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Tidings from the Director
"On the Consequences of Racist Lies and Illusions"
Accomplishments
Neda Moayerian
Max Stephenson
Lara Nagle
Brian Salazar-Zamora
David Moore
Joong Won Kim
Anna Erwin
Lia Kelinsky-Jones
Carmen Boggs-Parker
Jake Keyel
Eric Bendfeldt
Rabita Reshmeen Banee
Beth Olberding
Project Updates
- New River Valley Community Services and Mount Rogers Community Services' Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration CCHBC Expansion Grant Updates
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New CCC Trustees Without Borders Podcast Interview Recordings Available
- Federal Reimbursement Unit (FRU)
- C2C Offers REVIVE! Training
Conferences & Events
- IPG Celebrates Completion of Another Academic Year
- FRU Team Members Enjoy VT Employee Appreciation Day Celebration
- IPG Faculty Attend AEA Summer Evaluation Institute in Atlanta, GA
- Recovery Housing Presentation at FAHE Virginia Caucus Meeting
- Dr. Stephenson Presents on Refugees, Academic Processes, and the Arts and Agency
- TAP RESTORE Shares Evaluation Findings with U.S. Department of Labor
Announcements
- SPIA and IPG Move to New College
Commentaries, Essays & Publications
Faculty Spotlight
Professor Lisa Tucker, Chair, Interior Design Program at Virginia Tech
Student Spotlight
Samuel Rodgers, Graduate Assistant, Master's Student in Public Health
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TIDINGS FROM THE DIRECTOR | | |
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On the Consequences of Racist Lies and Illusions
BY MAX O. STEPHENSON, JR.
Director, Virginia Tech Institute for Policy and Governance
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As the Institute marks its 16th anniversary on July 1, 2022, the most important democratic and governance challenge confronting our nation is the continued radicalization of the Republican Party and its reliance on lies to mobilize its supporters. The House of Representatives Bipartisan Select Committee’s public hearings investigating the January 6, 2021, insurrection have made plain how many key officials in former President Donald Trump's inner circle informed him that there was no significant fraud in the November 2020 election and that he had lost that contest fairly. Nevertheless, months before that outcome, Trump had begun to lay the groundwork for his Big Lie that the election was stolen, telling supporters that if he did not win, the election could not be considered legitimate.
The central issue in this calculated morass is not whether GOP officials and would-be officials have followed Trump’s sordid example and adopted and employed his cynical lies in their quest for power, but, instead, why citizens—Republican Party supporters—would so readily accept such assertions despite mountains of readily available contrary data. The answer, it appears, inheres in good measure in those individuals’ desire to ensure what they perceive to be their rightful status in society. Indeed, rather than seek to dissuade this group from turning to the casually cruel racism such a stance implies, Trump and the GOP have instead played to, and stoked, those beliefs in ever more overt ways.
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Non-resident research associate Neda Moayerian, who is now also a faculty member at the University of Tehran (see below), and IPG faculty members Max Stephenson and Lara Nagle, recently published, "Conceptualizing cross-sectoral partnership building in two small central Appalachian Towns" in the Community Development Journal. You may view the article here.
Congratulations, all!
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Brian Salazar-Zamora, IPG’s Federal Reimbursement Unit (FRU) Children's Service Act Case Analyst, has said "I do!" Brian married the love of his life, Mayra Antoanet Ochoa Cuba, in a beautiful outdoor ceremony in Fairfax, VA on May 28, 2022. The FRU team held a Hawaiian themed wedding lunch in their honor a couple of weeks before the big day with fresh Hawaiian flowers, and a lei for everyone. A destination honeymoon is planned for the summer of 2023.
Congratulations, Brian and Mayra!
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Dr. David Moore, VTIPG Senior Research Faculty member, in collaboration with the community action organization, Total Action for Progress (TAP), recently was selected to receive a $3 million Pathway Home grant from the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) to provide job training and re-entry services to previously incarcerated people. The TAP proposal was one of 18 initiatives in 14 states chosen in a national competition to participate in the $50 million grant program. You may find additional details here.
