A Luncheon to Launch the Academic Year
August 16, 2026
Amplifying Access Directions & Parking
August 21, 2026Dr. Samia Abdelnabi
Clinical Assistant Professor, Nurse Midwife, and Family Nurse Practitioner, School of Nursing
Dr. Samia Abdelnabi is a nurse scientist and nurse-midwife whose work focuses on advancing reproductive and sexual health and improving quality of life among women from Southwest Asian and North African and Muslim communities. Her research examines the social, cultural, and religious factors shaping reproductive and sexual-health knowledge, experiences, treatment decisions, and access to care.
Her work aims to develop culturally responsive programs that promote health education, increase access to care, and improve outcomes for women and families in historically underserved communities.
Paul Barrow
Foundations & Grants and Economics Librarian, University of Michigan Library
Paul Barrow is the University of Michigan Library’s Foundations & Grants and Economics Librarian. He works with campus stakeholders and community organizations to identify funding opportunities. He also serves as liaison to the Department of Economics, supporting academic research, financial-resource discovery, and information management.
Brandi Berg
Research Administrator Lead, LSA
Brandi Berg is a Research Administrator Lead in LSA, supporting faculty and research teams through the administration of sponsored projects. Her work includes assisting with proposals, budgets, compliance requirements, and post-award activities to help ensure that research projects are managed effectively from development through award management.
Dr. John C. Burkhardt
Clinical Professor Emeritus of Education, Marsal Family School of Education; Founding Director, National Forum on Higher Education for the Public Good, University of Michigan
Dr. John Burkhardt is a clinical professor emeritus of education at the University of Michigan and the founding director of the National Forum on Higher Education for the Public Good. A former program director for leadership and higher education at the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, his research and leadership work focus on institutional leadership development, policy analytic skills, and equity in higher education.
Dr. Michelle Campbell
Assistant Director, Research Development
Dr. Michelle Campbell’s work focuses on creating strategic alliances across institutional and disciplinary boundaries. Her experience includes connecting K–12 educators and researchers, guiding faculty through research-grant proposal development, building coalitions, and co-leading culture-change initiatives. Her work emphasizes collaboration as a strategy for accelerating impactful research and creating lasting institutional change.
Dr. Sara Jo Cohen
Editorial Director and Senior Acquiring Editor, University of Michigan Press
Dr. Sara Jo Cohen leads the acquisitions team at University of Michigan Press and handles the acquisitions in theater, performance studies, music, and dance.
Dr. Henry Dyson
Director, Faculty Honorifics Office, Office of the Vice President for Research
Dr. Henry Dyson is the founding director of the Faculty Honorifics Office in the University of Michigan Office of the Vice President for Research. He leads university-wide efforts to increase external recognition for U-M faculty through prestigious awards, prizes, fellowships, and elected society and academy memberships. His work combines strategic intelligence, faculty development, institutional benchmarking, and nomination strategy.
Before launching the Faculty Honorifics Office, Dyson served as the founding director of U-M’s Office of National Scholarships and Fellowships, where he built a campus-wide advising infrastructure for students applying for nationally competitive scholarships. Across both roles, he has specialized in helping scholars translate excellence into compelling external-facing narratives.
Jackie Freeman
Informationist, Taubman Health Sciences Library
Jackie Freeman is an Informationist at the Taubman Health Sciences Library. She works with faculty, clinicians, researchers, and learners in the Medical School, School of Kinesiology, Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Division of Geriatric and Palliative Medicine, and Division of Rheumatology. She is a member of the Library’s Grants Triage team, providing consultations, presentations, and resource curation.
Neel Hajra
Chief Executive Officer, Michigan Health Endowment Fund
Neel Hajra is the chief executive officer of the Michigan Health Endowment Fund. Prior to joining the Health Fund in 2021, he served as president and CEO of the Ann Arbor Area Community Foundation (AAACF) and CEO of Nonprofit Enterprise at Work (NEW). He earned his J.D. from the University of Michigan Law School and began his career as a corporate attorney at Ford Motor Company. He has taught at U-M's Ford School of Public Policy and served on boards including the Council of Michigan Foundations and Grantmakers for Effective Organizations.
