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Tidings from the Director
"Two Perspectives on Growing Indifference to Moral Bankruptcy"
Accomplishments
Eric Bendfeldt
Mary Beth Dunkenberger
David Moore
Sydney Southern
Max Stephenson, Jr.
Lyusyena Kirakosyan
Cathy Grimes
Jake Keyel
Neda Moayerian
Muddather Abu Karaki
Renad Abbadi
Lara Nagle
Raj GC
Project Updates
- St. Paul's College Alumni Group Strategic Engagement
- Heat Ready, Roanoke! Hosts Successful Training
- Social Science for Good Podcast
Conferences & Events
- A CCC Faculty Forum with Dr. Marc Stern
- A CCC Faculty Forum with Dr. Claire Cahen
- A CCC Faculty Forum with Dr. David Mclvor
- 2023 Winter Summit for Dialogue on Race
- Dean Belmonte visits VTIPG
- 2023 VTIPG Open House
Announcements
- Virginia Tech's Giving Day 2023
Commentaries, Essays & Publications
- Soundings
- Five Pieces Worth Reading
- Books
- Conference Papers and Articles
- Journal Articles
Faculty Spotlight
Claire Cahen, Assistant Professor, Urban Affairs and Planning
Graduate Student Spotlight
Bradley Stephens, Graduate Assistant, Ph.D. student in Planning, Governance, and Globalization
Alumni Spotlight
Sarah Jonson, Technical Advisor for Youth and Engagement, International Youth Foundation
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TIDINGS FROM THE DIRECTOR | | |
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Two Perspectives on Growing Indifference to Moral Bankruptcy
BY MAX O. STEPHENSON, JR.
Director, Virginia Tech Institute for Policy and Governance
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As researchers and scholars at an institute whose focus is policy and governance, we seek every day to understand the ongoing crisis of democratic self-governance in our nation. In so doing, we may consider two broad interrelated perspectives. One may chart the decline of the Republican Party into a collective of leaders willing to lie continuously to Americans and to work actively to undermine the civil and human rights of specific targeted populations and in both ways, undercut the shared norms and beliefs that underpin the rule of law and self-governance itself. So understood, the country’s governance crisis is a crisis of leadership brought on by partisan leaders willing to sully self-rule in their quest for power. Adopting this view does not, however, explain why those officials have adopted that course or why it has been accepted by a significant minority of Americans who identify with their party.
To describe, if not fully explain, our governance crisis, one must turn to a different set of concerns, a second perspective, that ultimately profess to provide at least some measure of understanding of what might be animating those voters’ behavior. That is, one must consider the dynamics of the other principal valence in the democratic governance equation, the citizenry, as well. And exploring either officials’ actions and behaviors or those of citizens is complicated because each constituent part affects the other and each is the product of complex social, cultural and economic forces. It is easy to contend that each set of forces—leader choices that have degraded democracy and citizen behaviors and attitudes that have done the same—is at play and has contributed to many Americans’ flirtation with authoritarian populism and with the many GOP leaders who have embraced that stance. I here offer some reflections on specific elements of the dynamic interplay of these concerns.
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Dr. Eric Bendfeldt, Extension Specialist and Associate Director for VT's Center for Food Systems and Community Transformation (CFST), successfully defended his doctoral dissertation entitled "The Ecotonal Nature of Community Food Work: A Case Study of Trauma-Informed Care and Agential Change Space" on February 24! Special thanks to his committee: Chair, Dr. Kim Niewolny of the Agricultural, Leadership, and Community Education (ALCE) Department and Director, Center for Food Systems and Community Transformation, Dr. Tom Archibald of ALCE, Dr. Anne Stewart, Department of Graduate Psychology, James Madison University, and IPG Director, Dr. Max Stephenson, Jr. You may find his dissertation here.
Congratulations, Eric!
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Mary Beth Dunkenberger assumed a new job title on March 20, 2023. She now serves as the Institute's Deputy Director. This change reflects the broad reach and invaluable character of her leadership.
Mary Beth has been with IPG since its founding in 2006, and prior to that worked at the Institute for Outreach and Policy at Virginia Tech. That Center merged with the Institute for Governance and Accountabilities with which merged Max Stephenson, Jr. and David Moore were affiliated to form the core of VTIPG. Mary Beth has led numerous research and capacity building projects related to social programs, economic and community development, and policy and program innovations.
Congratulations, Mary Beth!
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Dr. David Moore assumed a new job title on March 20, 2023. He now serves as the Institute's Associate Director for Strategic Partnerships, a role that reflects his nearly two decades of success in building and maintaining effective multi-stakeholder collaborations for IPG.