Congratulations, David and our long-time partners at TAP!
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Joong Won Kim, who served as a graduate research assistant at IPG this past year and is a Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Sociology at Virginia Tech, will be defending his dissertation this month, and then will be joining the faculty in the Department of Sociology at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. He will be teaching a number of courses for his new department, including, Introduction to Sociology, Race, and Ethnicity and Women and Crime.
Congratulations, Joong Won!
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Photo: Dr. Anna Erwin (left) and Dr. Kim Niewolny (right) | |
Dr. Anna Erwin, alumna of the SPIA Planning, Governance, and Globalization PhD program, received the Agriculture, Food, and Human Values Society (AFHVS) Excellence Award at the AFHVS annual national Conference in May at the University of Georgia. Dr. Kim Niewolny, Director of the Center for Food Systems & Community Transformation at Virginia Tech, had the pleasure, as President of AFHVS, of presenting the award.
Dr. Erwin completed her doctorate in 2017 with Max Stephenson Jr. serving as her advisor. Dr. Erwin is currently serving as an assistant professor in the School of Earth, Environmental and Marine Sciences at The University of Texas, Rio Grande Valley.
Congratulations, Anna!
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Dr. Lia Kelinsky-Jones, alumna of the Agricultural, Leadership, & Community Education (ALCE) program, received her PhD from Virginia Tech on May 13, 2022 in Blacksburg. She also served as one of the three student speakers for the Graduate School event. Dr. Kim Niewolny (ALCE) chaired her advisory committee, while IPG Director Max Stephenson served as a member. Dr. Kelinsky-Jones' dissertation, "Self-Reliance and Land-Grant Universities: An Exploration of the Impacts of USAID Policy on Agroecological Possibilities," can be accessed here.
Lia is currently working as a Civic Science Fellow in the Bloomberg School of Public Health at Johns Hopkins University.
Congratulations, Lia!
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Dr. Carmen Boggs-Parker, Planning, Governance and Globalization PhD alumna (2021) has accepted a new position in Washington, D.C. as a manager of the State Department's Boren Fellowship program, which is overseen by the Institute of International Education (IIE). IPG Director Max Stephenson chaired Dr. Boggs-Parker's PhD advisory committee.
Dr. Boggs-Parker began working for IIE in early July after previously serving as Director of Study Abroad programs at Roanoke College.
Congratulations, Carmen!
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Dr. Jake Keyel, Research Fellow with the Institute for Research in the Social Sciences and affiliated faculty of the Department of Political Science at Colorado State University, has announced that his book, Resettled Iraqi Refugees in the United States: War, Refuge, Belonging, Participation, and Protest, will be available early next year. The text is a revision of Jake's PhD dissertation.
As Volume 47 of the Berghahn Books (Oxford, England) Forced Migration series, the book explores the lives of 15 Iraqis who left their country as refugees because of the 2003 American invasion and who resettled in a society that has often viewed them as a dangerous "Other." The volume examines the widespread anti-refugee, anti-Arab, and anti-Muslim currents in American society as well as novel ways that newcomers can challenge discriminatory and violent exclusions. You may find additional details here.
Dr. Keyel has also recently accepted a 5-year editorial board appointment with The Sociological Review Journal.
VTIPG Director Max Stephenson served as Chair of Dr. Keyel's doctoral advisory committee (2019). During his PhD program, Dr. Keyel was also engaged with Community Voices, now Community Change Collaborative, and co-founded the graduate student journal, Community Change.
Congratulations, Jake!
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Dr. Neda Moayerian, Non-Resident Research Associate at VTIPG, officially also began a new position as an Assistant Professor in the University of Tehran School of Urban Planning on April 17, 2022. She will teach both undergraduate (U) and graduate (G) courses in her new role including Introduction to Urban Management (U), Urban Law and Policy (G), Methods and Techniques in Urban Management (G), Urban Tourism Management (G) and Development Theories and Praxis (G).
