Philanthropy Lab Professors
Current Professors
Andrew Hogue
Baylor University
Civic Education and Community Service
Andrew Hogue
Baylor University
Civic Education and Community Service
2014–Present
Andy Hogue serves as Associate Dean in the College of Arts & Sciences and directs the Office of Engaged Learning, which facilitates programs in undergraduate research, civic and global learning, internships, leadership and character development, and major fellowships and awards. A Master Teacher, the highest honor bestowed by the university for teaching, Andy explores a range of public affairs in his courses, including philanthropy and civil society, social innovation, and politics. His courses on philanthropy have awarded over $1.2 million in grants to nonprofit organizations locally and around the world. Andy’s greatest professional joy is helping students discover ways to orient their learning toward the common good and work collaboratively beyond the classroom to promote human flourishing. He has directed three community-engaged study abroad programs at Maastricht University in the Netherlands and one at the University of St. Andrews in the UK. Andy’s scholarship focuses on how we achieve the common good. He is author of two books: Navigating the Future: Traditioned Innovation for Wilder Seas (with L. Gregory Jones) and Stumping God: Reagan, Carter, and the Invention of a Political Faith. He will soon finish two others titled No One is Coming to Fix It: On Hope & Everyday Citizenship and Teaching Philanthropy (with Ronald Pitcock and Stephen Myers). From 2018-2020, Andy served as Senior Project Associate on the Traditioned Innovation Project at Duke University. Andy earned a BA from Clemson University, an MA and PhD from Baylor, and completed the executive program in design thinking at Stanford.
Anitza Maria Cox-Marrero
Universidad del Sagrado Corazón
Business Administration School
Anitza Maria Cox-Marrero
Universidad del Sagrado Corazón
Business Administration School
2023–Present
Anitza Maria Cox-Marrero is a lawyer, admitted to the bar, who has been a consultant in social policy issues for more than 20 years and is a leading scholar in topics related to the nonprofit sector in Puerto Rico. She is a Partner at Estudios Técnicos, Inc., Puerto Rico’s leading economic, social and planning consulting firm, and currently acts as Director of the Social Policy and Research Division. At the firm, she has coordinated the study on non-profit organizations in Puerto Rico since 2002, a longitudinal study about the economic and social impact of the Third Sector, which has contributed to the enactment of important pieces of legislation to promote philanthropy in the Island. One of her main responsibilities at Estudios Técnicos, Inc. is the coordination of projects which involve the evaluation and design of public policies and plans, in the areas of: health (HIV prevention, care and treatment), social services, community development, housing for special populations and juvenile delinquency. She also provides technical assistance to several governmental agencies and NPOs in areas of program design and compliance. She has been in the academia for more than 15 years. Besides offering Sagrado’s Philanthropy Lab Course at the University of Sacred Heart, she is a professor at the Graduate School of Public Administration at the University of Puerto Rico, where she teaches courses in research, program evaluation and external resources. In addition, she was part of the faculty of the Graduate Program in Nonprofit Management at the University of the Sacred Heart, the Communications Program at the Inter-American University and the Community Development Program at Rutgers University, special project in Puerto Rico.
Barbara Levin
Washington University in St. Louis
Department of Sociology
Barbara Levin
Washington University in St. Louis
Department of Sociology
2023–Present
Barbara Levin is a skilled and dynamic nonprofit professional with over 40 years of experience leading and managing professional staff and volunteers, creating and executing programs, teaching, consulting, training, facilitating, mentoring, and building coalitions among diverse community partners. She is a demonstrated organizer, systems creator, team builder, and motivator. In May 2020, the George Warren Brown School of Social Work at Washington University appointed Barbara as a Teaching Professor. She has been on the staff since 2002 as the Program Manager for Community Capacity Building and Field Education, providing structure for Brown’s placed-based initiatives by managing and implementing community initiatives and coordinating the work of graduate students with partnering institutions and organizations in defined settings. As an adjunct professor, Barbara taught Community Development Practice and Urban Development Seminar (in collaboration with St. Louis University School of Law, School of Urban Planning and Design, and the Fox School of Design at Washington University) Effective Meeting Management and Community Facilitation, Volunteer Management, and the Integrative Seminar for Field Practicum. She is also a qualified Myers-Briggs Type Indicator© administrator. Barbara retired from the University in May 2022. Active in the community, she serves on the board of MaTovuSTL. She is a founding board member and past chair of Nonprofit Missouri, the state’s association of nonprofits. She is the past president of St. Louis ArtWorks and the past Treasurer of the Ferguson Nonprofit Center. In 2022, Levin was recognized by the Community Builders Network for her Lifetime Achievement for work in community development. Levin has an MSW from the University of Maryland, School of Social Work.
