Meet Our Team

ARNA Coordinating Leadership Team

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DR. MEGAN BOLTON
Chair

2023-16 Ziegenfuss

DR. RANDY ZIEGENFUSS
Treasurer & ARC Co-Chair

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Dr. Randy Ziegenfuss

Treasurer / ARC Co-Chair

Dr. Randy Ziegenfuss is Professor of Practice and Director of the Doctor of Education (Ed.D.) Program in Transformational Leadership at Moravian University. He is deeply committed to reshaping K-12 and higher education systems from traditional, school-centered models to learner-centered environments that are responsive to the demands of a dynamic, technology-driven world. His research emphasizes the transformational leadership practices necessary for driving systemic change, with a particular focus on strategic foresight and understanding the educational needs of Generation Z and Generation Alpha.

Since 2018, Randy has served as the Leadership ARC Co-Chair for ARNA. Prior to his current role at Moravian, Randy retired as superintendent of the Salisbury Township School District (PA) in 2021, after a career in public education. He holds degrees from Moravian University, Teachers College at Columbia University, and The University of Pennsylvania. Beyond his professional pursuits, Randy is engaged in a side project called The Human School and enjoys frequent visits to New York City to immerse himself in its vibrant arts culture.

Gabrielle-Astier

DR. GABRIELLE ASTIER
2026 Conference Chair

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Dr. Gabrielle Astier

2026 Conference Chair

Professor in the Architecture and Urbanism undergraduate program and Coordinator of the Internationalization Office at Centro Universitário UNINTA (Sobral-CE). Previously coordinated the Architecture and Urbanism program at Faculdade Luciano Feijão and the Curricularization of Extension. Leads the Research Group on Vernacular Architecture and has taught at Fundação Ieducare and Pontifícia Universidade Católica de Minas. Holds a Ph.D. in Urbanism from PUC-Campinas, with a research internship at Universidad de Antioquia (Colombia). Completed a postdoctoral fellowship in Geography at UVA and coordinated the UrbColab research group (NuPACT/CNPq). Was a research fellow at FIOCRUZ in the Urban Health Observatory project. Holds a Master’s in Urbanism (FAPESP-funded) and a degree in Architecture and Urbanism from PUC-Campinas. Expertise: low-impact environmental architecture and collaborative urbanism. Member of Br Cidades (Br Ceará chapter), ABEA, and Rede Terra Brasil (2024).

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DR. ALLISON LESTER
ARC Co-Chair

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DR. CANDACE KAYE
Immediate Past Chair

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Dr. Candace Kaye

Past Chair, Executive Committee

Dr. Candace Kaye is an Affiliated Graduate Professor of Early Childhood Education at New Mexico State University and lives for most of the year in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. She has served ARNA in several capacities. Currently, she is the Chair of the ARNA Coordinating Leadership Team. In 2020 and 2023 she co-chaired the virtual ARNA annual conferences and has been the Editor of the ARNA Conference Proceedings until she accepted the role of ARNA Chair. She continues to be involved in the ARNA Action Research Communities (ARC), first initiating the Early Childhood ARC and in 2023 beginning the International ARC. Her action research continues in Mi Museo, a program of early art education for public schools in Puerto Vallarta at the ARTe VallARTa Museum and APAPACHO, an early literacy program within a public library setting, in Puerto Vallarta. She writes and presents on her ongoing investigations about the community process of developing such programs and to that end, most recently co-edited a book on third spaces in education. Her current research interest also includes the cultural interpretation of action research theory and practice.

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CELINA GERMAN
Graduate At-Large

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Celina German

Graduate At-Large

Celina German (she/they) is a second-year doctoral student in the Learning, Literacies, and Technology program at Arizona State University. At Kenyon College, she completed her undergraduate degree in History with specializations in Women’s and Gender Studies and African Diaspora Studies. With her M.Ed. in Secondary Education, German taught 11th-grade English Literature in Phoenix’s West Valley (Avondale, AZ) and co-led her school site’s Black Student Union. As a teacher researcher, German explores how district funding, teacher preparation programs, and community partnerships intersect in promoting racial identity development in after-school programs. Utilizing Youth Participatory Action Research methodology, she focuses on how young people of color co-construct critical consciousness and racial self-efficacy with educators. After graduating, she hopes to become a professor of education. Apart from her scholarly activities, she loves visiting National Parks, making pottery, and training for supersprint triathlons.

