"He who wishes to secure the good of others, has already secured his own."     -Confucius

Staff of the Institute
Raymond Sickinger
Keith Morton
Colleen Rost-Banik

Department Faculty
Rick Battistoni
Jane Callahan
Joe Cammarano
Michael Hayes
William Hudson
Hugh Lena
Nick Longo
Ellen Salvatore

Community Faculty
Bill Allen
Althea Graves
Jim Tull

AmeriCorps*VISTA Members
Laura Nanni
Kaytee Stewart

Raymond Sickinger
Director of the Feinstein Institute, Chair of the Department of Public and Community Service Studies, and Professor of History and Public and Community Service Studies

Raymond Sickinger was appointed Director of the Feinstein Institute in 2003.  His initial appointment to the College was in 1974 and during his time at the College he has served in a variety of teaching and administrative positions.  Formerly the Dean of the Undeclared Program and Director of Assessment, he is currently Professor of History and Public and Community Service Studies. Ray became the Department Chair for the newly created Department of Public and Community Service Studies in July of 2006.  Ray is also a national leader in the Society of St. Vincent de Paul, a world-wide Catholic lay organization devoted to helping those in need.

Keith Morton
Associate Director of the Feinstein Institute and Professor of Public and Community Service Studies

A Professor in the Department of Public and Community Service Studies, Keith Morton has worked in the areas of community development, community service and community theory for the past fifteen years. He has also taught American Studies in the Department of English. Prior to joining Providence College in 1994, he worked as program and then executive director of the University of Minnesota YMCA, which runs intensive service learning programs for 500 participants each year; and as director of Campus Compact's national Project on Integrating Service with Academic Study. He serves on the boards of several local and national organizations dedicated to improving the quality of life for people in their communities, and is particularly interested in youth development. He also works regularly as a workshop leader and trainer for education and community-based organizations. His teaching and scholarship focus on the historic and present meanings of community and service in people's lives.

Colleen Rost-Banik
Service Learning Coordinator

Colleen joined the Feinstein team in September 2006.  As the Service Learning Coordinator, she co-teaches the Public Service Practicum class and coordinates students with service learning sites.  Colleen most recently came from Maine where she was involved with multicultural, interfaith and civil rights education.  Having a background in the study of world religions, Colleen has an undergraduate degree from DePaul University and a graduate degree from Harvard Divinity School.

Faculty of the Feinstein Institute

The Faculty of  the Feinstein Institute are drawn from a variety of disciplines and share a common desire to complement their teaching with community-based experiences.

Rick Battistoni
Professor of Political Science and Public and Community Service Studies

Currently a professor within the departments of Political Science as well as Public and Community Service Studies,  Rick brings an extensive background of teaching and research experience to the Institute, having formerly served as Director from 1994 -2000. A political theorist with a principal interest in the role of education in a democratic society, Rick has published a number of books and articles on service learning and civic engagement, most recently a volume for Campus Compact entitled Civic Engagement Across the Curriculum: A Resource Book for Service-Learning Faculty in all Disciplines . From 2001-2004, he coordinated Project 540, a grant-funded national high school civic engagement initiative.

Jane Callahan
Professor of Elementary/Special Education

Jane, more commonly called Peni, is Chair of the Department of Education. She received a Ph.D. from the University of Idaho and has been involved in the field of education as a classroom teacher, counselor, administrator, consultant, and professor. She teaches courses in the area of special education and her research interests are in school reform and the professional development of pre-service and in-service teachers. As the Eastern Regional Director of the National Service-Learning and Teacher Education Partnership, she provides resources and support to institutions interested in integrating service-learning into their teacher education program. A member of the Faculty Research Team which developed the Public and Community Studies major, Peni collaborated with Ellen Salvatore to develop the practicum component of the major, which she teaches.

