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Tidings: From the Director
"On Empathy, Citizen Responsibility, Imagination, and Freedom"
Accomplishments
Liz Allen
Ariel Otruba
Max Stephenson Jr.
Yannis Stivachtis
Nino Dzotsenidze
Katrina Powell
Lara Nagle
Amin Farzaneh
Neda Moayerian
Ben Grove
Ariel Otruba
Vanessa Guerra
Brad Stephens
Shahed Alhadyan
Armin Firouzi
Project Updates
- Psychospiritual Care and Mental Wellness Pilot Training Course
- CivilianLEAD
- Engagement Ready Roanoke
Conferences & Events
- 2025 Association for Research on Nonprofit Organizations and Voluntary Action Conference
- 2026 Virginia Association of Community Services Boards Conference
- 2026 Winter College Communicators Conference
- IPG Invites You to Our Spring Open House!
Announcements & Opportunities
- IPG is Hiring!
- IPG Welcomes Cana Itchuaqiyaq
- Virginia Tech's Giving Day 2026
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People of IPG: Anne Walters
Faculty Spotlight
Lia Kelinsky-Jones, Research Assistant Professor, Department of Agricultural, Leadership, and Community Education and Assistant Director for Research in the Center for Food Systems and Community Transformation, Virginia Tech
Graduate Student Spotlight
Aline De Souza, PhD Student, Alliance for Social, Political, Ethical, and Cultural Thought
Alumni Spotlight
Rabita Banee, Research Analyst, Virginia Department of Energy
Commentaries, Essays & Publications
- Soundings and Tidings
- Five Pieces Worth Reading
- Recent Publications
- Books, Articles, Chapters, Reviews and Conference Paper Presentations Under Review/Forthcoming
| | TIDINGS: FROM THE DIRECTOR | | | |
"On Empathy, Citizen Responsibility, Imagination, and Freedom"
BY MAX O. STEPHENSON, JR.
Director, Virginia Tech Institute for Policy and Governance
| | I focused on the need for a deliberative citizenry in my last Tidings and continue here to reflect on basic questions of democratic self-governance.1 I view doing so as an essential responsibility for the Institute and for me as its director during a politically and socially fraught time in the United States. As for deliberation, it is surely not the case that all residents of the United States must be policy wonks, but it just as certainly is the case that all must, across time, prove prudent in their choices and zealous in their interest in preserving their own and their fellow citizen’s rights and freedoms if all are to continue to enjoy those privileges. Likewise, in the United States at any rate, they must play that arbitrating role in a polity characterized by marked diversity. All that unites residents of this country are the principles set forth in our nation’s Declaration of Independence and Constitution. We do not share one faith, national origin, common race, ethnicity or tribe. We are instead a polyglot bunch in such terms who are gathered as one only in so far as we are all human beings and deserving of dignity on that basis and willing to embrace the rule of law, freedom and equal rights for all our number. This is surely not a new challenge for this nation or for democratic self-governance as a premise, for that matter. But it is a profound responsibility for our citizenry, and it requires at least two sorts of responses. | | |
With deeply mixed emotions, we announce the retirement of our Senior Program Research and Data Specialist Liz Allen. We know that Liz is moving on to new adventures with family and friends, but she will be greatly missed. Liz has been with IPG since 2016, and she has served as a valued colleague both professionally and personally. The Institute held a retirement celebration in her honor on January 22. We wish her and her husband Bruce, the very best in their future adventures.
Congratulations, Liz!
Photo: Liz with her family at her retirement celebration. Photo credit: Billy Parvatam.
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Drs. Ariel Otruba (IPG Non-Resident Research Fellow and Interim Director of the International Peace and Conflict Resolution Program, Arcadia University), Max Stephenson Jr. (IPG Director, Professor, School of Public and International Affairs (SPIA)), Yannis Stivachtis (Director, Center for European and Transatlantic Studies, and Professor, SPIA) and Nino Dzotsenidze (Senior Research Analyst, California Center for Rural Policy), recently published their book "Violent Infrastructure" Protracted Displacement and Housing Injustice in Tskaltubo, Georgia" with Virginia Tech University Press.
