Alexandria (Alex) Macmadu, Assistant Professor of Epidemiology, may be an early career faculty member, but she has developed deep connections with local communities. Macmadu first moved to Providence in 2010, graduating from Brown with a BA in ethics in 2014, and then stayed to do a MSc in behavioral and social science (‘15) and PhD in epidemiology (‘22). Guided by the principle “nothing about us without us,” Alex’s research and teaching on harm reduction and overdose prevention engage not only health practitioners but also people with lived experience as partners. 

A nomination letter written by two collaborators (Michelle McKenzie and Jon Soske) and endorsed by fifteen others lauds her “consistent practice of showing up, listening, following through, and sharing power—over time, not only when a grant or course requires it.” These nominators - one of them a co-PI on a Community-Academic Research Partnership grant from the School of Public Health - emphasize how she “centers community priorities… builds clear, ongoing collaboration structures… and prioritizes community benefit” in research. They also selected together five partners to co-design a new course, PHP 1830 Harm Reduction As Public Health; Alex secured funding to compensate these partners and “created a clear structure, naming decision points, and repeatedly asking not only what students should learn but also how the course could be non-extractive and concretely useful to local organizations.” Her “commitment comes through,” they write, “not only in her rigor, but in the way she collaborates with radiant positivity, generosity, and care. She builds trust, keeps momentum, and makes people feel respected and excited to be part of the work.”

Professor and Chair of Epidemiology Katie Biello’s nomination letter also cites Alex’s research projects and publications grounded in deep partnerships. She describes valuable contributions to both internal and external “efforts to address overdose and advance equitable approaches to prevention and response” (e.g., serving as Scientific Advisor to the COBRE on Opioids and Overdose Community Engaged Research Core and a member of the Racial Equity Working Group of the Rhode Island Governor’s Overdose Prevention and Intervention Task Force). Biello also describes her positive impact on students; course feedback “scores and reflections underscore Dr. Macmadu’s exceptional ability to create rigorous, community-centered learning environments that do not simply inform students but meaningfully shape how they think, what they value, and the work they pursue next.” Beyond engaging students enrolled in her courses, she has worked with CBLR Fellows and mentored students applying for Engaged Research Mini-Grants, contributing to a university community that develops more scholars, as Alex says, “who center community engagement in their scholarly identity..” 

Eleni Sikelianos, a poet, memoirist, translator and Professor of Literary Arts, has been nurturing and publishing the creative voices of people of all ages and experiences for decades. “​​Community engagement has always been intrinsic to my conception of what it means to be a poet,” Eleni writes. The first person in her immediate family to graduate from college, she “believe[s] in poetry as a liberatory tool for linguistic self-expression and autonomy.” Prior to coming to Brown in 2018, she taught poetry in women’s and men’s prisons, led workshops as a poet in residence in public schools, libraries, and homeless shelters, and founded and directed a Writers in the Schools program at the University of Denver. At Brown, she has taught LITR 1152C Writers-in-the-Community Training & Residencies and focused on collaborating with local K-12 schools. 

Michael Ricci, a fifth grade teacher at Vartan Gregorian Elementary School, started working with Eleni virtually during the Covid-19 pandemic. At a time when engaging young students was particularly challenging, the weekly sessions with Eleni and Brown students proved powerful - and continued to be in the years since then. As Michael and newer partner Brooke Russo write, “Students who normally struggled with writing flourished with poetry. Students who were typically introverted and shy were suddenly coming out of their shells and sharing their work with the entire group. The positive impact carried over into the regular classwork. Now they realized it was ok to make mistakes. There was nothing wrong with trying something to see if it worked…and if it didn’t, start over and try something else.” Publishing anthologies of the participants’ poems and holding celebratory events with live readings and book distribution also “strengthens the bonds among teachers, students and families.”

Students at Brown benefit from Eleni’s engaged pedagogy, too. Nominators Siena Capone ‘22 and Brittni Braswell ‘25 each took LITR 1152C, then collaborated with Eleni on the course as a CBLR Fellow. For Siena, Eleni is “an unparalleled model of conscientious, culturally-informed instruction” whose mentorship prepared her “for the practicalities of responsible partnership” and “solidified my career goal of expanding access to arts education.” Inspired by Eleni’s “fierce devotion” to “strategies for facilitation, inclusion, and poem-making” and “profoundly moved by the [fifth grade] students and their literary development,” Brittni chose to pursue an MFA in Poetry “to continue writing and teaching in communities.” Literary Arts professor and chair Matthew Shenoda sees similar value in Professor Sikelianos’ engagement, calling it ”a prime example of the way arts education can impact our broader community and inspire a younger generation of emerging writers and educators.”