Dr. Savannah Hall
Program Director of Faculty Research Development, Institute for Research on Women and Gender
Dr. Savannah Hall is a communications and research-development professional with more than 15 years of experience in higher education. She has supported faculty across public health, nursing, medicine, social sciences, humanities, business, and engineering. In a previous role as a grants consultant at Michigan Engineering, she helped faculty secure more than $23 million in federal research funding.
She serves as Program Director for Faculty Research Development with the Institute for Research on Women & Gender and the Office of the Vice President for Research. She also holds a separate appointment as an Intermittent Lecturer in Communication at the Ross School of Business. Dr. Hall earned her Ph.D. in English from Indiana University.
Dr. Florence Johnson
Assistant Professor, School of Nursing
Dr. Florence Johnson is an Assistant Professor at the University of Michigan School of Nursing and a nurse scientist dedicated to improving the well-being of family caregivers. Her research examines caregiving, mental health, and health equity, with particular attention to Black family caregivers of people living with dementia.
She studies how social determinants of health, systemic inequities, and barriers to community-based services shape caregiver outcomes and mental-health disparities. Guided by community-based participatory research principles, she works with caregivers, community organizations, and service providers to develop culturally responsive interventions, strengthen caregiver resilience, and improve access to support services.
Lin Li
Research Development Officer, Office of the Vice President for Research
Lin Li joined the Office of the Vice President for Research in 2024 as a Research Development Officer on the Bold Challenges team. She supports interdisciplinary teams developing competitive proposals for large-scale funding opportunities. Previously, she was a postdoctoral researcher in the Department of Informatics at the University of California, Irvine, where she led interdisciplinary projects supported by the Mellon Foundation and National Science Foundation. She holds a Ph.D. in Information and Media from Michigan State University and an M.A. in Journalism and Communication from Tsinghua University.
Luis Maldonado
Vice President of Government Relations and Policy Analysis, American Association of State Colleges and Universities (AASCU)
Luis Maldonado serves as vice president for government relations and policy analysis at the American Association of State Colleges and Universities (AASCU). Bringing over 25 years of experience in higher education policy and government advocacy, he oversees federal policy initiatives and acts as a primary liaison to federal officials on behalf of state colleges and universities.
Caitlin McEvilly Rosenbach
Director, Healthy Kids, Michigan Health Endowment Fund
Caitlin McEvilly Rosenbach is the director of Healthy Kids at the Michigan Health Endowment Fund, where she leads grantmaking and programmatic strategies focused on improving child health, nutrition, and overall well-being across Michigan.
Dr. Elizabeth Birr Moje
Dean, George Herbert Mead Collegiate Professor of Education, Marsal Family School of Education, University of Michigan; Trustee, W.T. Grant Foundation
Dr. Elizabeth Birr Moje is the dean and George Herbert Mead Collegiate Professor of Education at the University of Michigan’s Marsal Family School of Education. Her research examines young people's literacy learning, identity, and cultural background in community and school settings. She also serves as a trustee of the W.T. Grant Foundation and holds appointments in the University of Michigan’s Institute for Social Research and Department of American Culture.
Dr. J. Cody Nielsen
Executive Director, Convergence Strategies; Assistant Professor of Higher Education Leadership, Western Michigan University
Dr. J. Cody Nielsen is Executive Director of Convergence Strategies and Assistant Professor of Higher Education Leadership at Western Michigan University. A scholar and practitioner of religious, secular, and spiritual cultures and identities, his work intersects with higher education, K–12 education, organizational practice, and identity-conscious institutional change.
