Work (NEW) where she stewards the organizations' mission and vision of a just and thriving society. She is a masterful facilitator of dialogue with individuals, organizations and communities of people who wish to explore anti-racist practices, racial equity & justice and dismantling harnful, supremacist patterns & practices within themselves, their organizations and communities.

Yodit stands firmly on the belief that there is no greater antidote for hate than love and liberation.
 

Jamon Jordan
Historian, Tour Leader, Black Scroll Network History & Tours; Official Historian, City of Detroit; Instructor of Detroit History Class at University of Michigan
History Lecturer at University of Michigan

Born and raised in the city of Detroit, I taught K-12 for 20 years - 10 years as a Middle School Social Studies Teacher. In 2013, I founded Black Scroll Network History & Tours to lead tours and presentations about Detroit's Black History. In 2021, I was appointed to the Michigan Freedom Trail Commission by Governor Gretchen Whitmer. I also began teaching a Detroit History Class at the University of Michigan, and was appointed the Official Historian for the City of Detroit.
 

Charles Keenan
Project Manager, Urban Technology; University of Michigan
Ph.D., Northwestern University, History

Charlie Keenan is currently a project manager at the University of Michigan's Taubman College, helping to create a new undergraduate degree program in Urban Technology. He manages all logistics and operations related to this program, working with faculty and colleagues in admissions, student affairs, marketing, and development, as well as external partners in industry. He has previously worked at U-M's Center for Entrepreneurship, managing its graduate-level programs, and at Boston College, where he administered its Core Curriculum and helped create a new series of interdisciplinary courses for first-year students.
 

Amanda J. Krugliak
Arts Curator/Assistant Director Creative Programming
BFA, Painting and Photography, University of Michigan School of Art

Curator, Arts Administrator, Creative, best known for conceptual, experiential installations, for projects with Ibrahim Mahama, Mark Dion, Scott Hocking, Mary Mattingly, Alison Bechdel, Sonya Clark, Kent Monkman, Shani Peters, Jay Lynn Gomez, , Shizu Saldamando, Ebony G. Patterson, Mary Sibande, Yasmine Nasser Diaz. Tracey Snelling, among others.

Internationally recognized for State of Exception, installation co- created with Richard Barnes and Jason De Leon based upon De Leon's Undocumented Migration Project; . Also served as consultant/curator for Michele Norris's Race Card Project performance and installation, Ann Arbor, Michigan 2013, and collaborator for 'Object Lessons,' based upon the early history of University of Michigan collections. Published collections of essays about Institute Gallery exhibitions, University of Michigan Institute for the Humanities, 2017. Ongoing Lecturer at UM, "Gallery as Social Justice Practice," and "Curating Scholarship."
 

Tania Lown-Hecht
Communications Director, Outdoor Alliance
PhD, English, University of Illinois

Tania Lown-Hecht is Communications Director for Outdoor Alliance, a national coalition of outdoor recreation advocacy groups that unites the voices of outdoor enthusiasts to conserve public lands and ensure those lands are managed in a way that embraces the human-powered experience. At Outdoor Alliance, Tania leads advocacy messaging, strategic communications, and builds out campaigns for social media, website, email, and press. She has a PhD in English, writing articles that reached five or so people; she also once ran a blog that reached a quarter million people. Tania lives in Portland, Oregon with her husband and two small children.
 

Michelle May-Curry
Project Director, Humanities for All, National Humanities Alliance
BA, Williams College
PhD, American Culture, University of Michigan

Michelle May-Curry leads Humanities for All, an initiative of the National Humanities Alliance that showcases and advocates for publicly engaged humanities work at colleges and universities across the United States. She is also a lecturer at Georgetown University in the Engaged and Public Humanities department. Prior to joining NHA, she was a visiting dissertation fellow at Harvard University as well as a Carr Center Independent Scholar. Her scholarly and curatorial work has appeared in exhibitions at The Art Institute of Chicago, Harvard Art Museums, The Carr Center Gallery, and The 2019 Havana Biennial and publications such as American Quarterly, The Black Aesthetic III: Black Interiors, and All That She Carried: The Journey of Ashley's Sack a Black Family Keepsake.
 

