Seventeen faculty, staff and graduate students at the University of Wisconsin–Madison have been named Morgridge Fellows.
The fellows were selected through a juried process to participate in the year-long learning community designed to further institutionalize and support community-engaged scholarship.
Community-engaged scholarship is defined as: teaching, research and scholarly activities that are performed in equitable, mutually beneficial collaboration with communities to fulfill campus and community objectives. The program is led by Morgridge Center Assistant Director of Community-Engaged Scholarship Dave Lassen and Community-Engaged Scholarship Specialist Cory Sprinkel.
“We are thrilled to welcome this year’s cohort of fellows, our largest yet,” says Lassen. “They join a vibrant, growing community of UW scholars who recognize and respond to the critical work of community-engaged scholarship.”
The Morgridge Fellows program is a unique opportunity for individuals to learn and explore ways to further weave community engagement into the core functions of the university. The upcoming year will include sessions focused on developing and sustaining mutually beneficial community-university partnerships for community-based learning courses and research. Fellows will also spend time in community, building relationships with local residents, leaders and organizations.
The following individuals have been named Morgridge Fellows:
Andrea Noll, MS, MPH
Researcher I, Bolling Research Group in the Department of Food Science
Andrea Noll has always felt a strong connection to nature, which led her to study the natural sciences. Along the way, she gained hands-on experience doing research in different areas and currently focuses on how food affects our health. As she continued her journey and earned a master’s in public health, she began to see the bigger picture—how health is shaped by our communities, cultures, environment and everyday lives. Now, Noll balances research and working directly with communities, especially around building healthier and more sustainable food systems. She’s passionate about listening, learning and collaborating with Tribal Nations, non-profits and local organizations that are already leading the way. Her goal is to support and strengthen these efforts through respectful partnerships and shared knowledge.
Andrene Wright-Johnson
Assistant Professor, Department of African American Studies
Andrene Wright-Johnson (she/her) is an assistant professor of Black Politics in the department of African American Studies. Wright-Johnson is also a faculty affiliate in the political science department, the University of Wisconsin Election Research Center and a senior research specialist at the Institute for Research on Race and Public Policy (IRRPP) at the University of Illinois at Chicago. Wright-Johnson specializes in urban politics and political behavior at the intersection of race, gender and class. She primarily focuses on producing work that centers the voices of Black women and girls–perspectives that are often pushed to the margins of both race and gendered scholarship. Wright-Johnson holds a master of arts and a doctorate in philosophy in political science from Northwestern University and a bachelor’s degree in political science and African American studies from CUNY John Jay College of Criminal Justice.
Cathryn Herlihey
Farm to Institution Specialist, Division of Extension’s Community Food Systems Program
Cathryn Herlihey (she/her) is the Farm to Institution specialist for UW–Madison Division of Extension’s Community Food Systems Program. In this role, she centers Wisconsin’s farmers, while fostering opportunities for local food procurement by institutions (schools, food banks, business campuses) through values-based food supply chain coordination and research. Her work is informed by her previous experience as a farmer operating her own small-scale, organic vegetable farm, in addition to an academic background in sociology (BA), water resources management (MS) and urban and regional planning (MS).
Chandni Anandha Krishnan
Doctoral Student, School of Human Ecology
Chandni Anandha Krishnan (she/her) is a doctoral student in the School of Human Ecology. Her research focuses on how early childhood adversity such as poverty, parental incarceration and child maltreatment shapes young children’s developmental trajectories. She is particularly interested in how trauma-informed, family based prevention and early intervention programs can promote secure attachment to caregivers and support children’s cognitive, social and emotional development. Krishnan is currently involved in the Healthy Brain and Child Development (HBCD) study, the largest long term study of early brain and child development in the United States, sponsored by the National Institutes of Health. Deeply committed to community engaged research, Krishnan also explores the experiences of families impacted by incarceration, with a particular focus on child-friendly jail visits as a means to foster connection and maintain strong attachment relationships between incarcerated parents and their children. She is passionate about advancing policies and practices that support caregiver child relationships in the context of incarceration and promote the well-being of vulnerable families.
Emily Azevedo-Casey
Doctoral Student, Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies
Emily Azevedo-Casey is a PhD student in environment and resources at the Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies and holds a master’s degree in environmental conservation. Originally from the Northeast, she now lives and studies in Wisconsin, where her research focuses on community-led river restoration, dam removal in the Great Lakes region and collaborative projects that cross treaty boundaries and jurisdictions. She partners with Tribal Nations and local organizations to explore how nontribal allies can support Tribal-led environmental governance through co-management, capacity building and storytelling. These efforts reflect her commitment to environmental justice, care for land and water and research that supports community-defined goals. With a background in AmeriCorps and nonprofit work, Azevedo-Casey is committed to scholarship that centers reciprocity and place-based knowledge.