Dr. Rashid Njai
Social Epidemiologist, Behavioral Scientist, Social Worker, and Strategic Advisor
Dr. Njai is a mental and physical behavioral scientist, social worker, and scholar-activist with more than 20 years of experience in community-based public health. His professional expertise includes: applied social epidemiology; organizational psychology; public-health science; health disparities and structural drivers of health; mindset-based culture change; whole-life wellness; organizational development; community empowerment; nonprofit impact assessment; and cross-sector and international partnerships.
Dr. Njai founded UPHOLD in 2010 to strengthen nonprofit impact assessment and support community empowerment. Through this work, he has collaborated with patient-advocacy groups, healthcare organizations, nonprofit organizations, and community-wellness providers in the United States, Africa, and the Afro-Caribbean.
Dr. David Porter
Professor of English and Comparative Literature and Director, Detroit River Story Lab
Dr. David Porter is Professor of English and Comparative Literature and Director of the Detroit River Story Lab at the University of Michigan. He brings expertise in narrative and transcultural studies, academic leadership, public-facing program development, and community-based learning.
He contributed to the creation of U-M’s M.A. program in Transcultural Studies and the Great Lakes Arts, Cultures, and Environments summer program. He also helped organize LSA’s Great Lakes Theme Semester and launch the Detroit River Story Lab. As chair of the Department of English, he supported community-based learning, long-form journalism, internship programs, and the Great Lakes Writers Corps.
Michael Shaw
Vice President of Programs, Hudson-Webber Foundation
Michael Shaw directs grantmaking activities and place-based partnerships in Detroit for the Hudson-Webber Foundation. He previously served as a program officer for human services at the Kresge Foundation and director of philanthropic development & innovation at the Green & Healthy Homes Initiative.
Caroline Altman Smith
Deputy Director, Education Program, The Kresge Foundation
Caroline Altman Smith is the deputy director of The Kresge Foundation’s Education Program, where she supports domestic grantmaking to higher education institutions and national nonprofits focused on postsecondary success for low-income and underserved students. She holds a master’s in philanthropic studies from Indiana University and serves on the boards of the National College Attainment Network, National Council of Nonprofits, Howard University School of Social Work, and Center for Effective Philanthropy.
Judy Smith
Informationist, Taubman Health Sciences Library
Judy Smith is an Informationist at the Taubman Health Sciences Library whose work focuses on health-policy and health-services research information seeking. She develops collaborations that help integrate quality evidence into teaching, learning, and research across the health sciences. Her liaison areas include the Department of Health Management and Policy in the School of Public Health and units within the Institute for Healthcare Policy and Innovation. She is also a member of the Library’s Grants Triage team.
Anne Thomson
Director of Research and Compliance, LSA Research Office
Anne Thomson serves as Director of Research and Compliance in the LSA Research Office. She supports proposal development, compliance processes, and effective research administration across the College of Literature, Science, and the Arts. Her work connects scholars with the guidance, resources, and institutional support needed to pursue and manage sponsored research successfully.
Adrianna Trusiak
Director of Research Development, Office of the Vice President for ResearchDirector of Research Development, Office of the Vice President for Research
Adrianna Trusiak joined the University of Michigan Office of Research Development in 2023 to support interdisciplinary research teams. She oversees office operations, develops strategies responding to emerging federal priorities and funding opportunities, and provides proposal-management support for interdisciplinary submissions. Previously, she served as a research coordinator for the U.S. Department of Energy-funded Great Lakes Bioenergy Research Center, where she managed center operations. She earned her Ph.D. in geochemistry from the University of Michigan Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences.
Charles Watkinson
Director, University of Michigan Press
Charles Watkinson is Director of the University of Michigan Press and a past president of the Association of University Presses. He holds an M.B.A. from Oxford Brookes University and an M.A. in Archaeology and Anthropology from the University of Cambridge. His publications address monograph-publishing costs and the effects of open-access publishing on trust and democracy. He serves on several industry boards, including the Open Journals Collective and OAPEN/Directory of Open Access Books. His current research focuses on understanding and reaching nonacademic readers and developing financial models that allow authors without funding to publish books and journals without author-facing charges.