ESC Partner Programs
Presenters and Mentors

Presenters

  1. Stephen Black
  2. President, Impact Alabama
  3. Stephen Black is the President and Founder of Impact Alabama, students involved address human and community needs. He is the Director of the Center for Ethics & Social Responsibility at The University of Alabama. He has received the 2009 Children's Advocate Award from Childcare Resources. In 2004, Black founded FocusFirst, where graduate students in are trained to provide vision screenings to pre-school children. FocusFirst has provided free, advanced vision screenings for more than 25,000 children in 60 counties throughout the state.
  4. Nancy Franz
  5. Associate Dean, Extension and Outreach for Families and 4-H Youth, College of Human Sciences; Director, Iowa State University to Families with Extension in Iowa
  6. Nancy serves as Associate Dean for Extension and Outreach for Families and 4-H Youth in the College of Human Sciences and the Director of ISU to Families with Extension in Iowa. Franz began her extension career in 1981 with University of Wisconsin Extension, serving in county and state level 4-H youth development positions. She became a graduate assistant with Cornell Cooperative Extension (Ithaca, N.Y.) in 1999 and returned to UW Extension in 2002 as an administrative coordinator with 4-H youth development as well as program development and evaluation. In 2003 she became associate director of University of New Hampshire Cooperative Extension (Durham) and joined Virginia Cooperative Extension in 2006. She also has experience as a guide and public speaker with Woodswomen Inc. and as a Youth Conservation Corps staff member with the U.S. Forest Service, Chequamegon National Forest, and the National Park Service, Apostle Islands National Lakeshore, both in northern Wisconsin. Her research focuses on transformative learning in intra-organizational partnerships, implementation of strategic plans, program evaluation, revenue generation and engagement in Extension programs. Franz received her doctorate in agriculture, extension and adult education with minors in human resources and leadership from Cornell University. She received her master's of education professional development degree from the University of Wisconsin-Superior and her bachelor's degree in environmental studies/outdoor education/recreation from Northland College, Ashland, Wis. She also received a master online educator certificate from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University. When she's not exercising her "extension gene" she loves to read, be outdoors doing silent sports, and consuming dark chocolate.
  7. Cheryl Morgan
  8. Architect and Gresham Professor of Architecture, Auburn University
  9. Cheryl Morgan is an architect and the Gresham Professor of Architecture at Auburn University. In over 23 years of teaching she has worked with architectural programs at Georgia Institute of Technology, Oklahoma State and California College of Arts and Crafts. She is currently the director of Auburn's Urban Studio in Birmingham. Morgan practiced architecture and urban design in the San Francisco Bay area for more than eight years. She worked with a number of firms including Environmental Planning and Research, Gensler, and the Gruzen Partnership. Before coming to Auburn in 1992 she was an associate with the Berkeley firm of ELS/Elbasani and Logan. Her last project at ELS was the design of new and adaptive reuse buildings along the Singapore River in five blocks of Singapore's Clarke Quay Historic District. Morgan's professional practice now focuses on urban design, community planning and graphic design. Morgan holds a Bachelor of Architecture and a Bachelor of Arts (Sociology) from Auburn University. Her Master of Architecture degree is from the University of Illinois, Champaign/Urbana. She is certified by the National Council of Architectural Registration Boards and is a member of the City of Birmingham's Design Review Board. She is also working with the Railroad Reservation Park project in downtown Birmingham; the Red Mountain State Park; is a founding board member of the citizen leadership program – YourTownAlabama; and sits on the boards of Space One Eleven and Operation New Birmingham's Magic City Art Connection.
  10. Jeff Parker
  11. Associate Professor, Department of Psychology, Instititute for Social Science Research
  12. Jeff Parker is an Associate Professor in the Department of Psychology and in the Instititute for Social Science Research. His research explores children's and adolescents' experiences with other peers. Dr. Parker also has been extensively involved in bullying prevention and reduction efforts in middle schools and regularly conducts workshops for students, teachers, and other professionals.
  13. Lorilee Sandmann
  14. Co-Director, National Review Board for the Scholarship of Engagement, University of Georgia
  15. Lorilee Sandmann is a Professor in the Adult Education Program, Department of Lifelong Education, Administration, & Policy at the University of Georgia. She has previously served as Associate Vice President for Public Service and Outreach at UGA and Executive Director of the Georgia Center for Continuing Education. Lorilee R. Sandmann's current research projects focus on leadership and organizational change in higher education's institutionalization of community engagement, as well as faculty roles and rewards related to engaged scholarship.

