TABLE OF CONTENTS

Tidings: From the Director

"Remarks at the 20th Anniversary Reception for VTIPG on September 24, 2026"

Accomplishments

Erin Mooney

Laura Taylor

Alma de León

Mary Beth Dunkenberger

Reshaud Rich

Max Stephenson Jr.

Bob Leonard

Brad Stephens

Armin Firouzi

Shahed Alhadyan

Markus Schulz

Madisen Plunkert

Project Updates

• Strengthening Integrated Health in Guatemala
• Public Sector Leader I Program
• Virginia Housing
• Office of Trauma & Resilience Policy Annual Report
• VOAA Recovery Housing Needs Assessments
• Grant Ready Roanoke

Conferences & Events

• National Council on Interpreting in Health Care
• VTIPG Richmond office hosting fall edition of Richmond Seminar Series
• ACSP2026 66th Annual Conference
• American Research Institute of the South Caucasus Conference
• American Political Science Association Conference
• Engagement Scholarship Consortium Presentations
• Appalachian Translational Research Network Panel

Announcements & Opportunities

• City of Roanoke earns a 2026 All-America City Award
• 2025-2026 Annual Report
• People of IPG: Alma de León
• VTIPG Welcomes Dr. Yugasha Bakshi
• 9/11: Reclaiming Ground Zero

Collaborating Faculty Spotlight

Ben Brewer, Research Scientist, Center for Biostatistics & Health Data Science and Assistant Professor, Carilion School of Medicine, Virginia Tech

Graduate Student Spotlight

Madisen Plunkert, PhD Student, Department of Agricultural, Leadership, and Community Education

Alumni Spotlight

Mia Williams, Senior Policy Analyst, Duke-Margolis Institute for Health Policy

Commentaries, Essays & Publications

• Research and Policy Brief Series
• Soundings and Tidings
• Five Pieces Worth Reading
• Recent Publications and Conference Papers

"Remarks at the 20th Anniversary Reception for VTIPG on September 24, 2026"

BY MAX O. STEPHENSON, JR.

Director, Virginia Tech Institute for Policy and Governance

ACCOMPLISHMENTS

PROJECT UPDATES

Strengthening Integrated Health in Guatemala

An ethnography project in Guatemala has brought together, faculty, students, health professionals, community organization representatives, and public officials to understand that country’s needs and opportunities to secure a more integrated health system. Through presentations, interviews, and observations conducted at all three Universidad del Valle de Guatemala (UVG) campuses, the team explored intervention and research models to strengthen community health in the nation during a visit from August 4-19. In total, 176 people participated in these interactions across 10 study sites at the university's Guatemala City, Altiplano, and Campus Sur locations. Conversations identified potential areas for collaboration, including mental health, midwifery, disease surveillance, health promotion, vaccination, disease prevention, implementation science, and student support. The findings will inform development of a funding proposal and guide future integrated health research and practice initiatives at the Universidad del Valle. The project is led by Dr. Carmen Monico of North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University (and VTIPG Non-Resident Research Fellow) and Institute Associate Director of Research and Organizational Innovation Cecily Rodríguez, who also traveled to Guatemala. UVG Professors Ana Alicia Cobar and Aracely Martinez are also engaged in developing this initiative.

Photo courtesy of Cecily Rodriguez.

Public Sector Leader I Program

VTIPG successfully launched its second Public Sector Leader (PSL) I program in September

(14-18). IPG faculty developed the initiative based on the Institute's highly successful Virginia Public Sector Leader (VPSL) program. This move allowed VTIPG to offer this professional development opportunity to individuals and small groups from local, state, and federal governments, as well as public-service non-profit organizations.

PSL I is designed to strengthen leadership capacity by equipping participants with strategic management, communication and organizational leadership capacities. Across five days, participants were able to collaborate, share experiences, and enhance their ability to lead effectively in today's complex public service environment. Everyone who completed the program received a certificate and VT-approved micro-credential badge in Public Sector Leadership. For more information about PSL, please visit our website.

Photo credit: Arielle McCollum.