Neda will continue to collaborate and help to lead research projects for IPG in refugee and resettlement studies focusing on Jordan and Malta, and agency and social change in Brazil.
Congratulations, Neda!
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Eric Bendfeldt, Extension Specialist and Associate Director for VT's Center for Food Systems and Community Transformation, presented the paper “A Case Study of the Ecotonal Nature of Community Food Work as Trauma-Informed Care and Agential Change Space,” for the 2022 Joint Annual Conference of: The Association for the Study of Food and Society, Agriculture, Food & Human Values Society, Canadian Association for Food Studies, and the Society for the Anthropology of Food & Nutrition, May 18-21, 2022 in Athens, Georgia. His co-authors included IPG Director Max Stephenson, Dr. Kim Niewolny of the Department of Agricultural, Leadership, and Community Education (ALCE), Dr. Tom Archibald of ALCE, and Anne Stewart of James Madison University.
Congratulations, Eric and all!
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Rabita Reshmeen Banee, Center for Public Administration and Policy Ph.D. candidate, will be defending her dissertation on August 9, 2022. Her research interest is at the intersection of public management and leadership. Rabita’s dissertation explores the association between transformational leadership and performance in U.S. federal organizations. After completing her Ph.D., she will start a new position as a Policy Analyst with the Virginia Department of Energy in Richmond, VA.
Rabita joined IPG as a graduate research assistant in May 2020 working as an evaluation and data team member on two large federal mental health (SAMSHA) grants. Her hard work and dedication during the past two years are greatly appreciated.
Congratulations, Rabita!
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Beth Olberding, Master of Urban and Regional Planning (MURP) Alumna (2018), has recently accepted a new position as an Impact Management and Monitoring Specialist at the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation.
Beth participated in the Master's International Program of the Peace Corps as part of her MURP studies. She served in Costa Rica where IPG Director Max Stephenson oversaw her academic work. He also chaired her MURP master's thesis committee on her return to Blacksburg. Beth had been working for the World Resources Institute since graduation before joining the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation.
Congratulations, Beth!
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New River Valley Community Services and Mount Rogers Community Services' Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration CCHBC Expansion Grant Updates | |
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IPG's Certified Community Behavioral Health Clinic (CCBHC) Evaluation Team, led by Associate Director, Mary Beth Dunkenberger and Senior Research Associate, Liz Allen, continues to provide program evaluation and data management support to New River Valley Community Services (NRVCS) and Mount Rogers Community Services (MRCS) for their on-going CCBHC and CMHC (Community Mental Health Center) national grants. Each agency received 2-year Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration CCHBC Expansion Grants in May 2020, that ran through April 2022. Both sites applied for and received 6-month, no-cost extensions to support further CCBHC related work through October 2022. IPG's team will continue to provide services during the extension period.
In October 2021 MRCS was also awarded an additional SAMHSA CMHC 2-year grant that will run through September 2023. IPG will continue to provide evaluation and data management support for that second grant.
Summer project team members include Laura York, data team manager, who recently completed her Master's degree in Public Health (MPH) and joined IPG as a research associate. Additional data team members include IPG GRAs Rabita Banee (PhD student, Public Administration and Public Affairs) who has worked on the project for more than two years and new team member, Mia Williams (MPH candidate).
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New CCC Trustees Without Borders Podcast Interview Recordings Available | |
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In this March 18 episode of Trustees Without Borders, Dr. Michelle Ramos, Executive Director of Alternate ROOTS and Founder of Ramos Coaching, discusses the legacy of activism that underpins her work, and shares examples of how those efforts aim to disrupt longstanding white supremacist structures and systems. CCC interviewers included C. Meranda Flachs-Surmanek, dual master’s degree student in Urban and Regional Planning and Theater: Directing and Public Dialogue, and Nicole Nunoo, PhD candidate in Agricultural, Leadership, and Community Education, with host Andy Morikawa, Senior Fellow at VTIPG. You can listen to the conversation here.