Mentors

  1. Angelicque Tucker Blackmon
  2. Director, Resource Development and Community Partnership, Division of Community Affairs, University of Alabama
  3. Angelicque Tucker Blackmon is the Director of Resource Development and Community Partnership University of Alabama Division of Community Affairs, Tuscaloosa, Alabama, a position she has held since 2011. She has extensive experience in community outreach and community partnerships. Her research interests are in cognitive learning, social cognitive learning, behavioral neuroscience, science (chemistry and physics) education in K-12 urban schools, applied cultural anthropology, science teacher professional development. She has served as Co-PI on the National Science Foundation ITEST Program - Promoting Our Worth as Entrepreneurs and Researchers in Innovative Technologies, Morehouse School of Medicine, Atlanta, GA. She has been a Program Director at National Science Foundation Division of Research on Learning in formal and informal settings (DRL) from 2005-2007. Blackmon has a PhD in Educational Studies Emphasis Science Education from Emory University.
  4. Karen Bruns
  5. Assistant Director, Family & Consumer Sciences Leader, OSU CARES / Ohio State University Extension
  6. As Leader, OSU CARES, a position she has held since 1996, Karen fosters and supports partnerships between OSU Extension and university colleagues to maximize the University's engagement with the community. Her research interest focuses on the attitudes of faculty as it relates to university-community engagement. She also holds the role of Assistant Director for OSU Extension, through which she gives statewide leadership to the Family and Consumer Sciences program. With a team of over 160 county and state based professionals, the Family and Consumer Sciences program focuses on strengthening "healthy people, healthy finances and healthy relationships" for Ohioans. She has held this position since February, 2011. Dr. Bruns has spent her career engaging the university and the community. From 1995 to 2011 she served as Leader, University Outreach and Engagement at The Ohio State University. From 1982 to 1996 she served as an Ohio State University Extension Family and Consumer Sciences educator with additional responsibilities in Community Development and she served as County Director. During her career, she worked in rural and suburban counties of Ohio. Throughout her career she has given leadership to initiating and developing special collaborative projects that are then spun off into self standing initiatives, such as the OSU Extension Learning Centers, OSU Extension in the University District, and an online educational resource for program evaluation which is being used by program deliverers around the world.
  7. Karl Hamner
  8. Assistant Dean of Scholarly Affairs, Capstone College of Nursing, School of Social Work, University of Alabama
  9. Dr. Karl Hamner is the Assistant Dean of Scholarly Affairs for the University of Alabama (UA) Capstone College of Nursing and School of Social Work. He serves on the Board of Directors for the Holt Community Partnership and the Walker Area Transformational Coalition for Health (WATCH 2020), and is a member of the UA Council for Community-Based Partnerships and the UA Technology Research Advisory Committee. He also Co-Chairs the UA-VA Research Liaison Committee. Dr. Hamner has been a social science and health researcher, program development and evaluation consultant, and training specialist for federal, state, county and community-based agencies. He has extensive experience conducting research on multi-cultural health and social issues, as well as conducting professional development workshops and trainings on a wide range of topics. Throughout his career, he has written or directed the development of numerous successful grant proposals. He received his Ph.D. in Sociology from the University of California, Los Angeles in 1993.
  10. Colette M. Taylor
  11. Assistant Professor of Higher Education and Program Coordinator, Graduate Certificate and Master's Program in Higher Education and Student Affairs, Texas Tech University
  12. Colette earned her B.S. in Psychology (1992), M.Ed. in Counselor Education (1994) and Ed.D. in Educational Leadership from the University of Florida (2003). She currently is an Assistant Professor of Higher Education and Program Coordinator for the Graduate Certificate and Master's Program in Higher Education and Student Affairs at Texas Tech University. She spent 14 years as student affairs professional, working in residence life, student activities and an assistant vice president/associate dean of students office before becoming a faculty member in 2008. She is one of the co-editors of the recent book, African Americans and Community Engagement in Higher Education (SUNY Press, 2009). While working at the University of Florida from 1998 to 2006, she was responsible for the development of the civic engagement, leadership, community service and service-learning at the University of Florida, which was implemented as campus volunteer clearinghouse in the fall of 1998. Dr. Taylor served as a member of the co-chair of Florida Campus Compact Advisory Council from 2002 to 2006 and a member of the Florida Campus Compact Consulting Corp from 2003 to 2006. She was a member of the board of advisors of the Florida Office of Collegiate Volunteerism from 1998 to 2001 and served as chair from 2000 to 2001. Dr. Taylor has taught several service-learning courses and has been a supervisor of the HUD Community Partnership Outreach Center at the University of Florida. Dr. Taylor lives in Lubbock, TX with her two sons, Devin and Dylan and their two dogs, Dallas and Atlas.