Kelly has been with the Leadership Development & Community Engagement team at Â鶹´«Ã½ since 2015. She is passionate about the intersection of education and social justice, and loves working with the team to develop opportunities for students to engage in transformative experiences that lead to lives committed to justice.
Prior to Â鶹´«Ã½, Kelly worked in Seattle University’s Center for Community Engagement and with social justice non-profits on the East Coast as an organizer, advocate, and educator. She holds a BA in English & Anthropology from the University of Notre Dame and an MA in Student Development Administration from Seattle University.
Kelly lives in Oak Park, where she serves as a Commissioner on Oak Park’s municipal Community Relations Commission to advance racial equity. A proud member of the LGBTQ+ community, Kelly enjoys going on adventures with her partner and kids. Her favorite hobbies are taking part in the Forest Park Casket Races, casual birdwatching, and rabble-rousing with fellow community members.
Daniella Feijoo
Assistant Director
Department/Campus Unit/Employer: Leadership Development & Community Engagement
Daniella Maria Feijoo (she/her) joined the Leadership Development & Community Engagement team in summer 2022. Daniella holds a BA in Politics and International Affairs and Spanish from Wake Forest University (‘19) and a M.S.Ed. from Indiana University Bloomington (‘22). Prior to Â鶹´«Ã½, Daniella served as the Graduate Advisor for Community Engagement in the Student Involvement and Leadership Center at Indiana University Bloomington and completed a practicum with the Indiana University School of Medicine’s Service Learning Team.
As a proud first-generation Latinx graduate, she is dedicated to supporting and mentoring historically underrepresented students through culturally relevant and culturally responsive programming, strategic planning, and services. Daniella is passionate about co-constructing and sustaining mutually beneficial partnerships with community organizations and creating critical service learning and civic engagement opportunities with students in their journey for a more socially-just campus and world.
Daniella is originally from Mundelein, Illinois and is looking forward to living close to her family and exploring the city. Daniella is an avid NPR and podcast listener, loves to read, attend sporting events, travel and try new food, and enjoys spending time with her family and dog at the lake.
Shelby Hatch
Weinberg Colledge Adviser and Associate Professor of Instruction
Shelby Hatch (she/her/hers) is a scientist focused on the intersections of chemistry, sustainability, and social justice. Shelby is a Weinberg College Adviser and an Associate Professor of Instruction in the Department of Chemistry. She has taught a variety of undergraduate chemistry courses - introductory lab classes, first year seminars, courses for non-scientists, and a capstone laboratory course for chemistry majors - plus firesides on the chemistry of beer & the chemistry of chocolate. Her research involves environmental justice and Youth Participatory Science, which centers and involves students in the entire research process, from creation of a hypothesis through disseminating results once data has been collected and analyzed. Since 2017, she has been a lead collaborator on a National Science Foundation grant Teachers and Students Synergistic Learning Through Youth. Shelby studies the distribution of heavy metal contamination in Chicago in relation to where low socio-economic status and communities of color are located. She enjoys teaching undergraduate chemistry courses that incorporate sustainability and environmental justice into the curriculum. Shelby is also very passionate about teaching in the Â鶹´«Ã½ Prison Education Program (NPEP). She developed a course and compiled an open educational resource textbook for her NPEP chemistry courses, has taught at Stateville Correctional Center, and looks forward to teaching at Logan Correctional Center in the fall of 2022. She received her BA from The College of Wooster and her PhD from The University of Rochester.
Hayley Kretchmer (she/her) is pleased to serve as an Assistant Director of Student Organizations & Activities at Â鶹´«Ã½! Hayley graduated from Ithaca College in May of 2019 with her Bachelor of Arts in Communication Studies. She was fortunate to first join the NU SOA team as a Graduate Assistant during the 2019-2020 academic year, and it was this experience that inspired her to pursue her M.S.Ed. in Higher Education and Student Affairs at Indiana University.
While at IU, Hayley served as the Graduate Assistant for Curriculum Development within Residential Programs and Services. She also served as a Hearing Officer for the Office of Student Conduct for three semesters. After graduating in May of 2022, Hayley became the Dean of Students (summer term) for a pre-college program hosted at Wellesley College before starting her role at NU.