Virginia Housing

We were excited to welcome Virginia Housing to VTIPG's Richmond office for an iteration of that agency's Leadership Development Accelerated Program (LDAP). Cecily Rodriguez (Associate Director of Research and Organizational Innovation), Dr. Andrew Sharp (Senior Public and Community Engagement Manager and Lecturer), and Dr. Anne Walters (Senior Manager of Public and Organizational Research), facilitated this tailored version of the Institute's Virginia Public Sector Leadership Program (VPSL) in collaboration with Virginia Housing’s leadership team.

The group of agency personnel, began with introductions before engaging in discussions and activities concerning emotional intelligence and psychological safety. Tammy Neale, Chief Executive Officer of Virginia Housing, joined the session to discuss the impact of leadership on delivering services effectively to Virginia's communities.

Photo: Tammy Neal. Photo credit: Arielle McCollum.

Office of Trauma & Resilience Policy Annual Report

The Commonwealth's Office of Trauma & Resilience Policy recently released its 2026 annual report highlighting major progress this year to strengthen trauma-informed, resilience-focused practice across Virginia's human services systems. This year's OTRP annual report highlighted the Institute's completion of a Community Resilience Model Evaluation (led by Family Research Unit Director Ciara Collins) and Virginia Management Fellows (VMF) Program Fellow Bowen Monroe-Mihailoff's issue brief addressing the importance of LEx voices on state boards and councils.

VOAA Recovery Housing Needs Assessments

VTIPG has been awarded a Virginia Opioid Abatement Authority (VOAA) state agency grant to provide recovery housing needs assessments, training, evaluation, and technical assistance in three communities throughout the state during the next three years. The project will be led by Lara Nagle, PI, Community-based Research Manager and Mel Jones, Associate Director, Virginia Center for Housing Research at Virginia Tech.

Previous research has shown that providing stable, low-barrier housing to people in recovery can improve their short- and long-term wellness and recovery outcomes. Nonetheless, such recovery housing options are limited in many communities throughout Virginia.

Grant Ready Roanoke

The Institute's Grant Ready Roanoke program team is now reviewing applications from nonprofit organizations interested in participating in our second six-month capacity-building program. The ten selected applicants will begin meeting with IPG faculty and staff later this month and thereafter will receive individualized and collective assistance as they think through how more effectively to pursue their organizations' goals and increase their impact in the areas in which they serve.

CONFERENCES & EVENTS

National Council on Interpreting in Health Care

Cecily Rodriguez, Associate Director for Research and Organizational Innovation, Dr. Anne Walters, Senior Manager of Public and Organizational Research, and Dr. Tanyika Mobley presented at the National Council on Interpreting in Health Care’s 3rd Annual Language Access Congress at Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island in September. Their presentation, “When Language Access Plans Aren’t Enough: What Behavioral Health Systems Must Do Next,” shared findings from a study of language access services across Virginia’s behavioral health system. They examined policy interpreter training and qualifications, barriers faced by limited English proficient individuals, and the emotional labor experienced by providers and interpreters during service delivery. The team highlighted the need for stronger accountability, as well as specialized behavioral health interpreter training, and organizational support to ensure meaningful language access and improved outcomes.

Photo from left to right: Tanyika Mobley, Anne Walters, and Cecily Rodriguez. Photo courtesy of Cecily Rodriguez.

VTIPG Richmond office hosting fall edition of Richmond Seminar Series

On October 14, VTIPG along with the Virginia Tech Outreach and International Affairs Richmond Center (VTRC), will host the fall edition of the Richmond Seminar. Panelists will discuss language access under the theme, "From Language Access to Language Justice: Building Equitable Public Services in Multilingual Communities."

The Richmond Seminar series, sponsored by VTRC and VTIPG is free and open to the public. The program brings scholars, professionals, and interest individuals together each quarter to discuss a topic of interest to Virginia's communities. Please contact Dr. Andrew Sharp at andrewsharp@vt.edu for additional information. 

ACSP2026 66th Annual Conference

IPG faculty and students recently offered several papers and presentations at the the 2026 Association of Collegiate Schools of Planning Conference in Pittsburgh, PA, from October 8-10.