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This April 18 episode of Trustees Without Borders features Mark Valdez, director, writer, and cultural organizer who partners with communities and civic institutions in efforts to spark civic imagination for social change. CCC interviewers included C. Meranda Flachs-Surmanek, dual master’s degree student in Urban and Regional Planning and Theater: Directing and Public Dialogue, and Sarah Plummer, PhD candidate in the Alliance for Social, Political, Ethical, and Cultural Thought (ASPECT) program. VTIPG Senior Fellow, Andy Morikawa, hosted the program. You can listen to the conversation here.
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Federal Reimbursement Unit (FRU) | |
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Dr. Melony Price-Rhodes, Senior Program Director of the Federal Reimbursement (FRU), and her team received a renewal of funding from Fairfax County for this work. The goal of the FRU team is to assist in securing all relevant support from federal entitlement and state programs to maximize the services provided to children in foster care in the County. Dr. Price-Rhodes will continue to serve as the principal investigator for the project. You may find additional details concerning the FRU here.
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C2C Offers REVIVE! Training | |
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The Connection to Care (C2C) project is currently working with community partners to schedule REVIVE! training and outreach events in the cities of Roanoke and Salem, and the Counties of Roanoke, Craig, Franklin and Botetourt. The goal of these events is to raise public awareness of the signs of drug overdose and to enable appropriate responses from friends, family and lay persons. In particular, the training involves learning how to recognize and respond to opioid overdose situations and includes provision of Narcan, a medication that can reverse the effects of such occurrences.
C2C offered REVIVE! training events at the Roanoke City Market on May 6 and at the Food Country in New Castle in Craig County on June 9. You may find additional details here.
Additional REVIVE! programs will occur through the summer and fall of 2022.
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IPG Celebrates Completion of Another Academic Year | |
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IPG celebrated completion of the academic year with a light luncheon with faculty, staff, and graduate students. The team also took an opportunity to take a new group photo for our website! Victoria Boatwright, Communication Manager, Virginia Tech's College of Architecture, Arts, and Design, took the photo. Special thanks to her!
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FRU Team Members Enjoy VT Employee Appreciation Day Celebration | |
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The Greater Washington DC Area VT campus celebrated VT Employee Appreciation Day on May 24TH. The event was held at the VT Research Center in Arlington and catered by a local Ballston restaurant. Faculty members, including FRU PI, Melony Price-Rhodes, served lunch. The organizers raffled prizes during the event and two members of the FRU team won gifts! Brian Salazar-Zamora won a silver photo frame with VT engraved on it, and Vickie Grazioli won a custom-made coffee mug designed by students at the Washington-Alexandria Architecture Center (WAAC). Melony also served on the committee that selected the DC Area Outstanding Staff member awardee for 2021-2022, who was also awarded at the luncheon.
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IPG Faculty Attend AEA Summer Evaluation Institute in Atlanta, GA | |
Photo: Lara Nagle (Left) and Laura York (Right) | |
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Mary Beth Dunkenberger, Laura York, and Lara Nagle of VTIPG attended the American Evaluation Association (AEA) Summer Evaluation Institute in Atlanta from June 5-8, participating in several workshops focused on evaluation theory and practice and leveraging tools and methods for different types of program evaluation contexts. Trauma-informed, Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI), and community-engaged, participatory lenses were featured prominently throughout the Institute, and participants had an opportunity to meet and confer with colleagues across multiple sectors and disciplines, reflecting the diverse group of professionals engaged in program and impact evaluation nationally.
Mary Beth, Laura, and Lara also took advantage of free time to explore Atlanta, including a Safari exhibit at the Illuminarium Atlanta (pictured here), Ponce City Market, the Georgia Aquarium, and the sculpture gardens at Centennial Olympic Park.
