Community Engagement Leader | Researcher | Educator | Connector

I strengthen communities by creating meaningful connections among people, institutions, and opportunities.

Who I Am

I am a higher education professional, social worker, educator, and community engagement strategist with expertise in community partnerships, Service-Learning, student success, program evaluation, and institutional engagement.

My career bridges academia and community practice. I specialize in translating big ideas into programs, partnerships, and systems that create tangible results for both institutions and the communities they serve. I bring a practical, relationship-centered approach to leadership, grounded in resilience, service, and continuous learning.

I enjoy taking something complicated- a strategic plan, a community need, a new program, a partnership, or a collection of data and figuring out how to turn it into something useful. I believe relationships are infrastructure. The connections we build between people and organizations are often what make meaningful change possible.

Areas of Expertise

• Community Engagement & Anchor Institution Strategy
• Community Partnership Development
• Program Evaluation & Assessment
• Social Capital & Social Network Analysis
• Strategic Planning & Implementation
• Community-Based Research
• Leadership Development
• Nonprofit & Civic Collaboration

Education

PhD in Community Engagement – Point Park University

Master of Social Work – Stockton University

Bachelor of Art in Sociology/Anthropology – Stockton University

My dissertation research examined social support networks among college students who lacked parental support during high school, comparing students from formal foster care systems and informal kinship care arrangements.

My research interests include:

• Social support networks
• Social capital
• Student belonging and success
• Community-engaged scholarship
• Higher education and equity
• Informal kinship care

I bring a combination of community engagement, social work, higher education, research, program development, assessment, teaching, and grassroots leadership.

I am especially energized by projects that require someone to:

• Bring different people and organizations together
• Turn a broad vision into a workable plan
• Build programs from the ground up
• Make sense of complicated systems
• Evaluate whether something is actually making a difference
• Create meaningful experiences for students and community members
• Find connections between seemingly unrelated ideas
• Help people feel that they have a place and a role

I am both a big-picture thinker and a practical problem solver. I like strategy, but I also like figuring out who is going to make the phone calls, where the program will happen, what the budget will be, and how we’ll know whether it worked.

Leadership Beyond Work

I believe communities are strengthened when people show up and serve.

My volunteer leadership includes:

• Community event planning and civic engagement initiatives
• Board leadership within a Unitarian Universalist congregation
• Scouting America leadership and mentoring
• Regional Burning Man community leadership