NC State Community Engaged Faculty Fellows

The Community Engaged Faculty Fellows Program is a learning community focused on community engagement. The fellows keep current with literature and teach or have taught service learning courses. The members were affirmed through by the Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost and our membership spans a wide range of departments within NCSU.

The responsibility of the fellows are to serve as mentors for those interested in learning more about community engaged practices. Each fellow advocates for community engaged activities and practice community engagement differently and are more than happy to share these methods with you.

If you would like to know more or get connected with a fellow, please contact any of our fellows noted below.

2015-2016 Engaged Faculty Fellows

Dr. Kate Annett-Hitchcock, Associate Professor (Contact)

College: Textiles
Department: Textile and Apparel, Technology and Management
Biography: Dr. Kate Annett-Hitchcock serves as Associate Professor in the Department of Textile and Apparel, Technology and Management in the College of Textiles. Her research and professional work is focused on helping all people improve their health, well-being, and quality of life through intelligent and inclusive clothing design. She works with community partners such as the Raleigh Lions Club for the Blind and Redress Raleigh, and has sponsored students to attend the Emerging Issues Forum and to collaborate with these and other community partners to address the physical, environmental and social barriers for people with disabilities. Her senior design students have worked with the Wheelchair Basketball teams and Blind Bowling League of Raleigh to promote well-being and enhance quality of life through functional apparel design. She also designs period reproduction clothing for interpretive staff of historic houses and museums, and her honors students designed costumes and led public presentations for the Titanic exhibit at the NC Museum of Natural Sciences.

Dr. Sarah Ash, Professor (Contact)

College: CALS
Department: Food, Bioprocessing and Nutrition Sciences
Biography: Dr. Sarah Ash, NC State’s winner of a Board of Governors Award for Excellence in Teaching, pushes her students to engage critically with the world around them. In particular, she and her colleagues have developed the DEAL Model for Critical Reflection (Describe, Examine, Articulate Learning) that is designed to generate, deepen and document learning, especially in the context of service-learning, internships and other experiential learning settings.
Website: http://fbns.ncsu.edu/faculty/ash_sarah.htm
Sample Publication: The Articulated Learning: An Approach to Guided Reflection and Assessment

Dr. John Begeny, Associate Professor (Contact)

College: CHASS
Department: Psychology
Biography: John is an Associate Professor of School Psychology. He was born in Detroit, MI and has since lived in various parts of the country. John’s current research examines methods to improve children’s reading abilities, systems-level change in schools, international education, and strategies to narrow the gap between research and practice in education. He has received several grants and awards for his teaching and research activities, including grants to improve literacy development for children nationally and internationally. He also received the 2010 Ernest A. Lynton Citation for Distinguished Engaged Scholarship, a nationally competitive award that recognizes an early-career faculty member who demonstrates outstanding integration of community-engaged teaching, research, and service. John’s commitment to engagement is deep, and considers his role as a professor most satisfying when he can meaningfully merge teaching, research, and service.
Example Community Engaged Course Taught: PSY 491: Special Topics Course: Community Engaged Scholarship
Website: http://www.ncsu.edu/project/johnbegeny/people.html
Sample Publication: Effects of the Helping Early Literacy with Practice Strategies (HELPS) reading fluency program when implemented at different frequencies

Dr. Andrew Behnke, Associate Professor and Extension Specialist (Contact)

College: CALS
Department: Youth, Family, and Consumer Sciences
Biography: Andrew is an Associate Professor of Human Development and a Cooperative Extension Specialist. For the last 15 years Andrew has worked with partners to develop educational programs for Spanish-speaking families, while simultaneously studying the effectiveness of these programs. Six years ago, Andrew and Cintia Aguilar developed the “Juntos” program to help Latino families come together to make higher education a reality for Latino youth. As a Family Scientist Andrew’s research and outreach efforts have resulted in over 30 grants and resulted in many published articles in the areas: academic achievement among Latino youth, parent involvement in academics, dropout prevention, and access to higher education. Andrew also works to provide educational content and resources to military serving professionals and to military families to help them succeed. Over the last ten years he has carried-out 5 military projects and research endeavors to help support military families. As an Associate Professor, Andrew also teaches 4 graduate courses each year and mentors undergraduate and graduate students. His life mission is helping youth and their families thrive and live healthy lives in North Carolina and beyond.
Example Community Engaged Course Taught: FYD 543: Applied Concepts in Parenting and Family Life Education
Websites: www.JuntosNC.org and www.NCfamilies.com
Sample Publication: Creating Programs to Help Latino Youth Thrive at School: The Influence of Latino Parent Involvement Programs