Additionally, we'd like to thank Dr. Katrina Powell (Alumni Distinguished Professor, English, and Senior Research Fellow, Center for Refugee, Migrant, and Displacement Studies) for providing the book's forward. Thank you to IPG Community-Based Research Manager Lara Nagle, IPG Graduate Assistant and Planning, Governance, and Globalization PhD student Amin Farzaneh, and Dr. Neda Moayerian (Academic Vice President of the School of Urban Planning, University of Tehran, and IPG Non-Resident Research Fellow) for their chapters in the book. You may download a free digital copy or purchase it in print here.
Congratulations, all!
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IPG Director Dr. Max Stephenson Jr. offered a guest lecture in the Collaborative Policy and Planning course offered by the School of Public and International Affairs on November 11. The class was taught by IPG Graduate Assistant and Planning, Governance, and Globalization PhD student Amin Farzaneh. Dr. Stephenson offered his insights on leadership and why it is crucial to the context of collaborative policy and planning.
Dr. Stephenson also gave a guest lecture in Dr. Kim Niewolny's Community Education and Development course in the Department of Agricultural Leadership & Community Education on Nov. 13. He discussed the topic of "possibilities of international development," with the sub-themes being governance, social change, and contested development.
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Dr. Ben Grove, Director of Development in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences at Virginia Tech, successfully defended his doctoral dissertation in Planning, Governance, and Globalization (PGG) in November. His effort is titled: "Understanding Cooperative Extension Directors' Conceptualizations of, and Perceived Roles in, Internationalization." Special thanks to his committee: Chair, IPG Director, and Professor, School of Public and International Affairs (SPIA) Max Stephenson Jr., Associate Professor and Program Chair of Urban & Environmental Planning (SPIA) Todd Schenk, Agricultural, Leadership, and Community Education Associate Professor and Center for International Research, Education, and Development Executive Director Tom Archibald, and School of Education Visiting Assistant Professor David Kniola.
Congratulations, Ben!
Photo from left to right: David Kniola, Tom Archibald, Max Stephenson Jr., Ben Grove, and Todd Schenk. Photo credit: Billy Parvatam
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Dr. Ariel Otruba, IPG Non-Resident Research Fellow and Interim Director of the International Peace and Conflict Resolution (IPRC) Program at Arcadia University, published a new chapter with her colleague Jenny Isaacs in the De Gruyter Handbook of Feminist Political Geography. Their effort is entitled, "19 More-Than-Human Geographies." You may find the DOI for their piece here.
Congratulations, Ariel!
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Dr. Vanessa Guerra, University of Virginia Assistant Professor in Urban and Environmental Planning and IPG Non-Resident Research Fellow, published a new article with her colleague Jennifer Day in the Journal of Urban Affairs entitled, "The role of self-organized transportation systems in Quito's urban resilience." You may find the DOI here.
This fall Dr. Guerra delivered an invited lecture for the Harvard University Extension School's Sustainability class, taught by Nora Libertun De Duren. The session examined self-organized urban practices and anticipatory governance in Latin American cities. Dr. Guerra drew on research in Quito, Rio, and San Cristóbal, and her remarks led to a substantive discussion concerning how self-organization shapes urban resilience across contexts.
Congratulations, Vanessa!
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Brad Stephens, IPG Graduate Assistant and Planning, Governance, and Globalization PhD student and IPG Director Dr. Max Stephenson Jr. had an abstract, "The not-so-secret ingredient: How trust enables community capacity" accepted for presentation at the 17th International Conference of the International Society for Third Sector Research. The conference will be held in Lisbon, Portugal in July.
Congratulations, Brad and Max!
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IPG Graduate Assistant and PhD student in Planning, Governance, and Globalization Shahed Alhadyan and IPG Director Dr. Max Stephenson Jr. had their abstract submission, "Urban Governance and the Right to Education: Syrian Refugees' Stay or Return Decisions in Jordan" accepted for the Virginia Tech Symposium on Refugee and Migrant Education, to be held in Blacksburg February 26-28, 2026.