Brian Goebel
Emory University
Goizueta Business School
Brian Goebel
Emory University
Goizueta Business School
2020–Present
Brian Goebel serves as the Managing Director for the Business & Society Institute, a research center within Emory University’s Business School that addresses complex challenges confronting people, the planet, and businesses through academic discovery and purposeful action. He oversees the Institute’s growing portfolio of programs focused on climate change and energy systems; inequalities in organizations, markets, and communities, purpose-driven entrepreneurship and innovation, transparent trade, impact investing, and reimagined corporate responsibility. Additionally, Brian is a Lecturer in Organization & Management teaching BBA and MBA courses focused on philanthropy, social impact management, and certified B Corps. Prior to joining the Goizueta Business School, Brian worked in both the private and nonprofit sectors as a management consultant at Deloitte Consulting LLP and community builder at United Way of Greater Atlanta. He has a Master of Business Administration (MBA) from Emory University and a Bachelor of Arts degree in sociology from the University of Michigan.
Carla Ingrando
Cornell University
Johnson Graduate School of Management
Carla Ingrando
Cornell University
Johnson Graduate School of Management
2023–Present
Carla Ingrando is a lecturer and major gift officer at S.C. Johnson Graduate School of Management. She teaches the Philanthropic Leadership course in collaboration with The Philanthropy Lab. At Cornell, Carla previously served as Executive Director of University Corporate and Foundation Relations, Interim Assistant Dean for Alumni Affairs and Development for Computing and Information Science, and Associate Dean for Alumni Affairs for the SC Johnson College of Business. Prior to joining Cornell, Carla served as the Senior Director of Foundation Relations at the University of Notre Dame. Before embarking on a career in university development, Carla was a faculty member at Denison University, Marylhurst University, and worked as a program officer for the Michigan Humanities Council. She holds a Ph.D. in Theology from Notre Dame and earned her M.Div. from Vanderbilt, her M.P.A. from the University of South Carolina, and her B.A. from Furman University.
Cynthia Jasper
University of Wisconsin-Madison
Cynthia Jasper
University of Wisonsin-Madison
Department of Civil Society and Community Studies
2016–Present
Cynthia Jasper is Vaughan Bascom Professor of Women and Philanthropy in the Department of Civil Society and Community Studies in the School of Human Ecology at the University of Wisconsin – Madison. Dr. Jasper’s research interests include philanthropic education, and topics related to decision-making and giving. She has authored a publication entitled “Teaching Civic Engagement Through Student Philanthropy: Theories and Best Practices for Transformative Learning” in The Journal of Nonprofit Education and Leadership. She also authored a publication entitled, “Women’s Leadership in Philanthropy” for the Encyclopedia of Nonprofit Organizations. She earned her B.S. at Northern Michigan University and her M.S. and Ph.D. at the University of Wisconsin – Madison.
Douglas Bauer
University of Pennsylvania
Urban Studies / Social Policy and Practice
Douglas Bauer
University of Pennsylvania
Urban Studies / Social Policy and Practice
2011–Present
Doug Bauer is the Executive Director of the Clark Foundation in New York City. The Clark Foundation focuses on helping individuals lead independent and productive lives through its support of nonprofits in New York City and Cooperstown, NY. Doug is also executive director of The Scriven and Fernleigh Foundations and Senior Vice President with The Clark Estates, Inc. Prior to Clark, Doug was a Senior Vice President with Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors (RPA) from 2002 to 2009. Before joining RPA, Doug held management positions at Goldman, Sachs and Co., SmithKlineBeecham (now GlaxoSmithKline), and The Pew Charitable Trusts. Doug’s opinions and ideas on philanthropy have been featured in the Associated Press, The Chronicle of Philanthropy, The Financial Times, The Los Angeles Times, The Stanford Social Innovation Review, The Wall Street Journal, and on CNBC, NPR and PBS. Doug co-authored, with Steven Godeke, Philanthropy’s New Passing Gear: Mission Related Investing, A Policy and Implementation Guide for Foundation Trustees. Doug serves on boards of The Leatherstocking Corporation, Melalucca Foundation, The National Council on Nonprofits, Partners for Health Foundation, and is a past chair of Philanthropy New York. He also is a member of the Leap of Reason Ambassadors Community and an adjunct faculty member at the University of Pennsylvania and the Columbia Business School where he teaches about philanthropy and the nonprofit sector.
