2023 News

INGRID LUSTIG ATTENDS UN CLIMATE CHANGE CONFERENCE IN DUBAI

DECEMBER 22, 2023

We are proud of Ingrid Lustig (MDP 2025) for representing MDP at the annual United Nations Framework Convention for Climate Change Conference of Parties (COP), held in Dubai in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) in early December. Under the leadership of Environmental Sciences Professor Eri Saikawa, Emory University was granted observer status to the COP in 2015 and has sent Emory student delegations to each conference since then. Several MDP students have been included in these delegations, while MDP alums have represented agenciesthey now work for. At COP28, Ingrid participated in a side event on Youth Voices for Climate Action, contributing a perspective on the nexus of climate and gender justice, which she gained through service in refugee assistance and women empowerment initiatives in Asia, Africa, Europe, and the US. While in MDP, Ingrid has served with CARE's Climate Justice Center and the Carter Center's Human Rights program, and is now a graduate research assistant in the Hubert Department of Global Health, working with gender-based violence prevention programs. Photo shows Ingrid (right) with Prof. Saikawa at COP28.

SIDRA KHALID IS HONORED AS CHANGE LEADER AMONG EMORY ALUMS

DECEMBER 8, 2023

Sidra Khalid (MDP 2018) is among this year's 40 Under Forty Emory alums who are "architects of change" in their fields. Sidra is the 3rd MDP alum granted this award, following Joanna Galaris (2021) and Taylor Spicer (2022). Currently, Sidra works in her native Pakistan as Gender/Social Inclusion Researcher with the International Water Management Institute (IWMI), a leading global research center. In this role, Sidra spearheads the IWMI-Pakistan’s gender strategy, ensuring consideration of culturally sensitive issues like Menstrual Hygiene Management. In doing so, Sidra builds on her prior work with Save the Children during two MDP field practicums in Kyrgyzstan and as a consultant after graduation. Through these experiences, Sidra contributed to formative research and capacity building for an innovative gender curriculum to teach adolescents how social norms shape unequitable and harmful practices towards women. The resource has been adopted by Kyrgystan's public schools and adapted for other countries. Sidra's pioneering research is recognized beyond Emory: she and her IWMI colleague Najeeb Ullah were awarded the Transformative Research Challenge prize during the 2022 World Food Forum. Read LGS story here.

ERICA PHILLIPS (MDP 2025) PUBLISHES ARTICLE ON HUMAN TRAFFICKING

NOVEMBER 28, 2023

Kudos to Erica Phillips (MDP 2025) who co-authored a new article on human trafficking in Bangladesh in the interdisciplinary Journal of International Development. The study was led by Novametrics LLC, a US-based award-winning research and data analytics boutique consulting firm. The article analyzes open-source subnational data to identify contextual factors that reveal vulnerability to trafficking using a proprietary weak-signal analysis approach. In contrast to the conventional narrative that poverty is the main driver, the research team found that vulnerability rather correlates with moderate levels of income and education. Adherence to traditional gender norms of a patriarchal society and access to an urban center are also highlighted as predictors of vulnerability. This evidence makes a case for a more integrated approach to prevention and policy measures. Following her Peace Corps service in Cameroon, Erica worked with Novametrics as a Research and Data Development Manager, and then moved into her current position with the Carter Center's Rule of Law program. She is concurrently pursuing her MDP degree, having been awarded a Coverdell Fellowship for Returned Peace Corps Volunteers. Read the publication here.