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Recovery Housing Presentation at FAHE Virginia Caucus Meeting | |
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Mel Jones, Associate Director of the Virginia Center for Housing Research, and Lara Nagle, Community-Based Research Manager at VTIPG, presented findings from a jointly-conducted 2021 Roanoke recovery housing study, developed in partnership with the Roanoke Valley Collective Response, to the FAHE (Federation of Appalachian Housing Enterprises) Virginia Caucus on June 15 in Duffield, VA. FAHE is a housing and community development network in Appalachia that promotes lending, training and capacity building to increase family and community capital. The presentation focused on the stakeholder engagement and inventory process used to identify Roanoke's recovery housing needs, and highlighted funding and development opportunities for increasing recovery housing options.
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Dr. Stephenson Presents on Refugees, Academic Processes, and the Arts and Agency | |
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Dr. Max Stephenson, Director of VTIPG, presented at the biennial European Union Studies Association Conference on May 21, 2022. Other presenters on the same panel included Center for European Union, Transatlantic, and Trans-European Space Studies faculty, Professor Yannis Stivachtis, Professor Dimitris Tsarouhas, and Professor Georgeta Pourchot.
In addition, Dr. Stephenson served as an invited speaker for the United States Department of State Iraqi University Capacity Building Initiative for the University of Tikrit in that nation on June 15, 2022. He offered a lecture entitled “Reflections on the Process of Publication in Academic Journals and Human Research Program Principles and Organization” and then participated in a discussion with faculty program participants thereafter.
Dr. Stephenson also served as an invited distinguished faculty mentor for a 2 ½ day program for a competitively selected group of PhD students from Europe, Asia and the United States sponsored by the International Society for Third Sector Research from July 10-12, 2022 in Montreal, Canada. In addition, Dr. Stephenson served as a judge for students’ final “three minute” dissertation idea presentations. He also presented a paper, co-authored with Dr. Neda Moayerian University of Tehran and VTIPG), Dr. Desiree Poets (ASPECT and Department of Political Science), and Cathy Grimes (Graduate School) at the 15th Bi-Annual ISTR International conference that followed the mentoring workshop entitled, "The Arts and Individual and Collective Agency in a Brazilian Favela."
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TAP RESTORE Shares Evaluation Findings with U.S. Department of Labor | |
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VTIPG faculty members Mary Beth Dunkenberger, Lara Nagle and David Moore, along with Charysse Hairston, Assistant Director of Workforce Innovations - This Valley Works, Total Action for Progress (TAP), presented the findings from the TAP RESTORE evaluation to the Women's Bureau of the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) in May, and also discussed key program successes with the DOL Opioid Working Group on July 15. You may find more information about TAP's RESTORE program, including the VTIPG-led program evaluation results, here.
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SPIA and IPG Move to New College | |
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On July 1, Virginia Tech announced that the School of Public and International Affairs (SPIA) was now formally a part of the College of Liberal Arts and Human Sciences (CLAHS) as part of a restructuring that saw the College of Architecture and Urban Studies renamed as the College of Architecture, Arts, and Design (CAAD). You may find additional details on the changes and transitions for each affected college, here.
In addition, CLAHS Dean Laura Belmonte has named Professor Tim Luke, Chair, of the Department of Political Science, interim director of SPIA, following the departure of Dr. Merzhad Boroujerdi to serve as the Vice Provost and Dean of the College of Arts, Sciences, and Education of the Missouri University of Science and Technology. Congratulations to both Dr. Boroujerdi and Dr. Luke.
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COMMENTARIES, ESSAYS & PUBLICATIONS | |
Books
Book contributions and publications by VTIPG Director Max Stephenson.
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Maré from the Inside: Arts, Culture and Politics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Editor with Nicholas Barnes and Desiree Poets. Blacksburg, VA: Virginia Tech Publishing, 2021. Paperback 978-1-949373-54-7; PDF978-1-949373-55-4.
