Antioch University PhD in Leadership and Change student, Froswa’ Booker-Drew was recently honored with a 2012 Outstanding African-American Alumni Award from the University of Texas Arlington African-American Alumni Chapter for her extensive experience in leadership development, nonprofit management, and social services.

Click here to learn more about Booker-Drew and her work.

The PhD in Leadership and Change program congratulates alumni, Dr. Nicole Roades, for her recent promotion to Vice President of Institutional Advancement for Southern State Community College.

Dr. Roades specializes in organizational communications, strategic planning, branding and identity, facilitation, planning, appreciative inquiry, corporate training, data analysis, conflict resolution, leadership, and change processes.

Find details in regards to her doctoral research here!

2011 AEA past participants have until February 17th to submit five high resolution photos to AEA Asst. Director, Luisa Bieri:  lbieri@antioch.edu

The prize?  Gift certificates to online bookstores!  Check out the 2010 winners—

WINNER – Portrayal of Host Culture category
“Konsigi Don (Hair Dance)”  Pauline Abrons, Arts and Culture in Mali, Oberlin College

Her feet begin to drum to the beat: a big step here, two small steps; a big step there, two small steps. Her headscarf slips a little. She quickens the pace, the jembe and dunun following her lead. The big steps grow into a jumps; her dreadlocks thrust off their fetters and dance too, accenting Mba’s movements.

WINNER- Student Engaged in Culture/Learning category
“Night Class” Lucy Woodward, Brazilian Ecosystems, Prescott College

While in the Pantanal, Brazil’s famous wetlands we studied herps (reptiles and amphibians) diversity. This included many night walks with only head lamps to see by. Here the group discusses a captured frog.

WINNER – Scenery category
“Flag Running”  Joshua Swenson, Buddhist Studies in India, Northwestern University

An Antioch student runs prayer flags from one pole to the other on top of a mountain near Bodh Gaya.

WINNER – Technical/Artistic Quality category
“Cinquantenaire”   Joseph Edgar, Arts and Culture in Mali, University of Pittsburgh

That Mali celebrated its 50th year of independence from the French was an interesting backdrop to the Antioch program in 2010. Though Mali has come far since it has taken up the mantles of independence and democracy, it still has much work in the realms of equality among the genders. Women continue to fulfill a traditional role.

She also received a Master of Divinity degree from Earlham College in Richmond, Indiana and MA in Sociology from Ball State University in Muncie, IN. She concurrently trained as a Chaplain at Indiana University Medical Center and earned an STM degree in Pastoral Counseling at Christian Theological School (CTS).

Dr. Jane Brown (left) confers with a prospective student interested in the innovative AUM Healthcare Advocacy Program.

Dr. Brown’s career spans academic, healthcare, pastoral and social work fields. Since 1996, she has been a faculty member at Antioch University Midwest, formerly Antioch University McGregor, in which she was Director the Weekend College, Chair of the Human Development, Human Services Administration and Health and Wellness programs.

Previously, Dr. Brown was Director of Pastoral Care at the Jeanes Quaker Hospital in Philadelphia, PA. She is a recorded Quaker minister. Her social work experience includes serving as a counselor at Miami Valley Hospital in Dayton, OH, a counselor for inner city youth in Indianapolis, IN and hospice chaplain at Reid Hospital in Richmond, IN. In what Jane calls her first life, she raised three sons and was head of the math department at Richmond Senior High School.

Dr. Brown is also co-founder of SOWELO, an end-of-life support service, in Yellow Springs, OH.

On February 15, she presented “Dying as a Stage of Life: Living into Death” sponsored by the Dayton Area Agency on Aging.

She contributed the article “Where Two or Three are Gathered” in Out of the Silence:
Quaker Perspectives on Pastoral Care and Counseling edited by J. Bill Ratliff.

Dr. Morgan Roberts, PhD in Leadership and Change program Professor of Psychology, Culture and Organization Studies, shares her research on bringing your best self to life!