Dr. Moore has been with IPG since its founding in 2006, having worked with Director Max Stephenson, Jr. for more than 20 years. David has led numerous projects for the Institute related to early childhood and workforce development, as well as organizational development and capacity building.
Congratulations, David!
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Sydney Southern has joined VTIPG as our Research and Fiscal Manager. Sydney will lead fiscal, administrative and logistical support for technical and applied research projects at the institute, as well as special events and initiatives.
Sydney comes to the Institute from the Division of Human Resources at Virginia Tech. She is a graduate of the Business Administration program at Radford University from which she is currently pursuing a Master of Business Administration degree, which she expects to complete in May 2023.
Welcome, Sydney!
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IPG Director Dr. Max Stephenson Jr. and Non-Resident Research Associate Dr. Lyusyena Kirakosyan, Eds., published RE: Reflections and Explorations, Volume 3 on February 8! The Re: Reflections and Explorations series, edited by Max Stephenson, Jr., offered interested graduate students an opportunity to develop an article of publishable quality on a policy or governance topic of their choice from 2013-2021, While this is the final volume in this book series, those interested may access an archive of all the articles published in Re: Reflections and Explorations here.
Congratulations, Max and Lyusyena, and all graduate student authors involved!
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Dr. Max Stephenson, Jr. and Virginia Tech Graduate School Director of Communications Cathy Grimes published Conversations in Community Change: More Voices from the Field, Volume 2 (Virginia Tech Publishing) on February 8! The Conversations series features edited compilations of interviews with working professionals involved in multiple policy domains who are working for democratic social change.
Both the Conversations and Reflections volumes were published on the same day, making it the first such occurrence in the Institute's history and perhaps at Virginia Tech.
Congratulations, Max and Cathy, and all Community Change Collaborative members who conducted the original interviews selected for this volume!
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Dr. Jake Keyel, Research Fellow with the Institute for Research in the Social Sciences and affiliated faculty in the Department of Political Science at Colorado State University, has published a new book, Resettled Iraqi Refugees in the United States: War, Refuge, Belonging, Participation, and Protest. Dr. Keyel's volume explores the lives of 15 Iraqis who supported the U.S. troops who invaded that nation in 2003 and who thereafter resettled in an America that often viewed them as a dangerous "Other." You may find additional details here.
Dr. Keyel will be joining the faculty at Rowan University in Glassboro, New Jersey this fall as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Sociology and Anthropology.
Dr. Keyel is also an editorial board member of The Sociological Review Journal, serving a five-year term. IPG Director Max Stephenson, Jr. served as Chair of his doctoral advisory committee (2019). During his PhD program, Dr. Keyel was also engaged with Community Voices, now the Community Change Collaborative, and he co-founded the graduate student journal, Community Change.
Congratulations, Jake!
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Drs. Neda Moayerian (IPG Non-Resident Research Associate), Max Stephenson, Jr., Muddather Abu Karaki, and Renad Abbadi recently published "Exploring Syrian Refugees' Access to Medical and Social Support Services using a Trauma-Informed Analytic Framework" in the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health! You may find the article here.
Congratulations, all!
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Lara Nagle, the Institute's Community-Based Research Manager, joined the Sustain Abingdon (Virginia) committee in February. The mission of Sustain Abingdon is to advise and encourage Town employees, residents and visitors on environmentally sustainable solutions, principles and practices to improve residents' quality of life.
Sustain Abingdon coordinates annual events such as Earth Day, stream clean-ups, and America Recycles Day, and Lara is helping to lead an expanded polystyrene (EPS) reduction campaign funded by the Department of Environmental Quality to educate consumers and local restaurants about a pending ban on EPS containers in Virginia.
Congratulations, Lara!
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Dr. Raj GC, Planning. Governance and Globalization PhD alumnus (2020) has accepted a new position with Heifer International's Power, Water, Internet (PWI) Global initiative as a Senior Technical Lead for Water and Agriculture. Although he works principally remotely, the PWI team meets once a month in person in Denver, Colorado. As a key technical resource professional, Dr. GC will be collaborating with PWI country managers on 10-20 country projects per year.
VTIPG Director Max Stephenson, Jr. served as a committee member on Dr. GC's doctoral advisory committee. During his PhD program, Dr. GC was also engaged with the Community Change Collaborative and participated in the Trustees without Borders podcast.
Congratulations, Raj!
