C&S Names 35 Faculty Fellows Advancing Civic Learning Across Higher Education

PRINCETON, N.J., August 6, 2026—C&S today announced its second cohort of Faculty Fellows: 35 educators from 27 colleges and universities who are helping students build the skills to participate, work across differences, and solve problems together.

The Fellows represent disciplines ranging from physical therapy, business, and economics to psychology, environmental studies, criminal justice, philosophy, and communication. Through C&S’s Faculty Institute, each educator developed and tested new ways to incorporate civic learning into courses, faculty development, first-year programs, and broader campus initiatives.

The Faculty Institute is an offering of C&S’s College Presidents for Civic Preparedness, a national coalition of more than 140 college and university presidents representing more than 1 million students. Coalition members are working to make civic preparation a defining part of the college experience by helping students have productive conversations, use credible information, and collaborating to create solutions. Through the Faculty Institute, educators receive sustained support to bring those skills into courses, faculty development, first-year programs, and broader campus initiatives.

With the addition of the 2026 cohort, the national network now includes 72 Faculty Fellows.

“Faculty have an extraordinary opportunity to help students practice the skills they will need in their careers, communities, and civic lives,” said Rajiv Vinnakota, president of C&S. “These Fellows are showing that civic preparation does not belong to one department or one type of institution. It can be built into every field and become part of every student’s college experience. We’re grateful to the Fellows and their campus leaders for their partnership.”

Across the cohort, Fellows introduced structured listening exercises, co-created classroom agreements, assignments that require students to examine competing perspectives, and opportunities to work collaboratively through complex questions.

Their projects include:

• Chantil Wright-Galloway of Benedict College redesigned two business courses and developed civic-engagement service-learning coursework. She now begins each course with a set of agreements created with her students. The change, she said, shifted the classroom “from passive consumption to active engagement” and made students more willing to voice “unpopular or unfinished ideas.”
• Kristjen Lundberg of the University of Richmond incorporated civic learning into an introductory psychology course that serves students across majors. Students practiced curiosity, skepticism, and humility in small groups—habits Lundberg describes as “good practices for scientists” and “good practices for citizens.” She observed students becoming more willing to seek out and value alternative perspectives.
• Lisa Rafanelli of Manhattanville University helped redesign the university’s required first-year seminar, which reaches every incoming undergraduate. Beginning in fall 2026, activities focused on listening, dialogue across differences, critical thinking, and collaborative problem-solving will become a permanent part of the curriculum.
• Rachel Lloyd of Augsburg University led faculty development efforts that brought civic learning practices into courses across the institution. She also added sample classroom discussion norms to Augsburg’s campuswide syllabus template.
• Nurcan Atalan Helicke of Skidmore College designed faculty workshops that brought together professors from the humanities, social sciences, natural sciences, and pre-professional programs to explore how they could engage complex and controversial issues in their classrooms.
• Samantha Bennett of Muskingum University redesigned an ethical decision-making course in criminal justice so that students practiced dialogue throughout the semester rather than encountering it through a single assignment. Students were encouraged to understand their classmates’ reasoning before defending their own positions.

For Ryan Rudderham, an economics professor at DePauw University, the Faculty Institute provided both practical strategies and the confidence to create a new course on contemporary economic problems.

“I would not have had the courage to teach this class without the Faculty Institute,” Rudderham said. “The lessons I learned from the program made me a better teacher and a better listener.”

The projects developed by this year’s Fellows demonstrate that civic preparation can take many forms. It can mean helping physical therapy students practice active listening, asking economics students to distinguish evidence from opinion, preparing future social workers to facilitate difficult conversations, or giving first-year students the tools to communicate across differences.

Together, the Fellows are creating more opportunities for students to practice the habits that productive classrooms, workplaces, communities, and democracies require.

