A Warm Thank You to Dr. Tanti & Dr. Ferguson

The CESI team is saying a fond and very grateful goodbye to two beloved team members. Dr. Mary Ferguson and Dr. Melissa Tanti, both Research Associates with CESI, came to the end of their contracts at the end of April. 

In her 10 years with CESI - first as a student, then as a Research Associate - Mary contributed hugely to CESI’s reach and impact, mentoring dozens of students and bringing in partnerships and projects that expanded CESI's connections and impact, particularly in the livelihoods, social enterprise, and gendered violence sectors. Mary reflected on her role building students' professional skills at CESI in a blog post exploring the model she co-created at CESI. Her deep community knowledge and experience is unmatched and has clearly been cherished by her student mentees as they make the transition from academia to the workforce.

Melissa joined CESI in 2018, first working as Community Engaged Learning Coordinator. In this role, she expanded CESI's ability to support faculty and students in community engaged projects, developed deeply generative relationships with new and existing community partners, and co-developed an anti-oppression workshop that continues to have significant impact across campus. Transitioning into a Research Associate role in 2022, Melissa co-led collaborative research projects addressing intimate partner violence and mentored graduate students as a special graduate faculty member.

Both Mary and Melissa have been invaluable members of the CESI team, and it has been a pleasure to work and learn alongside them.