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St. Paul's College Alumni Group Strategic Engagement | |
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IPG Director Max Stephenson, Jr. Senior Fellows Bob Leonard and Andy Morikawa, and Graduate Research Assistant Brad Stephens, in partnership with Scott Tate of the Center for Economic and Community Engagement, have been working with alumni of St. Paul's College (SPC) in Lawrenceville, VA, to re-envision the role of this historically Black college and university (HBCU) that closed in 2013. The group has been working with SPC alumnus Chris Stephenson throughout the process, which has included assisting with the group's strategic planning meetings and site visits.
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Heat Ready, Roanoke! Hosts Successful Training | |
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The Heat Ready, Roanoke! project is a multistakeholder collaboration including Carilion, Virginia Clinicians for Climate Action (VCCA), Virginia Tech SPIA, and the City of Roanoke to increase environmental literacy regarding the health effects of extreme heat and mitigation strategies to build community resilience to climate change. David Moore and Lara Nagle serve as evaluators for the initiative.
The investigators leading the project held a training on March 1 to educate clinicians and community health educators about the effort and to introduce heat mitigation strategies. The program included expert speakers on climate change, environmental health, and clinicians as advocates.
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Social Science for Good Podcast | |
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VTIPG is excited to partner with VT Publishing and VT Libraries on a new podcast series called "Social Science for Public Good." The new programs will focus on connecting activists, NGO leaders, and government professionals to social science theories and research that will help them conceptualize social change with heightened sensitivity and thereby craft strategies that will encourage more effective community action. The inaugural season of the podcast will unpack current theories of trust and power in the course of twelve episodes. Interspersing interviews with prominent scholars and accompanying material designed to provide context, these programs will seek to communicate not only the content of current theorizations of core ideas, but also how they are relevant for those seeking to promote change. The first season of the podcast will be released beginning in June. The new series nicely complements the Institute's long-standing Trustees Without Borders podcast series, which has focused on the perspectives of professionals engaged in efforts to promote social and political change. This project, supported by a collaborative research grant from VT Libraries, is also a natural extension of the Institute's ongoing partnership with VT Publishing, which has already resulted in the publication of several books, including, among other titles, Maré from the Inside and two volumes of Conversations in Community Change.
Please contact graduate assistant Brad Stephens for additional information.
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A CCC Faculty Forum with Dr. Marc Stern | |
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The Community Change Collaborative welcomed Dr. Marc Stern for a Faculty Forum entitled, "Social Science Theories: Their Value in Community Change work, How to Use Them, and Where to Find Them." Dr. Stern is a professor in the Department of Forest Resources and Environmental Conservation at Virginia Tech. His research interests include human behavior within the contexts of environmental conflicts and natural resources planning and management.
This event was held on March 23 at 1 p.m. in the Graduate Life Center, Room B and via Zoom. For additional questions on CCC and future events, please contact IPG graduate research assistant Brad Stephens (bas615@vt.edu).
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A CCC Faculty Forum with Dr. Claire Cahen | |
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The Community Change Collaborative will soon welcome Dr. Claire Cahen for a Faculty Forum entitled, "Spatializing Ignorance: Making Sense of the Truncated Politics of Charter School Teachers." You can read more about Dr. Cahen in the faculty spotlight section of this newsletter.
This event will be held on April 7 at 3 p.m. in the Graduate Life Center, Room B and via Zoom. You may find Zoom details here. Please contact Brad Stephens with additional questions.
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A CCC Faculty Forum with Dr. David Mclvor | |
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The Community Change Collaborative will welcome Dr. David Mclvor for a Faculty Forum entitled, "Democracy and Fugitivity." Dr. Mclvor is an Associate Professor of Political Science at Colorado State University. His research interests include democratic theory, critical theory, and psychoanalysis.
This event will be held on April 14 at 3 p.m. via Zoom. You may find Zoom details here. Please contact Brad Stephens with additional questions.
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2023 Winter Summit for Dialogue on Race | |
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IPG Senior Fellow Andy Morikawa supported the 2023 Winter Summit of the Dialogue on Race, which occurred at Christiansburg Middle School on January 28, with the theme of "Reflecting on our past. Facing our Future." The program included an opportunity for attendees to enjoy coffee and informal conversation with officers from the Christiansburg Police Department, Blacksburg Police Department, Sheriff's Office, and Virginia Tech Police Department. The summit received press coverage in the Roanoke Times. You may find that article here.
Photo credit: Jeff Sturgeon, Roanoke Times
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Dean Belmonte visits VTIPG | |
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Dr. Laura Belmonte, Dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Human Sciences (CLAHS), visited VTIPG on March 3. VTIPG faculty, staff, fellows, and graduate students had the opportunity to highlight projects in which the Institute is engaged and to outline planned future strategic initiatives. We are excited to further collaborate with the Dean and our new CLAHS colleagues!
