Mary Stanley
Stories are the bridges we use to cross canyons of misunderstanding and ignorance. I was a history major as an undergraduate. I have an MA in International Relations and a PhD in Interdisciplinary Social Science. All three degrees include a narrative dimension. That was what I most enjoyed: the tension between the desire to get the facts straight through sound, unbiased research and the realization that stories bring research to life and have their own authenticity. For almost twenty years I taught in the Public Affairs and Honors Programs at Syracuse University. My expertise included engaged learning that required students to challenge theory with practice, and practice with theory, discovering the practical roots of theory and the theoretical basis of local and community knowledge.
Since retiring from teaching, I have been an arts activist continuing to explore through Syracuse Stories and its offshoot the Know Your Neighbor, Know the World Project, the power of stories as essential vehicles of humane encounters between strangers. I am a practicing ceramicist and painter. I live part-time in Brazil.
Malinda Masing
There is nothing else to do but travel, meet new people and experience new events.
Malinda was a world traveler from the beginning. She was born in the Philippines; her mother serving in the Peace Corps, her father a native farmer. She came to the United States at the age of four, but still retains many memories of her early years in the Philippines.
Malinda does not see herself as belonging to one particular state or nation, but rather a person of the world and is interested in breaking down the us vs. them mentality.Malinda came to Syracuse in 2010 to pursue a B.A. in International Relations and a B.S. in Television/Radio/Film. Since then she has studies international policy in Israel, as well as the Arabic language and culture in Jordan. She hopes to continue traveling the world, using the medium of film to create works that connect cultures and reveal unknown similarities and truths.
Georgia Popoff
Vanessa Johnson
Caroline Tauxe