The Murph's Talk

Project Rise Staff Spotlight!

Today we are thanking Amanda Smith for her dedication and service! Amanda is part of the programming staff and is widely responsible for getting families to our special events and enrichment programming. She also works closely with our partners at @DLM Food & Resources, makes ongoing edits on the Akron Street Card, and much more!

Amanda has a wonderfully big heart and it shows in everything she does. From interacting with other staff members to working with community partners and developing personal relationships with our families.. she is truly an asset to Project Rise.

Amanda has built an admirable rapport with the community partners she works closely with and the families she brings to our events. Her smile and laugh are infectious and she has a special place in all of our hearts!

Socialite. Magnetic personality. Fun to be with. Confidence is a good thing. Marks energetic personality in this interview leaving you wanting to go outside and listen and watch birds

Experienced executive level manager with extensive experience in leading program operations and staff to deliver innovative and profitable services tailored to the community’s needs.

Rachel Ramirez, LISW-S, RASS, is the Director of Health and Disability Programs and the Founder of The Center on Partner-Inflicted Brain Injury at The Ohio Domestic Violence Network (ODVN). In this role, she oversees several initiatives on the intersection of domestic violence, disability, behavioral health and health access, with a focus on trauma-informed services and partner-inflicted brain injury. She also provides extensive statewide, national, and international training, consultation, technical assistance, and program support. Rachel has been with ODVN for 15 years and has co-authored several peer reviewed journal articles, as well as been featured on National Public Radio, The New York Times Magazine, and The Washington Post discussing brain injury and domestic violence. Rachel is a dedicated and passionate advocate for survivors of abuse and works to prepare systems to provide trauma and brain injury informed services. 

Over 20 years of experience providing neuropsychological treatment to individuals with known or suspected neurological illness/injury with a special focus on survivors of brain injury and their families. Established a nonprofit organization, Northeast Ohio Brain Injury Foundation (NEOBIF) to help promote information and resources for brain injury survivors and their families in northeast Ohio.

Christian Vaccaro's research interests are in sociological social psychology. Specifically, he has published and presented multiple research manuscripts that link together by their insights into how patterns of interactions between people in real world settings influence emotions, identities, and behaviors.

He serves the university as director of training for the Mid-Atlantic Research and Training Institute for Community Behavioral Health, University Merit Scholarship advisor, Sociology Department program assessment point person, member of the Sociology Department Master's Committee, board member of the Frederick Douglass Institute for Intercultural Research, Legislative Committee co-chair for APSCUF, and Sociology Department Online Education Sub-committee chairperson. He is also active in public service and was an elected council member for the borough of Leechburg from 2013 to 2018,

Office: 506-BB Leonard Hall

Email: [email protected]

PhD, U of Massachusetts at Amherst, 2000

MA, U of Massachusetts at Amherst, 1994

BA, English, Xiamen University, People's Republic of China

Asian American and Asian Diasporic (Women's) Literatureand Cultural Criticism; 20thand 21st Century Critical Cultural Theories and Literary Criticisms, including but not limited to feminist theories, postcolonial theory, Asian American and Asian diasporic cultural and literary criticisms, poststructuralism, postmodernism, comparative postcolonial and American multiethnic women's literature and feminisms, and Marxism

MELUS 2013 Conference Committee cochair to organize and host the national conference of MELUS (Society for the Study of the Multi-Ethnic Literature of the US), joined by the US Chapter of Association of the Commonwealth Literature and Language Studies, the national conference of postcolonial literature, on March 14-17, 2013, in downtown Pittsburgh.

Former director, Women's and Gender Studies Program, IUP, 2012-15

PhD, U of Massachusetts at Amherst, 2000

MA, U of Massachusetts at Amherst, 1994

BA, English, Xiamen University, People's Republic of China

Asian American and Asian Diasporic (Women's) Literatureand Cultural Criticism; 20thand 21st Century Critical Cultural Theories and Literary Criticisms, including but not limited to feminist theories, postcolonial theory, Asian American and Asian diasporic cultural and literary criticisms, poststructuralism, postmodernism, comparative postcolonial and American multiethnic women's literature and feminisms, and Marxism

MELUS 2013 Conference Committee cochair to organize and host the national conference of MELUS (Society for the Study of the Multi-Ethnic Literature of the US), joined by the US Chapter of Association of the Commonwealth Literature and Language Studies, the national conference of postcolonial literature, on March 14-17, 2013, in downtown Pittsburgh.

Former director, Women's and Gender Studies Program, IUP, 2012-15

Joan Van Dyke is an Associate Professor of Dance, and affiliate faculty for Women’s and

Gender Studies at Indiana University of Pennsylvania. Ms. Van Dyke was appointed ballet

master of the former Pennsylvania Governor’s School for the Arts. She serves as the director of

the dance at IUP and Artistic Director of IUP Dance Theater.. Ms. Van Dyke was awarded

University Dance Teacher of the Year award for the Eastern District for Health, Physical

Education, Recreation and Dance. Ms. Van Dyke is the Artistic Director for the Mahoning

Valley Ballet and director of curriculum Van Dyke and Company. Professor Van Dyke’s

interests include quantitative and qualitative research in dance, cast-based approach to

choreography, dance kinesiology, feminist theory, somatics and the Alexander Technique. Ms.

Van Dyke is an invited choreographer, lecturer, and educator nationally and internationally.

Sarah is a native of northeast Ohio, growing up in this area. She graduated from Mogadore HS and then from Kent State with a bachelor of Music in Voice performance. She is a mother of three girls who are an inspiration to me every day. Charlotte is 11, Brooklyn is 8 and Madison is 2. They are amazing people, and I love being their mom. I have been married to my husband, Ben for 19 years and we share a passion for God, loving others and caring about our community. I also have three fuzzy members of our family, a beabull named Rubble an orange tabby named Daisy and a brand new kitten that jumped into our lives named Lilac. We live in Akron, and love our city. Sarah is the host of Good Morning Akron on WAOH.tv and also hosts for 330toGO, The Cleveland Guardians, and Fusion Live.

She believes we all have a story and if we dive into our stories and work through our own messiness, we can help others to do the same! Together with her husband Ben, a pastor at the Kenmore Chapel, they have a podcast called Religious Recovery on this very topic having walked through three toxic/abusive church situations themselves and God has put it on their hearts to help others to heal too.