William (Bill) Ball, Ph.D.

Center for Life’s Work, Nazareth College
Rochester, New York

Bill Ball is a research associate affiliated with Nazareth College and works on civic engagement in a metropolitan context in greater Rochester, NY. His current focus is on urban-suburban collaborations in mid-sized metropolitan regions struggling to achieve growth with equity in the face of population decline, and the potential for institutions of higher education to contribute to those collaborations.

From 2017 to 2020 he was Scholar in Residence of Interdisciplinary Studies at Capital University. Prior to that he served as Visiting Associate Professor of Political Science at Stetson University and Associate Professor and Chair of Political Science at The College of New Jersey.

Dr. Ball has won awards for his work and writing on campus-community civic engagement from Florida Campus Compact and the American Political Science Association.

Dr. Ball holds a Ph.D. in Political Science from the University of Missouri, a M.A. in International Affairs from Carleton University, and a B.A. in Political Science from Drake University.

Jay L. Austin

Dean for Enrollment & Financial Aid
Rutgers University – School of Law

Jay L. Austin was appointed the senior associate dean of enrollment and financial aid at Rutgers Law School in August 2019. Until that time beginning in January 2011 Dean Austin had been the inaugural assistant dean of admissions and student financial services at the University of California, Irvine School of Law. From 2009-2011 he served as the director of admissions, financial aid, and scholarships at the Azerbaijan Diplomatic Academy School of International Affairs, of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Baku, Azerbaijan.

Dean Austin also served as the assistant dean of admission and financial aid at Penn State Dickinson School of Law 2002-2009, assistant dean of admissions and financial aid at the University of Pennsylvania School of Law 1994-2002, the director of admissions at the University of California Hastings College of Law 1989-1994 and as an admission officer at both Columbia University School of Business (1985-1989) and Columbia Law School (1978-1985).

Dean Austin has extensive participation on various committee and in leadership positions including president of the Black Faculty and Staff Association at UC Irvine, and as chair of the LGBTQ Board at the University of Pennsylvania. Dean Austin has also had extensive engagement with the Law School Admissions Council (LSAC) including chairing Minority Affairs Committee (now known as the Diversity Affairs Committee), member of the Board of Trustees 1998-2001, 2003-2005 and 2012-2015 and a member of the Finance and Legal Affairs Committee and the Investment Committee. Additionally, Dean Austin has presented extensively on such topics as best admissions policies and practices, inclusion and diversity and institutional leadership.

Dean Austin attended Columbia University where he studied biology-psychology and completed a post-graduate certificate in International Management at University of Liverpool.

Jennifer Park, Ph.D.

Early Learning Principal and Research Scientist
Lastinger Center for Learning – University of Florida

Jennifer Park, Ph.D., Founder & President of Early Childhood Solutions, is focused on early childhood quality, community empowerment, and systems building. Most recently, she was on faculty at the University of Florida’s College of Education. She has worked in publicly funded early childhood education at the local, state and national levels for 25 years. Dr. Park led the University of Florida, College of Education, Lastinger Center for Learning’s early childhood technology-enabled professional development suite of services supporting adult learners in Florida, Arizona, California, Louisiana, Massachusetts, and South Carolina. In Florida’s Office of Early Learning, she led a statewide $16 million initiative resulting in a suite of quality improvement services covering professional development, program assessment, and child screening and assessment. Dr. Park also held leadership positions at Teaching Strategies, Teachstone, and Child Care Aware® of America and research positions at Florida State University, the American Institutes for Research, and the Institute for Women’s Policy Research.

Jennifer has held executive level positions in government, non-profits, and in the commercial sectors since 2003. A developmental psychologist with expertise in human development, her work has centered around community priorities: investments in children, youth, families, and communities – building and sustaining capacity in under-resourced individuals and spaces. She works to improve and reform educational systems that have consistently failed people based on race, status, and religion. She champions efforts to increase access to information and skill development for the young and adults to empower self-sufficiency and capacity building in communities. Her strategic leadership and savvy coalition building skills make her effective in guiding system level improvement coordinated within local, statewide, and national systems. She works at the intersection of public policy and programs to serve communities while achieving stakeholder goals.

Dr. Park holds both M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Child Development from Florida State University and a B.S. in Education from Virginia Tech.

John M. Rossi

John Rossi Company
Arlington, Massachusetts

John Rossi is a multi-disciplinary leader for architectural planning, design, and construction valued at $463M primarily in historic settings among private clients, municipal and federal agencies, and academic institutions including Dean, Hamilton, Stonehill, Williams Colleges, Marywood and Vanderbilt Universities.