"Rethinking Urban Governance in the Post-Industrial City: Urban Political Order in Roanoke" by Planning, Governance, and Globalization (PGG) student Amin Farzaneh, IPG Director Dr. Max Stephenson Jr., and Community Governance Research Specialist Brad Stephens.

"Disentangling Institutional and Organizational Constraints on Public Participation in Planning: Lessons from Roanoke, VA" by PGG students Armin Firouzi, Brad Stephens, and Amin Farzaneh.

"Theorizing Imagination in Planning: A Typology and Diagnostic Model to Ground Research and Practice" by Community Governance Research Specialist Brad Stephens.

"Planning Food System Transformation: Governance Networks and Spatial Equity in State Food Strategies" by PGG student Helya Sehat.



"Informal (Community-Led) Journalism and Agency: Evidence from Maré Online's COVID 19 Coverage in Rio de Janeiro" by University of Virginia Assistant Professor in Urban and Regional Planning and VTIPG Non-Resident Research Fellow, Dr. Vanessa Guerra.

American Research Institute of the South Caucasus Conference

VTIPG Non-Resident Research Fellow Dr. Ariel Otruba served as chair-discussant for two panels at the recent American Research Institute of the South Caucasus conference, "Celebrating 20 Years of ARISC: Approaches and Directions in the Study of the South Caucasus," on September 17 - 19, 2026. The sessions were entitled, "Navigating the Turn: State Power, Minorities, and Materiality in Georgia," and "Contemplations of Boundaries, Conflict and Sovereignty." 

American Political Science Association Conference

VTIPG Research Scientist Dr. Marcy Schnitzer presented a paper entitled, "Nonprofits as Storytellers: Community, Meaning, and Expression" with co-author Francis M. Frey at the annual national American Political Science Association conference in Boston, MA on September 6th.

Engagement Scholarship Consortium Presentations

VTIPG presented findings from the Impactful Community Engaged Planning (ICEP) partnership with the Roanoke City Alleghany Health Districts (RCAHD) at the Engagement Scholarship Consortium annual conference in Knoxville, TN, on October 7-8.

Lara Nagle, PI, Community-based Research Manager, Nicole Davidson-Wert, Population Health Coordinator, RCAHD, and Charlie Rickard, Community Engagement Specialist, RCAHD, presented a talk entitled "Assessment-Driven Planning for LGBTQIA+ Health in Southwest Virginia." Chris Grubb, Research Scientist with the Center for Biostatistics and Health Data Science, offered a research poster with co-authors Lara Nagle, Mary Beth Dunkenberger, Elizabeth Allen, Nicole Davison-Wert, and Kristin Adkins entitled "Creating a Data Dashboard to Track Health Department Engagement Outcomes."

Photo from left to right: Nicole Davidson-Wert, Lara Nagle, and Chris Grubb. Photo courtesy of Lara Nagle.

Appalachian Translational Research Network (ATRN) Panel

Lara Nagle, Community-based Research Manager, Elif Tural, Associate Professor of Interior Design, and Kim Woodlee, Director of Crisis Services at Mount Rogers Community Services, will present a panel at the Appalachian Translational Research Network annual health summit in Columbus, OH, on October 12-13 entitled "Physical Design Elements that Influence the Quality and Delivery of Crisis Care: A Case Study in Southwest Virginia." The talk identifies trauma-informed design elements specific to crisis care facilities based on a literature review, site observation and interviews with staff and individuals in Smyth County, VA.

ANNOUNCEMENTS & OPPORTUNITIES

City of Roanoke earns a 2026 All-America City Award

Congratulations to the City of Roanoke for earning a 2026 All-America City Award for the ninth time! The All-America City Award, presented annually by the National Civic League, recognizes communities that bring people together to address local challenges. VTIPG's Grant Ready Roanoke project was highlighted in the city's application for the honor and its press release concerning the achievement as an important initiative aimed at engaging with community residents to address critical issues. We are grateful to work with Molly Hunter, Helen Ferguson, and the rest of our Roanoke city colleagues.

2025-2026 Annual Report

VTIPG is pleased to share its 2025-2026 Annual Report, featuring Institute project highlights, publications, and partnerships during the past year. We thank Community-Based Research Manager Lara Nagle and Communications Coordinator Billy Parvatam for preparing this report with the help of VTIPG leadership, faculty, staff, and graduate students.