Esther Kang
Assistant Professor, Design Studies and Department of Civil Society and Community Studies
Esther Y. Kang (she/her) is an assistant professor in the School of Human Ecology. Her primary affiliation is with the design studies department and her secondary affiliation is with the civil society and community studies department. She is a member of the Wisconsin RISE Initiative, Global Human Ecology Network and faculty affiliate at the Holtz Center for Science and Technology Studies. Her scholarship focuses on civic engagement, place-making practices and infrastructure development in the era of big tech and sustainability transitions. This work sits at the intersection of design studies, feminist science and technology studies, critical geography, urban humanities and infrastructure studies. and builds upon 12+ years as a leading design researcher, strategist and advisor focusing on co-design practices in policy-making, urban planning and social justice organizations in the U.S. Previously, Kang held positions in nonprofit management, arts administration and place-based grantmaking that encouraged transdisciplinarity and cross-sector collaborations.
Eve Pujol
Teaching Faculty, Department of Spanish and Portuguese
Eve Pujol teaches in the Department of Spanish and Portuguese and has long been interested in connecting students to the local community. In 2017, she designed and launched an advanced medical Spanish course that, unlike traditional classes focused mainly on vocabulary, emphasizes culturally competent communication, awareness of healthcare disparities, and the challenges many Spanish-speaking patients face in the U.S. Her goal is to prepare students—many of whom plan to work in healthcare—to become empathetic, informed and effective providers. She is especially committed to building bridges between the university and the local Hispanic community through meaningful student engagement, though finding community partners remains a challenge due to confidentiality and clinical restrictions. As she looks ahead, she hopes to expand this community-based approach to other areas of the curriculum. The knowledge and experience she gains from the Morgridge Fellows program will play a key role in helping her develop future courses, such as a Spanish legal studies class.
Hadley Rahrig
Postdoctoral Trainee, Center for Healthy Minds
Hadley Rahrig (she/her) is a postdoctoral psychologist and affective neuroscientist at the Center for Healthy Minds. Her research program focuses on promoting human health and well-being as emergent properties of sociopolitical and historical contexts. This overarching goal is supported by three overlapping lines of inquiry. First, Rahrig applies biologically-grounded approach to understand how social and political experiences become embodied. Second, she examines and adapts therapeutic offerings to address systemic harms, with priority extended to communities who are disproportionately impacted. Third, using meta-scientific inquiry, she advocates for interdisciplinary and community-informed praxis to advance the aforementioned research goals with compassion and care. Rahrig is grateful to continue building meaningful partnerships with Filipinx American community organizers.
Hannah Jeanette Laufenberg
Doctoral Student, Sensory Motor Integration Lab
Hannah Jeanette Laufenberg (she/her/hers) is an occupational therapist and PhD student in the Sensory Motor Integration Lab. She is a scholar-practitioner, with a clinical and research background rooted in community-based participatory methods. Her work centers on improving mental health service accessibility through inclusive, equity-driven partnerships with nonprofit organizations and individuals with lived experience. She brings a strong foundation in participatory methods, inclusive teaching, and interdisciplinary collaboration, shaped by experience in community-engaged research and outreach. She is passionate about transforming academic spaces through reciprocal engagement and looks forward to contributing to a learning community that values critical reflection and community impact.
Jessica Lee Stovall
Assistant Professor, Department of African American Studies
Jessica Lee Stovall is an assistant professor of African American Studies, where she also holds affiliate positions in curriculum and instruction and education policy studies at UW-Madison’s School of Education. Her research in education draws on the discipline of Black Studies to explore how Black teachers create fugitive spaces to navigate and combat antiblackness at their respective school sites. All of her work is grounded in community engagement, from the Black Teacher Project based out of Oakland, CA or the upcoming Center for Black Excellence and Culture here in Madison, WI. Stovall was a graduate student fellow for the Haas Center for Public Service at Stanford University and now serves on the advisory board for the Morgridge Center for Public Service at UW–Madison.
Jina Chun
Assistant Professor, Department of Rehabilitation Psychology and Special Education
Jina Chun (she/her) is an assistant professor in the Department of Rehabilitation Psychology and Special Education. She has over 20 years of experience supporting transition-aged youth and working-age adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities—particularly autistic individuals and their families. As a rehabilitation counselor in both Korea and the U.S., she has shaped her research agenda through meaningful community collaboration and a commitment to real-world impact. Her work explores the intersection of career growth, mental health, and well-being in lives of autistic individuals, with a strong emphasis on autism advocacy and employment equity. She examines how systemic barriers, identity development and stakeholder expectations influence employment outcomes and everyday thriving. Using person-centered and community-engaged approaches, she partners with stakeholders to identify service gaps and co-develop tailored interventions that promote self-efficacy, support vocational identity development and expand access to inclusive career pathways.
