Role

As associate director of engaged pedagogy, I support the Pace Center’s growing programming related to summer internships and experiential learning. I support students who wish to put their passions into practice by building relationships with community partners and creating projects and proposals that align with organizational and community needs. Additionally, I work closely with Service Focus and help students make connections between their internship experiences and their academic and professional endeavors. One of my main goals is to strengthen relationships and learning between members of the Princeton community (students, staff, faculty) with community partners locally and globally. Come talk to me about how I can support you in designing a summer project that fits your passions and interests through the Bogle fellowship, Projects for Peace, or the Nancy Weiss Malkiel fellowship. 

Background

During my professional career, I have sought ways to dedicate myself to a life of service, and I continually reflect on what that means. After I graduated college from Furman University, I became an education volunteer with the Peace Corps in Bolivia and remained in South America for fourteen years. During my time there, I held a variety of roles in several organizations—I worked for the Peace Corps and trained newly arrived volunteers, I directed a small non-profit organization dedicated to literacy and indigenous rights, and I led experiential gap year programs for high school and college students. In 2016 I earned my master’s degree in peacebuilding and conflict transformation and I am passionate about the ways dialogue and education can lead to peace and justice. I first came to Princeton in 2019 as assistant director of the Novogratz Bridge Year Program, a program focused on global community engagement, and love thinking about global-local connections. 

Come Talk to Me About

• Designing your own proposal to engage with community partner organizations during the summer
• Reflections about ethical and responsible community engagement and relationship building
• Social and environmental justice
• Peacebuilding and Conflict Transformation
• Facilitation and workshop design
• Food, gardening, and cooking

What I'm Reading

Currently I am pursuing a master’s degree in social work, and so my reading life these days is mostly dedicated to academic journals about social work interventions and best practices. However, for pleasure I really love queer + LGBTQ young adult fiction. Right now, I am thoroughly engrossed in the book Like a Love Story by Abdi Nazemian.

Favorite Community Spot

While I do not live in Princeton, one of my very favorite spots to hike is in Princeton and is called the Herrontown Woods. Not only are there beautiful nature trails in the Herrontown Woods, but there is a botanical garden, and it is the site of the historic home of Oswald Veblen a mathematician who taught at Princeton and was a contemporary and friend of Albert Einstein. They also offer lots of community events like concerts and outdoor yoga!