CLAUDIA BROWN (CDC) CO-AUTHORS NEW NATIONAL CLIMATE ASSESSMENT

NOVEMBER 16, 2023

Claudia Langford Brown (MDP, 2014) co-authored the Chapter on the Southeast U.S. of the recently released 5th National Climate Assessment. Conducted by 300 experts and sponsored by 60 government agencies, this assessment is the most authoritative synthesis of scientific evidence on climate change impacts in the U.S. and informs federal policies across sectors and scales. Claudia came to MDP with a joint degree in anthropology and ecology from the University of Georgia and started interning with the CDC's Climate and Health Program during her 1st year in MDP. After graduation, she continued to work in the same unit, initially as ORISE Fellow, then in her current role as Health Scientist. Claudia is not new to the science and policy interface: while still an intern, she assisted CDC in contributing to the chapter on Emerging Risks of the 5th Assessment Report of the IPCC. Since joining CDC, Claudia has also co-authored several publications in top-ranked scientific journals, most recently an article on the health impacts of climate extreme events. Claudia’s journey illustrates the formative role of MDP practical learning experiences in shaping students’ careers and leadership. We are proud of you, Claudia!

CHAN WILLIAMS LEADS WORKSHOP AT PEACE CORPS NATIONAL CONFERENCE

OCTOBER 20, 2023

Chan Williams, MDP Assistant Director and Coverdell Fellowship Program Coordinator, attended the U.S. Peace Corps' 2023 University Coordinators Conference, held in Tacoma, WA in late September (she is shown in the picture with the Coverdell Coordinator from our peer MDP program at Regis University). The Paul D. Coverdell Fellowship supports Returned Peace Corps Volunteers' pursuit of graduate education in over 200 programs in 120 universities across the US. Emory MDP became a Coverdell partner in 2017, joining the Emory' Schools of Nursing and of Public Health. The theme for this year's conference was strengthening the Coverdell network and outreach strategy, particularly among underrepresented groups. Chan and her colleague from the School for International Training facilitated a workshop on best practices for creating an academic environment that enables experiential learning from diverse cultures. This week Chan is attending the Annual Diversity Abroad Conference in Chicago, IL, a forum for education professionals and stakeholders committed to advancing DEI in global education. We are proud of Chan's leadership on this front!

MDP DIRECTOR ATTENDS GLOBAL CLIMATE CHANGE ADAPTATION CONFERENCE

OCTOBER 6, 2023

Dr. Carla Roncoli was among 2,000+ participants from 120 countries who took part in the Adaptation Futures Conference, held in Montreal, Canada in early October 2023, the first in-person iteration since COVID19. Sponsored by the World Adaptation Science Programme, the Conference is the premier global event entirely focused on climate change adaptation and attended by top researchers, policymakers, practitioners, educators, media, and private sector. The program comprised 180 sessions, a mix of presentations, discussions, exhibits, and plenaries, with many prominently featuring leaders of Canada's First Nation and of Indigenous People worldwide. Dr. Roncoli, whose research focuses on climate adaptation among smallholder farmers in Africa, served as expert reviewer for session abstracts. She is shown in the photo with her collaborator Dr. Edmond Totin (World Vegetable Center), co-chair of the Conference's scientific committee and Coordinating Lead Author of the Africa chapter of the IPCC 6th Assessment Report, which Dr. Roncoli also contributed to.

BECKY YEBOAH AWARDED P.E.O. INTERNATIONAL PEACE SCHOLARSHIP

SEPTEMBER 26, 2023

We celebrate Rebecca (Becky) Yeboah (MDP 2024), recipient of an International Peace Scholarship for the 2023-24 academic year. The Philanthropic Educational Organization (P.E.O.) provides support to women from the Global South to pursue graduate studies in the U.S. to enable them to catalyze transformative change when they return to their own communities. Through her MDP studies, Becky plans to acquire tools and skills to apply to initiatives that integrate and promote human rights, gender justice and mental health in her native Ghana. During her 1st year in the program, Becky interned with CARE's Resource Mobilization Team and spent the summer working with CARE-Ghana on Gender-Based Violence (GBV) prevention and women's economic empowerment programs in cocoa farming communities. Prior to joining MDP, Becky obtained a B.A. in psychology from the flagship University of Ghana at Legon and then worked with non-profits that provide training and counseling for street children and young women who had suffered abuse or exploitation. We are proud of Becky's accomplishment and her commitment to gender justice!

