Contact Staff
Main Office Information
Phone: 617-627-4710
Fax: 617-627-3401
Email: civicyouth@tufts.edu
CIRCLE
Jonathan M. Tisch College of Citizenship and Public Service
Lincoln Filene Hall
Tufts University
Medford, MA 02155
Staff
(click for staff biography and contact information)
Kei Kawashima-Ginsberg, Lead Researcher
Abby Kiesa, Youth Coordinator & Researcher
Peter Levine, Director
Surbhi Godsay, Researcher
Kathy O’Connor, Program Assistant
Panos Rigopoulos, CIRCLE Graduate Assistant
Whitney Henderson, CIRCLE Graduate Assistant
Emily Hoban Kirby, consultant
Staff Biographies
Dr. Kei Kawashima-Ginsberg
Lead Researcher
Email: Kei.Kawashima_Ginsberg@Tufts.edu
Phone: (617) 627-2529
Kei Kawashima-Ginsberg joined CIRCLE as Lead Researcher in August 2008. As Lead Researcher, Kei conducts quantitative analyses and co-produces reports for various audiences. As a member of the CIRCLE staff, Kei is particularly interested in providing various organizations and communities with research that would help increase civic and political engagement among ethnic minority and immigrant populations. Kei earned her doctorate degree in 2008 from Loyola University Chicago in Clinical Psychology and has extensive experience in working with youth of diverse backgrounds both as a researcher and a practitioner. Throughout her graduate career, she focused her research on positive youth development, including civic engagement. Prior to joining CIRCLE, Kei taught as Visiting Instructor of Psychology at Knox College, where she became involved as an active collaborator for the Center in Galesburg, a community-based citizen organization. In Collaboration with the Center in Galesburg, Kei designed a course in Community Psychology in which she taught college students about various types of engagement and actively involved them in the local community.
Abby Kiesa
Youth Coordinator & Researcher
Email: Abby.Kiesa@Tufts.edu
As Youth Coordinator & Researcher at CIRCLE, Abby serves as liaison to practitioner organizations across the country. She communicates research findings and tracks recommendations from young people, youth-serving organizations, and educators for future research. Abby also coordinates CIRCLE’s qualitative research and selected evaluation projects. She is coordinating CIRCLE’s ongoing research focused on young people who do not have college experience. Through this project and others she has moderated many focus groups and interviews. Previous to CIRCLE, Abby organized students around the country as part of a national campaign of Campus Compact to increase youth involvement in public life. She has contributed to several publications and co-edited ‘Raise Your Voice: A Student Guide to Making Positive Social Change’. In 2007 Abby was named an Emerging Leader in Service-Learning, “a two-year intensive experience designed to elevate and prepare a new, culturally diverse generation of service-learning leaders committed to working with traditionally under-served populations, schools, and communities.” In addition to working at CIRCLE, she is a graduate student in American Studies at the University of Maryland College Park.
Peter Levine
Director, CIRCLE
Phone: (617) 627-2302
Professional Website (with publications): www.peterlevine.ws
Email: Peter.Levine@Tufts.edu
Weblog: www.peterlevine.ws
Citizens Want A Bigger Role from Jeffrey Abelson on Vimeo.
Peter Levine became Director of CIRCLE in January 2006, succeeding Bill Galston. He is also Research Director of the Jonathan M. Tisch College of Citizenship and Public Service at Tufts University. Outside of Tufts, he is involved with:
- The Campaign for the Civic Mission of Schools (steering committee member, former chair)
- The Charles Kettering Foundation (director)
- Deliberative Democracy Consortium (steering committee member)
- Everyday Democracy (as board member of the J. Paul Aicher Foundation, which oversees it)
- Streetlaw, Inc. (member of the Board of Directors and Program Committee chair)
- AmericaSpeaks (board member)
- Advisory boards: National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) Civics Committee and Background Variables Committee; America’s Promise Research Council; Mobilize.org Advisory Board; American Bar Association Standing Committee on Public Education Advisory Commission; The Democracy Imperative
Levine’s books are:
- Reforming the Humanities: Literature and Ethics from Dante through Modern Times (Palgrave Macmillan, 2009)
- Engaging Young People in Civic Life, co-edited volume with James Youniss
- The Future of Democracy: Developing the Next Generation of American Citizens (All proceeds benefit CIRCLE)
- The Deliberative Democracy Handbook: Strategies for Effective Civic Engagement
in the Twenty-First Century(co-edited volume, with John Gastil) - The New Progressive Era: Toward a Fair and Deliberative Democracy
- Living Without Philosophy
- Something to Hide (a novel)
- Nietzsche and the Modern Crisis of the Humanities
Levine updates his blog every weekday.