Michelle Jahra McKinney
Director, Head of Collections and Founding Member - Detroit Sound Conservancy; Archivist, Librarian, Educator - Wright Museum for African American History
BA: English & Music Theory, Marygrove College, Magna Cum Laude 1993
MLIS, Wayne State School of Information & Library Science, 2011 Detroit MI Graduate Certificate in Archival Administration

Michelle Jahra McKinney is a Hakamma, female griot and woman of wise words. She is a Detroit leader in cultural education, community development and the conservation & performance of African and African American cultural expressions through music, theater, folkloric story and dance, percussion, and song. She has worked and performed in the community for almost 50 years. She gathers community to help express our beautiful and underrepresented legacies.
 

Deborah Meadows
Tour Docent, Journey to Freedom
Mentored by historians past and present

Being a Cardiothoracic surgical nurse for the last 22 years is my chosen career. However, becoming a volunteer docent with AACHM has provided a meaningful opportunity to "give back" made possible through the mentorship of those who did the research. Because of their commitment, we are able to share stories and contributions of African Americans in Washtenaw; to honor those no longer with us, empower our youth with a sense of belonging, and enrich the collective understanding of our society.
 

Samir Meghelli
Senior Curator, Smithsonian Anacostia Community Museum
BA, University of Pennsylvania
MA, MPhil, PhD, History, Columbia University

Samir Meghelli is Senior Curator at the Smithsonian Anacostia Community Museum. His research, teaching, and curatorial work have focused on social movements, urban history, and cultural history. He has authored, co-authored, and co-edited several works and his writings have appeared in the New York Times, Philadelphia Tribune, and Washington Informer. His most recent exhibitions include "A Right to the City" (2018-2020)—which explored the history and contemporary dynamics of neighborhood change and community activism in Washington, DC—and "Food for the People: Eating and Activism in Greater Washington" (2021-2022) which received the 2020-2021 Smithsonian Excellence in Exhibitions Award.
 

Rebecca Meuninck
Deputy Director, Ecology Center
BA, University of Michigan
PhD in Anthropology, Michigan State University

Rebecca has worked on environmental health and environmental justice issues for more than 16 years. She returned to the Ecology Center in September 2009 after leaving temporarily to pursue her PhD in Sociocultural Anthropology at Michigan State University. In 2008, she was awarded the prestigious Fulbright-Hays Doctoral Dissertation Research Abroad grant, which funded her dissertation research on the social, environmental, and economic impacts of fair trade and organic coffee production on small-scale farming families in Brazil. She has lived and studied throughout Latin America and speaks Portuguese and Spanish.
 

David Michener
Curator, and Academics, Curation & Research Administrative Lead, Matthaei Nichols Botanical Gardens, University of Michigan
BA, Highest Honors in Botany, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill
MA, PhD, Botany, Claremont Graduate School, Claremont, California.

David came to Matthaei-Nichols in 1990 and has been engaged with the collections and their broad use in the university community ever since. He currently serves on two interdepartmental academic committees: Museum Studies Program Faculty Advisory Committee and the 2009-10 Museum Theme Year Steering Committee for the School of Literature, Science, and the Arts. He also advises students on specific projects such as PITE 398, serves on various graduate student committees, and in the new undergraduate museum minor. In addition, he manages students to create interpretation for our collections and GPS data mapping of our living collection. Both of these projects are working to create a web-based interactive plant database.

David is the author of numerous technical reports and papers, many for agencies. He is a long-serving member and past chair of the Editorial Committee for The Public Garden. For popular audiences, David is the co-author of Taylor’s Guide to Groundcovers, and he has coauthored articles in Horticulture magazine. His own garden has appeared in several publications, and he is a popular public speaker. David has led garden-study tours in Asia, Europe, New Zealand, and North America.
 

Cassie Miller
Senior Research Analyst, Lead/Spokesperson, Southern Poverty Law Center
PhD, History, Carnegie Mellon University

Cassie Miller is a Senior Research Analyst at the Southern Poverty Law Center’s Intelligence Project, where she arrived in 2016 as a Mellon Foundation/American Council for Learned Societies Public Fellow. She is an expert on the American far right, with a focus on the organized white power movement. She regularly speaks on far-right extremism to academic audiences, community groups, religious organizations, lawmakers, and the media.
 