People of IPG: Alma de León

We are pleased to share the latest installment of the People of IPG series featuring Operations and Fiscal Coordinator Alma de León, who is employed in the Institute's Richmond office. Alma discussed her work and more in a conversation with Communications Coordinator Billy Parvatam, here.

VTIPG Welcomes Dr. Yugasha Bakshi

The Institute is very pleased to welcome Dr. Yugasha Bakshi to our team as a Non-Resident Research Fellow! She is a 2026 graduate of the Planning, Governance, and Globalization program. Dr. Bakshi was previously affiliated with VTIPG as a student through her involvement with the Community Change Collaborative, and Director Dr. Max Stephenson Jr. served as a member of her doctoral advisory committee (chaired by SPIA's Dr. Ralph Hall). Her research interests include urban and regional planning and water, sanitation, and hygiene. We are thrilled to have Yugasha join us!

9/11: Reclaiming Ground Zero

VTIPG and the Community Change Collaborative previously hosted a screening of the documentary 9/11 Reclaiming Ground Zero, which revisited the events of September 11, 2001, and described the process that followed to engage citizens in a large-scale public forum to determine what should replace the Twin Towers. We were honored to host Dr. Carolyn Lukensmeyer for remarks and a Q&A alongside the film. Dr. Lukensmeyer is the former executive director of AmericaSpeaks and she led the "Listening to the City" project featured in the documentary.

We are pleased to share that the feature is now available for free viewing on Prime Video! Now, 25 years later, we surely remember the nearly 3,000 lives lost in that tragedy. Meanwhile, this film serves as a testament to what came next: how families, survivors, city leaders, and thousands of other New Yorkers found a way to listen to one another, compromise, and rebuild together.

Photo: Dr. Carolyn Lukensmeyer. Photo credit: Andy Morikawa

COLLABORATING FACULTY SPOTLIGHT

Dr. Ben Brewer is a Research Scientist for the Center of Biostatistics and Health

Data Science (CBHDS) at Virginia Tech's medical campus in Roanoke. He received his doctorate from the Kansas University Medical Center in 2024, where his research focused on ROC-based methods for cutoff estimation under tree and umbrella ordering settings. He has more than seven years of experience serving as a biostatistician in collaborative research environments across a wide variety of subject settings, including sleep health, nutrition, exercise science, autism spectrum disorders, maternal health, pediatric cardiology, and more.

As a member of CBHDS, he partners with investigators across the university to provide

statistical consultations, develop analysis plans, conduct power and sample size

calculations, implement analyses, and support manuscript and grant development. He

also mentors medical students, advises graduate students on the statistical aspects of their research projects, and teaches graduate-level courses in biostatistics, statistical learning, R programming, and epidemiologic data analysis.

Dr. Brewer is currently working with VTIPG faculty members Mary Beth Dunkenberger, Lara Nagle, Bernice Owusu-Brown, and Laura Taylor on their evaluation of the Smyth County Behavioral Health Campus (SCBHC), which is a part of Mount Rogers Community Services. He has primarily assisted by writing statistical analysis plans, cleaning data, running analyses, and drafting/interpreting results. The team will use findings concerning how various mental health outcome measures change in individuals across time to help determine the

effectiveness of the SCBHC in serving the community. He feels fortunate to work with

such a great team on an important project!

In his spare time, Ben enjoys weightlifting, running, tennis, and teaching group fitness

classes at a local gym. He lives in Charlottesville with his husband, who is a faculty

member in the Department of Mathematics at UVA.

Madisen Plunkert is a doctoral candidate in the Department of Agricultural Leadership and Community Education at Virginia Tech. Her scholarship explores the intersections of food systems, storytelling, community development, and cultural identity. As a qualitative researcher and educator, she is interested in how people make meaning through food and how those meanings shape communities, relationships, and everyday experiences.

Before beginning graduate school, Madisen worked across the United States as an environmental educator and naturalist and on a small organic farm, experiences that fostered a deep appreciation for place-based learning and community engagement while introducing her to questions related to food, agriculture, and sustainability. These experiences inspired her to pursue a graduate degree and a career dedicated to community-engaged research, teaching, and food systems change. She sees higher education institutions as uniquely positioned to bridge research, teaching, and community engagement, and she hopes to contribute to the realization of that potential throughout her career.

