Ozy Aloziem
Issue Area: Gender Equity
Faculty Champion: Nancy Reichman, Sociology & Criminology and Colorado Women’s College

Ozy Aloziem is a second year masters student in the School of Social work with a concentration in Organizational Leadership & Policy Practice. She currently serves as the 2018-2019 Community-Engaged Gender Equity Fellow where she has explored ways to promote gender equity within the academy and how paid family leave could improve health outcomes for Black women. As a psycho-anthropological researcher and critical black feminist, she is specifically committed to advocating for Black women across the diaspora. Presently, her research is centered around implementing critical curriculum and promoting healing within higher education. She intends to demonstrate how the Academy can become a liberatory space by centering practices and ways of being that simultaneously challenge oppression and promote well-being. Outside of her academic pursuits she is passionate about art, writing and social justice. In her free time she enjoys attending community events and dancing to Beyoncé. To contact her or learn more, follow her on Twitter or visit her ePortfolio here.

Grace Carson
Issue Area: Access & Education
Faculty Champions:Laura Sponsler, Higher Education, and Judy Kiyama, Higher Education

Grace Carson is a fourth year undergraduate student majoring in journalism and political science, with an English minor. She is a 2018-2019 Community-Engaged Fellow, and her issue area is Access & Education. As well as being a Community-Engaged Fellow, she participates in various activities such as serving on the executive board for the Native Student Alliance, being the Executive Editor for the Clarion, being a research assistant, and more. Beyond her roles at DU, she is passionate about social and racial justice, writing, and serving her community. Next fall, she plans on attending UCLA School of Law in both the David J. Epstein Program in Public Interest Law and Policy and the Critical Race Studies program. She hopes to eventually work towards changing the ways that the law and legal system creates and maintains racial and social inequity. To contact her or learn more, visit her portfolio here. 

Lauren Collins
Issue Area: Built Environment
Faculty Champions: Drew Mueller, Burns College of Real Estate & Construction Management and Cara DiEnno, Center for Community Engagement to advance Scholarship & Learning

Lauren Collins is Ph.D. candidate in Higher Education at the Morgridge College of Education at the University of Denver. She has been a Community-Engaged Fellow for the 2017-2019 academic years working on sustainability and the built environment. Her scholarly agenda interrogates the development and practice of global learning in higher education, the impact of neoliberal economic policies on the academy, and critical globalization studies. Next fall she will be joining the Davidson Honors College at the University of Montana as a Post-doctoral Teaching, Research, and Mentoring Fellow. You can find her portfolio here.

Mia Edwards
Issue Area: Gentrification
Faculty Champions: Lynn Schofield Clark, Media, Film, & Journalism Studies, Erika Polson, Media, Film, & Journalism Studies, and Carlos Jimenez, Media, Film, & Journalism Studies

Mia Edwards is a first-year graduate student pursuing her MA in International & Intercultural Communications jointly in the Josef Korbel School of International Studies and the Media, Film & Journalism School at the University of Denver with a concentration in Global & Multicultural Strategic Communications. Alongside her graduate degree, Mia is in the process of completing the Global Business, Governance, and Corporate Social Responsibility certificate where she hopes to gain insight into new global business strategies and practices. Currently, Mia serves as the Communications Intern at Newmont Goldcorp where she is assisting with change relations and internal strategy. As the 2018-19 Community-Engaged gentrification Fellow at CCESL, Mia works with her faculty champions on unique projects relating to communities affected by gentrification in Colorado, including empowering day laborers to tell their own stories through digital platforms and helping plan the Colorado Migrahack event for Fall 2019. Mia and her faculty champion, Dr. Erika Polson, recently presented their research on gentrification, street art, and Instagram specifically in the RiNo neighborhood at the “Aesthetics for Gentrification” conference in Portland. Mia plans to continue her work with CCESL next year. For more information visit Mia’s DU portfolio page.

Jimmy Hessler
Issue Area: Immigration
Faculty Champions: Lisa Martinez, Sociology & Criminology, Liz Escobedo, History, Alejandro Ceron, Anthropology, and Sergio Macias, Languages & Literature 

Jimmy Hessler is a fourth-year undergraduate student studying French and Sociology. Jimmy has worked as a community engaged fellow through CCESL since 2017, focusing on immigration. During his time at the University of Denver, he founded a youth soccer project in Jackson, Wyoming called the Community Soccer Camp, impacting over 100 elementary, middle and high school students over three years and has been heavily involved in volunteering with the Casa de Paz, a Denver non-profit providing much needed resources to migrants leaving the GEO detention center in Aurora. Jimmy loves soccer and languages. 