Derrick Miller
Executive Director, Community Action Network
BA, University of Michigan
Post-Baccalaureate Teacher Certification, Eastern Michigan University
MPH-AS, Eastern Michigan University
CMPH-AS, Eastern Michigan University

As a BIPOC leader in Washtenaw County’s nonprofit community and having grown from grassroots one of Washtenaw County’s most successful and impactful nonprofits (Community Action Network). In my 3 years as CAN's executive director, the organization has more than doubled its annual operating revenue, and tripled its service delivery to the community. I have over 20 years of development in service that included experiences as a United States Marine, educator, program director, community center director, consultant to nonprofits, and currently as an executive director.
 

Cecilia Morales
BA, Texas A&M
PhD, English Language and Literature, University of Michigan

Cecilia supports faculty, graduate students, and academic program staff as they develop, implement, and evaluate their work with community partners. She oversees Ginsberg’s classroom-based workshop curriculum, manages the Graduate Academic Liaison program (a team of doctoral students who facilitate workshops and support other Center projects), and contributes to Ginsberg’s partnerships with academic units across campus. In addition, Cecilia serves as the managing editor of the Michigan Journal of Community Service Learning (MJCSL).

Margaret Nettesheim-Hoffman
Associate Director of Career Diversity for the Humanities Without walls Consortium
PhD Candidate, American History, Marquette University

Margaret (Maggie) Nettesheim Hoffmann is the Associate Director of Career Diversity for the Humanities Without Walls (HWW) consortium headquartered at the Humanities Research Institute at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign and she is based at Marquette University. As a part of her work for HWW, Maggie is responsible for guiding HWW’s career diversity programming dedicated to transforming graduate education for consortium partner schools and beyond. She is a co-PI (along with Dr. Andrew Kim, Dr. Tim McMahon, and Dr. Theresa Tobin) on a $1.3 million grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation and HWW to Marquette University in support of HWW’s career diversity work. She is completing a PhD in United States History at Marquette where she researches the history of American philanthropy, capitalism, and progressive era political discourses critical of private foundation giving.
 

Kyle Nisbeth
PhD Candidate & American Evaluation Association Graduate Education Diversity Internship (GEDI) Fellow with the Kresge Foundation
BA, International Studies Minor in Public Health, Spelman College
MPH, School of Public Health, Department of Health Behavior, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill,
PhD, School of Public Health, Department of Health Behavior and Health Education,
University of Michigan

Kyle's research interests lie in understanding racism’s physiological impact on Black women. She is particularly interested in how societal race-related discrimination shapes Black maternal mental health, mothering, and influences biological stress markers. She relies on theory (e.g., Weathering Hypothesis, John Henryism, Strong Black Woman Schema) to draw inferences about chronic stress, racially hostile environments and mental health outcomes for Black women. Her methodological interests lie in culturally responsive evaluation and the integration of racial and gender equity in evaluative practice.
 

Afia Ofori-Mensa
Director of Equitable Postgraduate Academic Opportunity, Emma Bloomberg Center for Access & Opportunity, Princeton University
BA, English, University of Pennsylvania
MA, American Culture, University of Michigan
PhD, American Culture, University of Michigan

Dr. Afia Ofori-Mensa is an educator, storyteller, writer, performer, and the first member of her Ghanaian immigrant family to be born in the United States. She currently serves as Director of Equitable Postgraduate Academic Opportunity in the Emma Bloomberg Center for Access & Opportunity at Princeton University. In her role, Afia leads the Center’s efforts in designing, developing, and directing programming that supports underserved undergraduates in aligning their values, talents, skills, and interests with their visions for the future—especially futures in higher education. She directs Princeton’s Mellon Mays Undergraduate Fellowship (MMUF) program and is founding director of Princeton’s Aspiring Scholars and Professionals (ASAP) internship program for non-Princeton undergraduates in the humanities. Before coming to Princeton, Afia worked at Oberlin College, first as a postdoctoral fellow and then as Assistant Dean and Director of Undergraduate Research. She earned her BA in English from the University of Pennsylvania, where she was in MMUF, and her MA and PhD in American Culture from the University of Michigan, where she was a Ford Foundation Predoctoral Fellow.
 