Congratulations, Shahed and Max!
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Armin Firouzi, PhD student in Planning, Governance, and Globalization, published a book review with IPG Director Dr. Max Stephenson Jr. entitled "Arts, Heritage, and Performative Politics" in the International Journal of Heritage Studies. You may find their effort here.
Armin and Max also had an article published recently in the journal Local Development & Society, entitled, "Preserving and excluding: Examining the complexities of diasporic Persian heritage advocacy." You may find their piece here.
Congratulations, Armin and Max!
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Lara Nagle, Community-based Research Manager, welcomed a baby boy in September 2025 with her husband, Vasiliy Lakoba. Luka Lakoba is full of smiles and enjoys music, tickle tackle, and watching the cat and dog.
Congratulations, Lara!
Photo courtesy of Lara Nagle.
| | Psychospiritual Care for Mental Wellness Pilot Training Course | | |
Dr. Andrew Sharp, Senior Public and Community Engagement Manager at IPG, completed a pilot training program with a group of sixteen behavioral health professionals and spiritual leaders from across the state. He collaborated with Dr. Hannah Bayne (Virginia Tech School of Education), and Dr. William McKenna (Psychologist with Virginia Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Services) on the five-month program (August-December 2025). The curriculum sought to equip those engaged with the skills to provide deeper healing and growth opportunities to those they serve. Participants earned a certificate of completion and a micro-credential badge for their efforts.
The Psychospiritual Care for Mental Wellness Pilot Training Course is part of a longer-term project to increase community-engagement efforts addressing behavioral health in several cities/regions of the Commonwealth of Virginia, as well as to advance knowledge about the intersections of race, culture, religion, and science in our understanding of mental health conditions.
Photo courtesy of Andrew Sharp.
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Drs. Anne Walters and Andrew Sharp oversaw the capstone presentations of participants in CivilianLEAD. Dr. Walters emceed the event at the Virginia State Police (VSP) headquarters on November 19, which was well-attended by managers and senior leaders within the agency.
CivilianLEAD was an eight-month program designed and delivered by IPG faculty Dr. Walters, Cecily Rodriguez, and Dr. Sharp to enhance the leadership skills of individuals in key roles within the VSP. The approximately 100 individuals who completed the program gained a comprehensive understanding of the challenges and responsibilities associated with leading law enforcement organizations, as well as the necessary skills to serve their communities effectively. Participants worked in small groups to complete their capstone project, which sought to identify an important issue or challenge confronting leaders of large public service organizations and offer ways to address it. Each capstone group authored a white paper, presented its findings, and shared ideas with agency peers and senior leaders in this culminating program event.
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IPG celebrated the conclusion of the inaugural Grant Ready Roanoke program in November 2025. This six-month intensive nonprofit capacity-building program was funded by the City of Roanoke and facilitated by a collaborative team of IPG faculty, fellows, and students, including Brad Stephens, David Moore, Max Stephenson Jr., Marcy Schnitzer, Andy Morikawa, Amin Farzaneh, and Lara Nagle. Rather than providing ready answers to common nonprofit questions, the program aimed to build participants' imaginative capacity, better preparing them to navigate the complexities of their work independently. Participating organizations represented diverse backgrounds and missions, including, among others, preventing or addressing violence, advocating for transportation justice, and uplifting neighborhoods. Despite the program's significant demands, including at least three meetings monthly, nine of the original ten organizations completed it. We hope to launch a second cohort in 2026!
| | 2025 Association for Research on Nonprofit Organizations and Voluntary Action Conference | | |
IPG was pleased to be represented with several presentations at the November 2025 Association for Research on Nonprofit Organizations and Voluntary Action Conference in Indianapolis, Indiana.
Associate Director for Strategic Partnerships Dr. David Moore presented a paper with Gina Davis entitled "Employment Social Enterprises: Opportunities and obstacles for sustaining or enhancing employment programs for hard-to-employ populations."
