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Tidings from the Director
"The Scaffolding is Worth Saving"
Accomplishments
Eric Bendfeldt
Garland Mason
Kim Niewolny
Mia Williams
Ali Hartwick
Nathan Corso
Max Stephenson, Jr.
Yannis Stivachtis
Desiree Poets
Cathy Grimes
Neda Moayerian
Molly Todd
Andrea Briceno-Mosquera
Veronica Arroyave
Project Updates
- St. Paul's College Alumni Group Strategic Engagement
- Podcast Updates
- VTIPG hosts Khishi Enkhbayar
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Trustees Without Borders Featuring Khishi Enkhbayer
Conferences & Events
- Virginia Tech and UVA Collaborate to Explore Maré
- Recent Scholarship
Announcements
- VTIPG Profiles Series
- 2022-2023 Annual Report
Commentaries, Essays & Publications
- Soundings
- Five Pieces Worth Reading
- Recent Books
- Recent Articles and Conference Papers
Staff Spotlight
Heather Nolen, Business Manager, School of Public and International Affairs
Graduate Student Spotlight
Amin Farzaneh, Graduate Assistant, PhD student in Planning, Governance, and Globalization
Alumni Spotlight
Danny White, Senior Associate Athletic Director, Virginia Tech Athletics
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TIDINGS FROM THE DIRECTOR | | |
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"The Scaffolding is Worth Saving"
BY MAX O. STEPHENSON, JR.
Director, Virginia Tech Institute for Policy and Governance
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As former President Donald Trump was arraigned on June 13 for a second time in recent months by a grand jury of American citizens—this time, on 37 counts of unlawfully and willfully possessing, sharing and hiding classified documents that compromised national security—three features of the current state of our country’s politics became clearer. I dedicate this Tidings essay to addressing this trio of concerns since they are singularly important and could reshape our nation and therefore all that we do at the Institute for Policy and Governance as well. First, the Republican Party is now so wedded to lying to its partisans and to supporting Trump that the lion’s share of its leaders no longer appears willing to pursue any other course. Indeed, the former chief executive’s screeds and lies concerning supposed secret, elaborate and magically implemented conspiracies against him have become ever shriller in recent days. As this travesty has unfolded, very few members of standing in that party have challenged Trump’s reckless fabrications.
Second, this reality suggests that the current downward slope of egregious behavior among Trump and Republican leaders at all scales of governance is not only powerfully anti-democratic and unconscionable, but also appears to have no bottom or end point in prospect. That fact raises profound concerns about how far the party is willing to go in its campaign to denigrate all who might question its quest for power for its own sake, including, the possible destruction of the rule of law, equal rights under the law and democracy itself.
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Photo: Dr. Eric Bendfeldt (left) and Dr. Kim Niewolny (right) | |
Dr. Eric Bendfeldt, Extension Specialist and Associate Director for VT's Center for Food Systems and Community Transformation (CFST), received his PhD from Virginia Tech on May 11, 2023 in Blacksburg. CFST Director Dr. Kim Niewolny chaired his advisory committee, while VTIPG Director Dr. Max Stephenson, Jr. served as a member. Dr. Bendfeldt's dissertation, "The Ecotonal Nature of Community Food Work: A Case Study of Trauma-Informed Care and Agential Change Space" can be accessed here.
Congratulations, Eric!
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Garland Mason, formerly an Associate with the Center for Food Systems and Community Transformation, has accepted a new position with the farmer cooperative Organic Valley, where she will be supporting members as they work toward the co-op's goal of being carbon neutral by 2050. Her position will allow her to work remotely and continue living in the Blacksburg area.
VTIPG Director Max Stephenson, Jr. served on Garland's master's thesis committee. In addition, Garland served as an interviewer for Conversations in Community Change: More Voices from the Field and an author for RE: Reflections and Explorations, Volume 3.
Congratulations, Garland!