Dawn Opel
Director of Research & Strategic Initiatives and General Counsel, Food Bank Council of Michigan
PhD, Rhetoric, Composition, and Applied Linguistics, Arizona State University
J.D., University of North Carolina School of Law

Dawn Opel, JD, PhD, is Director of Research & Strategic Initiatives and General Counsel of the Food Bank Council of Michigan, where she oversees research, data, legal, and compliance functions of the organization. A lawyer and researcher, her career has included positions in academic, nonprofit, and government sectors, and broadly, she works to build strategic partnerships for social innovation. Dr. Opel’s particular focus is developing capacity in Michigan for food-as-medicine interventions in the clinical setting, and she is currently involved in the implementation and sustainability of fresh food pharmacies for chronic disease self-management in federally-qualified health centers (FQHCs).
 

Mearah Quinn-Brauner
Director for Strategy and Policy, Office of the Provost, Northwestern University
BA, English, Oberlin College
MA and PhD, English Literature, University of Pennsylvania

In her role as Director for Strategy and Policy at Northwestern University, Mearah provides strategic and tactical support for a wide range of activities within the Office of the Provost and the University more broadly, including senior searches, academic program approval, fulfillment of accreditation and state authorization requirements, and the development of university policy. Prior to joining Northwestern’s Office of the Provost in March 2020, Mearah served as Deputy Chief of Staff and Assistant Vice Provost in Emory University’s Office of the Provost. Before moving into roles in central administration, Mearah supported graduate students across disciplines through advising, program development, and cultivating intra-institutional collaboration in roles at Northwestern and the University of Chicago. Mearah has also worked as a teacher, food service worker, public parks programs manager, researcher/writer, editor, and caregiver.
 

Robert Ramaswamy
Acquisitions Editor, University Press of Colorado and University of Wyoming Press

BA, American Studies, Yale University
MA, American Studies, George Washington University
ABD (discontinued), American Culture, University of Michigan

Robert Ramaswamy (he/they) joined UPC/University of Wyoming Press as acquisitions editor in 2022, after working as an assistant editor for the Ohio State University Press and as an editorial assistant for University of Michigan Press/Michigan Publishing. He acquires in history, environmental humanities, public humanities, and democracy and the United States. Robert lives in Ann Arbor, MI with his partner, Anna, two dogs, and eight chickens.
 

Joelle Fundaro Randall
Assistant Director, University Career Center - University of Michigan
Master’s in College Student Personnel, Bowling Green State University

Joelle Fundaro Randall strives to support students to develop holistic approaches to their lives and careers beyond graduation. Joelle loves helping students articulate their skills, values, and interests as related to their future careers and interests. She provides 1:1 career counseling and coaching to undergraduate and graduate students, and coordinates and presents a variety of workshops, programs, and events. Joelle is passionate about diversity, inclusion, and equity, and helping students realize their potential! She serves as the liaison to Services for Students with Disabilities and First-Generation College Students.
 

Valerie Robin
Change Consultant, MTX Group
PhD, English (Rhetoric & Composition), Georgia State University

Valerie is inspired by helping others. She concentrated on Digital Writing while earning her PhD in Rhetoric and Composition. Today she spends much of her days as a consultant working to help clients upgrade from manual and workaround systems to modernized platforms, and ways of working. Her favorite word is 'can,' her favorite key is 'delete,' and her favorite muppet is The Great Gonzo.
 

Ashley Ross
Director of Programs, Michigan Humanities
MA, Anthropology, Museum Studies

Ross has worked in the public humanities for over 15 years and before joining Michigan Humanities held roles in museums throughout the state of Michigan including, art, history, anthropology, and historical house museums. She also has a background in philanthropy and local government holding positions in her local Village Council, Downtown Development Authority, and Planning Commission. Previously, Ross served on the steering committee for the Gender Equity in Museums Movement and served as the School Readiness Chair for the Genesee Intermediate School District.
 

Laura Schram
Director of Professional Development and Engagement, Rackham Graduate School
PhD, Political Science, University of Michigan

Laura is Director for Professional Development and Engagement at University of Michigan Rackham Graduate School, where her team provides support for graduate students and postdoctoral fellows to develop the skills necessary to succeed at Michigan and beyond as they transition into their careers. In addition to overseeing Rackham’s professional development curriculum, she teaches a Designing Your Life mini-course for graduate students and supports the work of the Rackham’s Professional Development DEI Certificate. Prior to coming to Rackham, Laura was Assistant Director at the Center for Research on Learning and Teaching for five years, where she coordinated graduate student professional development programs and coached instructors.
 

