ACE Fellows Program

Dr. Barrella brings her background in civil engineering and city planning to community-based contexts through partnerships with Boston Thurmond United, Mixxer, WSFCS, and Forsyth Country Day School. Dr. Barrella does research related to transportation access and the lived experience of the built environment in connection with the Spatial Justice Studio at Winston-Salem State University and has been leading an undergraduate student research team at Wake Forest that is collaborating with residents to use walking interviews as tools for neighborhood-led audits of accessibility and infrastructure.

Professor Erhardt comes to academia with extensive community-based experiences including serving as an Americorps VISTA and managing a state-wide VISTA Project for Wisconsin Campus Compact. At a previous institution, she co-created a writing workshop at Oakhill Correctional Institution. As a new faculty member at Wake Forest, Professor Erhardt brings this experience, as well as her experience as a resident of Winston-Salem to her writing classes. In 2019/20 Professor Erhardt’s classes will work with the Triad Branch of the North Carolina Diaper Bank.

Dr. Gellar-Goad teaches courses on Greek & Roman Comedy where students prepare performances that are given at the North Carolina Junior Classical League annual convention for middle and high schoolers studying classics. Dr. Gellar Goad helped to host this conference at Wake Forest this year and is interested in opportunities to broaden access to the classics.

Justin Green and Amber Kelsie serve as professors and as debate coaches for Wake Forest’s championship debate team. Through their leadership, Wake Debate has expanded it’s debate offerings for community members, offering public forum debates on important topics including the annual environmental debates at the Piedmont Earth Day Fair, a culmination of the environmental debate program, a partnership with Piedmont Environmental Alliance and public high schools in WSFC. Dr. Green and Professor Kelsie are developing an urban debate league that will support the growth of debate at public schools in WSFC.

Amber Kelsie and Justin Green serve as professors and as debate coaches for Wake Forest’s championship debate team. Through their leadership, Wake Debate has expanded it’s debate offerings for community members, offering public forum debates on important topics including the annual environmental debates at the Piedmont Earth Day Fair, a culmination of the environmental debate program, a partnership with Piedmont Environmental Alliance and public high schools in WSFC. Professor Kelsie and Dr. Green are developing an urban debate league that will support the growth of debate at public schools in WSFC.

Dr. Kirby-Straker has extensive experience doing community-based work in the public sector. Originally from St. Vincent & The Grenadines, Dr. Kirby-Straker worked for the fisheries department in her home country, developing cooperatives of fisher-people and doing environmental education. She has combined this experience with her expertise in public speaking to launch Wake Speaks, a campus and community public speaking resource center. Additionally, she has engaged students with organizations like Habitat Forsyth and Boston Thurmond United through her classes on listening. Dr. Kirby-Straker also co-chairs the Environmental Justice Knowledge Community with Marcus Hill. She is developing a community-engaged global learning summer course examining communication about sustainability with Dr. Ron Von Burg, Communication.

A new faculty member at Wake Forest, Dr. Mathis brings experiences in teaching service-learning and community-engaged courses from her previous institution. She has taught community-engaged writing courses at Wake Forest, working with partners including Experiment in Self-Reliance and Lead Girls of NC. Dr. Mathis is the vice-chair of the board at Lead Girls and is advising a student organization that partners with the organization.

Dr. Ramachandran directs the Religion and Public Engagement program in the Department for the Study of Religions which helps students connect their academic learning with community-based goals. Dr. Ramachandran is working to expand the program, increasing the number of community partners that RPE students work with, and grounding the program in social justice.

Drs. Sampson and Shaner co-lead Curating Brave Spaces in the School of Divinity, an opportunity for black and white women in ministry to build relationships across racial differences. They are working to expand the program in community and congregational spaces

Drs. Shaner and Sampson co-lead Curating Brave Spaces in the School of Divinity, an opportunity for black and white women in ministry to build relationships across racial differences. They are working to expand the program in community and congregational spaces.