His expertise of 35-years leverages preservation, heritage tourism, and economic development lessons of The Scranton Plan complemented by a proven tenure as an articulate communicator, savvy marketer, and business development catalyst. John has enhanced prominent Boston, Cambridge, and Seattle firms with measured results from $3M boutiques to a top-50, $30M, 300-person U.S. architecture & engineering firm serving as Principal & V.P of Strategic Planning.

John’s renaissance experience to Build Community by Design™ socially, culturally, and through the built and natural environment strengthens integrated teams, gives voice to citizens and students, and engenders broad-based participation to galvanize stakeholders with clearer understanding of complex social, cultural, financial and political issues around building.

As a life-long traveler, engaging mentor, and trained architect/planner, John’s insightful style has helped repurpose entire campus districts and clarify individual building programs. He has taught hands-on building restoration techniques supervising accredited field-studies programs across the U.S. through HistoriCorps & Lamar Community College, CO and served as preservation thesis advisor and reviewer for architectural design and urban planning studios at Boston Architectural College, Northeastern University, Rhode Island School of Design (RISD), Roger Williams University, Tufts University, Wentworth Institute of Technology, and Worcester Polytechnic Institute.

The documentary film “Saving Places” airing on PBS features John’s landmark restoration at Canyon De Chelly National Monument, Navajo Nation, AZ with HistoriCorps for the National Park Service and his preservation work on public lands within wilderness areas of CO, WV, NH, MI and WI for the United States Forest Service were honored with the highest White House, Preserve America Stewards Award.

As on-site Owners Project Manager, John recently completed the $8M preservation of the 1881 Wellesley Town Hall and is undertaking the $8.2 renovation of the 1894 Arlington Central School in MA.

Kendra B. Stewart, Ph.D.

Joseph P. Riley, Jr. Center for Livable Communities
The College of Charleston

Kendra B. Stewart is Professor of Political Science and Public Administration and Director of the Joseph P. Riley, Jr. Center for Livable Communities at the College of Charleston. Her research interests include South Carolina government, non-profit management, state and local government, food policy, and women and politics. She is co-editor of a book entitled The Practice of Government Public Relations. The articles she has authored have appeared in various journals including Urban Affairs Review, Public Finance and Management, Perspective in Politics, Journal of Public Affairs Education, Journal of Hunger and Environmental Nutrition as well as in various scholarly books.

Dr. Stewart is a fellow of the National Academy of Public Administration (NAPA), an independent, nonprofit, and non-partisan organization chartered by Congress to assist government leaders in building more effective, efficient, accountable, and transparent organizations. She was also elected to serve as President of the American Society for Public Administration (ASPA) for 2020-2021. Dr. Stewart has conducted political analysis for a variety of print, radio and television media, including Good Morning America, Fox News Channel, the Associated Press, The New Yorker, and National Public Radio.

Prior to her current position, Dr. Stewart was a faculty member at Eastern Kentucky University and worked for the state of South Carolina Budget and Control Board. In addition, she has conducted program evaluations and strategic planning assistance to a variety of public and nonprofit organizations. Dr. Stewart is very involved in the community as well, serving on the boards of several professional and non-profit organizations.

Dr. Stewart received her undergraduate degree from the University of Central Florida and her Master of Public Administration and Ph.D. in Political Science from the University of South Carolina.

Daren A. Ellerbee

Community Engagement Professional – Director, University of Pittsburgh Community Engagement Center in Homewood

Daren A. Ellerbee is a Community Engagement Professional (CEP) and the inaugural director of the University of Pittsburgh (Pitt) University Educational Outreach Center (EOC), a unit within the Office of the Provost. Ellerbee began her career at Pitt in 2017 as the director of the university’s first Community Engagement Center in Homewood. Prior to Pitt, she was a Community Affairs & Equity Strategist for the Urban Redevelopment Authority of Pittsburgh.  

Described as architect and lead of Pitt’s hyperlocal, placed-based engagements in the East End, Daren remains committed to social-justice and promoting thriving for all. She steers, builds, and maintains relationships towards reciprocity, recognizing that the resources of Pitt combined with the wisdom of the community can help to bring about social change. As the director of the EOC she supports K-12 pathways to college, with the goal of increasing diversity and reducing racial disparities in many fields including Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM). She aligns goals and bridges relationships connecting people and priorities with the hope of producing transformative outcomes. 

A Pittsburgher, Ms. Ellerbee earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Communication & Rhetoric and Africana Studies from the University of Pittsburgh, and a Master of Science degree in Communications and Information Systems from Robert Morris University. Currently, she is earning a doctorate in Urban Education from Pitt’s School of Education. 