MELISSA COBB WINS CRS INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT FELLOWSHIP

SEPTEMBER 14, 2023

Congratulations to Melissa Cobb (MDP 2022) on receiving a highly competitive International Development Fellowship by Catholic Relief Services (CRS). The 12-month professional development opportunity aims to build Fellows' skills in program design, management, partnernships, and systems and operations. One of a few chosen from nearly 4,000 who applied, Melissa will serve her Fellowship in Rwanda, with CRS's programs on agriculture, nutrition, early childhood development, and youth engagement. Melissa's MDP experience prepared her well for this role. While at Emory, she served as a research assistant with CARE's Women's Entrepreneurship program and with an Emory Global Health Institute interdisciplinary team working on public health in Costa Rica. During her 2022 summer practicum with Plan International in Sierra Leone, Melissa supported gender-transformative health and nutrition programming through qualitative research and stakeholder engagement. After obtaining her MDP degree with concentrations in Global Health and Gender Justice, Melissa worked as a consultant with the Pan American Health Organization on gender-based violence prevention. We wish Melissa the best in this new exciting phase of her journey!

MDP ONBOARDS A DYNAMIC AND DIVERSE CLASS OF 2025!

AUGUST 31, 2023

A warm welcome to the awesome Class of 2025 (shown in the photo minus two who joined us later)! The new cohort spans the globe, including citizens of Colombia, Ghana, Guinea, New Zealand, Nigeria, Uganda, and the U.S., and brings a variety of experiences, having worked with organizations like The Carter Center, Save the Children and Winrock International. Following the Laney Graduate School orientation on August 16, a two-day MDP orientation introduced students to the program's interdsciplinary approach, practical learning opportunities, and operational processes and platforms. The group visited the Global Growers Network urban farm serving Atlanta's vast refugee community and enjoyed a delicious lunch provided by the Refugee Women’s Network. Always a orientation highlight, the alumni panel, including Amelia Conrad (MDP 2016), Xin Li (MDP 2018), and Justin de Souza (MDP 2022), shared experiences in the program and professional pathways after graduation. The new cohort also met other alumni and the 2nd year students at the Welcome Reception hosted by Finca to Filter, a coffee-centered social enterprise owned by alumna Kayla Bellman (MDP 2018). We are thrilled to see our tight-knit Emory MDP community growing and thriving!

MDP ALUMNA WRITES ON KEY ROLE OF PLAY IN HUMANITARIAN ASSISTANCE

AUGUST 16, 2023

We are proud of Sam Friedlander (MDP 2018) who recently published an insightful opinion piece on Devex, the world's leading global development news platform with nearly a million of subscribers. The article distills lessons in working with humanitarian "champions" to promote early childhood learning through play. As Sr. Manager for Advocacy and Policy with the Sesame Workshop, Sam also lends her superb policy analysis and creative writing skills to the Play to Learn Consortium, a trailblazing multi-partner initiative aimed to help children affected by crisis move forward, grow, and thrive (see her Annual Report). Sam first learned about the Sesame Workshop while with MDP, as she interned with the International Rescue Committee to help address the Rohingya and Syrian refugee crises. While at Emory, Sam also conducted a summer field practicum with Partners in Health (PIH) in Haiti, which included drafting a keynote speech for the PIH Co-Executive Director. After her MDP graduation and prior to her current position, Sam was Sr. Policy Associate to the Executive Director of the Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab (J-PAL) a high-profile global policy research center at MIT. Read Sam's piece here.

ADRIENNE HINES FEATURED AS EMERGING LEADER FOR FOOD JUSTICE

JULY 31, 2023

Adrienne Hines (MDP ’23) is Growing Justice and recently published a compelling essay about her experiences. Adrienne joined MDP seeking to gain theoretical and analytical skills to address structural inequities. Through her engagement with the Business and Society Institute of the Goizueta Business School, Adrienne has worked with nonprofit and private entities to advance the economic mobility of underserved and marginalized communities. Mentored by MDP Associate Director, Dr Hilary King and award-winning change leader Sagdrina Jalal (Sage D Consulting and Community Farmer Markets), Adrienne brought together her passion for social justice and sustainability in a project aimed to improve market access and market experiences for consumers and farmers of color. In particular, Adrienne contributed to an anti-racist farmer market toolkit that provides a framework for engaging food vendors, city officials, and urban neighborhoods in more inclusive food markets. While at Emory, Adrienne has been an active EDGE ambassador (an initiative that promotes diversity and inclusion in graduate education). She is now poised to complete her MDP degree with concentrations in program management and corporate social responsibility. Read the article here.