Flavia Bastos
University of Cincinnati
Honors Seminar
Flavia Bastos
University of Cincinnati
Honors Seminar
Present
Flávia Bastos is a Distinguished Research Professor in the Arts and Humanities. She has edited and published books and several articles and has lectured extensively in the United States and abroad. Her leadership roles in academia include Graduate Program Director in the Art Education program, founder of the Latino Faculty Association, Executive Director of the Emeriti Association, Interim Associate Dean of the Graduate School, and Provost Fellow. Her most recent book Promoting Civic Engagement through Art Education was published by Routledge in 2025. She received the University of Cincinnati Foundation 2024 Rieveschl Staff of Merit Award for her pioneering a student philanthropy course at the university, now taught as a Philanthropy Lab course.
Geraldine Downey
Columbia University
Department of Psychology
Geraldine Downey
Columbia University
Department of Psychology
2024–Present
Geraldine Downey is the Niven Professor of Humane Letters in Psychology and Director of the Center for Justice at Columbia University. Her work on the causes and consequences of social exclusion and rejection is internationally recognized. She is currently studying how identities of hope (e.g., the student identity) can transform the narrative about people deemed rejectable (e.g., people with a criminal conviction) and can inform interventions that alter the trajectory of justice-impacted youth. Dr. Downey has worked on and taught about issues related to incarceration since the 1970s. She is presently co-teaching a new course on Frontiers of Justice. For her talk on education in prison, see: Geraldine Downey’s Talk for Why Education Matters: Talks@Columbia.
Greg Goldman
University of Pennsylvania
Urban Studies / Social Policy and Practice
Greg Goldman
University of Pennsylvania
Urban Studies / Social Policy and Practice
2011–Present
Greg H. Goldman is the Vice President of National Audubon Society and Executive Director of Audubon Pennsylvania. Audubon is a national nonprofit focused on environmental conservation. Goldman coordinates its efforts across Pennsylvania, working to align nature centers, chapters, sanctuaries and projects with the Society’s new strategic plan for conservation within watersheds, forests and bird-friendly communities. Formerly Vice President of Development for the Philadelphia Zoo, Goldman oversaw the Zoo’s comprehensive development efforts including fundraising strategies, capital campaign initiatives and corporate and foundation relations. His background also includes stints as CEO of Wireless Philadelphia, where he was responsible for leading a citywide initiative to extend Internet access to low-income families and small businesses across Philadelphia, and Executive Director of MANNA, a volunteer organization providing nutritional services to people living with HIV/AIDS and other illnesses. He significantly expanded MANNA’s major donor, corporate, event and government fundraising while handling media relations and serving as its key spokesperson. In 2003, Goldman was awarded the Eisenhower Fellowship. While on his 2003-04 Eisenhower Fellowship to Chinese Taipei and Thailand, Goldman explored those countries’ innovative public health responses to AIDS and other infectious diseases, and investigated their emerging civil society sectors more broadly. Greg received his BA from Northwestern University and a Master’s degree in public policy from the University of Chicago. He has been a member of the adjunct faculty in the Urban Studies Program at Penn for 20 years, offering courses on the philanthropy and the nonprofit sector.
Jonathan Hannah
University of Notre Dame
Department of Public Service, Political Science
Jonathan Hannah
University of Notre Dame
Department of Public Service, Political Science
2019–Present
Jonathan Hannah is the Assistant Director of the de Nicola Center for Ethics and Culture at the University of Notre Dame. He previously worked at the Notre Dame Law School. In addition to his role at de Nicola, he teaches an experiential learning course, Philanthropy & the Common Good, in the department of political science. Jon holds a B.A. from Saint Xavier University, an M.Sc. from Lewis University, a J.D. from the University of Detroit Mercy, and an LL.M. from Notre Dame. His writing on philanthropy has appeared in Philanthropy Daily, Real Clear Policy, and Public Discourse.
Joshua Pederson
Boston University
Joshua Pederson
Boston University
College of General Studies, Humanities
2024–Present
Joshua Pederson is an Associate Professor of Humanities at Boston University. His research interests include religion and literature, literary trauma theory, and the creative afterlife of the Bible. He is the author of two books, Sin Sick: Moral Injury in War and Literature (Cornell UP, 2021) and The Forsaken Son: Child Murder and Atonement in Modern American Fiction (Northwestern UP, 2016), along with a variety of other essays and book chapters. His opinion pieces have appeared in The Washington Post, The Boston Globe, The LA Times, Harper’s Magazine, and Salon. For over a decade, he has taught a survey course in ethical philosophy at BU; as time has passed, theories of charity and altruism have taken up more and more space in that course’s curriculum.