Dr. Craig Brookins, Associate Professor (Contact)

College: CHASS
Department: Psychology and Africana Studies
Biography: Dr. Brookins is an Associate Professor of Psychology (Psychology in the Public Interest Program) and Africana Studies and former Director of Africana Studies and the Africa Project in the College of Humanities and Social Sciences (CHASS). He received his undergraduate degree from Bradley University in Peoria, Illinois and an M.S. and Ph.D. from Michigan State University in East Lansing, Michigan where he specialized in Ecological/Community Psychology. His research focuses primarily on Community Psychology (generally), and more specifically on interventions designed to promote psychological health and development for youth and adults. Topical areas have included adolescent rites-of-passage, adolescent pregnancy prevention, independent Black Schools, community development and participatory action research. Dr. Brookins has developed, implemented and worked with several local groups on community and educational interventions targeting African American youth and young adults. Most recently, he has directed the CHASS component of an interdisciplinary team of researchers (College of Design and Poole College of Management) at NCSU in a project entitled UNCOVERING SW Raleigh, a university-community engagement focused on branding and economic development in the area. Dr. Brookins has been awarded an Alumni Distinguished Award for Extension and is a charter member of the Academy of Outstanding Faculty Engaged in Extension at NC State. Building on his work in Africa over the past 15+ years he is also currently in the process of extending these research and engagement interests to West Africa.
Example Community Engaged Course Taught: PSY553, Principles and Practices of Ecological-Community Psychology
Website: http://faculty.chass.ncsu.edu/biadnow

Dr. Willa Casstevens, Associate Professor (Contact)

College: CHASS
Department: Social Work
Biography: Dr. Willa Casstevens serves as an Associate Professor in the Department of Social Work. She is the P.I.Project Director on a $253,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration for NC State’s Campus Suicide Prevention Program, which involved over 20 campus and community partners in suicide awareness and prevention activities. In addition, she has received other grants focused on enhancing graduate student retention in Social Work, enhancing core competencies in training students, and other health and wellness programming models for non-profit organizations. She regularly teaches Social Work graduate students who have concurrent, community-based field placements alongside their course work and has taught the graduate Capstone course in which students develop and carry out evaluation projects with their community or agency partners that can lead to organizational improvements.

Dr. Diane Chapman, Teaching Professor and Director, Office of Faculty Development (Contact)

College: Education
Department: Educational Leadership, Policy, and Human Development
Biography: Dr. Diane Chapman serves as both Director of the Office of Faculty Development and as a Teaching Professor in the Department of Educational Leadership, Policy, and Human Development in the College of Education. Her research interests include program evaluation in workforce development, virtual human resource development, engaged research and teaching, and instructional technology in teaching. She is a senior researcher on a $525,000 John M. Belk Endowment project to support scaled, sustainable community college reform efforts to create a pipeline of future leaders, and Co-PI of a $300,000 Golden Leaf Foundation grant to evaluate their Mid-Skills Workforce Training Initiative. This Spring, she was involved in developing NC State’s first Community Engaged Scholarship Institute to train other NC State faculty on best practices for engaged research. Previously, she has received the Gertrude Cox Award for Innovative Excellence in Teaching and Learning with Technology, the Outstanding Teacher Award, the Alumni Association Outstanding Extension and Outreach award, and has been inducted into the Academy of Outstanding Teachers and the Academy of Outstanding Faculty Engaged in Extension.

Dr. Thomas Easley, Director of the Community for Diversity (Contact)

College: CNR
Department: Dean’s Office
Biography: Dr. Easley is the Director of the Community for Diversity in the College of Natural Resources.In his role as the Diversity Director he teaches courses, counsels students, consults with faculty and staff on programming ensuring they are inclusive to all populations. With his background in forestry and diversity he has co-taught courses in Sweden on forest practices, Landscapes in Ecotourism Ghana, West Africa as well as leadership development. He currently is engaged in research around diversity and STEM faculty as well as the persistence of African American Males at Predominately White Institutions .
Website: http://cnr.ncsu.edu/about/cfd/

Mr. Andy Fox, Assistant Professor (Contact)