DR. WOOMER PUBLISHES ON PROTECTED AREAS AND SOCIAL CONFLICT

JULY 16, 2023

Congratulations to MDP Visiting Faculty Dr Amanda Woomer, for her contribution to the recent publication on how Protected Areas can be managed to realize social and environmental dividends envisioned by the Sustainable Development Goals. The article is published in World Development Sustainability, a multi-disciplinary journal linked to the prestigious World Development. Building upon previous studies on the connections between intact ecosystems and social conflict, the co-authors analyzed data from a survey with Protected Areas managers across geographies. They find that inclusive engagement of stakeholders correlates with better conservation and conflict mitigation outcomes, but that managers often face resource barriers in ensuring such involvement. Besides teaching for MDP, Dr. Woomer is a consultant with Universalia, a Canadian firm that provides evaluation, strategic management, and capacity building services. An expert on the relationship between natural resource management, climate change, conflict sensitivity, and peace building, Dr. Woomer has previously worked in M&E leadership roles with MDP partner organizations the Carter Center, Habitat for Humanity International and the United Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR). We are grateful to Dr. Woomer for sharing her rich experience with our students!

MDP STUDENT AUTHORS POST ON DECOLONIZING GLOBAL HEALTH PUBLISHING

JUNE 30, 2023

Kudos to Chisomo Mwale (MDP 2024), who is speaking up in the global health research space! Chisomo’s experience in public health research in her home country of Zambia brought her to MDP, being attracted by the program's unique social justice orientation. As an assignment for a course on Managing Purpose Based Organizations, taught by Prof. Randy Martin, Chisomo interviewed the host of the Global Health Unfiltered! podcast. The ensuing conversation inspired Chisomo to write a blog post about an episode of the podcast in which Dr. Raoul Kamadjeu discusses the repeated rejections his manuscripts suffered from international health science journals, an experience common to Global South authors. To address this, Dr. Kamadjeu co-founded the open-access, electronic Pan African Medical Journal - which now counts subscribers from nearly 100 countries - to expand opportunities for those authors to publish their research on the specificities of African health challenges and systems. In her blog, Chisomo questions whether the best way to foster radical and lasting change is by creating alternative spaces - as in the case of this journal - or by building coalitions to dismantle entrenched barriers and structural inequities. Keep pushing the envelope, Chisomo!

BIANCA PATEL (MPD 2020) RECEIVES STANFORD UNIVERSITY DEI AWARD

JUNE 12, 2023

Bianca Patel (MDP 2020) continues to raise the bar with her work on environmental and social justice. Now serving as Assistant Director at the Precourt Institute of Energy of Stanford University Bianca was recently awarded Excellence in DEI Award by the Doerr School of Sustainability for her inclusive leadership of the Institute’ student engagement and energy education program. Award nominators praised Bianca’s ability to build bridges across campus and to engage diverse stakeholders into the uncomfortable conversations needed to drive transformative change. These are skills that Bianca strengthened during her MDP studies, including her practicum as a Climate Policy Analyst with the World Resources Institute in Mumbai, India and her research assistantship with two Gates-funded projects - RISE and MUSE - centered respectively on informal settlements and urban sanitation with an emphasis on gender empowerment. Uniquely formative was Bianca’s internship with the Nature Conservancy, for which she analyzed best practices for equitable citizens engagement in urban conservation, under the mentorship of alumna Myriam Dormer (MDP 2013), Deputy Director of the North America Cities Network. It is so rewarding to see MDP'ers building on their learnings to advance social justice in the settings where they work!