Growing up in Pennsylvania of Pennsylvania Dutch ancestry, Madisen developed an appreciation for the foods, traditions, and stories that tie people to place and one another. Today, that connection informs her research on food memories and foodways, particularly within Pennsylvania Dutch communities. Using narrative-based qualitative methods, she is exploring stories concerning how foods shape identity, belonging, and cultural continuity. At the heart of her work is a simple question: How do the stories we tell and hear about food influence the food systems around us? Her dissertation will examine how food heritage and place-based narratives illuminate broader questions of culture, community, and food systems.

Madisen's work with the Virginia Tech Institute for Policy and Governance (VTIPG) has further strengthened her commitment to community-engaged practice. Through a VTIPG initiative, she helped to facilitate a community listening session with the Engagement Ready Roanoke community capacity-building program and is currently collaborating with other VTIPG affiliates on community-engaged scholarship. She has also benefited from the mentorship of Dr. Max Stephenson Jr., who serves on her dissertation committee and has influenced her thinking through both coursework and collaborative scholarship.

As a Graduate Student Fellow with Virginia Tech's Center for Food Systems and Community Transformation, Madisen has had an opportunity to extend her work beyond the university through collaborative and community-engaged initiatives. She coordinates the Center's Graduate Learning Circles and contributes to food systems outreach, programming, and community dialogue, connecting academic scholarship with the lived experiences and knowledge of local communities. Teaching is also central to her professional identity. Having served as both a teaching assistant and instructor of record at Penn State and Virginia Tech, she is committed to inquiry-based learning, critical thinking, and student growth. After completing her Ph.D., Madisen hopes to pursue a faculty position in which she can integrate teaching, participatory research, and community engagement while working alongside communities to understand better how foods shape identity, culture, and collective well-being.

Fun fact: Before studying food memories and foodways, Madisen led environmental education programs, guided interpretive hikes, and helped people connect with the natural world. While her research focus has shifted from forests and trails to food and culture, her work continues to center on the same idea: understanding how people make meaning from the places, communities, and experiences that shape their lives.

Mia Williams is a Senior Policy Analyst on the Biomedical Innovation team at the Duke-Margolis Institute for Health Policy in Washington, DC. In this role, she conducts health policy research and analysis, including examining emerging policy developments, and develops policy briefs and a range of other written reports. She also helps to manage project activities and deliverables and engages with stakeholders across government, industry, academia, and research organizations through convenings and other collaborative activities. Her work primarily focuses on advancing innovation in rare diseases, cell and gene therapy, and drug repurposing.

Before joining Duke-Margolis, Mia was a graduate research assistant with the Virginia Tech Institute for Policy and Governance on the Connection to Care (C2C) project, a multi-stakeholder initiative addressing substance use and overdose in the Roanoke Valley. The project used referral networks, crisis response resources, case management, and backpacks equipped with potentially life-saving tools to improve timely connections to harm reduction, treatment, and recovery services while reducing overdose and relapse.

Mia earned both her Master of Public Health in Health Education and Bachelor of Science in Human Nutrition, Foods and Exercise from Virginia Tech. She is also a Certified Health Education Specialist (CHES). Her work reflects her continued interest in applying public health and policy approaches to complex health challenges and improving health outcomes through innovative, collaborative solutions.

Fun Fact: Mia adopted her cat, Dean, from Angels of Assisi in Roanoke while she was working at VTIPG, and he now lives with her in DC!

COMMENTARIES, ESSAYS & PUBLICATIONS

Research and Policy Brief Series

Drs. Marion Repetti and Toni Calasanti offer the latest entry to the IPG Research and Policy Brief series with an analysis entitled, "Supporting Older Adults in Rural Mountain Areas: Policy and Practice Insights." The brief draws on the life stories and experiences of poor older adults in the mountainous regions of Switzerland and Appalachia to recommend a policy action framework and specific interventions to improve quality of life for such individuals.

Please visit our website to view this offering and the series.

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