Joe Cammarano
Assistant Professor of Political Science and Public and Community Service Studies

Joe Cammarano is an Assistant Professor in the Departments of Political Science and Public and Community Service Studies. His teaching and research interests are in American politics. Within the Department of Public and Community Service Studies, Joe teaches the practicum and Introduction to Service in Democratic Communities. He has edited a book on citizenship education and conducts research on the linkages between social well being and political activity among young people. He has also published articles on the politics of political campaigns. Prior to coming to Providence College, he taught for six years at the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs, Syracuse University. He is originally from New Jersey (Exit 10), and received his undergraduate and graduate degrees from Rutgers University.

Michael Hayes
Assistant Professor of Social Work and Public and Community Service Studies

As a faculty member within the Department of Public and Community Service Studies, Michael teaches Introduction to Service in Democratic Communities. Holding a joint appointment with the Department of Social Work, he teaches courses in human development through the lifespan, research methods and statistical analysis, and field practice. His years of practice in child and adult psychotherapy enrich his teaching. His individual research interests include relationships between mental representation of reality and human behavior and theories of social justice and democratic processes. He is a co-founder of  the Social Work Research Institute, an endeavor involving faculty/student collaboration on research initiatives. Michael earned his MSW and his PhD degrees at the Smith College School for Social Work.

William Hudson
Professor of Political Science

Dr. Hudson is Professor of Political Science at Providence College where he has taught since 1974. He earned his Ph.D. from Brown University after completing undergraduate work at Indiana University. Besides his course in American government and politics, he teaches courses on public policy, and community service. His publications on public policy have appeared in a variety of political science journals, including Political Science Quarterly, Polity, Western Political Quarterly, and Policy Studies Journal. During 1993-94, he served as Acting Director of the Feinstein Institute for Public Service and has since been active in developing its curriculum in Public and Community Service Studies. He is author of American Democracy in Peril: Eight Challenges to America's Future and (with Richard Battistoni) Experiencing Citizenship:Concepts and Modes for Service-Learning in Political Science .

Nick Longo
Director of the Global Studies Program and Assistant Professor of Public and Community Service Studies

Currently an assistant professor in Public and Community Service Studies and the director of Global Studies, from 2006-2008, Nick served as the director of the Harry T. Wilks Leadership Institute, an endowed civic leadership center at Miami University in Ohio. He also served as a program officer at the Charles F. Kettering Foundation in the area of civic education, where he continues as an Associate, and directed Campus Compact’s national youth civic engagement initiative, Raise Your Voice, from 2002-2004.  Nick is author of Why Community Matters: Connecting Education with Civic Life (SUNY Press, 2007) and has written and edited several books and articles on student leadership and civic engagement.  He holds a Masters in Public Affairs from the Humphrey Institute and a Ph.D. in education from the University of Minnesota, and was among the first students to graduate with a degree in public and community service studies at Providence College.

Hugh Lena
Provost and Vice President of Academic Affairs and Professor of Sociology

Currently a Professor of Sociology and Vice President of Academic Administration, Hugh was a member of the Research and Development Team for the Feinstein Institute and has taught courses in its Public and Community Service Studies major since then. In addition, he teaches a variety of courses in the Sociology Department, particularly in his specialty interests of Medical Sociology and Organizational Theory. His current research and publications are in the areas of basic needs provision in cross-national studies of less developed countries and HIV/AIDS in the United States. He has also published work on service learning, occupational stratification, and child abuse and he has edited several anthologies for introductory sociology and social problems.

Ellen Salvatore

Ellen Salvatore is Associate Professor of Public and Community Service Studies at Providence College and previously taught for many years in the Department of Social Work, serving   as its Chair for 14 years. Her interest in service-learning and experiential education grew both from her experience as a student at Friends World College and as an educator in social work, where internships are an integral part of the curriculum.  She was a member of the Research and Development Team of the Feinstein Institute and along with Peni Callahan developed and taught the first practicum course. She currently teaches Introduction to Services in Democratic Communities; Diversity, Community, and Service; and Foundations of Organizational Service.

Bill Allen

Bill teaches the Introduction to Service course. He also has been a lecturer in the Department of Social Work since 1993. He has held senior management positions with United Ways in New York and Maine and was Executive Vice President of the United Way of Rhode Island . His interests include community development, nonprofit organizations, philanthropy and public policy. Bill received a Master of Social Planning degree from Boston College . He serves on nonprofit boards including Butler Hospital , RI Kids Count and Coffee Kids. He is president of the board of Amos House, chair of board of the RI Service Alliance and teaches at Boston College and Brown University.

