Time: Apr 22, 2026 10:30 AM Central Time (US and Canada)
Board Members Present
Dr. Gregory W. Brown (Retired Principal Christa McCauliffe Alternative Middle School); Ms. Jennifer Greene (Archivist Librarian, USI); Ms. Leslie Townshend (Director Community Engagement, USI); Dr. Del Doughty (Dean, College of Liberal Arts); Ms. Marna Hostetler (Director Rice Library, USI); Dr. Matthew Hanka (Professor of Political Science, USI); Mr. G. Graham Perry III (Historic Cemetery Preservation Specialist at the Tennessee Historical Commission); Dr. Kristalyn Shefveland (Assistant Dean, College of Liberal Arts, Associate Professor of History, USI); Dr. Carol Medlicott (Professor of Geography. Northern Kentucky University); Dr. Greg Blair, Assistant Professor of Art and Design, USI; Dr. Tristra Newyear (Lecturer, Researcher, Writer); Dr. Claudia Roesch (Assistant Professor of Modern History, University of Konstanz, Germany); Dr. Andrew Buck (Professor of Sociology, USI); Dr. Mike Strezewski (Professor of Anthropology, USI); Wendy Bredhold (Senior Manager Transmission Initiative National Audubon Society’s Climate Team); Dr. Joshua Lockyer (Professor of Anthropology Arkansas Tech University)
Special Member
Ms. Diane Sanders, Director, Historic New Harmony
Director
Dr. Silvia Rode (Associate Dean, College of Liberal Arts; Professor of German, USI)
Administrative Assistant
University of Southern Indiana, University Archives and Special Collections (David L. Rice Library, Communal Studies Reading Room 3022)
Meeting Location
Griffin Center USI Campus
I. Acknowledgements
II. Board Elections
§ Graham Perry term expiration 2025 (reelected 2029)
§ Wendy Bredhold term expiration 2026
§ Kristalyn Shefveland term expiration 2026 (reelected 2030)
Thanking Wendy Bredhold for the past service.
Board of Advisors: The Board is an advisory body. Board membership shall be determined by invitation of the current Board and is immediately effective. Vacancies and new positions on the Board are filled by invitation and approved by a majority of the Board. The Board consists of no less than eight (8) members, and no upper limit of members. Board members serve renewable, staggered, four-year terms.
Expectations for Board Members
1) A Center for Communal Studies Advisory Board member should have a keen interest in the promotion and study of contemporary and historic communal groups, intentional communities and utopias. Furthermore, Advisory Board members should encourage and facilitate meetings, classes, scholarship, networking, and public interest in communal groups past and present, here and abroad.
2) An Advisory Board member should be aware and supportive of the relationship of Historic New Harmony, the University of Southern Indiana, and the Center for Communal Studies.
3) An Advisory Board member should make a commitment to attend the bi-annual board meetings and in advance of the meeting become familiar with material related to discussions.
4) An Advisory Board member should attend Center for Communal Studies sponsored events and activities.
5) An Advisory Board member should be willing to participate in committee work from time to time.
6) An Advisory Board member should be willing to assist in identifying and recruiting other members who have the ability to meet the expectations of the members serving on the board.
III. New Harmony Update
Diane Sanders, Assistant Director of Historic New Harmony
IV. Communal Studies Minor Update
Spring 2026, Andrew Buck is teaching a CCS course, entitled: Innovative Communities: Past, Present and Future. (This course explores how intentional communities can innovate and change the lives of their members and communities at large. The course includes examples of past, present and future models that offer solutions to social problems and new avenues for sustainable living. The course draws on insights from USI’s relationship with New Harmony, the Rice Library archives and the Minka Lab on campus.) Student enrolled in SCO 200 took a trip to New Harmony as part of the course.
V. CCS Prizes and Grant
Posted call for grant and prizes submissions in The Communal Studies Magazine, ICSA Newsletter, and proximately 500 academic email addresses. As of April 22nd, we have received two research grant applications; two graduate papers and on undergraduate paper.
Undergrad./Graduate Review Committee
Carol Medlicott
Matthew Hanka
Del Doughty
Greg Blair
Travel Research Grant Review Committee
Graham Perry
Jennifer Greene
Greg Brown
VI. Owen/Maclure 200th Anniversary Conference
Planning Committee: Ryan Rockiki; Greg Bown; Jennifer Greene; Diane Sanders; Andy Buck; Silvia Rode; Matt Hanka (Chair)
First meeting was held on November 28, 2025. Eleven meetings conducted to present. Confirming Dr. Gregory Claeys and Mr. Ross Chapin as keynote speaker.
VII. Communal Studies Association Liaison
Greg Bown will continue for another term to serve as liaison to the CSA. Travel budget request will be forwarded to the dean and USI Foundation.