MDP CURRICULUM FEATURED AT EUROPEAN POSTCOLONIAL CONFERENCE

MAY 28, 2023

MDP Visiting Faculty Lorrie King contributed a paper entitled Entitled "Reimagining Postcolonial Classroom and Curricula Infrastructures" to the annual Association for Anglophone Postcolonial Studies (GAPS) conference, held at the University of Konstanz in Germany. The presentation draws on Ms King's experience in creating and teaching MDP courses on regenerative agriculture, decolonizing development, and organizational contexts of development practice. Recognizing that access to current academic structures confers privilege, Ms. King argues that such access must be used to disrupt social inequities. She likewise challenges the academic community to move from envisioning “decolonization” as an arrival point to embracing it as a continous process that demands a deliberate reimagining of the future. Drawing on her 30 year experience with humanitarian non-profits and advocacy coalitions, Ms. King has also co-taught a course on partnerships for the PhD program in Global Health and Development at the Rollins School of Public Health. In addition, she was a featured speaker and a co-organizer - with Josh Griffin (MDP 2021) - of a virtual roundtable series sponsored by the Carter Center on the theme "From Community Outrage to Grassroot Action". Kudos to Lorrie!

CLIMATE & COLLABORATION: MDP STUDENTS ATTEND CONFERENCE

MAY 18, 2023

Mayuri Makan and Maggie Bargouti (MDP 2024) and MDP Director Dr. Carla Roncoli participated in the 2023 Georgia Climate Conference held at the University of Georgia on May 15-17. The students had an opportunity to meet and learn from alumna Claudia Brown (MDP 2014), Acting Deputy Director of the Climate and Health program at the CDC, where she started as an intern during her first year in MDP. Organized by the Georgia Climate Project, the conference brings together community activists, government agencies, business representatives, non-profits, and researchers to develop equitable and sustainable solutions to climate change impacts across the diverse ecosystems and communities in the state. The program included cross-cutting themes, such agriculture, ecosystems, public health, law and policy, education, and journalism. A focus on rural Georgia and coastal communities reflected an intentional emphasis on equity and inclusion. The conference culminated with an inspiring plenary address by Mr. Nathaniel Smith, Chief Equity Officer of Partnership for Southern Equity and a member of the MDP Advisory Committee, stressing that coping with climate change means addressing social inequities and "reimagining a future where we can all thrive". Read more here.

MDP WINS BIG! STUDENT AND STAFF GET HONORED FOR EXCELLENCE

MAY 2, 2023

First year student Becky Yeboah (depicted here with Dean Kim Arriola) wins the Outstanding Master’ Student Award! Becky has shown exceptional commitment and has overcome daunting challenges to fulfill her dream of becoming a development professional to give back to her home country of Ghana, particularly in combating gender-based violence and inequities. MDP Assistant Director Chan Williams wins the 2023 Laney Graduate School (LGS) Outstanding Program Administrator Award (social science track)! The award is granted to university staff across the 40-some LGS programs who excel at leadership, collaboration, innovation, and creativity in student support. The LGS award series was started by Dean Arriola after she took the helm of LGS in 2022, and MDP has been strongly represented among the winners in both years. Last year, Darnesha Tabor won the Outstanding Master's Student Award and MDP Assc Director Dr. Hilary King won the Exemplary Mentor's Award. The winners were selected by an interdisciplinary panel of faculty, staff, and alumni from a large number of nominees. Congratulations Chan and Becky!!! Read more here.

CHAN WILLIAMS ATTENDS CIVIC ENGAGEMENT NETWORK MEETING

APRIL 15, 2023

MDP Assistant Director Chan Williams attended the 2023 TRUCEN Annual Meeting which took place at the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities. Established in 2008, The Research University Civic Engagement Network (TRUCEN) is a coalition of research universities committed to civic engagement and social responsibility. The program included keynote speeches, roundtables, group discussions, networking events, peer-to-peer mentoring and skill-building opportunities. This year's conference theme was leadership development. Chan and other participants conducted a site visit to the grounds where George Floyd was murdered and learned about research being done in partnership with Native American communities at the University of Minnesota. Chan represents MDP on the Emory Community and Civic Engagement Collaborative and serves as the primary liaison for the program’s partnership with community-based organizations in Atlanta where MDP students do practicums. Chan is the Coordinator for the MDP Coverdell Program for Returned Peace Corps Volunteers, which requires Fellows to do internships among underserved groups in the US. We are grateful for Chan’s leadership and commitment to bridging academia and community.