Althea Graves    

Althea has lived in the Smith Hill area of Providence most of her life. She has been an integral part of led many neighborhood, city and state organizations and efforts, including the Smith Hill Community Counsel, Smith Hill Congress, Smith Hill Friends of the Library, Smith Hill Community Development Corp., Smith Hill / Chad-Ad-Sun Community Crime Watch, Smith Hill Community Center, Tenant Services Advocate, Library Reform Group, Library Advocate Coalition, Emancipation Day Celebration Committee, and the Providence Housing Authority / Housing and Urban Development Rehab and Development Advisory Board. Additionally, Althea has worked as a long distant operator for AT&T, a medical and legal secretary, art educator, a tenant service aid, a storyteller, an African American History instructor, a writer, poet, and an events planner. An avid reader, she has been a member of several book clubs such as the Power of Knowledge and Shades of Color.  Althea is a wife, mother of three and grandmother of three.

Jim Tull    

Jim currently divides his time between parenting two young children and teaching courses in community service and social change at CCRI and PC's School of Continuing Education. He has been affiliated on a part-time and volunteer basis with the Feinstein Institute since 1994, serving as a community partner instructor and consultant. From 1983 to 1995, he served as co-director of Amos House in Providence and contributed to a variety of social change efforts in the areas of peace and justice.

 

  Tom Twitchell

In January 2008, Tom Twitchell, a dear friend of the Feinstein Institute, passed away from a long illness. Students, faculty, staff and alumni are grateful for Tom's presence, talents and compassion he shared with us.

A community organizer, Tom co-taught in many Public and Community Service classes, provided mentorship for students, and was a true colleague to faculty and staff. Throughout Tom's time in the Smith Hill community he served as the Director of Community Organizing at the Smith Hill Community Center. He often founded organizations with a handful of other people (many of which became incorporated social service agencies) and assumed early leadership of those organizations as president or managing director (Church Community Nursery School and ACTS - Active Christians in Today's Society - both of Hagerstown, MD; Capitol Hill Interaction Council and New Life Enterprises - both of Providence, RI). He served as a member of a variety of State and City Commissions and task forces (State of RI Medical Examiners Commission, Providence Anti-Arson Task Force, Providence Commission on Community Policing). He also was an active member of selected Boards (Providence Community Health Centers, Keep Providence Beautiful, Rhode Island State Council of Church's Urban Division, Camp Phoenix Partnership, Smith Hill Community Development Corporation).  
 

Laura Nanni
     
Laura Nanni, a native Rhode Islander, studied Sociology and African Studies at the University of Pennsylvania. She spent her junior year studying abroad in South Africa and Ghana, and conducted senior research on Ghanaian communities in Philadelphia.  After graduating in 2007, she served her first AmeriCorps*VISTA year as Development Associate at the Painted Bride Art Center in Philadelphia. After volunteering in Ghana and traveling through Europe last year, she is excited to be serving a second VISTA year at Providence College. Laura will be serving as the Community Service AmeriCorps*VISTA through the Feinstein Institute for Public Service, coordinating the AmeriCorps*Scholarships for Service Program and assisting with the student-led alternative break service trips. 


Kaytee Stewart 
     
Kaytee Stewart is a native of Hartford, Connecticut. She graduated from Providence College in May 2009 where she majored in Public and Community Service Studies and minored in Women’s Studies. While at PC, she was actively involved in student activities and served on the executive board of two student clubs. She also worked in the Feinstein Institute for Public Service through which she co-taught two courses—a cross-listed Women’s Studies/Public and Community Service Studies course on Women & Service and a Public and Community Service Studies course on Foundations of Community Organizing. Kaytee will be serving as the Service-Learning AmeriCorps*VISTA through the Feinstein Institute for Public Service, working to expand and enhance experiential learning for individual students and academic departments.