College: Design
Department: Landscape Architecture
Biography: Andy Fox, RLA, ASLA is an assistant professor in the Department of Landscape Architecture, where he also serves as a research associate at the Natural Learning Initiative. As a registered landscape architect, Andy specializes in the areas of landscape architecture, urban design, green infrastructure, community participation, and site construction. Andy’s work is most interested in the development of sustainable landscapes and their resultant impacts on cognitive, social, and cultural behaviors, with a specific focus on public landscapes and strategic partnerships. Toward these ends, his teaching, research, and engagement efforts include the design, development, and study of naturalized educational environments and the integration of low impact development strategies and context sensitive solutions at all scales. In partnership with University Housing and numerous other campus partners, Andy oversees the Landscape Architecture Design + Build Studio. This hands-on teaching, learning, and engagement initiative creates ecologically and experientially rich environments across the NC State campus. While at NC State, Andy has been designated a University Faculty Scholar, inducted into the Academy of Outstanding Faculty Engaged in Extension, and received numerous university awards, including the Opal Mann Green Engagement Award, a NC State Outstanding Teacher Award, the North Carolina Housing Officers Faculty Partnership and Academic Collaboration Award, the NC State Outstanding Extension Service Award, and the Earthwise Faculty Award for Outstanding Achievement in Environmental Sustainability on Camp
Website: http://design.ncsu.edu/people/person/andrew-fox

Dr. Suzie Goodell, Assistant Professor (Contact)

College: CALS
Department: Food, Bioprocessing and Nutrition Sciences
Biography: Dr. Suzie Goodell received her PhD from the University of Connecticut in Nutritional Sciences and completed her dietetic internship from Cornell University. Her research focuses on childhood obesity prevention and intervention and the relationships between preschool-aged children and the adults in their lives. She observes the interactions that occur between parents, caregivers, and young children during mealtime and then studies the impact these interactions might have on a child’s food consumption and learned eating behaviors. In addition, she develops and implements theory-based obesity prevention interventions for low-income, minority populations based on sound observational investigations and qualitative research. Through teaching and research, Dr. Goodell focuses on service-learning and opportunities to engage students in work in the community. In addition to her research, Dr. Goodell teaches two service-learning based courses, Community Nutrition and the major’s senior capstone Experience in Teaching, Research or Service in Nutrition
Website: http://fbns.ncsu.edu/faculty/goodell_suzie.htm

Dr. Marc Grimmett, Associate Professor (Contact)

College: Education
Department: Curriculum, Instruction and Counselor Education
Biography: Dr. Grimmett is an Associate Professor of Counselor Education. The conceptual framework for his approach to research and scholarship is titled R.A.D.I.C.A.L. scholarship which means Research Activism to Deconstruct Institutionalized Cultures and Advocate for Liberation. This framework currently includes four areas of concentration and corresponding goals, which are: transforming contextual and systemic factors to promote the healthy development of African American boys; facilitating access to mental health counseling using a counselor education program-based community mental health clinic; creating social justice counselor education teaching methods; and preventing power-based violence through education, activism, and community partnerships.
Website: http://www4.ncsu.edu/~magrimme/marcgrimmett/Home.html

Dr. George Hess, Associate Professor (Contact)

College: CNR
Department: Forestry and Environmental Resources
Biography: In everything I teach, my goals are to (1) excite students about the prospect of continuous learning and the process of figuring things out for themselves, (2) focus explicitly on professional skills, including collaboration, communication, critical thinking, and organization, and (3) place students in the types of situations they will encounter after graduation by using engaged, project-based approaches to teaching. In research, I focus on the conservation of open spaces in suburbanizing regions, particularly as habitat for native plants and animals. My research efforts have three major thrusts: (1) improve the breadth and quality of ecologically-based information available to land use planners; (2) develop approaches to incorporating scientific findings about conservation into local planning activities by engaging with community partners; and (3) support the active engagement of students with community partners to address local conservation challenges.
Example Community Engaged Course Taught: Conservation Biology in Practice, Natural Resources Measurements
Website: http://www4.ncsu.edu/~grhess/

Dr. Audrey Jaeger, Professor (Contact)