Sarai Richter

SARAI RITCHTER
Graduate At-Large

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Sarai Richter

Graduate At-Large

Sarai Richter is a Ph.D. student in Sociology at Arizona State University whose work bridges social justice, participatory action research, and transnational feminist solidarity. Their research engages themes of migration, human rights, community-based practice, and Southeast Asian studies, with a focus on arts-based methods and post-qualitative inquiry. Sarai’s teaching experience spans multiple contexts, including serving as a traditional garden educator on the Navajo Nation, teaching elementary art in Phoenix public schools, and instructing adult learners in GED, ESOL, and citizenship courses, as well as university-level sociology. They also served internationally as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Cambodia.

Beyond teaching, Sarai has held leadership roles with AmeriCorps, refugee mutual assistance agencies, and social justice nonprofits, where they advanced capacity building, equity, and community partnerships. Their presentations and publications explore borderlands, Khmer protest music, Yoga Nidra as participatory praxis, and more-than-human approaches to relational governance. They currently serve as a Member-at-Large on the Coordinating Leadership Team of the Action Research Network of the Americas.

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DR. E.J. PAVY
Sponsorship Chair

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Dr. E.J Pavy

Sponsorship

Dr. E.J. Pavy is a leader for organizational change management and training at Campbellsville University. He has a Ph.D. in Educational Leadership and Organizational Development as well as degrees in vocal music education and choral conducting. Dr. Pavy serves ARNA as the Sponsorship Chair on the Coordinating Leadership Team as well as the chair for the Musical Learning ARC. An arts-based action researcher, he explores expression of the arts to create meaning and drive social and organizational change. Dr. Pavy is the recipient of ARNA's 2024 Promising Action Research Award, Campbellsville University's 2022 John E. Chowning Staff Award for Diversity, and a dissertation award for Community Engaged Research from the University of Louisville.

Maranda C. Ward

DR. MARANDA C. WARD
At-Large Member

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Dr. Maranda C. Ward

At-Large Member

Dr. Maranda C. Ward is an Associate Professor and Director of Equity in the Department of Clinical Research and Leadership in the GW School of Medicine and Health Sciences. In this role, she designs, evaluates, and teaches health equity curriculum for student and faculty learners. Her teaching excellence was recognized in 2021 with the highest teaching honor at GW- the Morton A. Bender Teaching award. She is a member of the Academy of Distinguished Teaching as well as among the multi-disciplinary faculty within GW’s Trustworthy AI efforts.

Dr. Ward is an expert in advancing anti-racism efforts within health professions education and in designing curricula to enable students and faculty to competently promote health and racial equity in practice. Her research focuses on diversity, equity, inclusion, justice and antiracism educational interventions as well as community-focused studies on HIV, Black women's health, and youth identity.

As an affiliate faculty for the GW Honey W. Nashman Center for Civic Engagement and Public Service, she translated her participatory action research on youth identity into a youth-led canvas-based mural on preserving D.C. legacy. Dr. Ward's research is further converted into practice as the Co-Founder and Executive Director of Promising Futures - a youth development pipeline for D.C. youth ages 11-24 that integrates a social justice approach to positive youth development using edu-tainment to invite youth to explore their civic and social identities, social inequities, and health seeking behaviors. When she is not teaching or serving on-campus, she is engaged in DC in a range of capacities. For instance, she is on the board of trustees for the Douglass Community Land Trust and serves on the HealthHIV Advisory Board for Touch Points Viral Testing and Linkage to Care. She completed six years as an appointed advisory board member on the DC Mayor’s Commission on Health Equity. She was also recently named the Associate Editor of the Journal of Health Equity.

