DAN ROBISON
Professor & Director of Practice
Education
- Ph.D. University of Reading
- B.S. Kansas State University
- B.A. Kansas State University
With sadness, we share the news of the death of important Future Generations professor, mentor, and friend, Dr. Daniel Robison, professor and director of practice, announced President Francis L. Day. Dan Robison passed away June 18, 2024. Read more at https://blog.future.edu/2024/06/29/dr-daniel-robison/.
Biography
Dan was born and grew up in Bolivia. He was an exchange student in Thailand and before finishing undergraduate studies, he hitchhiked across Africa from North to South with his sister. After graduating from Kansas State University in Natural Resources Management in 1984, he was appointed as a Marshall Scholar to the United Kingdom. In 1987 he obtained a Ph.D. at the University of Reading, with fieldwork in tropical Bolivia. His dissertation was a soil-based assessment of the sustainability of an alternative to slash and burn agriculture.
His life interest is the sustainable use of the Amazon. Between 1988 and 1993, he did postdoctoral work in the Agroecological Studies Unit at the International Center for Tropical Agriculture in Cali, Colombia. In 1993 he returned to Bolivia and has worked as an independent consultant in Protected Areas Management and Agroecology. He lives and farms in Rurrenabaque,the Bolivian gateway to the Amazon and to Madidi National Park. He has been on the faculty since 2005, having taught courses in each of the cohorts to date.
To check out Dan’s monthly research seminars, visit: E-Portfolio
Courses
- SLC 605 Food and Water Security
- PRC 604 Research Design and Methods
- PRC 609 Monitoring and Evaluation
- PRC 681 Practicum Design and Planning
- PRC 682 Practicum Applied Research I
- PRC 683 Practicum Applied Research II
- PRC 684 Synthesis and Integration
- ECC 504 Technologies for Conservation Practitioners
- ECC 507 Fundamentals of Ecosystem-based Conservation
- ECC 508 Sustainable Livelihoods and Incentives to Conservation
- ECC 602 Community Change and Sustainable Livelihoods
MEIKE SCHLEIFF
MEIKE SCHLEIFF
Associate Research Professor
Education
- DrPH Johns Hopkins University
- M.S John Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health
- B.S Berea College
Biography
Meike brings a background of community-based mentoring, teaching, and program implementation to Future. Edu. She has worked extensively with communities and young leaders in Haiti through GROW project, the non-profit that she co-founded with Haitian colleagues, and has also been engaged in community development planning, implementation, evaluation, and training in Guyana, Ugandan India, and the Appalachian region in the USA. She has experienced working in a variety of settings on projects ranging from disaster response to entrepreneurial loan programs to building primary health care infrastructure in collaboration with local governments and communities.
She is currently conducting her public health doctoral dissertation research in West Virginia assessing the rural health workforce’s history, current capacity, and remaining haps and opportunities for improving community-based health in the state. Her research interest include health professional education strategies, the role of mentoring in health professional education, and historical analyses of the role of community in health care and health education. She is interested in building capacity of globally for community health issues, mentoring young health and community development professionals, and advancing systems thinking and health systems research training opportunities.
Publications
- Schleiff, M., Kumapley, R., Freeman, P., Gupta, S., Rassekh, B., Perry, H. A Comprehensive Review of the Evidence Regarding the Effectiveness of Community-based Primary Health Care in Improving Maternal, Neonatal, and Child Health: 5. Equity Effects. Journal of Global Health, special issue in press 2017.
- Schleiff, M. 2017. The Interface Between Communities and the Primary Care System in Rural and Low-income West Virginia: Historical and County-level Experience to Inform the Future of Community Health Workers (CHWs). Doctoral dissertation; ProQuest.
- Jennings, M.C., Pradhan, S., Schleiff, M., Sacks, E., Freeman, P., Gupta, S., Rassekh, B., Perry, H. A Comprehensive Review of the Evidence Regarding the Effectiveness of Community-Based Primary Health Care in Improving Maternal, Neonatal and Child Health: 2. Maternal Health Findings. Journal of Global Health, in press 2017.
- Freeman, P., Schleiff, M., Sacks, E., Rassekh, B., Gupta, S., Perry, H. A Comprehensive Review of the Evidence Regarding the Effectiveness of Community-based Primary Health Care in Improving Maternal, Neonatal, and Child Health: 4. Child Health Findings. Journal of Global Health, special issue in press 2017.
- Perry, H., Sacks, E., Schleiff, M., Kumapley, R., Gupta, S., Rassekh, B., Freeman, P. A Comprehensive Review of the Evidence Regarding the Effectiveness of Community-based Primary Health Care in Improving Maternal, Neonatal, and Child Health: 6. Strategies Used by Effective Projects. Journal of Global Health, special issue in press 2017.
- Tancred T., Schleiff, M., Peters, D., Bigdeli, M, Balabanova, D. 2016. Teaching and Training in Health Policy and Systems Research: Global Status and Priorities. Bulletin of the World Health Organization.
- George, A., Lefevre, A., Schleiff, M., Mancuso, A., Sacks, E., Sarriot, E. 2016. Expanding Evidence Approaches for Improving and Sustaining Community maternal, Newborn, and Child Health: Preliminary Report. Report for the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).
- Tancred, T., Schleiff, M., Peters, D., Balabanova, D. 2015. Global Mapping of Health Policy and Systems Research (HPSR) Teaching. Alliance for Health Policy and Systems Research, W.H.O. Report and background document for an expert consultation on teaching HPSR. Available at: http://healthsystemsglobal.org/twg-group/4/Teaching-and-Learning-Health-Policy-and-Systems-Research/.