PhD in Leadership and Change student, Sherman Morrison has accepted the position of Executive Director of the Graduation Pledge Alliance, an organization that helps college students consider the social and environmental impacts of post-college employment.

To learn more visit:

http://www.graduationpledge.org/

Antioch University Seattle’s M.A. in Psychology with Drama Therapy concentration is on track to become one of only four such programs in North America. The new program strengthens the therapeutic options that psychology students have as clinicians. AUS launched the new specialization in the fall of 2009 with nine students all working toward an M.A. degree in Psychology. The students are seeking a dual specialization either in Drama Therapy with a Mental Health Counseling (MHC) or Drama Therapy with Couple and Family Therapy (MFT). Drama Therapy, like the AUS Art Therapy concentration, is an expressive therapy that clinicians can use to help clients achieve emotional and physical integration, personal growth and symptom relief. The curriculum at AUS can include improvisation, puppetry, role-playing, mask work, theatrical production, psychodrama and even community-based theatre. Currently, there are 17 Drama Therapy students spread among three cohorts.

In 2011, Bobbi Kidder, M.A., RDT, BCT, became the new leader of the Drama Therapy program at AUS. Kidder became a Registered Drama Therapist in 1984. She has been a member of the NADT board of directors and currently serves on the board of the Drama Therapy Fund. Before coming to Seattle, Bobbi was an instructor at Rogue Community College and was founder/ Executive Director of Southern Oregon Impact Theatre where she integrated drama therapy into community outreach as well as heading several international projects, and writing ImaginAction, a collection of theatre games with a therapeutic focus. In 2011, she received the David West Seventh Generation Diversity Award for her work.

“For me, working at Antioch with caring professionals and vibrant students brings a sense of creative momentum to this important work,” says Kidder. She remembers being introduced to Drama Therapy and realizing that “it holds a wide embrace. Drama Therapy is inclusive and acknowledges that in every occupation, every concern, every tragedy, there is potential grist for learning.“

After the first cohort of students graduate, AUS will begin the approval process for the program from the National Association of Drama Therapy. Drama Therapy is a three-year curriculum leading to licensing in MHC or MFT as well as registration as a drama therapist with this dual specialization. Graduates will have the skills they need to work in a variety of settings including hospitals, schools, community centers, prisons and private practice. These are also the settings in which AUS students will serve internships that will last a minimum of four quarters.

A few examples of ways that Drama Therapy students intend to apply their training include Johannys Acevdedo, an international student from Puerto Rico, who hopes to work in Uganda with “child soldiers”; Christina Berger, who is interested in working with anorexic teenagers; Maureen Sullivan, who as a volunteer at Seattle Children’s Hospital hopes to work with children who are cancer patients; Christi Proffitt intends to incorporate drama therapy into business communities to foster better communication and more openness, and Maggie Yowell continues to gain skill in the practice of Psychodrama.

Commenting on his direction in drama therapy, Wilder Nutting-Heath says, “Because of Antioch’s Drama Therapy program, I am able use my training to educate and counsel men on issues of intimacy and masculinity through the lens of drama therapy. Antioch has been very supportive in cultivating my specific interests, as well as providing me with the necessary training and skills to be competitive in the counseling field. I have now found my voice as a writer, artist, and counseling professional.”

Drama Therapy student Lashon Watson is currently involved in his MA internship. Reflecting on how his Antioch education has prepared him for a career, he said, “The M.A. in Psychology – Drama Therapy with Mental Health Counseling at Antioch University awakened my aspirations to integrate creative arts and psychology into my future endeavors.”

Plans are underway to utilize seed money from a Chancellor’s grant to celebrate the creative arts and share this message among the five campuses. The Drama Therapy students and faculty will be instrumental in bringing that program together this spring. “We hope this will be among the traditions we continue to offer the wider community,“ says Kidder.

She is an APA Fellow and past-editor (2004-2011) of the Journal of Multicultural Counseling and Development. Her recent co-authored books are: “Theories and Strategies of Counseling and Psychotherapy: Relevance across Cultures and Settings” (2012); Spanish translation of “Multicultural Counseling Competencies” (2007); and “Handbook of Social Justice in Counseling Psychology” (2006).