College: Education
Department: Leadership, Policy, and Adult and Higher Education
Biography: Audrey J. Jaeger is an Associate Professor of Educational Research & Policy Analysis with a focus on Higher Education. For thepast few years, Dr. Jaeger as been working with the Office of Faculty Development on building a supportive climate and for faculty engaged with the community. Dr. Jaeger’s research focuses on building capacity for engaged scholarship with future faculty, current faculty, and higher education administrators. She co-edited a book that addressed the status of community engagement entitled “Institutionalizing Community Engagement in Higher Education: The First Wave of Carnegie Classified Institutions.” Dr. Jaeger serves on several national organizations that address community engagement and is often called upon to address the preparation of graduate students in the area of community engagement.
Website: http://ced.ncsu.edu/user/audrey_jaeger
Sample Publication: Institutionalization of Community-Engaged Scholarship at Institutions that are Both Land-Grant and research Universities, Advising Graduate Students Doing Community-Engaged Dissertation Research

Dr. Jessica Jameson, Associate Professor (Contact)

College: CHASS
Department: Communication
Biography: Jessica Katz Jameson, Ph.D., is Associate Professor and Associate Head for Undergraduate Studies in the Department of Communication at North Carolina State University. She teaches courses and conducts community-engaged research on the topics of organizational communication, conflict management, and nonprofit leadership. She is a past chair of the Academic Council for the Institute for Nonprofit Research, Education and Engagement and serves on the Extension, Engagement and Economic Development committee for the College of Humanities and Social Sciences. She was co-facilitator of EDGES,Education and Discovery Grounded in Engaged Scholarship, a faculty development program to promote and build capacity for engaged scholarship at NC State.
Example Community Engagement Course Taught: COM 466, Nonprofit Leadership & Development
Website: http://communication.chass.ncsu.edu/faculty_staff/jameson
Sample Publication: Institutionalization of Community-Engaged Scholarship at Institutions that are both Land-Grant and Research Universities

Dr. Edward Kick, Professor (Contact)

College: CALS
Department: Agriculture and Resource Economics
Biography: Dr. Edward L. Kick is a Professor of Agricultural and Resource Economics, and Professor of Sociology, at North Carolina State University. Dr. Kick publishes articles and books on the world system, environment, community building, and sustainability. Up until recently he served as the co-Editor of the Journal of World-Systems Research, and he has served for seventeen years as university administrator. His research and mentoring of students is primarily quantitative and cross-national in nature, although he also has conducted more intensive studies of countries, such as his case study of peanut farmers in Ghana, Africa. In recent years he has published on a variety of subjects that he ties together as part of writing and teaching. This work includes: decision making by disaster victims in the wake of catastrophic events, such as hurricanes and flooding; what is called “the ecological footprint” or the environmental well-being of the world and nations; the military and its influences on world and national hunger; the linkages between open markets, national sound money policies and “comparative advantage” on national modernization; community building in the US and abroad with its attendant displacement of populations, and the impact of human and infrastructural waste on the well-being of those who live close to dumping sites.
Example Community Engagement Course Taught: Sociology 311, Community Relations

Dr. James Kiwanuka-Tondo, Associate Professor (Contact)

College: CHASS
Department: Communication
Biography: Dr. James Kiwanuka-Tondo has taught numerous courses including Communication Research Methods, Communication Campaigns, Intercultural/International Communication, Public Relations Applications (PR Campaigns), Media Effects, Interpersonal Communication, Small Group Communication, and Feature Writing. His research interest is health communication campaigns, especially the AIDS campaigns. His work has been published in the Journal of Health Communication, among others. Dr. Kiwanuka-Tondo was awarded a grant worth $20,000 from the John M. Lloyd Foundation to study the effectiveness of the Uganda campaigns. He has received several grants from the Danish International Development Agency (DANIDA), the British Council, UNESCO, the University of Connecticut, and North Carolina State University. Dr. Kiwanuka-Tondo was a Visiting Assistant Professor at Central Connecticut State Univ. for one year and the Univ. of Connecticut for three years. He was also Head of School of Journalism, Uganda Management Institute, for three years. He received the Outstanding Graduate Teacher Award 2008, Dept. of Communication, NC State Univ.; the Advocacy Award for Promoting the Presence of African American at NC State Univ.; the Outstanding Teacher Award, Dept. of Communication, NC State Univ., spring 2007; the Outstanding Professor of the Year Award, 1999, University of Connecticut. He is a recipient of the Fulbright Scholarship, the British Commonwealth Technical Assistance Scholarship, and is a Fellow of the Salzburg Seminar.
Website: http://www4.ncsu.edu/~jkiwanu/index.html

