Our weekly e-mail service brings you the latest in public opinion and public policy research.
Public Engagement Team
Will Friedman, Ph.D. Senior Vice President and Director, Public Engagement
Will has been involved in the theory and practice of public engagement and dialogue for fifteen years, and has designed and led dialogue and public engagement projects on dozens of issues in scores of communities and regions across the country.
Prior to founding Public Agenda's public engagement department, Will served as Public Agenda's Associate Director of Research and has been actively involved in researching, analyzing and writing numerous Public Agenda studies. Previously, Will was Senior Vice President for policy studies at the non-profit, non-partisan Work in America Institute, where he directed research and special projects on workplace and workforce issues. His academic background includes a Ph.D. in political science with specializations in American politics and in political psychology.
Lara Birnback Senior Public Engagement Project Director
Since 2003, Lara has worked on the development and management of all our public engagement initiatives. On many projects she conducts fieldwork as well, including research, training and strategic planning with project partners. She is currently exploring possibilities for new public engagement initiatives and partnerships overseas.
Prior to coming to Public Agenda, Lara worked on civil society development in Central Europe and the Balkans. She received a Master's degree in International Affairs from Columbia University and a Bachelor's degree in Development Studies from the University of California, Berkeley. In 1996, Lara was a Fulbright scholar in Budapest, Hungary, where she studied the effects of changes in post-communist social policy on women and families.
Dr. Alison Kadlec Senior Public Engagement Research Associate
Alison Kadlec is a Senior Public Engagement Research Associate and Associate Director of the Center for Advances in Public Engagement (CAPE) at Public Agenda. She works on the management and implementation of Public Agenda's public engagement and opinion research projects. She is active in the development and evaluation of research tools and reports, and in training and evaluation for public engagement projects. Previously, Alison has been a visiting professor and lecturer in the political science departments at the University of Minnesota, Macalester College, Baruch College and Hunter College. She holds Bachelor's degrees in Political Theory & Constitutional Democracy and English Literature from Michigan State University, and a Ph.D. in Political Science from the University of Minnesota. Alison is the author of a recent book on the democratic theory of John Dewey titled, "John Dewey's Critical Pragmatism."
McKenna Morrigan Public Engagement Associate
McKenna works on the development and implementation of public engagement initiaitves in a variety of ways; including writing, editing and strategic planning as well as communications and outreach work.
Prior to coming to Public Agenda, McKenna was the development and communications coordinator at Action Against Hunger, an international relief organization, and an outreach coordinator for a pubic health project serving HIV+ individuals in Providence, RI. She also worked as an elementary English teacher in Southwest China. McKenna received a Bachelor's degree in Cultural Anthropology from Brown University.
Dr. Maria Martha Chavez Brumell
Maria Martha is an applied sociologist with a twenty year history of researching, implementing and evaluating social policy. She holds a Masters Degree in Education from Kansas State University where she served as Assistant Director of Admissions, and a Ph.D. from Yale University where she served as Assistant Dean of Yale College.
Dr. Chavez's research on the East and West coast of the United States for the Save the Children Federation has been utilized to design and implement programs in America's 101 poorest places in the campaign for America's Forgotten Children. In addition Dr. Chavez serves as a consultant to governmental and non profit organizations.
Dr. Teresa Nance
Terry Nance has been teaching communication skills for more than thirty years in a wide variety of settings. Dr. Nance has been on the faculty of Villanova University since 1978 and was instrumental in designing and initiating the Communication Department where she now teaches a wide variety of communication courses including, public speaking, interpersonal communication, communication and management, voice and diction and rhetoric. Prof. Nance served as chair of the Department from 1998 until 2004. She is currently serving as Assistant Vice President for Multicultural Affairs, charged with the task of guiding the University through planning and implementing change around issues of diversity and multicultural education. Prof. Nance's expertise in the classroom has been recognized by awards from the University and her professional association, The Eastern Communication Association.
Nance received a Bachelor's and Master's degree from Emerson College in Boston and a Ph.D. from Temple University in Philadelphia.
Argelio (Ben) Perez
Mr. Perez is the principal of Transformation, Inc., of Lansing, Michigan and a consultant affiliated with the Institute for Educational Leadership (which awarded him its National Leadership Award) and numerous other businesses and organizations. He has been a senior executive in the Detroit and Lansing school districts and in Lansing city government and has served in the Michigan Department of Education. He was a senior consultant with the Collaborative Leadership Center of the Michigan Partnership for New Education. Along with Thom Brown, Ben has been a long-time trainer and consultant with Public Agenda's public engagement programs.
Dr. Thomas Lovia Brown
A U.S. Army veteran, Thom has spent much of his career in education as a teacher, principal, and consultant. He spent 16 years with the Connecticut Department of Education, where he was responsible for, among other things, alternative education and Title 1 programs. His expertise includes diversity awareness training, and he is the founder and director of the Diversity Leadership Forum in Connecticut. He has been a trainer and consultant with Public Agenda's public engagement projects for many years.