She holds a Doctorate in educational psychology with emphasis in counseling psychology, two other graduate degrees and two bachelor’s degrees. Professor Roysircar-Sodowsky teaches the following courses in the department of Clinical Psychology at Antioch University New England:

• Dissertation Supervision
• Doctoral Research Seminar, I, II and III
• Tests and Measurements in Psychology
• MMPI-2, PAI, and MCMI-III (objective personality measures)
• Human Diversity and the Clinical Enterprise

In the classroom, Professor Roysircar-Sodowsky uses an ecological perspective in psychology that includes the exosystemic influences of laws, policies, allocations and access on the wellbeing and psychology of individuals, families and social groups; as well as the macrosystmic influences of a society’s cultural values, political ideology and mores on people’s identities, interactions, and relationships.

She believes that this framework allows a discussion of the sociopolitical issues of race, ethnicity, immigration, class, social capital, sex and gender identity that marginalize social groups and their members among students. While there is a national history to socially constructed views, she raises her classroom’s awareness of their current political formulations and operationalization, such as “postracial” United States.

Acting out Antioch University’s values of volunteerism and community support, Professor Roysircar-Dosowsky endorses The Support Group for Ethnic and Racial Diversity by having students complete and submit quantitative and qualitative program evaluations for organizing the local Day of Service for the Martin Luther King/Jonathan Daniels Day. Students and the program have received funding yearly from Campus Compact of New Hampshire to organize the event, as well as receiving coverage on the front page of the Keene Sentinel.

Students also have the opportunity to work with the Disaster Shakti program. Here students do ongoing self-assessment of their disaster outreach efforts nationally and internationally. The findings of Disaster Shakti’s ongoing research have been reported in dissertations, journal publications, book chapters and presentations at national conferences. Currently, data is being collected from responders nationally on a Disaster Response Competencies Questionnaire.

An immigrant from India, Gargi has lived in the United States for 32 years, first as a “green card holder” and then as a naturalized citizen. Her extended family now has three distinct immigrant generations, so she is familiar with adapting to different worldviews within  generational systems. She is a Hindu, a woman, a feminist and a bilingual in English and her native language, Bengali. However, she is familiar with other languages like Hindi, Marathi and French, but not proficient in them.

“My practice in the United States and internationally is essentially cross-cultural because my individual clients, group clients, consumers, or psychology trainees have heritages different from mine. My professional work is as diverse as I am,” Gargi said.

For more information, contact Gargi by email at: groysircar@antioch.edu.

Our new curriculum includes a course examining the challenges of cultural plurality in Europe, and its relationship with Islamic communities that are redefining political landscapes in Europe and beyond. In fact, activist leaders in the vanguard of Poland’s democratic transition two decades ago, which has been frequently hailed as a model for today’s North Africa, are engaging as advisors—who will be guest lecturers on our program—working with new transitional government leaders. In addition, we’re adding a History course on Europe and Islam from times before the Ottoman Empire to Turkey’s candidacy to the European Union.

As in previous years, the program will examine issues of identity and social stratification of ethnic minorities, class structures, and gender roles in Poland, Germany, and Turkey. Our students will also continue to conduct independent research projects on a topic of their choice.

We are moving the program to the fall semester to respond to student interest and more easily adapt to differing academic calendars of many of our partner institutions. Not to mention, the mild climate of early fall in Central Europe is much more enjoyable than arriving in the winter!

The program deadline for fall of 2012 is March 30th. Visit the Europe and Islam: Cultures & Communities application page on our website for more details on how to apply.

Please don’t hesitate to contact us with questions, or for more information.

Program alumna, Dr. Iva Vurdelja, has joined Requisite Development as managing partner.

Learn more about Dr. Vurdelja and her wonderful work:

http://www.requisite-development.com/who-are-we/

Dr. Vurdelja’s doctoral thesis can be read here:

How Leaders Think: Measuring Cognitive Complexity in Leading Organizational Change

http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view.cgi?acc_num=antioch1309564744