Graduate Assistant and PhD student in Planning, Governance, and Globalization (PGG) Brad Stephens presented a paper he authored with IPG Director Dr. Max Stephenson Jr. entitled, "Theoretically and Pedagogically Grounding Nonprofit Capacity-Building: Centralizing the Role of the Imagination."
Assistant Professor of Applied Theater in the School of Performing Arts and Co-Director of Research in the Center for Communicating Science Jon Catherwood-Ginn presented "Examining Representation in Participatory Grantmaking." Jon is a PhD student in the PGG program with Dr. Stephenson serving as the chair of his doctoral advisory committee.
Photo from left to right: Jon Catherwood-Ginn, Brad Stephens, and David Moore. Photo courtesy of Jon Catherwood-Ginn.
| | 2026 Virginia Association for Community Services Boards Conference | | 2026 Winter College Communicators Conference | | |
Billy Parvatam, IPG Communications Coordinator, attended the annual winter College Communicators Conference on January 16, 2026. This year's event was hosted by Virginia Tech at its Alexandria campus.
| | IPG Invites You to Our Spring Open House! | | |
We are pleased to announce that our spring open house will occur on Thursday March 26, 11:30 a.m. - 1:30 p.m. at 201 West Roanoke Street, Blacksburg, VA 24060. We hope you will plan to stop by for lunch and conversation!
We will send event updates via the IPG email listserv. Please contact Billy Parvatam for more information (pbilly97@vt.edu).
| | ANNOUNCEMENTS & OPPORTUNITIES | | IPG Welcomes Cana Itchuaqiyaq | | |
IPG is pleased to welcome Dr. Cana Ichuaqiyaq to our team as an affiliated researcher! Dr. Itchuaqiyaq is the Founding Director of the Center for Sustainable Engagement in the Arctic and an Assistant Professor in the Department of English at Virginia Tech. We are thrilled to have Dr. Ichuaqiyaq join us!
| | Virginia Tech's Giving Day 2026 | | |
Join Hokies around the world for Giving Day, a 24-hour celebration in support of Virginia Tech, starting at noon EST, on Wednesday Feb. 18 and ending Thursday Feb. 19 at noon EST. Please consider donating any amount to assist IPG's work in supporting graduate students and fulfilling our mission of research and praxis. No gift is too small. Thank you for any support you may be able to provide.
| | People of IPG: Anne Walters | | |
We are pleased to share the latest installment of the People of IPG series featuring Senior Manager of Public and Organizational Research Dr. Anne Walters, who works out of of the Institute's Richmond office. Dr. Walters discussed her work and more in a conversation with Communications Coordinator Billy Parvatam, here.
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Dr. Lia Kelinsky-Jones is a Research Assistant Professor in Virginia Tech’s Department of Agricultural, Leadership, and Community Education and the Assistant Director for Research in the Center for Food Systems and Community Transformation. She is an interdisciplinary, critical social scientist whose research, teaching, and outreach address how to support resilience in food systems using an agroecological lens. She is advancing this inquiry via two primary domains: 1) the praxis of university research, extension, and engagement toward food system transformation, and 2) civic science approaches to participatory policy and governance particularly at the local and regional levels.
Geographically, Lia's current projects address food system(s) resilience in Central Appalachia and Virginia. She has collaborated with IPG Director Dr. Max Stephenson Jr. and Dr. Kim Niewolny of the Department of Agricultural, Leadership, and Community Education on several projects and publications, including a forthcoming special issue of the journal Sustainability devoted to "Perspectives on the Roles of Civil Society in Advancing Food Systems Transformation and Sustainable Agriculture." You may learn more here.
Previously, Lia was a USDA NIFA Postdoctoral Fellow at Virginia Tech, focusing on identifying policy levers for food system resilience in Central Appalachia using a participatory approach. She also served as a Civic Science Fellow at Johns Hopkins’ Agora Institute, where she explored university engagement in local climate policy.