Justin Schell
Director, Shapiro Design Lab (University of Michigan Library)
PhD, Comparative Studies in Discourse and Society, University of Minnesota

Justin Schell is the Director of the Shapiro Design Lab, an engaged learning community at the University of Michigan Library. His work focuses on community-partnered project development, accessibility and disability justice, as well as podcasting and documentary film. If you've been on a Zoom call with him, you've probably seen one of his two cats, Scanner and Pixel.
 

Daniela Sheinin
Graduate Student Staff Assistant, Rackham Program in Public Scholarship
MA, History, University of Toronto
PhD Candidate, History, University of Michigan

Daniela Sheinin studies urban and cultural history at the University of Michigan. She currently works as a staff assistant for Rackham’s Program in Public scholarship and she has served as co-chair for the Urban History Association’s Early Career Committee. Her work has appeared in the Journal of Transnational American Studies, the Gotham Center for New York City History Blog, the AHA’s Perspectives, and she was co-founder and first host for the historical podcast, Reverb Effect.
 

Kyera Singleton
Executive Director, Isaac Royall House and Slave Quarters
BA, American Studies and Women’s Gender and Sexuality Studies, Macalester College.
Ph.D Candidate, American Culture, University of Michigan

Kyera Singleton is the Executive Director of the The Royall House and Slave Quarters museum of Medford, MA and a PhD Candidate in the Department of American Culture at the University of Michigan-Ann Arbor. Singleton has demonstrated her commitment to making history both visible and accessible through public history projects in museums and nonprofits that are committed to social justice. She served as the Humanity in Action Policy Fellow for the ACLU of Georgia, where she worked on various issues including mass incarceration, reproductive justice, and voting rights. And she was a research fellow for the Charles Wright Museum of African American History in Detroit. Singleton believes history is a vehicle through which we can understand and affect the conditions of the present.
 

Megan Stielstra
Writer; Artist-in-Residence, Northwestern University; Senior Fellow, Annenberg Innovation Lab
MFA, Creative Writing/The Teaching of Writing, Columbia College Chicago

Megan Stielstra is a writer and educator from Chicago. She is the author of three collections, most recently The Wrong Way to Save Your Life from Harper Perennial, and her work appears in the Best American Essays, New York Times, Chicago Tribune, The Believer, Tin House, and on National Public Radio. She is currently an artist in residence in creative nonfiction at Northwestern University and a senior fellow with the Annenberg Innovation Lab at the University of Southern California, imagining a media that centers human beings.
 

Matt Jaber Stiffler
Research and Content Manager, Arab American National Museum
PhD, American Culture, University of Michigan

Matthew Jaber Stiffler is the Research & Content Manager at the Arab American National Museum in Dearborn, MI. Matthew also co-founded the Center for Arab Narratives, a new national research program through ACCESS, the largest Arab American community non-profit in the country. Matthew received his Ph.D. in American Culture from the University of Michigan in 2010, where he serves as a lecturer in Arab and Muslim American Studies. He is a former board member of the Arab American Studies Association and serves on the executive board of Michigan Humanities. He writes about food and identity.
 

Chad Swan-Badgero
Arts Education Program Manager, Michigan Arts and Culture Council
MA, English and Theatre, Michigan State University

Chad serves as the Arts Education Program Manager for the Michigan Arts and Culture Council and is the founder and artistic director for Peppermint Creek Theatre Company, a non-profit theatre located in Lansing. He was named one of the "Ten Over The Next Ten" from the Lansing Chamber of Commerce, and was awarded the Arts Council of Greater Lansing's Individual Artist Applause Award in 2016. Chad’s proudest role is as Daddy to his son Sawyer.
 

Kurtis Tanaka
Program Manager-Justice Initiatives, Ithaka S+R
PhD, the Art and Archaeology of the Mediterranean World, University of Pennsylvania

Kurtis Tanaka, PhD, is program manager for justice initiatives at Ithaka S+R, where he has led numerous projects on increasing access to and the quality of higher education opportunities in US prisons. His work is broadly framed around the question of how people access information, through this lens exploring the role of technology in higher education in prisons and the impact of Departments of Corrections’ media review policies, censorship, self-censorship, and digital surveillance on educational quality. Beyond higher education in prisons, Kurtis works with academic libraries, publishers, and museums to help them better serve their users and communities.
 