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Dr. Kim Niewolny has been promoted to the rank of Professor in the Agricultural, Leadership, and Community Education Department. She also serves as the Director of the Center for Food Systems and Community Transformation at Virginia Tech. Dr. Niewolny is a frequent research collaborator with VTIPG and Dr. Max Stephenson, Jr. on food systems related issues.
Congratulations, Kim!
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Mia Williams graduated from the Masters of Public Health Program with a Public Health Education concentration in May 2023. A graduate assistant at VTIPG until her graduation, her work focused on substance use treatment and recovery interventions to address the opioid epidemic. She served as the lead graduate research assistant on the Connection to Care project, where she played an instrumental role in coordinating and managing REVIVE! events throughout the Roanoke Valley, as well as supporting data management and visualization, and comprehensive literature reviews.
Mia has accepted a position as a Policy Analyst at the Duke Margolis Center for Health Policy in Washington D.C. In her new role as part of the Center's biomedical innovation research team, she will conduct research, perform literature reviews, draft summary documents, and engage in extensive writing concerning a range of deliverables.
Congratulations, Mia!
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Ali Hartwick graduated from the Master of Urban and Regional Planning Program with concentrations in Natural Resource Management and Urban Community Planning in May 2023. Her tenure as a graduate assistant at VTIPG has seen her supporting two community needs assessments, as well as a collaborative Heat Resilience project involving VT faculty, City of Roanoke officials, Virginia Clinicians for Climate Action, and Carilion Clinic representatives. Ali will continue as a research associate at VTIPG through this summer.
Congratulations, Ali!
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Nathan Corso has been accepted into the Saint Louis University Ph.D. program in Public and Social Policy starting in fall 2023. He is currently serving as an Immigration Services Officer with U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (UCIS) in St. Louis, Missouri. He will continue working at UCIS while enrolled as a doctoral student.
Nathan graduated from Virginia Tech in 2018 with a Master's in Public and International Affairs. VTIPG Director Dr. Max Stephenson, Jr. served as chair of Nathan's Master's Advisory Committee. Nathan served in China as part of his participation in the Peace Corps' Masters' International Program during his graduate study at VT.
Congratulations, Nathan!
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Dr. Desiree Poets, Cathy Grimes, Dr. Max Stephenson, Jr., Dr. Neda Moayerian, and Molly Todd, members of the Maré (Rio de Janeiro) Research Group, collaborated on a recently published article, “Care-based community communication, capacity, and agency during the COVID-19 Pandemic: Evidence from the Complexo da Maré Favela, Brazil" in World Development Perspectives. You may read their article here.
Congratulations, all!
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Dr. Andrea Briceno-Mosquera recently joined VTIPG and SPIA as a Postdoctoral Scholar. Her scholarship has focused on administrative burdens that prevent or discourage otherwise entitled individuals from obtaining public benefits. At VTIPG she supports community-engaged curriculum design and the evaluation of public health and workforce program implementation. Dr. Sharon Mastracci of the Center for Public Administration and Policy will mentor Dr. Briceno-Mosquera during her tenure with the assistance of Institute Director, Dr. Max Stephenson, Jr.
Dr. Briceno-Mosquera recently had an article accepted for publication in Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis entitled, "They asked for more, more and more paperwork: Administrative Burdens When Undocumented Youth Claim In-State Resident Tuition Policy Benefits." Her analysis arose from interviews she conducted for her doctoral dissertation.
Welcome and congratulations, Andrea!
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Dr. Veronica Arroyave has been named Vice President, Corporate Responsibility and Global Philanthropy, at Baxter International Inc. Baxter, headquartered in Deerfield, Illinois near Chicago, is a global healthcare company that focuses on products to treat kidney disease and other chronic and acute medical conditions. Dr. Arroyave has been with Baxter since 2018.
Dr. Arroyave completed her PhD in SPIA's Planning, Governance, and Globalization program in 2013. VTIPG Director Max Stephenson, Jr. served as chair for her dissertation committee for her work entitled, "Networks in the Disaster Response and Global Health Domain: A Case Study of the Partnership for Quality Medical Donation’s Response to the 2010 Haitian Earthquake", which you may view here.