Kirk Sides
Assistant Professor, Department of English
Kirk Sides is an assistant professor in English and an affiliate professor of African cultural studies. Sides has been a research fellow at the University of Witwatersrand’s Institute for Social and Economic Research in Johannesburg, South Africa, a visiting research scholar in the Humanities Institute at Pennsylvania State University, as well as a research fellow at the Rachel Carson Center for Environment and Society in Munich. His forthcoming book, Environmental Entanglements: African Literature’s Ecological Imaginary, is due out in 2025 with Oxford University Press, and charts a long history of ecological thinking in African literatures from the start of twentieth century up to the present.
Makamae Sniffen
Doctoral Student, Department of History and Educational Policy Studies
Nestled between the Koʻolau and Waiʻanae mountain ranges, Wahiawā nourished me as a child while the malu (shade, protection) of Kānehoalani and Keahiakahoe nurtured me in adulthood. It is where my deep love for my language, culture and ʻāina grew. Cradled between Lake Mendota and Monona, ¹ the settler names for the waterways of the Hoocąk, Teejop cultivated my relationship with Native relatives and expanded my knowledge in ways that I would never have imagined. I honor these lands.
¹ To protect sacred names, I do not use the Hoocąk word for these waters as it is not my language to use nor my knowledge to share.
Makamae Sniffen is guided by those who came before her, motivated by those alongside her and inspired by the generations to come. Sniffen is a native Hawaiian/Filipino third-year joint PhD student in the history & educational policy studies departments. Her history scholarship focuses on the 19th century Hawaiian Kingdom, prioritizing Hawaiian language documents and considering how to make these materials more widely accessible. While her education policy work engages Indigenous language revitalization efforts through collaboration and co-creating with community partners.
Naman Gupta
Doctoral Student, Computer Science
Naman Gupta (he/him) is a PhD student studying computer science. His research is committed to advancing the safety and well-being of marginalized populations who face gender-based violence (GBV) by amplifying their silenced voices. Rooted in cultural sensitivity through feminist and decolonial lenses, his work empowers survivors of interpersonal and systemic gender-based violence by fostering safety, healing and resilience. His research combines interdisciplinary perspectives through collaborations with MadS&P, Preventing Interpersonal Violence and Overcoming Trauma (PIVOT) Lab, Native American Women Thriving through Innovative Violence Prevention and Empowerment (NATIVE) Lab and Sexual Violence Research Initative (SVRI). Further, he coordinates the Madison Tech Clinic and leads the outreach and training program with rural and indigenous Domestic Violence support organizations in Wisconsin.
Nicole Ramer
Doctoral Student, Department of English
Nicole Ramer is a PhD candidate in composition and rhetoric in the English department whose research examines how community writing in Facebook cancer support groups supports individual agency and helps reshape public discourse on women’s health. Her dissertation is grounded in partnerships with group facilitators and explores how digital spaces sustain meaningful community-engaged work and resist institutional constraints. As a first-generation student and someone whose experiences with cancer and disability shape her approach to academic and community work, Ramer brings a justice-oriented lens to both research and teaching. In the classroom, she emphasises community knowledge as a rigorous and necessary form of research, inviting students to engage with local and lived expertise.
Srijan Pandey
Doctoral Student, The Information School
Srijan (Sri) Pandey (they/she/he) is a doctoral researcher in the Information School pursuing a minor in design and gender studies. Their work sits at the intersection of human–AI interaction, critical data and AI ethics and justice through care and community engagement. Pandey’s research interrogates how algorithmic socio-technical systems mediate the lived experiences of marginalized communities, particularly in global South contexts, and explores how participatory and feminist methodologies can reconfigure these systems toward more equitable and accountable futures. Their scholarship builds on design justice, queer technologies, feminist technoscience and data feminism. It centers collective liberation and the lived experiences of the marginalized through a desire-centered approach that foregrounds care, sustainability and intersectional justice as essential to reimagining policy and infrastructural governance. Beyond academia, Pandey is actively engaged in spaces of collective expression and political resistance, and draws creative sustenance from live music, dance, visual art and grassroots activism.
Troy Yilmaz
Multimedia Producer, Center for Integrated Agricultural Systems
Troy U. Yilmaz currently works as a multimedia producer for the Center for Integrated Agricultural Systems (CIAS) and UW Organic Collaborative, with responsibilities split between videography, graphic and web design. A native of Türkiye, he earned his BA in art history from Istanbul University and later moved to the United States to pursue an MS in management at Florida International University. After a pivotal experience working at Apple where he received a full scholarship to study graphic design, Yilmaz worked as a graphic artist and art director for two decades, specializing in branding and corporate identity. He returned to academia in 2020 to study film at UW–Milwaukee, completing his degree in 2023. Having transitioned into filmmaking, Yilmaz focuses on documentaries, particularly stories that amplify the voices of underrepresented communities.