Kimberly Bess
Vanderbilt University
Department of Human & Organizational Development
Kimberly Bess
Vanderbilt University
Department of Human & Organizational Development
2023–Present
Dr. Kimberly Bess is an Associate Professor of the Practice in Human and Organizational Development at Vanderbilt University. As a community psychologist, she investigates complex social problem domains or wicked problems that characterize high poverty communities, such as violence, poor educational outcomes, and health disparities. Using a systems lens, she explores the ways in which social contexts or settings influence individual behavior and community action and the role individual and organizational actors play in shaping social contexts that impact community wellbeing. In additional to teaching Philanthropy & Social Problem Solving, she currently teaches Understanding Organizations and Food and Community Development. In her teaching, research practice, Dr. Bess emphasizes community-engaged approaches and collaboration with local non-profit organizations.
Kyle Gammenthaler
Texas A&M University
Mays Business School
Kyle Gammenthaler
Texas A&M University
Mays Business School
2016–Present
Kyle Gammenthaler leads Mays Business School’s efforts related to Societal Impact. This work included managing the Certificate in Nonprofit and Social Innovation, developing new and innovative service-learning initiatives at Mays Business School, and teaching through a variety of formats.
In addition to his regular teaching and administrative duties, Kyle also serves as a Faculty/Staff Advisor for a campus-wide student organization called 180 Degrees Consulting. He is a Gallup StrengthsFinder Strengths Educator and a former member of the National Academic Advising Association (NACADA). Kyle was also recognized by Mays Business School with the Star Performer Award in 2016
He recently completed his term as board chair for The United Way of the Brazos Valley and currently serves as a board member for OnRamp. Previously, Kyle has served in an advisory capacity for Ronald McDonald House Charities of Central Texas and Baylor Scott & White Central Texas Foundation. Before joining Mays Business School, Kyle worked as a non-profit fundraiser and volunteer coordinator for a local nonprofit in Bryan/College Station.
Lisa-Rosen Metsch
Columbia University
Department of Psychology
Lisa-Rosen Metsch
Columbia University
Department of Psychology
2024–Present
Dr. Lisa Rosen-Metsch is the 9th Dean of the Columbia School of General Studies. She is the first alumna to serve as Dean of GS. Previously, she was the Chair and Stephen Smith Professor, Sociomedical Sciences at the Mailman School of Public Health.
Dean Lisa Rosen-Metsch is a medical sociologist and an internationally recognized scholar whose work has focused on the social determinants of health with special focus on access to care for persons living with HIV and substance use disorders. For the past two decades, her research has been continuously funded by the National Institutes of Health and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and has resulted in over 250 publications in high impact journals including the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), Addiction, and the American Journal of Public Health. Mentoring and teaching has always been a high priority for Dean Rosen-Metsch and she has won numerous teaching awards and co-directs a NIH-funded training program with the Columbia School of Social Work. In addition to serving as Dean, Dr. Rosen-Metsch teaches “Philanthropy and Just Societies” and a seminar course in the Department of Sociology entitled “AIDS and US Society”. In her time as Dean, Columbia GS has significantly increased fundraising for student financial aid scholarships, created and launched new international dual-degree programs, and created new initiatives focused on social justice and women student veterans.
Mark Richards
Baylor University
Civic Education and Community Service
Mark Richards
Baylor University
Civic Education and Community Service
2025–Present
Mark Richards is the Associate Director for Operations, Innovation, and Programs in the Office of Engaged Learning. Along with co-teaching Philanthropy and the Public Good, Mark assists in directing the general operations, innovation, and strategy of Baylor’s Engaged Learning programs spanning undergraduate research, civic and global learning, internships, major fellowships and awards, and leadership and character formation. Mark graduated from Baylor with a bachelor’s in Finance as a Business Fellow, and previously directed the operations of a small financial planning firm and prior to that worked in management consulting in Chicago. He is a two-time alumnus of Dr. Hogue’s Philanthropy & the Public Good course and a past Philanthropy Lab Ambassadors Conference participant.