Congratulations, Vero!
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St. Paul's College Alumni Group Strategic Engagement | |
 |  | The Community Change Collaborative and VTIPG continue to work alongside the alumni group, St. Paul’s College 4 Life, as they seek to reimagine future educational programming for residents of the communities in the region of their now closed HBCU in southside Virginia. We were able to visit them in Lawrenceville, VA, three times during the spring 2023 semester and provided a sounding board as they addressed several important leadership and programmatic questions. During our most recent visit, VTIPG Senior Fellow Andy Morikawa provided a comprehensive presentation on board leadership for nonprofits that was well received and will hopefully serve as the foundation for future collaboration concerning the nonprofit’s board development. We have also been able to connect the SPC4Life leadership team with Professor Rachel Lin Weaver from the VT School of Visual Arts who will seek to assist them with their aspiration to tell their story to a broader audience. We are looking forward to continuing our work with this dynamic group into the fall semester and beyond. Learn More
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We have commenced recording for the inaugural season of the Social Science for the Public Good podcast! The guest list for this season includes a number of influential thinkers in the social sciences, including Drs. Steven Lukes (Professor Emeritus of Sociology at NYU), Margaret Levi (Professor of Political Science at Stanford), and Michael Hardt (Professor of Literature at Duke). Each episode will explore a different understanding of two core social science domains, trust and power. We are pleased to share that Yugasha Bakshi, a PhD student in Planning, Governance, and Globalization, has joined the program as a co-host alongside Brad Stephens, also a Planning, Governance and Globalization PhD student and graduate research assistant with VTIPG. Both individuals bring valuable perspective to the work and have played a vital role in the conceptualization of the series. We will be launching this program across all podcast platforms in July.
Community Change Journal is also launching a new podcast to extend the reach of authors' publications by featuring graduate student authors' perspectives about their work in podcast conversations. You can listen to an introduction of the podcast here.
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VTIPG Hosts Khishi Enkhbayer | |
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VTIPG was honored to host Khishigjargal (Khishi) Enkhbayar as a visiting fellow from the National Committee on U.S.-China Relations through the State Department's Professional Fellows Program during the month of May. Khishi is the founder and secretary general of the United Nations Association of Mongolia, and she worked on learning more about nongovernmental organization governance and development during her visit. We thank our Associate Director for Strategic Partnerships, Dr. David Moore, for serving as her principal host during the visit and our many colleagues across campus and beyond who took time to meet with her to make her time with us as meaningful and productive as possible. You may find an article with more details concerning her visit here.
Pictured in photo, from left to right: David Moore, Khishi Enkhbayar, Max Stephenson, Jr., Elizabeth Allen
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Trustees Without Borders Featuring Khishi Enkhbayer | |
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The Institute just released a new episode of our long-running Trustees Without Borders podcast series that features Khishi Enkhbayer, our recent guest at VTIPG through a professional fellows’ program funded by the U.S. Department of State. Khishi shares her experiences working to encourage the exercise of agency among the young people of Mongolia and to build capacity for international collaboration in Northeast Asia in this episode. Khishi sketches how she has sought to understand Mongolia's unique context and why she is drawn to youth-driven work. She also outlines her perspective on leadership more broadly and how she understands the role of international NGOs. You can listen to the podcast here.
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Virginia Tech and UVA Collaborate to Explore Maré | |
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Dr. Vanessa Guerra, Assistant Professor of Urban and Environmental Planning at the University of Virginia (UVA) School of Architecture, visited Blacksburg on April 6 with 22 students enrolled in her studio, “Planning and Design,” to present their research on urban resilience in Maré, Rio de Janeiro, a diverse neighborhood in the North Zone of that Brazilian city. The students presented their work in the Creativity and Innovation District (CID) building on campus. Redes de Maré representatives Andreza Jorge and Henrique Gomes and VTIPG Director Dr. Max Stephenson, Jr. participated in the workshop and provided feedback to students.
