Civic & Community Engagement Task Force Profiles
Office of Civic and Community Engagement
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Edmund Abaka - History
A graduate of the University of Cape Coast in Ghana, West Africa, Professor Abaka earned his M.A. degree (European History) at the University of Guelph in Canada and a Ph.D in African History at York. While he teaches the general African history survey classes (History of Africa to 1800 and Africa Since 1800), he offers specialized courses on Southern Africa (up to Nelson Mandela), Egypt and the Nile Valley (Egypt, Sudan and Ethiopia), West Africa Since 1800, and Pan-Africanism. His graduate classes…
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Etiony Aldarondo - Community & Educational Well-Being Research Center
Dr. Etiony Aldarondo is Associate Dean for Research and Director of the Dunspaugh-Dalton Community and Educational Well-Being Research Center in the School of Education at the University of Miami. The recipient of various recognitions for academic excellence and community involvement, his scholarship focuses on positive development of ethnic minority and immigrant youth, domestic violence, and social justice-oriented clinical practices. His publications include the books Advancing Social Justice…
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Anthony Alfieri - Law
Anthony V. Alfieri, Professor of Law and Dean’s Distinguished Scholar, is the Founder and Director of the Center for Ethics and Public Service at the University of Miami School of Law. Professor Alfieri earned an A.B. in 1981 from Brown University, graduating magna cum laude with concentration honors in the Center for Law and Liberal Education, and a J.D. from Columbia University School of Law in 1984, graduating with Harlan Fiske Stone Scholar and Jane Marks Murphy Prize honors.
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Greg Bush - History
Professor Bush specializes in modern American history, with an emphasis on political, intellectual, and cultural history. His scholarly interests revolve around media history, perceptions of crowd behavior, and public history that promotes better understanding of South Florida’s past. He is one of the founders of Miami’s Florida Moving Image Archive (formerly the Louis Wolfson II Media History Center), and author of Lord of Attention: Gerald Stanley Lee and the Crowd Metaphor in Industrializing…
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Anita Cava - Business Law
Professor Cava Co-Director of UM Ethics Programs, a university-wide entity that promotes research, teaching and service across the disciplines in areas of ethical interest and concern, and the Director of the Business Ethics Program. Professor Cava’s research interests are the legal and ethical aspects of health administration as well as corporate/community engagement and business ethics. Over the past five years, Professor Cava has helped to launch the undergraduate UM Ethics Bowl (f/k/a…
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Rocco Ceo - Architecture
Professor Ceo has a Master of Architecture from Harvard University, a Bachelor of Architecture and a Bachelor of Fine Arts both from Rhode Island School of Design. His work includes the Graham Monument, the Tomb for former Senator and governor Bob Graham and wife Adele Graham in Tallahassee, Florida, the Hanemann House Renovation, which entailed renovations to a 1938 house in Coconut Grove, the Vizcaya Garden Documentation Project Documentation of gardens for the Getty Foundation George Merrick…
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Sanjeev Chatterjee - Knight Center for International Media
Professor Chatterjee earned his M.A, in English Literature from Delhi University and his M.F.A. in Television Production from Brooklyn College. He is an award winning documentary filmmaker. He has taught classes in studio and field production, media and society, writing and documentary production at the University of Miami. He received an Excellence in Teaching Award in 2002 and has been nominated two more times since. He has been on the faculty of the Salzburg Academy on Media and Global Change,…
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J.C. Del Valle - Office of Government Affairs
As Assistant Vice President of Government and Community Relations, JC serves as a University liaison to both federal and local government entities along with community organizations throughout South Florida. JC assists in the development and implementation of the Miller School of Medicine’s government affairs strategy and serves as an advisor to the Dean of the Miller School and other senior leadership. Before joining the University of Miami in 2008, JC was the Assistant Director…
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Scotney Evans - Educational & Psychological Studies
Professor Evans received his Ph.D. in Community Research and Action at Peabody College of Vanderbilt University in 2005 and a master¹s degree in Human Development Counseling also from Vanderbilt. He has extensive practical experience in community-based organizations as a youth development worker, crisis worker, family counselor, youth program developer, program evaluator, and organizational consultant. Professor Evans’ current work and interests include promoting the role of community-based…
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Jeremy Glazer - Good Government Initiative
Jeremy Glazer is the program director of The Good Government Initiative at the University of Miami. Glazer has worked extensively in the fields of education and government. After receiving his bachelor’s degree in anthropology with a focus on urban issues from Amherst College in Massachusetts, he earned a master’s degree in education from the University of Pennsylvania and went on to teach in both secondary school and higher education in Philadelphia and Miami. He also worked as an…
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Ken Goodman - Bioethics
Professor Goodman is a Professor of Medicine at the University of Miami with appointments in the Department of Philosophy, Department of Health Informatics, Department of Epidemiology and Public Health, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, School of Nursing and Health Studies and Department of Anesthesiology. Professor Goodman’s research has emphasized issues in health information technology, including bioinformatics or the use of computers in genetics, and in epidemiology and…
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Richard Grant - Geography & Regional Studies
Professor Grant is a human geographer with specializations in economic and urban geography. His research interests include globalization, globalizing cities, the work and economy of slums, and international and regional trade patterns. His current regional interests are in West Africa, South Africa, and Europe. His books include Globalization and the Margins and The Global Crisis in Foreign Aid.