Pamela Paxton
University of Texas at Austin
Undergraduate Studies
Pamela Paxton
University of Texas at Austin
Undergraduate Studies
2012–Present
Pam Paxton is the Chair of Sociology and the Linda K. George and John Wilson Professor of Sociology at The University of Texas at Austin. She received her undergraduate degree from the University of Michigan in economics and sociology and her Ph.D. in sociology from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She has consulted for the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and the National Academies. She has intersecting research interests in pro-social behavior, politics, gender, and methodology. She is the author of articles and books on social capital, nonprofits, women in politics, and quantitative methodology. Her research has appeared in a variety of journals, including the American Sociological Review, American Journal of Sociology, Social Forces, Comparative Politics, International Studies Quarterly, and Legislative Studies Quarterly. With Melanie Hughes and Tiffany Barnes, she is the coauthor of the 2020 book, Women, Politics, and Power: A Global Perspective. She is also an author of Nonrecursive Models: Endogeneity, Reciprocal Relationships, and Feedback Loops (2011). Her chapter, “What Influences Charitable Giving?,” appears in the 2020 publication, The Nonprofit Sector: A Research Handbook, third edition. One current project uses mission statements to understand how nonprofits have helped redefine collective representations to be inclusive of diverse sexual and gender identities.
Patricia Bromley
Stanford University
Department of Political Science
Patricia Bromley
Stanford University
Department of Political Science
2023–Present
Patricia Bromley is an Associate Professor in the Graduate School of Education, the Doerr School of Sustainability, and (by courtesy) Sociology at Stanford University. At Stanford she also directs the Scandinavian Consortium for Organizational Research (SCANCOR) and is a Co-Director of the Center on Philanthropy and Civil Society (PACS). Patricia teaches courses related to the sociology of education, sustainable development, nonprofit organizations, and global education policy. Patricia’s research spans a range of fields including organization and management theory, comparative education, and the sociology of education. Her work shows the expansive societal effects of the rise and globalization of a liberal world culture emphasizing rational, scientific thinking and expansive forms of rights. Recent studies also examine contemporary challenges to the liberal cultural order, such as growing restrictions on civil society organizations and declining levels of education reform worldwide. Much of her work takes place in the Global Civil Society and Sustainable Development Lab in Stanford’s Center on Philanthropy and Civil Society. Current research includes multiple projects related to sustainable development, education, organizations, and civil society, including the World Education Reform Database. Prior work included many studies of civic education textbooks around the world and the expansion of formal organization.
Randi Shade
University of Texas, McCombs
McCombs School of Business
Randi Shade
University of Texas, McCombs
McCombs School of Business
2023–Present
Randi Shade is an Austin-based entrepreneur and community leader. She has been a board member and has served in executive roles throughout her career, working in the private, nonprofit, and government sectors. Randi was elected citywide to serve on the Austin City Council, was the founder and CEO of a venture capital-backed internet company, served as the executive director of the Austin Entrepreneurs Foundation, and was the founding executive director of what is now OneStar Foundation, where she launched AmeriCorps in Texas, working for Texas Governors Ann Richards and George W. Bush. Randi earned a BA degree in 1988 in the Plan II Honors Program at UT Austin, where she served as student body president; she also earned her MBA from Harvard Business School in 1992. Randi received a German Marshall Memorial Foundation Fellowship in 2004, and in 2005 became a Henry Crown Fellow of The Aspen Institute and a member of the Aspen Global Leadership Network. Randi has been a consultant to Dell Technologies in recent years, an active community volunteer, the co-chair of a newly launched in-district charter school and community center called Greenleaf NCC (Greenleaf Neurodiversity Community Center) for people with autism transitioning to adulthood, and she teaches Investing in Philanthropy to MBA students at UT’s McCombs School of Business.
Robin Selzer
University of Cincinnati
Honors Seminar
Robin Selzer
University of Cincinnati
Honors Seminar
Present
Dr. Robin Selzer is a seasoned social justice educator with 25 years of experience. Her interdisciplinary academic background is in Sociology, Counseling, and Higher Education Administration. She has achieved Full Professor rank at the University of Cincinnati and teaches full-time in the College of Cooperative Education & Professional Studies. She has been an IDI Qualified Administrator since 2017 and actively uses the tool in teaching, research, and diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging (DEIB) consulting across many types of organizations. She has published 2 book chapters with IGI Global about using the IDI in Medical Education. Dr. Selzer is also a Gallup certified CliftonStrengths Coach who focuses on how we can leverage our unique talents to engage differences that lead to a healthy, productive team culture.
