University of Rochester Alumni for Social Responsibility: Member Bios

 

 

Nadia Alber has begun her second year teaching outdoor education and 7^th grade math at the North Country School.

 

A co-educational boarding school for children grades 4-9, NCS is located on a 200-acre farm outside of Lake Placid, NY in the Adirondack Mountains. Since the early 1930s, it boasts family-style housing and an abundance of activities for kids to choose from including: horseback riding, music lessons, theater, dance, studio arts, woodworking, biking, hiking/camping, skiing, and farming and gardening, just to name a few. To add to the several other job titles Nadia has held these past 3 years – Field Research Assistant, Wilderness Coordinator, Residential Outdoor Leader, Seasonal Park Ranger, and Medical Assistant – she is currently looking to become a full-time farm/garden intern for summer/fall 2008. Nadia, UR Class of 2004, holds a BA in Biology and a minor in German Language and Culture.

 

 

Dan Apfel is an employee of the National Federation of Community Development Credit Unions, a Manhattan based non-profit trade association focused on helping credit unions serve low-income communities.Dan works in the Federation's Education and Training department supporting professional development and financial literacy training programs. Dan also serves as Coordinator for the Federation’s Youth Network. Prior to joining the Federation Dan was the Community Researcher and Project Manager for Sector 4 Community Development Corp. in Rochester, NY. A major focus of his work is on cooperatives, of which credit unions are one type, as a vehicle of social change, and he currently serves on the board of a Rochester-based housing cooperative. Dan, UR Class of 2005, holds a B.A. in History.

 

 

 

 

Jessica Gale is a Research Assistant in the University of Rochester's Department of Community and Preventive Medicine. In the Department's Division of Social and Behavioral Medicine she has worked with a team of scientists and anthropologists to complete an International study aiming to reduce tobacco-related health disparities for Low-Income and Minority groups. Jessica is currently working on a Community-based breast feeding study among low-income women in Rochester, NY. While public health research is her day job, Jessica spends her weekends a and evenings volunteering on local movie sets and taking film classes. She would like to use film and digital media to further pursue her interests in maternal and child health and environmental conservation. Jessica is a member of the Class of 2004 with a B.A. in Anthropology.

 

 

 

 

Andrew Hall is currently completing a self-designed fifth-year program at the University of Rochester studying international sustainable development. He is the Co-Founder of City Cycles, a software and consulting enterprise that facilitates the establishment of high-efficacy bicycle lending programs for universities, businesses, and communities. As a member of a two-person team, Andrew's responsibilities include everything from marketing to customer service to the actual design of consulted projects. Andrew has worked previously as a mentor program coordinator for a community bicycle program, a bicycle infrastructure consultant to the University of Rochester, and as an intern to the Central Body of Kisumu Bicycle Transporters in Kisumu, Kenya. Andrew is member of the Class of 2007 with a B.S. in Environmental Science.

 

 

 

 

Andrew McNamara is an employee of Bright Power, a Manhattan based consulting firm in energy efficiency, solar energy, and green buildings. As an Energy Engineer, he analyzes the energy production of renewable energy systems, assesses the impact of building energy conservation measures, and is accredited under the US Green Building Council's Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design Standard (LEED). Clients of Bright Power include: building developers in New York City, a national affordable housing organization seeking energy efficiency upgrades for its buildings, solar power plant developers in Canada and the United Arab Emirates, and investors interested in renewables and green technology. Andrew is a member of the University of Rochester Class of 2005 and holds a dual-degree with a B.S. in Optics and a B.A. in Physics.

 

 

 

 

Amy Rothman is a Summer Work and Travel Program Coordinator at the Center for International Career Development in Seattle, WA, where she facilitates a visa exchange for college students abroad who come to work in the USA for their summer vacations. Prior to working at this cultural exchange organization, Amy taught at the after-school program of an independent elementary school and also served for a year as a Service Leader with City Year , an AmeriCorps program, where she planned service-learning workshops for 17-24 year olds. She is committed to providing experiential education opportunities for diverse students. Amy graduated in 2005 with an Interdepartmental B.A. in American Studies.

 

 

 

 

 

Audrey Stewart is a Masters in City and Regional Planning Candidate at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, where she specializes in Land Use and Environmental Planning and Urban Livability. Before her return to the academic world, Audrey worked for two years as Project and Program Coordinator at the Rochester Regional Community Design Center, a Rochester-based not-for-profit focusing on improving the built environment in the Rochester region and engaging residents in the design of their neighborhoods. Her current academic and professional interests include how to implement regional sustainable infrastructure, and how to build equitable local economies around conservation-based enterprise. Audrey holds a B.S. in Environmental Science and a B.A. in History from the UR, Class of '04, Take Five '05.

 

 

 

 

 

Zoe Sylvester is a Special Education Teacher at PS 503 in Brooklyn, NY. She is a member of the New York City Teaching Fellows, an alternative teacher certification program, similiar to Teach for America. Zoe is currently working on her Masters of Special Education at Brooklyn College. Before entering the Fellows Program, she worked as an Environmental Educator at the Brooklyn Center for the Urban Environment, an organization dedicated to bringing environmental awareness to urban youth. Zoe graduated from the University of Rochester in 2005 with a B.A. in Anthropology.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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