The Bonner Foundation welcomed twenty-five staff and faculty to the Bonner Network during the 2025 New Bonner Staff Orientation, hosted at the Princeton Theological Seminary in Princeton, New Jersey from July 27th - July 30th. Participants represented eighteen institutions of higher education, including seventeen with established Bonner Programs, and one (Weber State University in Utah) that is expecting to start a Bonner Program next Fall.
2025 New Bonner staff, faculty, guest presenters, and Bonner Foundation staff in front of The Erdman Center at Princeton Theological Seminary
The Orientation began with a welcome dinner at the Bonner Foundation followed by an introductory session with philosophy, key frameworks, and a brief history of the Bonner Program. The seminar format of the sessions offered participants opportunities to learn about the fundamentals of building and managing a Bonner Program through a succession of presentations and many small group discussions. Key topics included recruiting and mentoring students, collaborating with campus units (like Admissions, academic departments, Financial Aid), designing training and reflections, developing reciprocal community partnerships, and other fundamentals. Participants discussed best practices for building strong service-based programs, as well as how the Bonner Program can serve as a model and catalyst for campuses to strengthen their culture and infrastructure for community-engaged learning.
Since 1990, the Bonner Program has provided students with “Access to Education and Opportunity to Serve.” The Bonner Program is built on a unique student-centered approach for institutions of higher education to build reciprocal and sustained partnerships with communities. During the Orientation, participants were guided and supported as they envisioned ways to engage different stakeholders (students, staff, and faculty) in building and maintaining meaningful campus-community partnerships.
Two experienced Bonner Program staff from the national network - Destiny De La Rosa-Santos, Bonner Program Manager at the College of New Jersey and Dr. Krystal Woolston, Director, Public Service Programs at Montclair State University - met with the participants and shared their insights and expertise with building and sustaining student leadership, developing mutually reciprocal community partnerships, and scaling this work on their campus and in their communities. Participants left the Orientation with many new ideas. They appreciated the support of the Bonner network - a diverse group of dedicated, generous practitioners across 65+ institutions who openly share their wisdom and experience.
Participants included:
Abby Kucks, Assistant Director, Rutgers University - New Brunswick
Arthur Jenkins, Bonner Coordinator, Rhodes College
Cherita Cunningham, Special Projects Coordinator, Spelman College
Courtenay Folk, Director, Carson Newman University
Elida Rodriguez, Volunteer Coordinator, Centre College
Jacci Banegas-Abreu, Associate Dir Student Engagement & Bonner Scholars Program, University of Richmond
Jamie Webster, Associate Director of Community Engagement, Maryville College
Jasmine Johnson, Director, Rider University
Jaylin Parker, Coordinator, Bonner Scholar Program, Emory & Henry University
Jody Davis, Coordinator for Student Programming, Sewanee- The University of the South
Kimberly Silverio Diaz, Coordinator for Civic Engagement and Experiential Learning, Middlesex College
Liv Nettesheim, OCCE & Bonner Coordinator, Centre College
Maddie McGreevy, Bonner Program Intern, Rider University
Marisol Palomo, Bonner Director, Rhodes College
Megan Martinez, Assistant Director of CELTS, Bonner Scholar Program Coordinator, Berea College
Michael D'Itailia, Director of Engaged Learning & Assessment, Rutgers University Camden
Michael Deem Jr., Bonner Foundation Intern, Rider University
Mylene Pinto, Administrative Assistant for Community Engagement, Rutgers University Camden
Rachel Rogers, Coordinator CCE, Carson Newman University
Samantha Rummage-Massey, Learning Experience Designer, Guilford College
Sandra Baltazar, Community Partnerships Coordinator, Weber State University
Sarah Heggen, Community-Based Learning Coordinator, Berea College
Shania Tamagyongfal, Bonner Program Coordinator, University of Hawaii - Hilo
Susan Pavlus, Director of the Bonner Center for Community-Engaged Learning, Teaching, and Research (Interim), Oberlin College
Yetta Nowak, Director of Community Engagement and Service Learning, Notre Dame of Maryland
To learn more about the New Staff Orientation or access the presented materials please visit our Bonner Wiki Meeting Archives page.