Kuum
Graduate Engagement Opportunities
2011-2015 Participating Graduate Students
Summary
Participating organizations: 42
Total participants: 62
Humanities: 27 (~44%)
Social science (includes Anthropology and Poli Sci): 29 (~47%)
STEM: 6 (~10%)
Alumni who have graduated from/left NU since participating: 9
Working alumni with TT academic jobs: 2
Working alumni with alt-ac/non-ac jobs: 7
African American Studies
Dwayne Nash – Appleseed Fund for Justice (F2011)
Claudia Garcia-Rojas – Chicago Taskforce on Violence Against Girls and Young Women (S2014)
Anthropology
Pilar Margarita Escontrias – Field Museum (F2011)
Nurhaizatul "Zat" Jamil – Kuumba Lynx (S2012)
Dario Valles – AFCSME Council 31 (S2011)
Bonnie Bright – Birthing Project USA/Home Care for Disabled Women (S2013)
Jessica Pouchet – Field Museum (S2014)
Kimbely Seibel – United African Organization (S2011)
Matilda Stubbs – Rice Children and Family Center (W2011)
Sarah Taylor – We Farm America (W2011)
Art History
Emilie Boone – Museum of Contemporary Photography (S2013)
Faye Gleisser – Chicago Video Data Bank (S2013)
Civil Engineering
Charlotte Anne Frei – City of Evanston, Office of Sustainability (F2011)
Charlotte Anne Frei – City of Evanston, Office of Sustainability
Primary Duties and Achievements: Evaluated options to enhance recycling in
the City of Evanston, including interviews of city staff and external experts,
internet research, and developed a recommendation report.
Student Reflection: “Interacting with students in other disciplines and having
the opportunity to discuss public engagement has helped me have a more
"enlightened" perspective.”
Communication Studies
Ben DiPaola – City of Evanston Health Department (W2011); Research Manager, GfK Market
Research
Sara DiDomenico – Field Museum (S2011)
Mrittika Sen – Children's Memorial Youth Violence Prevention Coalition (S2012)
Fan Gao – Museums in the Park (S2011)
Comparative Literary Studies
Patricia Anzini – Guild Literary Complex (F2014)
Computer Science
Elham Beheshtizavareh – Museum of Science and Industry (F2014)
Engineering Design & Innovation
Liz Kramer – Logan Square Neighborhood Association (F2011)
English
Kara Johnson – Open Books (S2015)
Tanushree Vachharajani – Ethiopian Community Association of Chicago (F2013)
History
Valerie Jimenez – National Museum of Mexican Art (S2012)
Julia Miglets – Museum of Contemporary Art (F2014)
Phonshia Nie – Newberry Library (S2011)
Human Development and Social Policy
Kendra Alexander – Kidz Express (W2011)
Eleanor Anderson – University of Chicago Consortium on Chicago School Research (F2013)
Eric Brown – Youth Organizations Umbrella (F2013)
Learning and Organizational Change
Stanley Fong – Youth Organizations Umbrella (F2014)
Learning Sciences
Alki Antonopolou – Museum of Science and Industry (S2015)
Mechanical Engineering
Fan Zhou – City of Evanston, Office of Sustainability (S2013)
Media, Technology, and Society
Robin Hoecker – National Veterans Art Museum (S2011)
Music Studies
Liz Pryzbylski – American Indian Center (S2011)
Philosophy
Evan Dutmer – Evanston Scholars (S2015)
Performance Studies
Derek Barton – Bloomingdale Trail (W2011); Technical Writer, Society for Critical Care Medicine
Lisa Biggs – Grace House (S2013); Asst. Professor, Michigan State University
Margaret Lebron – Center for Civic Reflection (S2013)
Patricia Nguyen – Asian Human Services (S2013)
Kantara Souffrant – Field Museum (S2011)
Justin Zullo – Kuumba Lynx (S2012)
Political Science
Emily Alvarez – A Just Harvest (S2012); National Opinion Research Center
Nick Dorzweiler – The Public Square, Illinois Humanities Council (S2011)
Jennifer Forestal – YouthMuse (S2012)
Rahul Mediratta – Heartland/Northern Tier Anti-Trafficking Consortium (S2015)
Andre Munro – Project on Civic Reflection (S2012)
Maavi Norman – RISE International (S2011)
Ayuko Picot – Pan-African Association (S2011)
Alison Rane – The Public Square, I.H.C (S2011); Prospect Manager & Research Analyst, Loyola
University
Désirée Weber – Chicago Debate Commission (S2012)
Psychology
Christopher Schmader – Chicago Public Schools (F2014)
Radio, Television, Film (Screen Cultures)
Mabel Rosenheck – Museum of Broadcast Communications (S2012)
Laura LaPlaca – Art Institute of Chicago (S2014)
Rhetoric & Public Culture
Beatrice Choi – Congress for the New Urbanism (S2013)
Rachel Rigdon – Street Level Youth Media (S2012); Editor, Texas Office of the Secretary of State
Elliot Heilman – Illinois Humanities Council (F2014)
Andre Munro – Project on Civic Reflection
Primary Duties and Achievements: Andre created a mind map of
PCR partners and funders; he wrote a letter of inquiry seeking
support for a city-wide community-building discussion program; he
contributed a good deal of content to our new website's resource
library; he developed his own facilitation skills; and he began work
on a booklet of civic reflection readings on the theme of democracy
and citizenship.
Student Reflection: “The GEO program shed a new light on the value
of my research, particularly how it can benefit civil society.”
Slavic Languages and Literatures
Conor Klamann – Evanston Scholars (S2014); Financial Aid Specialist, Lake Forest College
Sociology
Megan Bonham – Adler Planetarium (S2015)
Statistics
Fengqing Zhang – Evanston Health Department (S2012); Asst. Professor, Drexel University
Zhenyu Zhao – Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning (S2011); Sr. Data Insights Analyst, Yahoo
Theatre and Drama
Jordana Cox – Jane Addams Hull-House Museum (S2014)
Megan Geigner – Chicago Cultural Alliance (F2012)
Grace Overbeke – Grace House (S2014)
Rachel Rigdon – Street Level Youth Media
Primary Duties and Achievements: Rachel worked primarily on
projects related to Street-Level’s development and communications
activities. She provided data and editorial assistance for StreetLevel grant proposals and reports, and took the lead on a new grant
proposal. Her efforts successfully led to a $5,000 grant for our
summer arts program.
Student Reflection: “I grew professionally and personally through
[GEO], and to know that my desire to apply my research to the
greater good is supported by the university and the intellectual
fraternity was deeply inspiring.”