Dr. Guerra is a Virginia Tech alumna who completed her PhD in 2020. Dr. Stephenson served as a member of her dissertation committee. She also participates in the VT-based Maré research group, which collaborates with Redes de Maré to seek support for the non-governmental organization and produce relevant scholarship. Learn More
Photo credit: K and V Photography.
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VTIPG Director Dr. Max Stephenson, Jr. presented "Countering Persistent Alterity: Fostering Advocacy and Agency" at the 15th annual conference of the Canadian Association for Refugee and Forced Migration Studies on May 29-31 in Toronto Canada. His coauthors were VTIPG's Non-Resident Research Associate and University of Tehran Professor Dr. Neda Moayerian, UVA School of Architecture Professor Dr. Vanessa Guerra, and Virginia Tech Department of Political Science Professor Dr. Desiree Poets.
Dr. Stephenson has also been named a Review Editor of the Editorial Board of Indoor Environment (specialty section of Frontiers in Mechanical Engineering, Frontiers in Built Environment, and Frontiers in Energy Research).
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VTIPG is pleased to share that we have begun a new series on our website featuring profiles of our faculty, staff, fellows, alumni, and community partners. For our first edition, we feature Senior Fellow Andy Morikawa, who has formally been with the Institute since 2011. In our first installment, Andy discusses his career in non-profit work with Communications Coordinator Billy Parvatam. You may read more of their conversation here.
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VTIPG is pleased to share its 2022-2023 Annual Report, featuring the Institute's project highlights, publications, and partnerships during this past academic year. We thank Community-Based Research Manager Lara Nagle and Communications Coordinator Billy Parvatam for preparing this report with the help of VTIPG faculty, staff and graduate students. Read the annual report here.
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COMMENTARIES, ESSAYS & PUBLICATIONS | |
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Recent Books
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Nicholas Barnes, Desiree Poets, Max Stephenson Jr., Eds. Maré from the Inside: Arts, Culture and Politics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Blacksburg, VA: Virginia Tech Publishing, 2021.
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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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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 Lyusyena Kirakosyan, Eds., Re: Reflections and Explorations: Volume 3. Blacksburg, VA: Virginia Tech Publishing, 2023.
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Max 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.
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Recent Articles and Conference Papers
Journal Articles
Published
Lia Kelinsky-Jones, Kim Niewolny and Max Stephenson, Jr. (2023). "Building Agroecological Traction: Engaging discourse, the Imaginary, and Critical Praxis for Food System Transformation." Frontiers in Sustainable Food Systems, 7. https://doi.org/10.3389/fsufs.2023.1128430
Desiree Poets, Cathy Grimes, Max Stephenson, Jr., Neda Moayerian (2023). "Community Capacity, Agency, and Community Newspapers during the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Case from the Global South, " World Development Perspectives, https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2452292923000243?dgcid=author
Neda Moayerian, Max Stephenson Jr., Muddather Jameel-Abu Karaki and Renad Abbadi (2023). "Exploring Syrian Refugees' Access to Medical and Social Support Services Using a Trauma-Informed Analytic Framework," International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 20, 2031. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph20032031.
Accepted (Forthcoming)
Briceno Mosquera, A. (2023). "They asked for more, more and more paperwork:' Administrative Burdens When Undocumented Youth Claim In-State Resident Tuition Policy Benefits." Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis.
Conference Papers
Eric Bendfeldt, Kim Niewolny, Max Stephenson, Jr., Tom Archibald, and Anne Stewart. "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 and Nutrition (SAFN), May 31-June 3, 2023, Boston, Massachusetts.
"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 Desiree Poets.
Max Stephenson Jr., Neda Moayerian, Desiree Poets "Storytelling, Performing Arts and Collective Capacity in One Rio Favela," for annual conference of the International Studies Association, March 15-18, 2023, Montreal, Canada.