- Pappas, E., Schleiff, M., Pappas, J., Puentes, R., Taylor-Ide, L., Taylor, D. 2015. Curriculum Plans for Community Health and Prevention, Entrepreneurship, and Family Agriculture. The Pew Charitable Trusts and University of the World.
- Rodrigues, D., Schleiff, M. 2014. Department of International Health Research Mapping: Final Report. A review and past and present foci in research within the IH Dept. at Johns Hopkins and recommendations towards a strategic plan.
- Gupta, S., Hyder, A., Schleiff, M, Tran, N., Ghaffar, A. 2014. Global Consultation on Capacity Development for Health Policy and Systems Research in Low- and Middle-Income Countries. Alliance for Health Policy and Systems Research, WHO.
- Schleiff, M. 2013. Community-based Versus Community-directed Approaches. Tropical Health Matters guest blog post, December 17, 2013. Available at: http://malariamatters.org/community-based-versus-community-directed-approaches/.
- Schleiff, M. 2013. Analysis of the World Health Organization (WHO)’s Initiatives for Global Action Towards Greater Equity in Health: Primary Health Care and Social Determinants of Health. Masters Thesis, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.
- Report by WHO Watch and the People’s Health Movement on the 65th World Health Assembly. Global Health Watch. May 2012. Geneva, Switzerland. http://www.ghwatch.org/sites/www.ghwatch.org/files/WHOWatchReport_May2012.pdf
- Schleiff, M. 2011. Return to Haiti—And Haiti to Haitians. Huffington Post blog post on May Goldwasser’s RED page, May 25, 2011. Available at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/amy-goldwasser/red-the-book-return-to-ha_b_551215.html
- Schleiff, M. 2007. A ‘Beautiful’ Cause of Death that Had Me Dying for a While in: RED: The Next Generation of American Writers-Teenaged Girls-On What Fires up their Lives Today. Ed. Amy Goldwasser. Hudson Street Press, New York: 2007.
DAN WESSNER
DAN WESSNER
Research Professor
Education
- Ph.D. University of Denver Korbel School of International Studies
- J.D. University of Virginia School of Law
- M.Div. Princeton Theological Seminary
- B.A. Stanford University
Biography
He is developing, modeling, testing, and marketing integrative education platforms for at-risk and affluent communities to collaborate on the SDGs per local contexts and within planetary boundaries. His lead on the Future Generations University accreditation process addresses the specific and universal learning of globally dispersed student and alumni bodies. He works among universities and nonprofits to find lasting solutions to vexing development challenges, and thus helped launch the Posner Center for International Development- a collaborative space of sixty international nonprofits headquartered in Denver, Colorado. He has served on several boards of organizations committed to education and best development practices.
Publications
- “Learning beyond the Light Bulb among Least Developed Countries based on a Sustainable PV Solar
- Utility Model.” New Brunswick, NJ: Global Health Technology Conference Proceedings, Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (2014).
- “Development and Peacebuilding.” International Encyclopedia of Peace. New York: Oxford University Press (2009).
- “Vietnam: Post-Conflict Peacebuilding.” International Encyclopedia of Peace. New York: Oxford University Press (2009).
- “Addressing Fundamentalism by Legal and Spiritual Means.” Human Rights & Human Welfare 57-76 (2003) (http://www.du.edu/gsis/hrhw/volumes/2003/wessner-2003.pdf).
- “Pacifist Pedagogy and the Bush Doctrine.” In Teaching Peace: Nonviolence and the Liberal Arts, eds. J. Denny Weaver and Gerald Biesecker-Mast. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield, 2003, pp. 147-63.
- Review Essay. Perry Bush, “Two Kingdoms, Two Loyalties: Mennonite Pacifism in Modern America, and Glen Stassen, ed. Just Peacemaking: Ten Practices for Abolishing War.” The Conrad Grebel Review 18:2 (Spring 2000), pp. 95-98.
- “From Judge to Participant: The United States as Champion of Human Rights.” In Debating Human Rights, ed. Peter Van Ness. London: Routledge, 1999, pp. 255-77. Published earlier in Critical Asian Studies 28:2 (1996), pp. 29-45.
- Monkey King & Sage: Hanoi’s Politics of Syncretism. Doctoral dissertation in International Studies (archived online, June 2001). Graduate School of International Studies, University of Denver.
- “Floating to the Unknown.” Global Justice 1:2 (Summer 1995), pp. 39-47.
- “Denver Community Development through Edgar’s Eyes.” Global Justice 4:2 (Winter 1994), pp. 36-39.
- “Vietnam Comes Full Circle.” Areopagus (Hong Kong) 7:1 (1994).
- “Outer Continental Shelf Revenue Sharing for Coastal States.” Virginia Journal of Natural Resources Law 3:131 (1983), pp. 131-61.
KELLI FLEMING
KELLI FLEMING
Assistant Dean for Academic Innovation
Education
- M.A. Lesley University
- B.A. Macalaster College
Biography
Kelli Fleming joined Future Generations having moved back to Western Virginia after living and working in Wellington, New Zealand since 2010.Kelli was born near London, England and spent her early years on the Indian Subcontinent of Bangladesh, Nepal & India. She received a Masters in Intercultural Relations and International Higher Education from Lesley University. Prior to joining Future Generations, Kelli was working at the University of Otago in New Zealand developing online teaching capacity.
Kelli lives in Blacksburg, VA with Dave and their two boys, Asher and Eli.