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Adrielle Knight
Issue Area: Refugees
Faculty Champions: Joe Livingston, Korbel School of International Studies and Anthony Cherwinski, Knoebel School of Hospitality Management

Adrielle Knight is the 2018-2019 CCESL Community-Engaged refugee-focused Fellow and student at the Graduate School of Social Work, completing her MSW degree in June 2019. Adrielle interns as a school therapist for the refugee and immigrant community at Place Bridge Academy, serving elementary and middle-school aged students. Outside of her role at DU, Adrielle serves on the board of WorldDenver, an organization that cultivates citizen diplomacy in partnership with the State Department, as well as serves on the board of Save Our Youth, a youth mentorship organization. After graduation, Adrielle will work with refugees overseas implementing trauma-informed play therapy interventions for children and youth. Adrielle can be contacted through her LinkedIn profile.

Corey Martz
Issue Area: Urban Conservation, Ecology, & Sustainability
Faculty Champions: Susan Daggett, Sturm College of Law, Chad King, Center for Sustainability and Becky Powell, Geography and the Environment

Corey is a second-year PhD student in geography. He is a 2018-2019 CCESL Community-Engaged Fellow focusing on urban conservation, ecology, and sustainability. As a Fellow, Corey has enjoyed working with Metro Denver Nature Alliance, the Denver Urban Field Station, and the CCESL Photovoice Research Team. Corey’s personal research interests involve storytelling that links photographs, narratives, and maps, also known as story mapping. He is particularly interested in engaging people in story mapping about where nature is meaningful in their lives. Outside of his work at DU, Corey is an avid hiker, rec-league soccer enthusiast, and a camp counselor at the Children’s Hospital Colorado Burn Camp for one glorious week each August. Contact Corey by emailing corey.martz@du.edu or visiting his portfolio page.

Mallory McCorkle
Issue Area: Health Disparities
Faculty Champions: Nancy Lorenzon, Biological Sciences, and Julia Roncoroni, Counseling Psychology

Biography not available.

Alison Turner
Issue Area: Writing & the Public Good
Faculty Champion: Daniel Singer, Writing Program

Alison Turner is a PhD Candidate in Literary Studies interested in historical fiction, immigrant and refugee literature, archives, and community literacy. She has served two terms as the Writing & The Public Good Community-Engaged Fellow (2017-2019). For more about Alison and her work, visit her portfolio site here. 

Sam Wallace
Issue Area: Urban Conservation, Ecology, & Sustainability
Faculty Champions: Susan Daggett, Sturm College of Law, Chad King, Center for Sustainability and Becky Powell, Geography and the Environment

Sam Wallace is a first-year graduate student in Conflict Resolution at the Josef Korbel School of International Studies, and he is a 2018-2019 Community-Engaged Fellow in Urban Sustainability, Conservation, and Ecology. His academic interests include participatory and collaborative forms of governance – essentially, how can we understand and design the processes for decision-making to be more effective and inclusive to those affected by the outcome. He is particularly interested in applying this knowledge to issues surrounding environment and natural resources. Before coming to DU, Sam spent two years working for a non-profit that worked on water resource issues in southeastern Colorado. Outside of DU, Sam likes to play music on the piano and saxophone and explore the river systems of Colorado. To contact him or learn more, please visit his upcoming portfolio here.

 

Mimiko Watanabe
Issue Area: Arts & Engagement
Faculty Champions: Ashley Hamilton, Theater and Apryl Alexander, Graduate School of Professional Psychology

Mimiko Watanabe, M.A. is currently pursuing a doctorate in clinical psychology at the Graduate School of Professional Psychology, University of Denver. She has also worked at the Center for Community Engagement to advance Scholarship and Learning (CCESL) as the Arts & Engagement fellow for the past two years (2017-2019). In this role, she has supported the development of the Prison Arts Initiative and has worked on several photovoice projects in the community. Through both clinical work and organizing community engaged projects, she strives to support processes of empowerment on an individual and interpersonal basis while simultaneously pursuing broader sociocultural transformation. 

Lauren Yehle
Issue Area: Meeting Basic Needs
Faculty Champion: Kim Bender, Graduate School of Social Work

Lauren will graduate June 2019 with a Bachelors of Arts with a major in Political Science and minors in history, economics, and Spanish.  She is the Meeting Basic Needs Community-Engaged Fellow at CCESL for the 2018-2019 academic year.  She has been working with the Graduate School of Social Work on disseminating research about youth experiencing homelessness back to the communities that were surveyed for the realyst team.  Lauren loves learning and hopes to pursue a PhD in Political Science with a keen eye on broader issues and involving the community in any future research.  Lauren likes skiing with her sister, beatnik literature, and musicals.  To find out more, visit her portfolio.