For more on the Faculty Institute, visit https://cands.org/faculty-institute/

Meet the 2026 Faculty Fellows

• Marina Astakhova, Associate Professor of Management and Director of the Robins Sustainability Initiative, University of Richmond
• Nurcan Atalan Helicke, Associate Professor of Environmental Studies and Sciences, Skidmore College
• Samantha Bennett, Associate Professor of Criminal Justice, Muskingum University
• Jason Combs, Principal Lecturer in Communication and Coordinator of the Dialogue Zone, University of Dayton
• Melissa Conroy, Chair of Religion and Philosophy and Professor of Religion, Muskingum University
• Philip Dalton, Professor and Director of the Center for Civic Engagement, Hofstra University
• Alexander “Alex” Dent, Professor of Anthropology and International Affairs, George Washington University
• Shaneen Dials-Corujo, Associate Professor of Psychology and Director of the Honors Program, Benedict College
• Patricia “Patty” Dinneen, Retired Director of Faculty Development, George Washington University
• Stacey Doan, Associate Professor of Psychological Science and Director of the Berger Institute, Claremont McKenna College
• Donna Drumm, Assistant Professor and Program Director of Legal Studies, Mercy University
• Erika Dyson, Willard W. Keith Jr. Fellow in the Humanities and Associate Professor of Religious Studies, Harvey Mudd College
• Chelsea Ebin, Assistant Professor of Political Science and International Relations, Drew University
• Philipp Gollner, Professor of U.S. History, Goshen College
• William Harrison, Associate Professor of Political Science, Fairmont State University
• Sherry Kao, Associate Teaching Professor of Philosophy, Georgetown University
• Rachel Lloyd, Associate Professor of Education, Augsburg University
• Kristjen Lundberg, Associate Professor of Psychology, University of Richmond
• Alyx Mark, Assistant Professor of Government, Wesleyan University
• Calum Matheson, Associate Professor and Chair of the Department of Communication, University of Pittsburgh
• Kathryn Pearson, Associate Professor of American Politics, University of Minnesota
• Lisa Rafanelli, Assistant Dean of the School of Arts and Sciences, Manhattanville University
• David Rain, Associate Professor of Geography and International Affairs and Chair of the Department of Geography, George Washington University
• Ryan Rudderham, Assistant Professor of Economics and Management and Co-Director of the Asher Office of Undergraduate Research, DePauw University
• Jonathan Sciarcon, Associate Professor and Chair of History, University of Denver
• Adrienne Simonds, Assistant Professor of Physical Therapy, Rutgers University
• Margaret Sloan, Director of the School of Strategic Leadership Studies and Madison Center Faculty Fellow, James Madison University
• Kevin Tan, Associate Dean of Engagement and Associate Professor of Social Work, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
• Seth Tannenbaum, Associate Professor of Sport Studies, Manhattanville University
• Kade Thurman, Instructor and Coordinator of Sociology and Anthropology, Hudson County Community College
• Brad van Eeden-Moorefield, Professor of Family Science and Human Development, Montclair State University
• Emily Van Duyn, Associate Professor of Communication, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
• Alessandra Von Burg, Associate Professor of Communication and Affiliate Faculty in American Ethnic Studies, Wake Forest University
• Jeremy Weber, Associate Professor of Environmental and Energy Economics, University of Pittsburgh
• Chantil Wright-Galloway, Assistant Professor of Business Administration, Benedict College

About C&S

Founded in 1945 as the Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation, C&S (cands.org) sparks young people to help build a strong and thriving America. Guided by the Power of &, C&S is grounded in a simple belief: young people with ideas—not institutions with ideologies—make our country stronger. We meet young people where they are—on campuses, at work, and in their communities—creating clear pathways for discovery, collaboration, and fresh civic solutions. Across all our work, C&S helps young people practice three essential civic skills: having productive conversations; using credible information; and collaborating to create solutions. Learn more at cands.org.

Media Contact

Zach Coville Carney
Brodeur Partners for C&S
zcarney@brodeur.com