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Thank you to everyone who came to IPG's open house on March 30! We are grateful to Research Associate Liz Allen for planning the event with the support of Communications Coordinator Billy Parvatam. Please visit our website to see additional photos from the event.
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Virginia Tech's Giving Day 2023 | |
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Thank you to everyone who donated to IPG during this year's Giving Day! We were able to raise more than $2,000 to address needs for which we cannot use state or federal funds.
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COMMENTARIES, ESSAYS & PUBLICATIONS | |
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Books
Recent Books and Book contributions by VTIPG Director Max Stephenson, Jr.
Forthcoming
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Max O. Stephenson Jr. and Yannis A. Stivachtis, eds., Policy and Politics of the Syrian Refugee Crisis in Eastern Mediterranean States: National and Institutional Perspectives, E-International Relations, Bristol, U.K., 2023. 14 chapters, 397 pages.
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Also, for that book, chapter: "UNHCR, National Policies and the Syrian Refugee Crisis in Lebanon and Jordan," Neda Moayerian and Max Stephenson, Jr.
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"Investigating Refugee Agency Amidst Widespread Popular, Political and Economic Discrimination and Alienation," Renad Abbadi, Muddather Abu Karaki and Max Stephenson, Jr.
Published
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Maré from the Inside: Arts, Culture and Politics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Editor with Nicholas Barnes and Desiree Poets. Blacksburg, VA: Virginia Tech Publishing, 2021. Paperback 978-1-949373-54-7; PDF978-1-949373-55-4.
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Also: for that volume, Max Stephenson Jr., “Truth-telling, Meaning Making and Imagining the Future” (Chapter 6) and “Conclusion: On the Struggle for Freedom and Dignity”(Chapter 7). To accompany the Art Exhibit: Maré from the Inside shown at Virginia Tech Newman Library, April 19, 2021-September 30, 2021 and virtually as well.
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This book also was published in Portuguese, Maré de Dentro, A exposição | Favelas do Rio de Janeiro | Complexo da Maré | Policiamento no Rio de Janeiro, Blacksburg, VA: Virginia Tech Publishing, 2021.
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Conversations in Community Change: Voices from the Field. Editor with Cathy Grimes. With Introduction, Foreword, Afterword and Index, 250 pages. Blacksburg, VA: Virginia Tech Publishing, 2021. ISBN: EPUB 978-1-949373-40-0; Paperback, 978-1-949373-38-7; PDF 978-949373-39-4.
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Conversations in Community Change: More Voices from the Field. Editor with Cathy Grimes. With Introduction, Foreword, Afterword and Index, 288 pages. Blacksburg, VA: Virginia Tech Publishing, 2023. ISBN: EPUB 978-1-957213-44-6; Paperback, 978-1-957213-92-7; PDF 978-1-957213-43-9.
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Re: Reflections and Explorations: Volume 3. Editor with Lyusyena Kirakosyan. With Introduction and Index, 295 pages. Blacksburg, VA: Virginia Tech Publishing 2023. ISBN: EPUB 978-1-957213-46-0; Paperback, 978-1-957213-91-0; PDF 978-1-957213-45-3.
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Research contributions and publications by VTIPG Faculty
Conference Papers and Articles
Conference Paper Presented
"Storytelling, Performing Arts and Collective Capacity in One Rio Favela," Annual Conference of The International Studies Association, March 15-18, 2023, Montreal, Canada. Neda Moayerian, Max Stephenson, Jr., Desirée Poets and Cathy Grimes.
Conference Papers Accepted for Presentation
"Countering Persistent Alterity: Fostering Advocacy and Agency," for 15th annual conference of the Canadian Association for Refugee and Forced Migration Studies," May 29-31, 2023, Toronto, Canada. Max Stephenson, Jr., Neda Moayerian, Vanessa Guerra and Desirée Poets.
"The Ecotonal Nature of Community Food Work: A Case Study of Trauma-Informed Care and Mutual Aid for Social and Health Equity," for 2023 Joint Annual Conference of: The Association for the Study of Food and Society (ASFS), Agriculture, Food & Human Values Society (AFHVS), Canadian Association for Food Studies (CAFS), Society for the Anthropology of Food & Nutrition (SAFN), May 31-June 3, 2023, Boston, Massachusetts. Eric Bendfeldt, Kim Niewolny, Max Stephenson, Jr. Tom Archibald, and Anne Stewart.
Journal Articles
Accepted
"Building Agroecological Traction: Engaging Discourse, the Imaginary, and Critical Praxis for Food System Transformation," at Frontiers in Sustainable Food Systems, Accepted March 30, 2023. Lia Kelinsky, Kim Niewolny, Max Stephenson Jr. More on publication details soon!