When not chasing around her 2-year-old, Lia enjoys throwing pottery on the wheel and mountain biking.
| | GRADUATE STUDENT SPOTLIGHT | | |
Aline de Souza is engaged with IPG through the Community Change Collaborative (CCC). She is currently an Interdisciplinary PhD candidate in the ASPECT program (Alliance of Social, Political, Ethical and Cultural Thought) at Virginia Tech. She holds a Bachelor’s degree in Architecture and Urbanism from the University of Brasília, in Brazil, a Master of Landscape Architecture from Virginia Tech, and a Master of Fine Arts in Creative Technologies, from Virginia Tech.
Aline is an artist-scholar who combines arts, architecture theory and social sciences. In her artistic practice, she paints watercolors and plays harp. Storytelling is what ties her work together, bringing music and visual arts to create performances, leveraged by technology. She is passionate about teaching art theory and practice and architecture theory, history and criticism.
Aline employs artistic practice in her research to study complex themes in the humanities. Her dissertation, which she will defend soon, addresses the potential of multimedia art performances to encourage social change. Her advisory committee members for that effort are: IPG Director Max Stephenson Jr. (chair), Fernanda Rosa, Bob Leonard, and Tyechia Thompson. Her dissertation-related performances were supported by the Roger and Debbie West Student Grant from the Institute for Creativity, Arts and Technology (ICAT) at Virginia Tech, by donations from Blacksburg citizens and by the artists who collaborated with her to produce Stories of Migration: Brandon Hale, Estefania “Nia” Perez-Vera and Chynna Golding.
In her free time, Aline loves taking care of her cat, biking, and playing video games. Biking is her main form of transportation, and she especially enjoys it on cold winter days, with the trees and the snow surrounding her.
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Rabita Banee, MPA, Ph.D., works at the Virginia Department of Energy as an Energy Policy Research Analyst where she examines the energy challenges facing Virginians and develops policy solutions aimed at delivering a more affordable and reliable energy future. She recently led development of the forthcoming Virginia Hydrogen Roadmap report and works on federal grants to ensure funding is strategically invested to address energy challenges across the Commonwealth. Alongside her policy teammates, Rabita plays a critical role during the General Assembly sessions by providing policy analysis and tracking legislation. She meanwhile actively supports the implementation of enacted policies in her areas of responsibility.
Rabita served as a Graduate Assistant at IPG during her doctoral study, where she worked on two Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration grants. During her time with the Institute, she received extensive training in federal grants management tools and grant-related data analysis. She earned her Ph.D. in Public Administration and Affairs from the Center for Public Administration and Policy at Virginia Tech in 2022.
Rabita and her husband welcomed their first child, a baby girl named Javeria Lily Raya, in July 2025. The pair now spend as much of their time as they can with their newborn, cherishing the joy and meaningful moments she brings to their lives.
| | COMMENTARIES, ESSAYS & PUBLICATIONS | | |
Five Pieces Worth Reading
A weekly news summary series curated by IPG Communications Coordinator Billy Parvatam can be accessed here.
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Recent Books
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Ariel Otruba, Max Stephenson Jr., Yannis Stivachtis, and Nino Dzotsenidze, Eds. Violent Infrastructure: Protracted Displacement and Housing Injustice in Tskaltubo, Georgia. Blacksburg, VA: Virginia Tech Publishing, 2025. https://publishing.vt.edu/books/e/10.21061/violentinfrastructure
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Max Stephenson Jr., Kim Niewolny, Anna Erwin, and Laura Zanotti, Eds. Critical praxis and the social imaginary for sustainable food systems. Lausanne: Frontiers Media SA, 2024. doi: 10.3389/978-2-8325-5480-7
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Max Stephenson Jr. and Cathy Grimes, Eds. Conversations in Community Change: More Voices from the Field. Blacksburg, VA: Virginia Tech Publishing, 2023.
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Max Stephenson Jr. and Yannis Stivachtis, Eds., Policy and Politics of the Syrian Refugee Criss in Eastern Mediterranean States: National and Institutional Perspectives, E-International Relations, Bristol, U.K., 2023.