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Also: for that volume, Max Stephenson Jr., “Truth-telling, Meaning Making and Imagining the Future” (Chapter 6) and “Conclusion: On the Struggle for Freedom and Dignity”(Chapter 7). To accompany the Art Exhibit: Maré from the Inside shown at Virginia Tech Newman Library, April 19, 2021-September 30, 2021 and virtually as well.
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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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Conversations in Community Change: Voices from the Field. Editor with Cathy Grimes. With Introduction, Foreword, Afterword and Index, 250 pages. Blacksburg, VA: Virginia Tech Publishing, 2021. ISBN: EPUB 978-1-949373-40-0; Paperback, 978-1-949373-38-7; PDF 978-949373-39-4.
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Articles
Article contributions and publications by VTIPG Faculty.
Accepted
Morshedzadeh, E.*, Dunkenberger, M.B., Nagle, L., Ghasemi, S., York, L., & Horn, K. (2022). Community Participation in the Design Process for Innovative Solutions: The Connection to Care (C2C) Project. Policy Design and Practice.
Published
“Conceptualizing Cross-sectoral Partnership Building in Two Small Appalachian Towns,” Community Development Journal, Accepted April 11, 2022. Neda Moayerian (IPG Non-Resident Research Associate)*, Lara Nagle, Max Stephenson.
https://doi.org/10.1093/cdj/bsac012
“Community Agency, Cultural Development and Sustainable Tourism.” Annals of Tourism Research, Published February 5, 2022. Neda Moayerian*, Nancy McGehee (Department Head, Hospitality and Tourism Management), Max Stephenson.
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0160738322000068
*Corresponding author
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Dr. Lisa Tucker, Head of the Department of Apparel, Housing, and Resource Management (AHRM) in Virginia Tech's College of Liberal Arts and Human Sciences (CLAHS) and past program chair for Interior Design in the College of Architecture and Urban Studies, has worked on several projects during the past decade with the Community Design Assistance Center (CDAC), the most recent of which partnered with VTIPG and the Reynolds Homestead to conduct community visioning in Critz, VA. CDAC projects allow interior design, landscape architecture, and architecture students to work with local communities on design projects to gain professional experience. Dr. Tucker's expertise regarding historic buildings has helped to inform rehabilitation projects in Dante, St. Paul, Marion, Campbell County, and other locations around Virginia. Along with CDAC Director Elizabeth Gilboy and Dr. Kevin Jones (Associate Professor of Practice, Architecture), Dr. Tucker received the CAUS Award for Excellence in Outreach in 2022 for work in Dante, Virginia.
Having recently been appointed the new Department Head for AHRM in CLAHS, Dr. Tucker plans to continue her work with CDAC on projects that engage Residential Design students.
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Samuel Rodgers received his B.S. in Biological Systems Engineering with a concentration in Bioprocess Engineering from Virginia Tech in 2021. He is currently a Master’s of Public Health student at Virginia Tech with concentrations in Infectious Disease and Public Health Education. Sam’s work at VTIPG has focused on data management and analysis for two community needs assessments, as well as capacity building for external organizations. Sam recently commented that, “Working at IPG has been an extremely beneficial experience for me. I have been able to take what I am learning in the classroom, and directly apply it to real-world public health projects.”
In addition to his projects at VTIPG, Sam also works for the Viral Genetics and Host Interactions Lab at Virginia Tech, where he is a genetic engineering researcher studying how we can create clones to help predict and prepare for future viral outbreaks. He has presented his research at a number of national organization conferences, including the Consortium of Universities for Global Health, National Biomedical Engineering Society and the American Geophysical Union. Sam plans to further his education by entering a PhD program in Biomedical Sciences and Pathobiology when he completes his Master’s degree program.
Outside of work and class, Sam plays for the Virginia Tech Men’s Rugby Team. He was both a player and a coach for their national championship winning team in 2021, the first such title in the university’s history.
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Institute for Policy and Governance
201 W. Roanoke Street
Blacksburg, VA 24061
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