Rogelio Garcia Contreras
University of Arkansas
Department of Strategy, Entrepreneurship, & Venture Innovation & Humanities
Rogelio Garcia Contreras
University of Arkansas
Department of Strategy, Entrepreneurship, & Venture Innovation & Humanities
2023–Present
Rogelio Garcia Contreras is a Teaching Faculty, leading social innovation initiatives at the Strategy, Entrepreneurship and Venture Innovation Department of the Walton College of Business of the University of Arkansas. He holds a doctorate degree from the Josef Korbel School of International Studies at the University of Denver. His teaching experience includes public and private institutions of higher education in Mexico, China, Spain, Chile, and the United States. He serves as an advisor and board member of several social impact organizations worldwide. And he is the co-host of Points of Departure, a podcast produced in collaboration with KUAF 91.3 FM, the Northwest Arkansas affiliate of National Public Radio.
Ron Pitcock
Texas Christian University
John V. Roach Honors College
Ron Pitcock
Texas Christian University
Honors Colloquium
2011–Present
Ron Pitcock is the Dean of the John V. Roach Honors College and the J. Vaughn and Evelyn H. Wilson Honors Fellow at Texas Christian University, where he also serves as the Director of Prestigious Scholarships. He earned his A.B. at Wabash College, M.A. at Indiana State University, and his Ph.D. in English and American Literature, with specializations in American Rhetoric, Literacy, and Culture, at the University of Kentucky. At TCU, Dr. Pitcock has taught an array of undergraduate courses and graduate seminars on rhetoric, writing, literacy, and literature. His research examines issues in writing pedagogy and nineteenth-century US literacy. In recent years, Dr. Pitcock has pursued efforts to enhance the teaching and learning that Honors students experience at TCU. In 2003, Dr. Pitcock was named “Honors Professor of the Year” at TCU. In 2002, he received the “Promising Researcher Award” from the National Council of Teachers of English. Most recently, Dr. Pitcock received the 2010 Wassenich Award for Mentoring in the TCU Community. TCU students also voted Dr. Pitcock as recipient of the 2009 TCU Inspirational Professor Award presented by EECU. Dr. Pitcock has received teaching awards at the University of Kentucky, Indiana State University, and TCU; citations from the Conference on College Communication and Composition; and fellowships given by Pew Charitable Trusts. In 2012, The Princeton Review named Dr. Pitcock as one of the Best 300 Professors in the United States.
Ruth Sessler Bernstein
Pepperdine University
Ruth Sessler Bernstein
Pepperdine University
Department of Nonprofit Management
2025–Present
Ruth Sessler Bernstein is an Associate Professor of Nonprofit Management at Pepperdine University teaching nonprofit management classes and the Service Leadership capstone course. Her publication and research interests focus on diversity, equity and inclusion in leadership and governance, with an emphasis on nonprofit organizations. She is a regular presenter at ARNOVA and AOM. Her publications have appeared in numerous nonprofit and management journals, including NVSQ, NML, EDI, and JBE. Most recently she has published two books. The first, Performance through Diversity and Inclusion: Leveraging Organizational Practices for Equity and Results (Routledge, 2022) with Paul Salipante and Judith Weisinger and the second, Diversity and Inclusion in Nonprofit Governance—No More Excuses! (Sagamore-Venture, 2021) with Chris Fredette.
Sarah Vartabedian
Texas Christian University
John V. Roach Honors College
Sarah Vartabedian
Texas Christian University
Honors Colloquium
2024–Present
Sarah Vartabedian earned her BA and MA in Communication from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and her Ph.D. in Rhetoric and Language from the University of Texas at Austin. She serves as Assistant Professor in the John V. Roach Honors College at TCU. Sarah is an experienced executive speaker coach who has worked with many Fortune 500 companies and higher education institutions. Before joining the Honors faculty full time, she served as a visiting lecturer. She teaches a course called “Punishing Spaces, Sanctified Places” and another called “Giving and Philanthropy.”
Shai Dromi
Harvard University
Department of Sociology
Shai Dromi
Harvard University
Department of Sociology
2016–Present
Shai M. Dromi is a cultural and comparative-historical sociologist with research on international humanitarian organizations, political movements, and knowledge production. His new book, Moral Minefields: How Sociologists Debate Good Science, was published in 2023 with the University of Chicago Press. This book looks at the discursive frameworks scholars develop to maneuver controversial research topics. Shai’s first book, Above the Fray: The Red Cross and the Construction of the Humanitarian Relief Sector (University of Chicago Press, 2020), examines the origins and development of the humanitarian NGO sector. Above the Fray won awards from the Association for Research on Nonprofit Organizations and Voluntary Action and the Altruism, Morality, and Social Solidarity Section of the American Sociological Association. In addition, Shai is co-editor of The Handbook of the Sociology of Morality, Vol. 2 (Springer, 2023). His work has appeared in journals like Sociological Theory and Theory & Society and received awards from the American Sociological Association.