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Heather Nolen is the Business Manager for the School of Public and International Affairs (SPIA). Heather is responsible for the management, coordination, and communication of activities in the areas of financial, human resources, facility, and administrative operations for the school at all three of its locations. Heather is an integral member of the Directors' leadership team and serve as the School's chief fiscal officer. Additionally, in this position, Heather supports the Director in providing leadership to SPIA faculty, staff and students across the school’s geographical locations; and represents the school within the College of Liberal Arts and Human Sciences (CLAHS) and throughout the university on relevant committees. As the Business Manager for SPIA she is responsible for establishing internal controls that include organizational processes and procedures designed to verify the integrity, accuracy, and reliability of accounting data and other management information within SPIA.
Working for Virginia Tech (VT) is a 100-year tradition in Heather’s family, and she is passionate about keeping that tradition alive. VT is a part of who she is. Heather received her Bachelor of Business Administration (BBA) in both marketing and management from Radford University in 2015. While at Radford, she served as the Vice President for the Davis College of Business and Economics (COBE) Student Advisory Board, as well as Executive Officer and founding member of the Davis COBE Ambassador program. Heather has worked at VT since April of 2016, where she has built a toolset of expertise in fiscal management including, developing financial procedures, knowledge of university policies, human resources, and pre/post award management. She is currently pursuing her Master of Arts in Political Science at Virginia Tech focusing on the effects of politics and the political economy on funding for land grant institutions.
A key part of Heather’s position within SPIA is serving as a resource and source of support for faculty, staff, and students at the Institute for Policy and Governance (IPG): “I have really enjoyed working with IPG in various capacities and projects as I am able to see research proposals come to life; this is the rewarding part of sponsored research financial management,” said Heather. She also remarked that “IPG may just be the future of land grant institutions and their abilities to get back to the true mission of serving our communities.”
In her free time, Heather enjoys spending time with her three young children, making cakes, and listening to true crime podcasts.
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GRADUATE STUDENT SPOTLIGHT | |
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Amin Farzaneh is currently a PhD student in Planning, Governing, and Globalization, and a graduate assistant this summer with VTIPG. Amin received his BA in Architecture and MS in Urban Design from Shahid Beheshti University in Iran. He has long been inspired to take a step further in urban and regional planning and policy towards equity for socially and economically deprived ethnic communities after living near a Gypsy community, witnessing the discrimination they were suffering, and hearing heartbreaking stories of Afghan refugees living in refugee camps living in his hometown, Sabzevar, Iran. The focus of his research now is the role that arts and culture may play in driving social change in vulnerable communities.
At VTIPG, Amin has been involved in the Impactful Community Engaged Planning (ICEP) project in partnership with the Roanoke City Alleghany Health District (RCAHD). With ICEP, he has been developing a literature review on creative engagement methods that can be used in public health and community-engaged planning contexts.
In his leisure time, Amin enjoys hiking and preparing Persian cuisine.
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Dr. Danny White, Senior Associate Athletic Director at VT, graduated from the Planning, Governance, and Globalization PhD program in 2020. In his role with Virginia Tech Athletics, he oversees the football team, swim/dive team, sports nutrition services, sports psychology services, and works with the Provost’s Office regarding academic support services. He is deeply interested in sports’ impact on the global scale and primarily in underserved communities. He has taught study abroad courses featuring sport in the Dominican Republic, Switzerland, and Rwanda. His work in these countries involved collaboration with numerous international and governmental organizations and NGOs, including: The World Bank, Peace Corps, World Vision, Rwanda Ministry of Culture and Sport, Kigali International Community School, Punta Cana Ecological Foundation, Right to Play, Kids Play International, International Olympic Committee, US Olympic & Paralympic Committee, and the Rwanda International Olympic Committee. His work in Kigali, Rwanda served as the basis for his doctoral dissertation, chaired by VTIPG Director Dr. Max Stephenson, Jr.
Dr. White credits Dr. Stephenson for his invaluable support throughout his studies and expert guidance related to his fields of interest. Dr. White and his wife, Meredith, have five active (and loud☺) children and enjoy spending as much time as possible hiking and/or exploring the great outdoors!
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Institute for Policy and Governance
201 W. Roanoke Street
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