Our Staff

Working with you to help you work with others

Our Staff

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Our staff members come to us from a wide variety of fields, including law and family therapy and government service and linguistics and peace studies and mediation and creative writing and community building. We are bound together by a love for our state and its people, deep affection for one another, an abiding hope that we can do better, and a commitment to the promise of a multi-racial, pluralistic, and representative democracy. In that spirit, we have joined forces to support communities in collaborating on the issues that matter most to them.

Nujhat Ahmed

Nujhat Ahmed

Nujhat Ahmed, MA, MPP, NPCC Project Manager (she/her)
nujhat@pdx.edu | (503) 725-6167
Nujhat is an instructor in the online Collaborative Governance Certificate program. She also collaborates on project assessments and collaborative processes.

Thien Kim Bui

Thien-Kim Bui

Thien-Kim Bui, NPCC Graduate Research Assistant (they/them)
thienbui@pdx.edu | (503) 725-6676

Thien-Kim conducts NPCC research in the field of collaborative governance.

Sofia Castellanos S.

Sofia Castellanos S.

Sofia Castellanos S., PhD, Oregon Consensus Project Associate (she/her)
acastel2@pdx.edu | (503) 572-7398

Sofia provides project support and coordination to Oregon Consensus, assisting with assessments and collaborative processes. 
 
Bobby Cochran

Bobby Cochran

Bobby Cochran, MA, PhD, Oregon Consensus Senior Project Manager (he/him)
jcochran@pdx.edu | (503) 725-6905

Bobby conducts assessments, and designs, facilitates, and manages collaborative processes with agencies and their stakeholders on complex public policy issues.

 

John Donovan

John Donovan

John Donovan, Oregon Solutions Director (he/him)
johndono@pdx.edu | (503) 725-7095

As Oregon Solutions program director, John supports the work of the Oregon Solutions team in facilitating alignment and deployment of public, private, and nonprofit resources to make community-driven solutions a reality.

Eliot Feenstra

Eliot Feenstra

Eliot Feenstra, MA, Oregon's Kitchen Table Project Manager (he/him or they/them)
feen@pdx.edu | (503) 725-3420

Eliot manages community projects for NPCC’s Oregon's Kitchen Table. 

Tiffany Ganir

Tiff Ganir

Tiff Ganir, MS, Oregon's Kitchen Table Project Associate (she/her or they/them)
tganir@pdx.edu | (503) 725-9273

Tiff provides project support for a wide range of Oregon's Kitchen Table projects and for other NPCC  programs. 

Angie Gervais

Angie Gervais

Angie Gervais, NPCC Accountant Technician
gervais@pdx.edu | (503) 725-5428

Angie assists with creating contracts and task orders for facilitation providers and reviews invoices for accuracy. 
Sarah Giles

Sarah Giles

Sarah Giles, MFA, Oregon's Kitchen Table Project Manager (she/her)
sarahgiles@pdx.edu | (503) 725-3420

Sarah leads communication efforts and manages projects for NPCC’s Oregon's Kitchen Table. She also researches and writes on a range of issues related to collaborative governance.

Steve Greenwood

Steve Greenwood

Steve Greenwood, MPA, NPCC Project Manager 
sgreenw@pdx.edu | (503) 725-9097

Steve has a wide range of experience with collaborative processes on local, statewide, and regional issues.

Robin Harkless

Robin Harkless

Robin Harkless, MS, Oregon Consensus Director (she/her)
hrobin@pdx.edu | (503) 725-9099

Robin manages Oregon Consensus staff and provides leadership on collaborative processes with agencies and their stakeholders.

Jennah Stillman

Jennah Kiefer

Jennah Kiefer, Oregon Consensus Project Manager (she/her)
jennah@pdx.edu | (530) 680-8668

Jennah manages projects for Oregon Consensus and Oregon Solutions, conducting assessments and facilitating collaborative processes. 

 

Hydrangeas

Cat McGinnis

Cat McGinnis, MS, NPCC Communications & Special Projects Manager 
mcginnc@pdx.edu | (503) 381-9812

Cat provides writing, editing, and document layout for NPCC, manages center websites, provides operational project management and support, and manages project tracking and reporting.