Stephanie Fischer
American University
School of International Service
Stephanie Fischer
American University
School of International Service
2024–Present
Stephanie Fischer is the Director of Experiential Learning and Executive-in-Residence at the American University School for International Service. Stephanie teaches courses related to consulting, enterprise, and corporate social responsibility. Stephanie’s administrative role includes overseeing the School of International Service’s masters practicum program and skills institutes. Her extensive background in the social sector, particularly social enterprises, includes the roles of Chief Operating Officer of Microfinance Opportunities, Chief Program Officer of GlobalGiving, and Associate Director at Ashoka: Innovators for the Public. Stephanie’s international assignments have included directing the Advisory Board Foundation’s child protection project in the Philippines and leading Cummins Inc.’s corporate social responsibility efforts in Mexico. In addition to her work with American University, she consults and trains in the areas of management, planning, operations, and leadership. Stephanie earned a BA in international politics and economics from Middlebury College and an MBA from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, majoring in strategic management.
Stephen Meyers
University of Washington
Department of Law, Societies and Justice
Stephen Meyers
University of Washington
Department of Law, Societies and Justice
2018–Present
Meyers is an Associate Professor in Law, Societies & Justice; and International Studies at the University of Washington, Seattle. He is also core faculty in the Disability Studies Program and adjunct faculty in the Law School. Currently, Meyers is the Director of the Center for Global Studies and the Chair of the MA in International Studies program in the Henry M. Jackson School of International Studies at the UW. In 2019, Stephen co-founded with Megan McCloskey the Disability Inclusive Development Initiative in the International Policy Institute at the Jackson School. The DIDI involves graduate and undergraduate students in applied research projects that advance disability human rights and disability inclusive international development. He is the author of Civilizing Disability Society: The CRPD socializing grassroots disabled persons organizations in Nicaragua (Cambridge University Press, 2019) and more than a dozen peer-reviewed articles and book chapters in journals including Qualitative Sociology, Current History, Disability & Society, Disability Studies Quarterly, and Research in Social Science and Disability. He is also the co-author with Megan McCloskey of UNFPA’s Young Persons with Disabilities: Global Study on Ending Gender-based Violence and Realizing Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights (2018) and UNESCO’s Violence and Bullying in Educational Settings: The experiences of young people and children with disabilities (2021). Currently, Meyers has two new books under contract. What is Global Disability Studies?, a monograph co-authored with Shixin Huang that will be forthcoming from the University of California Press, and Hierarchies of Disability Human Rights, an edited volume co-edited with Megan McCloskey and Gabor Petri that will be forthcoming from Routledge. Meyers holds a Ph.D in Sociology from the University of California, San Diego and Master degrees from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst and Harvard University.
Vera Safa Michalchik
Stanford University
Department of Political Science
Vera Safa Michalchik
Stanford University
Department of Political Science
2023–Present
Vera Michalchik leads EPLI’s research on philanthropy and the design of programs, consultations, and materials for donors, advisors, and others wanting to advance insight and practice in giving for social good. Vera has spent her career in the non-profit and public sectors, applying a research-plus-practice lens to processes, relationships, and outcomes. Her efforts have succeeded in helping manage expectations between local organizations and global funders, adapt effective programs to new cultural contexts, document successes and lessons learned in evaluation studies, and build new approaches through applied research. She brings to her role extensive experience in social science research, putting relevant findings to use in her previous positions at SRI International, the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, UC Irvine’s Department of Informatics, and Stanford’s Center for Teaching and Learning. She also built a library system on a small island in Micronesia while collecting data there for her dissertation on knowledge management across social settings. She holds a PhD from Stanford, EdM from Harvard, and BA from UC Berkeley—her studies all focused on learning, media, and the shaping of cultural norms.