Malcolm Tariq
Senior Manager, Editorial Projects (Prison and Justice Writing)

PhD, English Language and Literature (African American & Diasporic Studies Graduate Certificate), 20th Century African American Literature, University of Michigan
Malcolm Tariq is the senior manager of editorial projects for Prison and Justice Writing at PEN America. Previously, he served as the programs manager for Cave Canem, a home for Black poetry, among other positions in communications and development for the Center for Alternative Sentencing and Employment Services (CASES) and The Friends School of Atlanta. He was a 2016 Public Humanities Fellow at the National Endowment for the Humanities, and his work has been supported by the Social Science Research Council and Imagining America. Malcolm is the author of Heed the Hollow (Graywolf, 2020), winner of the Cave Canem Poetry Prize and the 2020 Georgia Author of the Year Award in Poetry.
 

Joan Troyano
Digital Product Strategy, Environmental Defense Fund
BA History and Latin, Indiana University
PhD, American Studies, George Washington University

Joan Fragaszy Troyano has applied her humanities training to a variety of fields, including traditional exhibitions and education at the Smithsonian Institution, alt-ac digital humanities at the Roy Rosenzweig Center for History and New Media, and digital strategy for the Environmental Defense Fund, a global environmental non-profit. In each role she has prioritized audience experience through research, interpretation, testing, and evaluation. She is very thankful for the Intro to Library Science class that introduced her to HTML and led to transferable skills in digital content strategy, marketing, analytics, and product management.
 

Maggie Vanderford
BA English, Creighton University
MA English, University of Arizona
MA English, UCLA
PhD English, UCLA (expected 2023)

I am the Librarian for Instruction and Engagement at the William L. Clements Library, a repository for rare pre-1900 books, graphics, maps, and manuscripts at the University of Michigan. I coordinate the teaching program at the Clements by working closely with university faculty and staff to integrate our collections into curricula. I also oversee the fellowship program and work to raise awareness of the Clements as a unique educational resource for the University of Michigan and community beyond.

Stephen Ward
Associate Professor, Department of Afroamerican and African Studies and Residential College, University of Michigan
PhD, History, University of Texas

Stephen Ward is a member of the James and Grace Lee Boggs Center to Nurture Community Leadership and an Associate Professor at U-M jointly appointed in the Department of Afroamerican and African Studies and the Residential College. He also serves as the Faculty Director of the Semester in Detroit program.
 

Lillian Wilson
Humanities Career Diversity Postdoctoral Fellow & Managing Director, Wayne State Humanities Clinic, Wayne State University
PhD, History Wayne State University

Lillian Wilson, PhD, is the Humanities Career Diversity Postdoctoral Fellow at Wayne State University and Managing Director of the Wayne State Humanities Clinic. She has a PhD in U.S. history and studies 19th and 20th century women and gender in the arts. Dr. Wilson is founder and director of Detroit Historical Consulting which specializes in research for museums and historic sites. Her past professional experience includes work for the Detroit Historical Museum, the Smithsonian Institution, The Phillips Collection, and the College for Creative Studies. From 2018-2020 she was an American Historical Association Career Diversity Fellow. Currently, she is a board member at the City of Royal Oak Historic District Commission and Historic District Study Committee. She lives in Metro-Detroit with her husband, son, and beagle.
 

Chikako Yamauchi
Strategic Learning and Evaluation Officer, The Kresge Foundation
BA, Japanese Language and Literature, University of Massachusetts Amherst
MA, Pacific Islands Studies, University of Hawai’i at Mānoa
PhD, Art History, University of Canterbury

Chikako Yamauchi is a Strategic Learning and Evaluation Officer at The Kresge Foundation, where she supports program and practice teams develop and refine strategies and draw insights from data to advance equity. Before joining Kresge, Chikako led a team designing and facilitating a learning consortium that brought together funders, public agencies, and nonprofit leaders to better support community capacity strengthening across Los Angeles County. Chikako previously served as Research and Evaluation Manager on a team that co-designed and co-facilitated community innovation labs in multiple US cities.