Rebecca McLain

Rebecca McLain

Rebecca McLain, PhD, Director of Research (she/her)
mclainrj@pdx.edu | (503) 725-6907

Rebecca directs NPCC’s applied research program to improve on-the-ground practice and advance thinking in the field of collaborative governance.

Turner Odell

Turner Odell

Turner Odell, JD, Oregon Consensus Senior Project Manager (he/him)
todell@pdx.edu | (503) 725-6959

Turner conducts assessments, and designs, facilitates, and manages collaborative processes with agencies and their stakeholders on complex public policy issues.Turner also teaches collaborative governance.

Steven Ostling

Steven Ostling

Steven Ostling, EA, MS, NPCC Finance and Operations Manager (he/him)
sostling@pdx.edu | (503) 725-8195

Steven provides fiscal support center-wide and manages the NPCC Operations Department. He monitors the center-wide budget and provides budgetary data to the departments within the center and tracks projects to

Manuel Padilla

Manuel Padilla

Manuel Padilla, MA, Oregon Solutions Project Manager (he/him)
manuelpadilla@pdx.edu | (503) 725-6980

Manuel conducts assessments and designs and facilitates collaborative processes with agencies and their publics on complex public policy issues.

Prabhas Pokharel

Prabhas Pokharel

Prabhas Pokharel, MA, Graduate Research Assistant
prabhas@pdx.edu | 503-725-5202

Prabhas identifies and conducts research into collaborative governance in collaboration with NPCC's research team. He conducts literature reviews, and collects and analyzes data. 

Tony Salvador

Tony Salvador

Tony Salvador, PhD, NPCC Executive Director 
tony.salvador@pdx.edu | (503) 725-8224

Tony provides strategic leadership to NPCC’s collaboration programs, which facilitate conflict resolution, lead community engagement, conduct applied research, and teach collaborative governance. 

Laurel Singer

Laurel Singer

Laurel Singer, MS, Senior Fellow (she/her)
laurels@pdx.edu 

Laurel manages NPCC's Endowment for Collaborative Governance and conducts special projects for the center. 

Wendy Willis

Wendy Willis

Wendy Willis, JD, Oregon's Kitchen Table Director (she/her)
wwillis@pdx.edu | (503) 725-6914

Wendy founded and directs Oregon’s Kitchen Table, a statewide engagement platform designed to give Oregonians a voice in their community and state. She is also the Executive Director of Kitchen Table Democracy.

Kristen Wright

Kristen Wright

Kristen Wright, MPA, Interim Director of Training and Academic Services & Project Manager for Oregon Solutions (she/her or they/them)
kjwright@pdx.edu | (503) 725-9078

Kristen assesses and facilitates collaborative processes on complex public policy issues. She also conducts research and teaches collaborative governance.

Associated Faculty

Jennifer Allen, PhD, Hatfield School of Government (she/her)

Jennifer Allen is associate professor of public administration in the Hatfield School of Government. Her areas of research encompass environmental and natural resource policy and administration and sustainable economic development, with particular focus on non-regulatory approaches to toxics management, collaborative natural resource management, and rural-urban connections. She teaches in the environmental and natural resource specialization in the master's in public administration program and in the graduate certificate in sustainability program.

Jennifer was part of the team that launched PSU's Institute for Sustainable Solutions in 2006, and she served as director until 2015. She has previously worked at the World Bank, Ecotrust, and the Oregon Economic and Community Development Department. She currently serves on the board of Illahee and has previously served on the boards of the Oregon Forest Resources Institute, Shorebank Pacific, Portland Energy Conservation Inc., the Portland Sustainability Institute and the Food Alliance.

She holds degrees from Yale University, Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies, and George Mason University.