Victoria Rosner
New York University
Gallatin School of Individualized Study
Victoria Rosner
New York University
Gallatin School of Individualized Study
2023–Present
Victoria Rosner is the Dean of the NYU Gallatin School of Individualized Study. Her interdisciplinary research focuses on modernism across literature, architecture, and design. Her most recent book is Machines for Living: Modernism and Domestic Life (Oxford University Press, 2020). She is also the author of Modernism and the Architecture of Private Life (Columbia University Press, 2005), and has edited two volumes, The Cambridge Companion to the Bloomsbury Group (Cambridge University Press, 2014) and The Global and the Intimate: Feminism in Our Time (Columbia University Press, 2012; with Geraldine Pratt). She has been a guest editor for journals including Signs, WSQ, and The Scholar and Feminist. In addition to her scholarly work, Rosner has several public projects on gender in the professions. She is a founding co-editor (with Mary McLeod) of the web-based archive Pioneering Women of American Architecture, a project that recovers the histories of US women architects born before 1940. In 2022, this project was awarded the Advocacy Award of Excellence from Docomomo’s Modernism in America Awards. Rosner also co-directed Frontline Nurses: Leaders in Pandemic Response, an oral history project on the role of nurses and midwives in pandemic outbreaks. Rosner’s work has been supported by the National Endowment for the Arts, the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Graham Foundation for Advanced Studies in the Fine Arts, the Arthur Vining Davis Foundations, the Columbia University Center for the Study of Social Difference, and more. She is the winner of the Modernist Studies Association Book Prize (for Modernism and the Architecture of Private Life). Rosner is the co-editor of Gender and Culture, the leading book series in English on gender and literary studies (published by Columbia University Press). Rosner taught previously at Columbia University, where she served as Dean of Academic Affairs at Columbia School of General Studies, as well as at Texas A&M University.
Previous Professors
Anne Jeffrey
Baylor University
Philanthropy & Public Service (PPS) Program
Chris Marquis
Harvard University
Harvard Kennedy School – Social Innovation and Public Policy
Doug Perkins
Vanderbilt University
Human & Organizational Development
Gillian Hayes
University of California, Irvine
University Studies
Jennifer Lindholm
UCLA
Civic Engagement; Honors
Jim Litton
Abilene Christian University
Griggs Center for Entrepreneurship and Philanthropy
John Burkhardt
University of Michigan
Education
Kyle McJunkin
UCLA
Disability Studies; Honors
Lauren Jones Young
Northwestern University
School of Education and Social Policy
Micah McElroy
Stanford University
Center on Philanthropy and Civil Society (PACS)/Sociology
Nir Eyal
Harvard University
TH Chan School of Public Health
Penelope Peterson
Northwestern University
School of Education and Social Policy
Sarah Stroup
Middlebury College
Political Science
Tracy Dobie
Northwestern University
School of Education and Social Policy
Victoria Rosner
Columbia University
General Studies/English
Beth Shinn
Vanderbilt University
Human & Organizational Development
Christine Letts
Harvard University
Kennedy School – Management, Leadership, and Decision Making
Elizabeth George
Washington University in St Louis
Sociology
Grey McLean
University of Virginia
Leadership and Public Policy
Jeremy Vickers
Baylor University
Philanthropy & Public Service (PPS) Program
Jim Orr
Abilene Christian University
Griggs Center for Entrepreneurship and Philanthropy
Judi Smith
UCLA
Civic Engagement
Laura Lieber
Duke University
Jewish Studies / Ethics / Religion / Political Science / Public Policy
Leah Ersoylu
University of California, Irvine
University Studies
Michele Adams
Tulane University
Sociology, School of Liberal Arts Management Minor
Paul Martin
University of Virginia
Leadership and Public Policy
Rachel Adams
Columbia University
General Studies/English
Shannon Coyne
Northwestern University
School of Education and Social Policy
Tina Sula
University of California, Irvine
University Studies
Vida L. Avery
Rice University
Center for Civic Leadership
Bruce Sievers
Stanford University
Political Science
Daniel Levine
University of Arkansas
Dept. of Strategy, Entrepreneurship, & Venture Innovation & Humanities
Elon Lang
University of Texas at Austin
Liberal Arts Honors
Holly Burchett
Baylor University
Philanthropy & Public Service (PPS) Program
Jim Bildner
Harvard University
Kennedy School – Management, Leadership, and Decision Making
Jodi Quas
University of California, Irvine
University Studies
Karl Muth
Northwestern University
School of Education and Social Policy
Laura Starks
University of Texas at Austin
McCombs School of Business
Megan Tompkins-Stange
University of Michigan
Public Policy
Minette Drumwright
University of Texas at Austin
McCombs School of Business
Paul Speer
Vanderbilt University
Human & Organizational Development
Ron Shaiko
Dartmouth College
Nelson A. Rockefeller Center for Public Policy and the Social Sciences
Steven Viner
Middlebury College
Political Science
Victoria Bredow
University of California, Irvine
University Studies
Wes Longhofer
Emory University
Goizueta Business School