Ellerbee is very civically engaged and has served on numerous non-profit boards including the Pittsburgh History and Landmarks Foundation, is a founding member of Robert Morris University’s Black Alumni Council, and continues to be a dedicated mentor and champion for high-potential youth. She is a current board member for the Association for Resilient Campus Design and Innovation.

Acknowledgements for Ellerbee include being named by Pittsburgh Magazine and PUMP as one of their 40 Under 40 in 2018. She is a 2013 recipient of the New Pittsburgh Courier’s FAB 40 Award, as well as a recipient of the Mayor of Pittsburgh’s Citizen Service Award in which May 18, 2012, was named “Daren Ellerbee Day” in the City of Pittsburgh.

Lisa D. Krausz

LDPlatt Strategies

Lisa Krausz is the principal consultant for LDPlatt Strategies, a consulting practice dedicated to enhancing the capabilities of higher education through a process of performance measurement, program evaluation, strategic planning, board development and resource development. Lisa’s mission is to help make publicly supported programs more responsive to clients and more accountable to sponsors. As an independent consultant for the past 18 years Lisa has worked with more than 30 colleges, universities, foundations, commissions and associations throughout the Americas.

In addition to independent consulting, Lisa’s background includes eleven years with the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) where she served as a senior program evaluator, and six years at Rowan College at Burlington where she was the Executive Assistant to the President and Chief Policy, Planning and Grants Officer.

Ms. Krausz holds a Master’s degree from the Fels Center of Government at the University of Pennsylvania and an undergraduate degree from Northeastern University in Boston.

Michael Joy, AIA, NCARB, LEED AP

Architect & Planner
University of Virginia

Michael brings over twenty years of architectural experience, with the last decade focused on university campus planning, to his role as Senior Architect & Planner for the University of Virginia. Michael assists Alice Raucher, the Architect for the University, on the planning and architectural design of capital projects. Currently, Michael is overseeing planning and design of facilities for Athletics, the College & Graduate School of Arts & Sciences, the Darden School of Business, and the Emmet Ivy Corridor.

Prior to his arrival at UVA, Michael was Senior Campus Planner at The New School, a leading progressive university in New York City. His architectural experience includes design roles with award-winning firms, including Project Architect for the Pritzker Prize Laureate Shigeru Ban. Michael is the recipient of numerous awards including First Place in the prestigious Shinkenchiku international design competition.

Michael received his Masters of Architecture degree with distinction from the Catholic University of America in Washington, DC. He is a Registered Architect in the State of New York and the Commonwealth of Virginia. He also is an NCARB Certificate holder, a LEED Accredited Professional, and an active member of the Society for Collegiate and University Planning.

Robert (Bobby) Hackett

The Corella & Bertram F. Bonner Foundation

The Bonner Foundation is an organization that provides research and development for the civic engagement field, in ways that promote its depth, sustainability, and value to colleges and communities. Robert (Bobby) Hackett joined the Bonner Foundation in 1992 as Vice President and Director of the Bonner Scholars Program and assumed the role of President in July, 2010. As President, Bobby is responsible for the administration of the comprehensive program (the organization’s array of programs), leading its public advocacy and outreach, direct community relations, and fund-raising efforts. .

Prior to joining the Bonner Foundation, Bobby worked at the Telesis Corporation, an affordable housing developer in Washington, D.C. He also served as managing director of the Campus Outreach Opportunity League (COOL) during its first three years of operation. In addition, for the past twenty years, Bobby has been associated in various capacities with the Youth Policy Institute, a Washington, D.C.-based non-partisan organization that researches and reports on policies and programs relating to young people.

Bobby received his Bachelors degree from Harvard University in 1985 and a Masters in Public and Private Management from Yale University’s School of Organization and Management in 1990.

Melissa Konur

Downtown Fort Worth, Inc.

Melissa Konur is the Planning Director at Downtown Fort Worth, Inc. She is responsible for managing and implementing the vision for parks and open space, public art, urban design and transportation projects. She relocated to Fort Worth from New York City where she was a Vice President at the NYC Economic Development Corporation. In her previous position, Melissa managed the structuring, negotiation and execution of over 12 million square feet of real estate development for the City of New York. She has a Bachelors of Arts from Colby College and a Master of Urban Planning from the New York University Robert F. Wagner School of Public Service. She is a 2018 graduate of the International Downtown Association’s Emerging Leaders Fellowship Program, a 2011 graduate of Leadership Fort Worth and a 2007 graduate of Coro Leadership New York. Melissa has served on the City of Fort Worth’s Urban Design Commission and the Building Standards Commission. She currently serves on the board for Fort Worth Bike Sharing and the Community Design Center Fort Worth and as a Commissioner on the City Plan Commission.