Deliberative Citizenship Initiative

Building Democracy One Conversation at a Time

Advisory Council

The DCI benefits enormously from input and feedback from its Advisory Council. The members of this Council include Davidson staff, faculty, students, alums, and community members from a range of different departments and backgrounds. The Council meets twice a year to review the progress of the DCI and discuss its future directions. The DCI leadership may also consult with council members individually on topics relevant to their expertise. Current members of the Advisory Council are listed below.

2025-26 DCI Advisory Council:

Student Members

  • Alexa Cohen ’27, Davidson College Student
  • Santosh Gontla ’27, Davidson College Student
  • Connor Hines ’26, Davidson College Student
  • Gabriel Russ-Nachamie ’27, Davidson College Student 
  • Auden White ’26, Davidson College Student
  • Julia Suqueira ’27, Davidson College Student

Community and Alumni Members

  • Pam Dykstra, Past President, Davidson Lands Conservancy; Past Curriculum Chair, Davidson Learns
  • Peter Henry, Pastor at Davidson College Presbyterian Church
  • Paul Wettenhall, Former President and Executive Director, Ventureprise at UNC Charlotte
  • Barclay Briggs ’24, Operations Scheduler, Texas Aromatics, LP
  • Amanda Britt ’01, Creator, Writer, and Host, Manny in the Middle
  • John Odom ’87, General Presbyter, Presbytery of Mid-Kentucky PC USA

Faculty Members

  • Dan Aldridge, Professor of History
  • Ike Bailey ’95, Batten Professor of Public Policy and Communication Studies at Davidson College
  • Jason Blum, Associate Professor of the Practice in Writing
  • Bassil El-Zatarri, Keiser Assistant Professor of Chemistry
  • Melissa Gonzalez, Assistant Dean for Faculty Development; Chair of Latin American Studies
  • Cindy Hauser, Keiser Family Professor of Chemistry, Associate Dean for Advising Strategy & Development

Staff Members

  • Chris Clunie ’06, Director of Athletics at Davidson College
  • Shawn McQuillan-Krepps, Associate Dean of Students
  • Annie Porges, Senior Associate Director of Major Gifts
  • Evan Rozantes, Innovation Portfolio Manager at Davidson College Hurt Hub
  • Mike Summers, Chief Career Officer and Executive Director, Matthews Center for Career Development
  • Julia Watkins, College Chaplain

Nade Bai ’22, Erik Eva ’22, Evan Rothman ’22, Eboni Thomas ’23, Nora Sjue ’24,Abbey Tutterow ’24, Sophia Lundt ’25, Kailliou Macon-Goudeau ’25, and Harrison Grooms ’25 served as members of the Advisory Council when they were students at Davidson. Jayme Sponsel, Jerry Hopkins ’64, Marya Howell, Deidra Smith, Barbara Lom, Lia Newman, Walter Snipes, Grade Ward ’20, and Jamie Stamey have also previously served on this Council.

The DCI formed the Advisory Council in 2021 to build on the important contributions that a working group of staff, faculty, and staff as the DCI was getting off the ground in 2019 and 2020. This working group was made up of individuals who expressed an interest in actively helping develop the goals and orientation of the initiative.  They were divided into two teams, one focused on how deliberation can be incorporated more into courses and one focused on how more deliberation opportunities can be created outside of the classroom.  Group members, who are listed below, also shared their thoughts with the co-conveners individually.

DCI Working Group Curricular Team: Ike Bailey (COM), Mario Belloni (PHY), John Crawford ’20, Joe DeMartin ’21, Andrew Gardner ’21, Shyam Gouri-Suresh (ECO), Barbara Lom (BIO), Sean McKeever (PHI), Greg Snyder (REL), Durwin Striplin (CHM)

DCI Working Group Co-Curricular Team: Ariel Chung ’21, Kieran Clark ’22, Amy Fallah (COM), Alex Idonije ’20, Lizzie Kane ‘22, Thomas Linemann ’20, Emmie Lo ’22, Cadie McNaboe ’22, Susan Roberts (POL), Clark Ross (ECO), Rebecca Ruhlen (ENV/ANT), Joshua Yesnowitz (POL)

Several additional faculty and students expressed an interest in supporting the DCI, but lacked the time to commit to thinking through its design and implementation.  These individuals (listed below) made up the DCI Advisory Group, and was intended to provide feedback on the ideas developed by the co-conveners and working group teams.

DCI Advisory Group: Jaya Jha (ECO), Rebecca Fernandez (EDU), Bes Ceka (POL), Katie Horowitz (GSS), Sally Bullock (HHV), Jason Blum (WRI), Ken Menkhaus (POL), Brent Maher (CTL), Erin Mansell ’22, Josh Martin ’22

We are grateful for the contributions of all of these individuals, who come from a wide range of departments and programs across the college.  We look forward to continuing to work with them — and others — as the DCI continues to develop.

If you are interested in learning more about what sparked the initiative, click here.