Dr. Jay Levine, Professor (Contact)

College: CVM
Department: Population Health and Pathobiology
Biography: Dr. Jay Levine is Professor of Epidemiology and Public Health in the Department of Population Health and Pathobiology here in the College of Veterinary Medicine. He is active in promoting environmental education, and environmental restoration as a conduit to local economic development. From his role in NC State’s Aquatic Epidemiology and Conservation Laboratory, his research focuses on the health of freshwater ecosystems, freshwater invertebrates and shellfish safety. Dr. Levine promotes aquaculture production and the role of aquaculture to ensure food safety, security, and local economic development. The winner of numerous NC State and external awards, he regularly involves undergraduate and graduate students in his wet laboratory and field research to develop their research skills. In support of animal welfare he conducts animal cruelty investigations. Other outreach activities include serving on the Advisory Board for the development of the Sturgeon City Environmental Education Center and Recreational Complex, participation in The Sturgeon City Youth Leadership Institute, and coordination of the Hill St. Homework Haven which is an after-school program promoting academic success for K-12 children.

Ms. Annette Moore, Teaching Associate Professor (Contact)

College: CNR
Department: Parks, Recreation and Tourism Management
Biography: Annette Moore is a Teaching Associate Professor in the Department of Parks, Recreation and Tourism Management at North Carolina State University. She received her Master’s degree in Recreation Management from Northeastern University and completed her Ph.D. in Parks, Recreation and Tourism Management at North Carolina State University. She joined NC State’s faculty in 1992, with primary focus being teaching undergraduate courses in recreation program planning and the department’s introductory course. Annette’s students are engaged with the community in both her first year, introductory course (a 4-hour experience), and in her junior-level recreation program planning class (PRT 358), a full-immersion service-learning course. Community partners, vital to the success of student learning in PRT 358, have been engaged since Spring 2001.With a professional focus of providing opportunities for students to becoming immersed in learning experiences, Annette has found study abroad to be a natural extension of her teaching approach. Since 2006, she has co-directed summer study abroad programs to Australia and New Zealand.
Example Community Engaged Course Taught: PRT 358, The Recreation Program
Website: http://cnr.ncsu.edu/prtm/faculty/moore.php

Dr. Michelle Schroeder-Moreno, Assistant Professor (Contact)

College: CALS
Department: Crop Science
Biography: Dr. Schroeder-Moreno is an ecologist by training and received her B.S. at UC Irvine in Applied Ecology in 1996 and her Ph.D. in Ecology, with an emphasis on Tropical Ecology, at the University of Miami in 2003. Her interests are twofold and include developing new agroecology and sustainable agriculture education curriculum at NC State that and developing research projects that focus on understanding the benefits of mycorrhizal fungi and associated sustainable management practices for a variety of production systems. Dr. Schroeder-Moreno also advises for the student run Campus Farmers Market at NC State and chairs the Education Programs at the Center for Environmental Farming Systems.
Website: http://www.cropsci.ncsu.edu/personnel/Schroeder-Moreno_Michelle/

Dr. Angela Wiseman, Associate Professor (Contact)

College: Education
Department: Elementary Education
Biography: Dr. Wiseman has been committed to collaborating with and researching literacy learning that builds on connections between universities, public school classrooms, after-school programs, and families. As a former elementary school teacher and literacy specialist, her understanding of literacy learning is grounded in classroom experiences and interactions with students in diverse urban and suburban settings. Research projects have focused on children’s responses to social issues, such as bullying or racism, through multimodal texts, which include books, film, videos, and photographs. Her research, which has been published in journals such as Reading Writing Quarterly, Language Arts, and Children’s Literature in Education, demonstrates how responses that build on students understanding and engagement lead to deeper and more complex learning. Dr. Wiseman is currently involved in a grant with community partners entitled Communities United for Success in Family Literacy, which is family literacy program designed to support formerly incarcerated adults and their children as they transition out of prison. This project was funded through the Extension, Engagement, & Economic Development Seed Grant Program at NCSU, which provides opportunities for faculty to design programs to address the needs of citizens of North Carolina and beyond. This program features interactive sessions that promote reading at home to build academic growth while fostering positive relationships.
Website: http://angelawiseman.wordpress.ncsu.edu/
Sample Publication: “That’s my worst nightmare”: poetry and trauma in the middle school classroom