 

Direlle R. Calica, JD, Institute for Tribal Government (she/her)

Direlle Calica is a citizen of the Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs. She is of Warm Springs, Wasco, Yakama, Molalla, and Snoqualamie tribal descent. She is the owner and managing partner of Kanim Associates LLC, which is a Native American-, women-, and veteran-owned company located in Oregon with an office in Colorado. Kanim Associates LLC provides environmental, energy, entrepreneur, and art/culture expertise services to tribal, government, professional, and organizational clients.

Direlle has more than twenty years of experience as a legislative, policy, planning, and regulatory advisor, and she is a member of the Washington State Bar Association. She has worked in the field of tribal relations for the US Attorney’s Office (District of Oregon) and the US Army Corps of Engineers and has been an advisor to various Indian Tribes on external relations. Direlle also has extensive professional experience in intergovernmental affairs, hydro-system planning related to tribes, water management, environmental entrepreneurship, and tribal energy policy. She has also served as a White House Intern and as a Mark O. Hatfield Congressional Fellow in the US Senate. Direlle has also served as an Adjunct Professor in the Indian Law Program at the Northwestern School of Law at Lewis and Clark College, where she received her Juris Doctorate with a focus on Federal Indian Law, Business and Natural Resource law. In addition to serving as an Oregon Native American Chamber board member, she serves as a member of the board of directors for the Northwest Energy Coalition, council member on the Oregon Energy Facility Siting Council, and she is a Bonneville Environmental Foundation director emeritus. Direlle is also faculty and director of the Institute for Tribal Government at the Center for Public Service, Hatfield School of Government at Portland State University.

 

Connie Ozawa, PhD, College of Urban and Public Affairs (she/her)

Professor, Urban Studies and Planning, College of Urban and Public Affairs
Director, PSU-China Innovations in Urbanization Program

PhD, Urban Planning, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
MA, Geography, University of Hawaii
BA, Environmental Studies, University of California, Berkeley

Connie Ozawa researches and teaches about the ways in which information is integrated into public decision making in the areas of environmental policy and resource management. Connie has published articles on mediated negotiations in the Journal of Planning Education and Research and Conflict Resolution Quarterly, several book chapters on collaborative processes, and a book, Recasting Science: Consensual Procedures in Science-Intensive Public Policy Making. Connie served as director of the Toulan School of Urban Studies and Planning from 2009 to 2015.

 

Craig Shinn, PhD, Hatfield School of Government (he/him)

Emeritus Professor, Public Administration
Coordinator, Division of Public Administration, Master in Public Administration Specialization in Environmental and Natural Resource Management

PhD, University of Washington
Master of Public Administration, Lewis & Clark College
BS, University of Maine

Craig Shinn's research interests center on questions of environmental governance, collaboration, civic capacity, organization and institutions, social aspects of sustainability, and inter-jurisdictional administration of natural resources.

 

Birol A. Yeşilada, Ph.D. Hatfield School of Government (he/him)

Director of the Mark O. Hatfield School of Government
Professor of Political Science and International Studies
Endowed chair in Contemporary Turkish Studies
Principal coordinator of PSU’s National Center of Academic Excellence in Cybersecurity for the National Security Agency and the Department of Homeland Security

Dr. Yeşilada is a professor of political science and international studies at Portland State University (PSU). He also holds the endowed chair in Contemporary Turkish Studies. He is the principal coordinator of PSU’s National Center of Academic Excellence in Cybersecurity for the National Security Agency and the Department of Homeland Security. He is vice president of the International Studies Association and is a member of the TransResearch Consortium. Previously he served as Director of the Middle East Studies Center at PSU (2014-17).

Dr. Yeşilada’s research covers global power transition, cybersecurity and cyber defense policies, international conflict resolution, the European Union, Cyprus, and Turkey. His publications include eleven books and over thirty articles and book chapters. He has been an invited policy consultant at the US State Department, national defense agencies of the US government, the Council on Foreign Relations, the RAND Corporation, Booz Allen Hamilton, the Nathan Associates, Barclays Capital, the World Bank, and is an Academic Associate of the Atlantic Council. In 2003, he was invited by the White House and participated in writing the new Constitution of Afghanistan.

He is a member of the Rotary Club of Portland and past-president of the Rotary Club of Tigard, Oregon.