Illinois State is moving forward with its new Innovation Hub with the help of a dedicated team, including a Stevenson Center Fellow. Each year Fellows help a range of organizations in meeting their development goals.
The Stevenson Center’s interdisciplinary, applied curriculum informs the work Michael Hotard ’09 does today as senior program manager at the Stanford Immigration Policy Lab.
Edu-Futuro, an organization dedicated to empowering immigrant and underserved youth in and around Washington, D.C., is hosting its first Stevenson Center Fellow.
Students become Stevenson Center Fellows because they value service: they want their graduate education to benefit others as much as themselves. Under the guidance of sociology professor Dr. Frank Beck, Fellows worked in two groups in 2020 to assist the School Street Food Pantry and Autism McLean.
The Graduate School launched the GradBird Scholar initiative in September 2019, in an effort to make scholarly research more accessible while honoring the scholarship of Illinois State students.
AmeriCorps draws 75,000 people each year in the name of strengthening U.S. communities. One of those AmeriCorps members is Kendra Shaw, a returned Peace Corps Volunteer who is completing her master’s degree in political science through the Stevenson Center.
Another academic year has started, and with it the Stevenson Center introduces a new group of Fellows. Although a new group of Fellows with a wealth and variety of experiences arrives every year from across the country, this group is having a semester like no other.
Peace Corps. For a lot of people, especially those who’ve already served, it means a lot. I’ve always heard former volunteers use words like “amazing,” “cathartic,” and “life-changing” to describe their service abroad.
“Through my time at school and at HomeStart, it became obvious that understanding policy, power structures, government, and advocacy are all critical parts of supporting affordable housing development,” noted Cassidy Kraimer. The Stevenson Center will soon welcome Kraimer as a Fellow in political science.
“I decided to pursue graduate school because my work in education felt reactive, not proactive,” said Natasha Moodie. The Stevenson Center will soon welcome Moodie as an Applied Community and Economic Development Fellow in sociology.