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Max Stephenson Jr. and Lyusyena Kirakosyan, Eds., Re: Reflections and Explorations: Volume 3. Blacksburg, VA: Virginia Tech Publishing, 2023.
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Recent Articles and Conference Papers
Journal Articles
Published
Ardic, A., & Firouzi, A. (2025). Silent Capitals: Institutionalized Reproduction, Subalternity and the Right to the City. Archives of Philosophy. DOI: 10.26650/arcp.1657446
Firouzi, A., & Stephenson, M., Jr. (2025). Preserving and excluding: Examining the complexities of diasporic Persian heritage advocacy. Local Development & Society, 1-21. https://doi.org/10.1080/26883597.2025.2599901
Guerra, V., & Day, J. (2025). The role of self-organized transportation systems in Quito’s urban resilience. Journal of Urban Affairs, 1–19. https://doi.org/10.1080/07352166.2025.2567346
Otruba, A., & Isaacs, J. R. (2025). 19 more-than-human geographies. De Gruyter Handbook of Feminist Political Geography, 239–250. https://doi.org/10.1515/9783111289274-020
Conference Papers and Presentations
Moore, D., & Davis, G. (2025, Nov. 20-22). Employment Social Enterprises: Opportunities and obstacles for sustaining or enhancing employment programs for hard-to-employ populations [Paper Presentation]. Association for Research on Nonprofit Organizations and Voluntary Action, Indianapolis, IN, United States. https://www.arnova.org/
Otruba (2025, Nov. 19). At the periphery of everyone else's region: Introducing the Eurasian Inland Seas [panel discussion]. Central Eurasian Studies Society Annual Conference, Washington D.C. https://centraleurasia.org/conferences/annual-conference-cess-2025/
Otruba (2025, Nov. 20-23). "Bringing the More-Than-Human into Memories of Crisis" [panel discussion]. Association for Slavic, East European, and Eurasian Studies, Washington D.C. https://aseees.org/convention/2025-convention/
Otruba (2025, Nov. 20-23). "Genealogies of Resistance in the War on Gender: Historcal Memories and Innovative Approaches" [panel discussion]. Association for Slavic, East European, and Eurasian Studies, Washington D.C. https://aseees.org/convention/2025-convention/
Stephens, B., & Stephenson, M. (2025, Nov. 20-22). Theoretically and Pedagogically Grounding Nonprofit Capacity-Building: Centralizing the Role of the Imagination [Paper Presentation]. Association for Research on Nonprofit Organizations and Voluntary Action, Indianapolis, IN, United States. https://www.arnova.org/
Books, Articles, Chapters, Reviews and Conference Paper Presentations Under Review/Forthcoming
*Corresponding author
Articles and Book Chapters
Moayerian, M., Stephens, B., and Stephenson, Jr., M. On the Edge of Possibility: Considering the Calfee Training School’s Continuing Role in Cultivating Hope and Social Imagination, International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education.
Conference Paper Presentations
Firouzi, A., & Stephenson, M. Jr. (2026, May). Navigating Rights to Culture in the City: Lessons from Afghan Refugees in Roanoke, Virginia [Conference abstract]. International Conference on Urban Affairs (ICUA), Chicago, IL. https://urbanaffairsassociation.org/conference/
Stephens, B. (2026, July). The not-so-secret ingredient: How trust enables community capacity [Conference abstract]. International Conference of the International Society for Third Sector Research (ISTR), Lisbon, Portugal. https://www.istr.org/page/ISTR2026
Stephens, B., Stephenson, M., & Farzaneh, A. (2026, April). More engagement, more problems? How community engagement efforts may both facilitate and undermine trust development [Conference abstract]. International Conference on Urban Affairs (ICUA), Chicago, IL. https://urbanaffairsassociation.org/conference/
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Institute for Policy and Governance
201 W. Roanoke Street
Blacksburg, VA 24061
ipg.vt.edu
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