Published
“Reflections on a Cross-Border Collaborative Research Effort During COVID-19,” Molly F. Todd, Cathy Grimes, Neda Moayerian, Desiree Poets, Max Stephenson, Jr., Community Change, 4(1): 3. DOI: https://doi.org/10.21061/cc.v4i1.a.37
“Exploring Syrian Refugees' Access to Medical and Social Support Services Using a Trauma- Informed Analytic Framework,” International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 2023, 20, 2031. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph20032031. Neda Moayerian, Renad Abbadi and Muddather Jameel-Abu. Karaki.
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Dr. Claire Cahen, Assistant Professor of Urban Affairs and Planning, has been collaborating with VTIPG’s Maré research group since she started at Virginia Tech in the fall of 2022. The group, which has an impressive track record of community-engaged research in Rio de Janeiro’s favelas, is thinking at an international scale about how under-resourced communities reject their own abandonment to make a place for themselves in the world.
Dr. Cahen’s research interests center on urban austerity, community development, labor, and racial justice. Her recent work has critically examined the defunding and privatization of U.S. urban school districts. Her work has employed urban political economy frames to consider geographies of race, thinking across fields about how to make sense of—and contest—the massive transformations that have rocked Black and brown urban cores and led to the disappearance of whole ways of life. Because the shrinking of the urban welfare state cannot be apprehended without considering its engulfment by the warfare state, Cahen has also been collaborating with and leads projects associated with the Critical Carceral Studies Lab, a part of the VT Center for Refugee, Migrant and Displacement Studies. With colleagues at that Center and at VTIPG, Cahen hopes to further thinking and action concerning how to create more livable and democratic alternatives to current frameworks.
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GRADUATE STUDENT SPOTLIGHT | |
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Bradley Stephens is currently a Ph.D. student in Planning, Governance, & Globalization and a graduate assistant with VTIPG. He received his B.A. in Religion from Centre College and an M.S. in Forestry from Virginia Tech. After a number of years working in the economic and community development field, he returned to Virginia Tech in a bid to help build more equitable places. His research is focused on the impact of trust and power at the local level. Brad's work with VTIPG has included helping facilitate the CCC, supporting the revisioning of St. Paul's College with a group of its alumni, assisting with the "Social Science for Public Good" podcast series, and engaging with a number of other nascent projects.
Brad shared that, "It continues to be an absolute privilege to work at IPG. This is the kind of praxis work I think all academics should be engaged in, and I truly could not imagine a more thoughtful group of people with whom to work. I have been invited to be a part of meaningful projects from the very start of my time with the Institute and empowered to contribute meaningfully. I continue to grow significantly, both personally and professionally, through these opportunities, and it has been quite rewarding to see those efforts evolve and bear fruit. I cannot imagine a more supportive and exciting group of people for a graduate student to work with on this campus, or anywhere else for that matter."
Outside of work and class, Brad enjoys spending time with his wife Sarah, and children Evelyn (5) and Albert (1). He also enjoys a number of esoteric sports and doing cross stitch.
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Sarah Jonson is the Technical Advisor for Youth Agency and Engagement at the International Youth Foundation (IYF), a non-profit whose programs focus on strengthening youth agency, expanding youth economic opportunities, and facilitating more youth-inclusive systems. She is responsible for providing strategic leadership and supporting existing projects and business development efforts in the areas of youth agency, leadership, civic education, and meaningful youth engagement. Sarah is also charged with ensuring that IYF designs and implements holistic, positive youth development programming that is socially inclusive and promotes greater equity for communities experiencing marginalization or disenfranchisement. A tall order, she translates and internalizes this role as having the honor and serious duty of holding IYF accountable for implementing programming by, for, and with young people.
A 2016 SPIA (Master of Public and International Affairs) graduate, Sarah’s Virginia Tech studies and work experiences heavily influenced her professional interests and trajectory. She started as a part-time graduate student and full-time assistant lacrosse coach in the athletics department before accepting an assistantship with the Center for International Research, Education, and Development’s Women and Gender in Development program. During her time in Blacksburg, she was also an active member of Virginia Tech’s Institute for Policy and Governance’s Community Change Collaborative. She carried the knowledge, skills, and passion she gained for inclusive development approaches into her Peace Corps service in northern Namibia where she worked at a vocational training center as a community economic development advisor. Sarah’s master’s thesis, chaired by Dr. Max Stephenson, Jr, focused on occupational segregation in Namibia, particularly women’s experience training for and working in male-dominated construction and manufacturing industries.
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Institute for Policy and Governance
201 W. Roanoke Street
Blacksburg, VA 24061
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