FIELD TO FILM: MDP PRACTICUM WORK SHOWCASED AT YOUTH FILM FESTIVAL

MARCH 30, 2023

Lamia Anwar Shama (MDP 2023) believes in the art of storytelling as a way to foreground the voices of the less privileged groups in society and advance their concerns in development programming. This vision grew out of Lamia's work as communication specialist with ACDI/VOCA in her native country of Bangladesh prior to joining MDP as well as current experience as a communication intern with the Task Force for Global Health. For her 2022 summer practicum, Lamia worked with Groundswell International. The non-profit partners with local NGOs in promoting agro-ecological approaches as foundations for sustainable and climate resilient livelihood systems. In Nepal, Lamia's local host organization was Boudha Bahanupati Project – Pariwar (BBP-Pariwar), which supports farmers, mainly women, from the socially excluded dalit community. Following a two-day workshop, Lamia elicited local young women's narratives about their roles in organizing, empowering, and transforming their communities. The stories were then composed into a film - including experiences of Groundswell partners in different countries - featured at the Field to Film: Youth Story Teller Film Festival. Watch Lamia's presentation and the Nepal section of the film (starting after 33 min) here.

MDP STUDENT VISITS CARE CLIMATE RESILIENCE PROJECT IN THE PHILIPPINES

MARCH 18, 2023

Wabei Saboi (MDP 2024) has been interning with CARE during this academic year and, recently, she had an opportunity to learn first-hand how CARE works with other global and local development actors to respond to the impacts of extreme climate while also building long-term resilience to climate change and other risks. Wabei travelled to the Philippines to participate in a regional meeting with partners involved in the RISE Coco project. After typhoon Odette ravaged the Philippines in December 2021, CARE joined forces with Cargill, the Philippine Coconut Authority and the local Cebubohol Relief and Rehabilitation Center to implement interventions in the affected communities. Centred on the hilly island region of Bohol, the project provided about 1,000 farmers with seedlings to re-establish their destroyed coconut farms. Since coconut trees take 3-5 years to yield fruit, farmers were also trained in climate-smart agriculture techniques, including crop diversification, to address their immediate livelihood needs. By diminishing their dependence on monoculture and facilitating the formation of marketing cooperatives, the project also increased farmers’ resilience to price fluctuations and their ability to get better prices for their crops. Read more about the project here.

ON INTERNATIONAL WOMEN'S DAY, A FOND FAREWELL TO REBECA QUINTANA

MARCH 8, 2023

Rebeca Quintana has always been an ardent feminist, so it is fitting that we honor her on International Women’s Day. Recently, students, colleagues, friends, and family gathered to celebrate Rebeca, who retired after 25 years with Emory University. Rebeca served as MDP Program Manager and played a key role in the program's growth and success from 2010 through 2022. During the farewell reception, two current students – Becky Yeboah and Ricky Djo – paid tribute to Rebeca’s unfailing support of MDP’s international students, with whom she shares the experience of having come to the US from a different country. Rebeca was typically the first voice and face that students encountered during admissions and onboarding. Her door was always open to any MDPeer who needed assistance, a sympathetic ear, or just a chance to visit and de-stress. Rebeca is pictured here wearing an Ikat, a traditional textile gifted to her by Indonesian students Ricky Djo and Robertus Rioputra. She was very touched sharing that it reminds her of the rebozos her mother used during Rebeca's childhood in Mexico City. Rebeca also received a forty-page MDP memory book, containing pictures taken over the years and grateful messages from students and colleagues.