Born and raised in Evanston, Hayley has always had a deep admiration for the Â鶹´«Ã½ community and is so glad to rejoin the team that launched her on this career path. When she’s not in the office, you can find Hayley in the audience of any musical, walking along the lakefill, driving the ski boat at camp, or traveling with friends to different cities across the globe. Her favorite color has always been purple…it’s meant to be!
Marita Labedz Poll
Sr. Academic Advisor and Lecturer
Department/Campus Unit/Employer: Industrial Engineering and Management Sciences
Strong background in educational leadership, with an Ed.D. from the University of Rochester and a Master of Science in Communication from Â鶹´«Ã½. Highly skilled at teaching, staff development, workshop facilitation, conflict resolution, and mentoring, I have earned multiple certifications and honors in these areas. I enjoy leading and nurturing teams, cultivating and managing relationships, and developing and implementing policies that foster a positive and inclusive academic culture.
I am of French background and speak fluently (Spanish haltingly). I was trained in the US and for graduate school in the UK. I have been a faculty member in anthropology since 1976; I have also been invited as a fellow in France and in Germany.
Zachary Nissen
Weinberg College Adviser
Department/Campus Unit/Employer: Assistant Professor of Instruction in Anthropology
Zachary Nissen (he/him/his) is a Weinberg College Adviser and Assistant Professor of Instruction in the Department of Anthropology. Dr. Nissen is trained as an Anthropological Archaeologist with a background in Gender and Sexuality Studies and a regional focus on the Maya of Central America. He received his BA in Anthropology from the University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign and then his MA and PhD in Anthropology from Â鶹´«Ã½. His research at the Ancient Maya city of Aventura, Belize has utilized archaeological investigations of ordinary people’s households to examine the relationship between inequality and urban longevity. In addition to this archaeological research, Dr. Nissen has co-organized community engagement events and worked with colleagues on the Aventura Archaeology Project to create inclusive, ethical, and collaborative research environments for students, scholars, and community stakeholders in Belize. In the classroom, Dr. Nissen takes an interdisciplinary and global approach to the study of cities, inequality, and issues pertaining to gender/sexuality throughout human history. Off campus, he can often be found with his husband and two dogs walking by the lake, reading historical fiction, or watching/discussing the most recent Drag Race episode with friends.
Susan Olson
Associate Dean for Undergraduate Education and Student Affairs
Department/Campus Unit/Employer: School of Education and Social Policy
As an academic advisor, I love talking with undergraduate students about the opportunity to study abroad. Â鶹´«Ã½ has so many amazing opportunities for students to engage in abroad. I am happy to talk with all who are interested in exploring this opportunity and how it can fit into an undergraduate plan.
Imagine if your body could jump-start the regeneration of diseased, injured, or missing tissue?
Daniel Hale Williams Professor Guillermo Ameer, DSc, works to apply regenerative engineering and nanotechnology to organ and tissue regeneration and wound healing.
Africa, Americas
Cameroon, Guatemala
International Student
Janka Pieper
Senior Director of Communications and Intercultural Learning
Department/Campus Unit/Employer: Office of the VP for International Relations
Janka joined Â鶹´«Ã½ in 2010, and has since been working in marketing and communications in the fields of international programming and relations. In her current role, Janka develops communication plans for global initiatives and internationalization efforts, drafts executive communications, and co-directs the Intercultural Learning Initiative, facilitating workshops and designing programming on cultural competency. She has written extensively about programs in Germany, France, Serbia, China, South Africa, Cuba, and Mexico. Before joining Â鶹´«Ã½, Janka was in charge of PR and Communications at the German American Chamber of Commerce in Chicago. Janka has a BA and MA in Communication with a focus on mass communication, international public relations and intercultural communication from Illinois State University. She also serves as Vice President of the Board of Directors at the DANK Haus German American Cultural Center in Chicago. Janka was born and raised in Germany.
Adam Wagner
Program Assistant 2
Department/Campus Unit/Employer: Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences, Anthropology
Contact Adam for undergraduate program questions, class permissions, and appointments with the Director of Undergraduate Studies. Adam also assists faculty with course management and scheduling. He has lived, worked, and studied in South Korea and Germany, and traveled to over 30 countries. He currently resides in Chicago with his wife and their two cats, Flan Julius and Skeeter Mesquite.