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William Green - Senior Vice Provost and Dean of Undergraduate Education (ex-officio)
William Scott Green joined the University of Miami as senior vice provost and dean of undergraduate education in July 2006. In the newly created position, he has overall responsibility for enhancing the quality of the undergraduate experience and strengthening the integration of university-wide undergraduate curricular and co-curricular initiatives. He also holds an appointment as professor of religious studies and senior fellow in the Sue and Leonard Miller Center for Contemporary Judaic Studies.…
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Stephen Guerra, Jr. - Frost School of Music
Stephen Guerra, Jr., is a jazz composition lecturer in the department of Studio Music and Jazz at the University of Miami Frost School of Music. He is also the conductor of the Frost Studio Jazz Band, winning DownBeat student awards in both 2010 and 2011. In addition he is the Director of Community Outreach for the Frost School and Coordinator of the Henry Mancini Institute. Stephen earned a B.A. from the University of New Hampshire in Saxophone Performance, an M.M. from the Eastman School of…
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Casey Klofstad - Political Science
Professor Klofstad has a Ph.D. and an M.A. in Political Science from Harvard University. His research and teaching interests include American politics, political behavior, public opinion, political psychology, and survey research methodology. His book titled “Civic Talk: Peers, Politics, and the Future of Democracy” was published this year.
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Erin Kobetz - Epidemiology and Public Health
Professor Kobetz is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Epidemiology and Public Health and also the Director of the Disparities and Community Outreach Core Resource at the Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center.Over the course of her academic career, Professor Kobetz has successfully collaborated with community members in Little Haiti, the predominately Haitian neighborhood in Miami, Florida, to address breast and cervical cancer disparities. She helped create Patne en Akyson (Partners…
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Laura Kohn-Wood - Education & Psychological Studies
Professor Kohn-Wood received a B.S. in Psychology from Howard University in 1990 and a Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology, with a specialization in Community Psychology, from the University of Virginia in 1996. She was on the faculty in the Department of Psychology at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, Michigan from 1999 - 2008, achieving tenure in 2005. Her research program focuses on race, ethnicity and culture in relation to the development and expression of psychological distress among diverse…
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Marni Lennon - Law, HOPE Public Interest Resource Center
Dean Lennon holds a B.A. from the University of Southern California and a J.D. and M.S.Ed from the University of Miami. he is the founder and director of the HOPE Public Interest Resource Center, which features over 25 outreach and advocacy projects, and has worked at the University of Miami School of Law for 15 years, serving for nine years as Assistant Dean of Students and Director of Disability Services. She established and supervises the HOPE Fellows Program, which provides students with opportunities…
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Michelle Maldonado - Religious Studies
Professor Maldonado received her Ph.D. in Systematic and Philosophical Theology at the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley, California in 2001. Her research and teaching interests include Latino/a and Latin American Religion, Afro-Caribbean Studies, U.S. Minority, Third World, and Feminist Theologies, and Constructive and Cultural Theologies.
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John Murphy - Sociology
Professor Murphy received his Ph.D. degree in 1981 from Ohio State University. His interests are sociological theory, social philosophy, and globalization. He has published books related to the community mental health movement, the computerization of social service agencies, and contemporary social theory.
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Jyotika Ramaprasad - Journalism
Professor Jyotika Ramaprasad’s research interests are in international journalism/communication, and advertising, and are currently focused on the use of communication for social change in developing countries. She is working on research in HIV/AIDS related communication interventions in both East Africa and India, and is planning an intervention for HIV/AIDS couple testing in Uganda. Dr. Ramaprasad has taught graduate level theory and methods courses as well as international communication,…
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Kefryn Reese - Office of Prestigious Awards and Fellowships
Kefryn Reese currently directs the Office of Prestigious Awards and Fellowships at the University of Miami. Prior to this, she worked in the UM Office of International Education and Exchange Programs coordinating service-learning trips and other educational exchanges throughout Latin America and Spain. Raised in Miami, Kefryn Reese is a graduate of Boston College and holds a Masters degree in Spanish Literature from Florida International University. She has studied in Argentina and Venezuela…
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Donn Tilson - Public Relations
Professor Tilson holds a Ph.D. from Stirling University in Scotland. He is an accredited member of the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA). He has served as a public relations manager for BellSouth and as past president and national assembly delegate of the Miami chapter of PRSA and 2005 national chair of PRSA’s International Professional Interest Section. Presently, he serves on the national board of governors for the Religion Communicators Council. His research interests include…
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Andrew Wiemer - Butler Center for Volunteer Service & Leadership Development
Andrew Wiemer earned his B.A. in Business Administration (Management) from Doane College and his M.S. in College Student Personnel Services and Administration from the University of Central Arkansas. Currently he serves as the Director of the Butler Center for Volunteer Service and Leadership Development. Through past work, he has been instrumental in collaborating closely with faculty and community partners to develop and implement effective civic engagement programs. These programs meet the…
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Nawara Alawa - Student Government, Senator
Nawara Alawa is a Junior majoring in Microbiology & Immunology and Religious Studies. She works closely with Student Government and other organizations to promote an engaged student body at the University of Miami. She is part of Association of Commuter Students and S.T.R.I.V.E., and she has participated in putting together Tunnel of Oppression.
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Jake Krupa - Student Government, Treasurer
Jake Krupa is the elected Student Government Treasurer. Born and raised in West Palm Beach, FL, he is a Junior majoring in Accounting with a minor in Math. Jake spends a lot of his time working with student organizations on campus such as Student Government, the Butler Center for Service & Leadership, and his fraternity, Sigma Alpha Epsilon. Jake has been involved in almost every branch of Student Government during his time here and is excited to be joining the Executive Board again.
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Brandon Mitchell - Student Government, President
Brandon Mitchell is a Senior, Sport Administration/Political Science student and Student Government President. He believes that the best part about working with student government is the ability to impact a diverse group of people and really make a difference on campus. Brandon was also Chair of Category 5 during the 2009/10 school year.