CELEBRATING A DEAR FRIEND OF EMORY MDP: PRESIDENT CARTER

FEBRUARY 28, 2023

We celebrate the life and legacy of President Jimmy Carter (pictured here with MDP Director, Dr. Carla Roncoli). With great courage and integrity, President Carter ushered in a new politics, which places moral values above donors' and voters' favor. He provided us with a shining example of how to use one’s privileges and influence to make the heal and help others and to promote peace and justice around the world. MDP students and alumni have followed in President Carter’s footsteps in their service and commitment to a vision of democracy, human rights, mental health, and wellbeing for all. We are deeply grateful for The Carter Center’s impactful work and long-term partnership with Emory and the MDP program. We especially appreciate the countless opportunities TCC has offered our students and alumni to practice equitable and sustainable development approaches across multiple sectors and countries, including the recent U.S. elections. We stand in solidarity with the TCC leadership and staff and with President Carter’s family during this time of transition from a life well lived to eternal light and love. See wellwishes kudoboard here.

MDP STUDENTS LEAD SESSION AT GEORGIA ORGANICS CONFERENCE

FEBRUARY 18, 2023

MDP students Seng Aung Sein Myint (MDP 2024) and Tsedenya Bizani (MDP 2023) attended the Georgia Organic Conference in Perry, GA. The conference was organized by Georgia Organics, a non-profit that promotes organic farming as a means to heal communities and land. Seng and Tsedenya serve as Research Assistants on two USDA-funded research projects led by MDP Associate Director, Dr. Hilary King. This conference offered opportunities for students to engage with food policy advocates, organic farmers, and service organization representatives. Farmers markets are important outlets for small-scale and sustainable farmers, but little is known about their impacts on vendors’ economic viability and quality of life. At the conference, the team led a participatory session to explore these issues. “This conference provided me with a humble understanding of the hard work of organic farmers, and their dedication to environmental sustainability, especially their respect for the soil and the food system.” says Tsedenya. The students also visited Woape Farm and Rag and Frass Farm to gain knowledge of the lived experience of Georgia’s small-scale farmers (photo by J. Mobley).

DR. HILARY KING COMPLETES ENVIRONMENTAL LEADERSHIP TRAINING

JANUARY 26, 2023

Congratulations to MDP Associate Director Dr. Hilary King, who graduated from the Institute for Georgia Environmental Leadership (IGEL), a highly selective experiential program dedicated to growing a diverse network of environmentally-educated leaders. MDP Instructor Dr. Amanda Woomer also completed the training in 2021. Over the last 20 years, IGEL has equipped more than 600 leaders from a wide range of fields with the advanced skills and social networks necessary to address Georgia’s current and future environmental challenges. During week-long intensives held over a period of nine months, Dr. King's cohort traveled across the state, from Amicalola State Park in north Georgia to the barrier island of Sapelo to Albany in the southwest. They learned about innovative practices in the built environment, collaborative efforts around carbon emissions reductions, and difficult conversations around equity in sustainability work. These learnings will enrich classroom teaching with case studies of sustainable development occurring in the US, while the connections fostered by these experiences will provide MDP students with new internship opportunities within non-profits, private companies, and government agencies working in environmental spaces.

TWO NEW STAFF BRING ENERGIES AND TALENTS TO TEAM MDP

JANUARY 10, 2023

The new year starts in the best way possible for MDP, with two new staff joining the team, following the retirement of our long-term Program Manager Rebeca Quintana. While she will be sorely missed, Rebeca's departure provided an opportunity to examine and reorganize our teamwork to improve efficiencies. We have been extremely fortunate to recruit two new uniquely talented staff who have hit the ground running and already proved to be huge assets to Team MDP. Assistant Program Coordinator Tykera Goins is an honors graduate from Valdosta State University with experience in non-profit management. She started four months ago, moving from Emory Healthcare to Emory University to help the team with student affairs and outreach. Originally from Jamaica, Administrative Assistant Marsha Jones will take over most of Rebeca's management functions, drawing on her considerable experience in university administration. We are grateful for the positive energy, creativity, competence, and dedication to the students and the program Tykera and Marsha have already demonstrated in their short time on Team MDP!