Surbhi Godsay
Researcher
Email: Surbhi.Godsay@tufts.edu
Phone:617-627-4802
Surbhi Godsay joined CIRCLE as a Researcher in June 2009. As Researcher, Surbhi conducts quantitative analyses and co-produces reports for various audiences. Surbhi is interested in providing research to increase civic and political engagement among disengaged youths, ethnic minority and immigrant populations. Ms. Godsay holds a Bachelors degree in Political Science and Mathematics from the University of Vermont. From 2007-2009 she worked for various organizations conducting data analysis related to Vermont state policies, as well as advocacy work related to racial, social & economic justice. Surbhi serves on the Board for the Asian American Resource Workshop, a local nonprofit in Boston’s Chinatown.
Kathy O’Connor
Program Assistant
E-mail: Katherine.O_Connor@tufts.edu
Phone: 617-627-4710
Kathy O’Connor joined CIRCLE as the Program Assistant in August of 2010 making her the newest member of the team. As such she will be handling the organization and processing of daily events. She will provide support to staff, process financial paperwork, arrange travel and help in the preparation of events throughout the year. After attending the University of Lowell, Kathy spent many years working as an office manager, supervisor and mother. Kathy was involved in her local YMCA’s afterschool program and was involved in helping the youth in the community enjoy many programs and events.
Panos Rigopoulos
CIRCLE Graduate Assistant
E-mail: peter.rigopoulos@tufts.edu
Panos Rigopoulos began working at CIRCLE in January 2012 as a graduate research assistant. He is currently a masters student in economics at Tufts University. Panos received a bachelors degree in finance and international business from Indiana University. He has worked as a TA in the Economics department for International Economics and Principles of Economics, and as a research assistant on a NBER paper to study the economic impact of inheritance systems and inheritance law in Ghana.
Whitney Henderson
CIRCLE Graduate Assistant
E-mail: whitney.henderson@tufts.edu
Whitney joined CIRCLE as a Research Assistant in August 2011. She is interested in studying immigration and asylum policies in relation to civic engagement and participation. Ms. Henderson graduated from the Boston College Graduate School of Social Work in May 2011 with a concentration in macro-level international practice. She is currently a research consultant at the Harvard School of Public Health and the Development and Outreach Director of The Correlates of Human Trafficking Project. In spring of 2011, she developed, researched and wrote “No Other Option: Testimonies of Asylum-Seekers Living in Ukraine” for Jesuit Refugee Service Europe in Brussels, Belgium. From 2008-2010, she has performed research and analysis for a variety of organizations, such as AIDS Action Committee, the MA Office for Victim Assistance and the National Association of Social Workers-RI Chapter. She received a dual bachelors degree in Social Work and French Literature from Providence College.
Ms. Kirby is a consultant for CIRCLE and was our Senior Research Associate until 2011, producing research products for practitioners, editing the quarterly newsletter and answering research queries. She is a former National Urban Fellow and received a Masters in Public Administration from Baruch College, City University of New York in 2001. She has worked for the nonprofit sector at the local and national level and comes to CIRCLE from the Points of Light Foundation where she was Director of Program Evaluation. Ms. Kirby served as an AmeriCorps*NCCC member for 2 years and worked for a neighborhood tutoring program in Washington DC. Before joining NCCC, she received a bachelor’s degree in Sociology from Wake Forest University.