Core team
Alexandra Wells
Co-Create Program Coordinator
Costanza Generali
Co-Create Research & Evaluation Specialist
Sandie Thao
Co-Create Researcher
Mikala Wong
Operations Coordinator
Student team members
Sophie Cleveland, Co-Create Undergraduate Research Assistant
Mireya Esparza, Outreach and Engagement Undergraduate Intern
Laura Evans, CommNS Teaching Assistant and Co-Create Graduate Assistant
Liz Haefeli, Undergraduate Outreach and Engagement Intern
David Hilgendorf, CommNS Teaching Assistant
Daisy Fregoso Gonzalez, Undergraduate Outreach and Engagement Intern
Emma Luedke, Undergraduate Outreach and Engagement Intern and Co-Create Undergraduate Research Assistant
Lindsey Mathews, Co-Create Undergraduate Research Assistant
Prerna Rana, Co-Create Graduate Research Assistant
Micah Robinson, Co-Create Graduate Research Assistant
Amelia Selstad, Co-Create Undergraduate Research Assistant
Mary Thao, Digital Platform Design Graduate Assistant
Audrey Treptow, Co-Create Undergraduate Research Assistant
Mallory VanMeeter, Communications and Dissemination Graduate Assistant
Steering Committee
A campus governance committee that includes faculty, community partners, and graduate students who oversee our activities and development as a UW-Madison center.
Chandani Bhandari, CommNS Graduate Student Outreach and Infrastructure Intern and Co-Create Project Assistant
Abha Thakkar, Executive Director, Northside Planning Council & Editor of Northside News
Carolee Dodge Francis, Professor, Undergraduate Program Chair in the Department of Civil Society and Community Studies
Carolina Sarmiento, Assistant Professor in the Department of Civil Society and Community Studies
Constance A. Flanagan, Vaughan Bascom Professor of Women, Family, and Community & Associate Dean Emerita School of Human Ecology
Jennifer Gaddis, Jane Rafferty Thiele Faculty Fellow, Associate Professor in the Department of Civil Society and Community Studies
Karen Reece, Vice President of Research and Education Nehemiah Center for Urban Leadership Development
Monique Liston, Founder, Joyful Militant & Chief Strategist at UBUNTU Research and Evaluation
Reginold A. Royston, Assistant Professor, Coordinator, AI4Afrika.com, Black Arts + Data Futures Workshop in the Department of African Cultural Studies
Sarah Schlosser, Program Manager, Organizational and Leadership Development Program at UW-Madison, Division of Extension
Thank you to our previous steering committee team members!
Lori Bakken, Civil Society and Community Studies Professor & Evaluation Specialist
Connie Flanagan, School of Human Ecology Associate Dean
David Liners, WISDOM Director
Salli Martyniak, Forward Community Investments Executive Director
Jonathan Patz, UW Global Health Institute Director
Boyd Rossing, School of Human Ecology Professor Emeritus
Ethen Pollard, Civil Society and Community Studies Graduate Student
Matthew Calvert, Youth Development Specialist, UW Extension
Advisory Board & Affiliates
Advisory Board
External advisors who connect the CommNS to stakeholders in Wisconsin and the world while advising on opportunities and trends in the sector.
Stephanie Schlecht, Executive Director, Schlecht Family Foundation; Current Advisory Board Chair
Diane Ballweg, President, Endres Manufacturing Company Foundation and Board Member of various area nonprofit and philanthropic organizations; teacher and pilot
Dave Borghesi, Treasurer, World Affairs Council, Hilton Head; Board Member of various nonprofit and philanthropic organizations in Wisconsin and South Carolina
Rashad Cobb, Chief Operating Officer, Brown County United Way
Steve Goldberg, Owner, Steve Goldberg Consulting, LLC; Board Chair, Wisconsin Philanthropy Network
Jen Hannon, Shareholder, Godfrey & Kahn, S.C.; member of Estate Planning, Estate and Trust Administration Practice Group
Liz Lefkofsky, President, Lefkofsky Family Foundation & Founder the VING project
Meredith Blair Pearlman, Director, The David and Lucile Packard Foundation
Noah Salata, Community Investment Consultant, American Family Insurance
Nicole Smith, Roots and Wings Foundation
Tony Shields, President and CEO, Wisconsin Philanthropy Network
Lauren Usher, Vice President, gBETA
Thank you to our previous Advisory Board members!
Julie Bauer, Executive Director, Alliant Energy Foundation
Eugenia Podesta, Director, Economic Empowerment and Entrepreneurship, Vital Voices Global Partnership; Co-Owner, Synergy Co-Working
Mark Schar, Senior Researcher and Lecturer, Stanford University; Managing Director, One Page Solutions
Bob Sorge, President, Madison Community Foundation; CommNS Planning Group Member; Past Inaugural Board of Advisors Chair
Sarah Wendt, Greater New York City Area Nonprofit Consultant
Jeanan Yasiri Moe, Director of Strategic Communications, Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation; Board Chair, Give Back Foundation
Affiliates
Collaborators, friends, experts, scholars, and practitioners whose work connects with the CommNS and whose work we strive to lift up!
Sara Bell
Ted Bilich
Angela Rose Black
Melodi Bunting
Cynthia Burnson
Melissa G. Bublitz
Matthew Calvert
Judie Caribeaux
Martha Cranley
Mary Crave
Lori DePrete Brown
Yves Dejaeghere
Kelly Douglas
Ben Fisher
Jennifer Gaddis
Mari Gasiorowicz
Amy Gilliland
Julie Ann Gullickson
Elizabeth Harris
Stephanie Harrison
Leah Horowitz
Ginny Hughes
Corey B. Jackson
Jason Kauffeld
Kasey Keeler
Paige Korbakes
Michelle Kwasny
Richard Kyte
Nathan Larson
Laurel Lunde
Robert Mayer
Annette Miller
Paul Mross
EG Nadeau
Laura Hanson Schlachter
Dr. Siphokazi J. Ntetha
Elizabeth O’Callahan
Abby Pansch
Alice Pauser
Erin Peot
Giordana Poggioli
Karen Reece
Dani Rischall
Quentin Riser
Paul Roback
Boyd Rossing
Michal Avera Samuel
Carolina Sarmiento
Jit Sihra
Scott Strong
Geoffrey Swain
Peter Swift
Kathy Thornton-Bias
Molly Tomony
Darrin Utynek
Greg Van Kirk
Zoua Vang
Troy Washington
John Weinstock
Brett A. White
Garret Zastoupil