When asked, she describes herself as a community educator, curriculum developer, and youth builder. She has strong commitments to service-learning, equity, community legacy, youth development, and honoring youth voice. Maranda earned the 2025 Ernest A. Lynton Award for Scholarship of Engagement by Campus Compact, 2024 American Public Health Association Sarah Mazelis Health Promotion Award, the 2024 Boston Congress of Public Health Global Health Innovators to Watch Award, 2024 GW School of Medicine Clara Bliss ‘Rising Star’ Mentoring Award, 2024 Dorothy Nyswander Health Equity award by the Society for Public Health Education, and the 2023 GW Black Alumni Impact award (the highest honor given to a Black alumni). She has been consulted by Ebony.com, Rolling Out Magazine, DCist, the Washington Post for her research on HIV disparities and featured on a live segment of Good Morning Washington, NPR’s Morning Edition and the KevinMD podcast for her health equity expertise.

Maranda earned her Doctorate in Education from GW, her Master's in Public Health from Tulane University, and her Bachelor's degrees in Sociology and Anthropology from Spelman College. She enjoys learning from youth, traveling, and brunch.

For more information, visit www.marandaward.com

Erin Bush

DR. ERIN BUSH
Membership

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Dr. Erin Bush

Membership

Dr. Erin Bush (she/her) is an assistant professor at Florida State University. She is a certified speech-language pathologist who studies and teaches about neurogenic communication disorders that people may have after a brain injury, stroke, or the onset of a neurological disorder. In studying and working with those with brain injury, her interests expanded to broader social justice pursuits. Erin is interested in studying & using alternative research methodologies to understand the health disparities of marginalized groups. She is particularly passionate about community-based participatory research, qualitative methodologies, and alternative ways to disseminate research findings. She aims to generate ethical, meaningful, and culturally-responsive research that enhances and enriches people's communication and life participation.

She is a member of the Coordinating Leadership Team and serves as the Membership Chair for ARNA.

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DR. LESLEY WOOD
At-Large Member

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Dr. Lesley Wood

At-Large Member

Lesley Wood, D Ed, is the ETDP SETA Research Chair for ECD in the Faculty of Education at North-West University, South Africa. Lesley is committed to helping educational stakeholders address the social disadvantages they face within contexts of poverty. She is a National Research Foundation rated researcher whose interests lie in researching participatory ways to facilitate psycho-social wellbeing within various educational communities. She has been inducted into the Academy of Science South Africa (ASSAf) and the international Academy of Community Engaged Scholarship (ACES). Over 40 postgraduate students have received their degrees under her supervision. She has published over 100 articles, chapters and books, and received several national and international grants for her projects.

Action Research Community (ARC) Chairs

2023-08 Benson

DR. DONNA BENSON
Community Development

2023-09 Kim

DR. MINA KIM
Early Childhood Education

2023-10 Sherman

RACHEL SHERMAN
Graduate Students

2023-11 Murphy

DR. NANCY MURPHY
Health Equity

Candace_Kaye

DR. CANDACE KAYE
International

2023-13 Pavy

DR. E.J. PAVY
Musical Learning Community

2023-14A Tang Yan

DR. CATALINA TANG YAN
Participatory Action Research & Popular Education

2023-14B Bonilla Montenegro

DANIEL BONILLA MONTENEGRO
Participatory Action Research & Popular Education

2023-21C Aubrey Uresti

DR. AUBREY URESTI
School Counseling

2023-16 Ziegenfuss

DR. RANDY ZIEGENFUSS
School Leadership

2023-17 Riel

DR. MARGARET RIEL
Supporting the Teaching of Action Research

2023-04 Stickney

DR. DANE STICKNEY
Youth Participatory Action Research

ARNA Staff

2023-26J Paul Devereaux

PAUL DEVEREAUX
Lead Interpreter

2023-26K Ana Espinosa

ANALUISA ESPINOZA
Global South Coordinator

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SAVANNAH VILLASEÑOR
Social Media Coordinator

2023-23 Zacarias Ramirez

GABRIEL ZACARIAS
Web & Tech Director