VIII. Academics, Outreach and Engagement
§ CCS lecturer Dr. Tristra Newyear, “Radical Women in Early Indiana.”
§ Hanka, Sanders and Rode spoke with the mayor of Wiernsheim/Iptingen to renew city partnership and plan visit to attend the Owen/Maclure conference in November.
§ Sarah G Sharp, New York artists worked with Greene and Rode on her research on utopian communities.
§ Presentation by Danna Schu, Intern in New Lanark, Scotland, Summer 2025
§ Contacted Kate Lapping, Head of Heritage New Lanark, Scotland
§ Hosted Dr. Medlicott who successfully completed Travel Grant research at USI and in New Harmony.
§ Successful USI101 Screaming Eagles experience in New Harmony, Fall 2025
§ Meeting with faculty of the Institute of Migration Research and Intercultural Studies (IMIS) at the University of Osnabrück, Germany
IX. University Archives & Special Collections
Research/Community Visitors
§ Dr. John West-Sooby, Professor of French Studies, University of Adelaide, Australia (with Dr. Rode)
§ Dr. Jean Fornasiero, Professor of History, University of Adelaide, Australia (with Dr. Rode)
§ Tour with visiting scholars, Michelangelo Abatino, Professor of Architectural History and Preservation at College Architecture, IIT (with Dr. Rode)
§ Tour of Communal Collections with Jud Hendrix (New Harmony Community) (with Dr. Rode)
Collection Development
Reference
24 requests for materials from July 1, 2026-March 31, 2026
Outreach
X. Budget
Expenditures $7,135.00 $1,981.55 $4,023.45 43.61%
Not included are grant and prize money, board luncheon, and travel support.
ADDENDUM
BOARD OF ADVISORS
Scholarly Publications, Presentations, Teaching, and Awards 2025-2026
Books
Blair, Greg. Editor. Utopia on the Wabash. Visions of New Harmony. Society for Photographic Educators
Conference. New Harmony, Indiana, 2025
Blair, Greg, Editor, What Punk Taught Me, Book published by Vernon Press, July 2025
Newyear, Tristra. Founding Radicals. Frances Wrigth. Lyons Press, March 2027
Peer-Review Articles
Brown, Greg. “Burn: Using Fire to Cool the Earth,” ALBERT BATES AND KATHLEEN DRAPER, White River
Junction, VT: Chelsea Green, 2019. 288 pp. “Check It Out,” Communal Societies. 44, 2.
Buck, Andrew and Jeffrey Hass. 2025. “Power and Praise: The Case of the Late Brezhnev Era.” Sociology
Lens 38, 3: 168-182.
Lockyer, Joshua and K. Brooke Jones. 2025. “Does Living Sustainably Suck?: Reduced Consumption and
Quality of Life at Dancing Rabbit Ecovillage During the Anthropocene.” Invited contribution to
Eco-Communities: Surviving Well Together. J. Pickerill, eds, p. 33-46. London: Bloomsbury
Academic.
Roesch, Claudia. "Experimental Paternalism: An Owenite Plantation in Mississippi, 1820-1870," in: Ulrike
Lindner und Nicholas Miller (hg.): Plantation Knowledge. Agricultural Colonization, Exploitation,
and Exchange since 1500, New York: New York State University Press, 121-142.
Academic Presentations (international/national/regional)
Blair, Greg, Invited Panelist, Punk Diaspora in the Deep South Symposium, Mississippi State University,
2026
Brown. Greg. “Loose–Tight Coupling as a Path to Community Vitality,” CSA Conference. Amana: Iowa,
October 2025
Brown, Greg. “William Maclure: Patron and Patriot,” Bicentennial Lecture Series. New Harmony, March
2026
Hanka, Matthew. “The Role of Fear in Contemporary American Politics. “ 18th Annual Interdisciplinary
Colloquium. USI, 2026
K.E. Todd-Brown, N. Owusu, Z. Rubin, R. Handler, D. Carleton, C. Schelly, and J. Lockyer. 2025.
“Sustainability in a Mid-Western Ecovillage: Numbers From a Living Laboratory Community.”
Poster presented at the American Geophysical Union annual meeting. New Orleans, LA.
December, 2025
Strezewski, Mike. “Fear of the Other: Drunken Neighbors and Mistrust in New Harmony, 1815-1825.”
18th Annual Interdisciplinary Colloquium. USI, 2026
Strezewski, Mike. Invited Lecture. “The Dry Goods Store: A Bit of Civilization on Indiana’s Frontier.”
Jasper: Dubois County Museum. September, 2025
Strezewski, Mike. “Harmonie for Sale: The Harmony Society’s Stores on the Indiana Frontier, 1824-
1831.” Communal Studies Association Annual Conference, Amana, Iowa. October 2025
Manual
Shefveland Kristalyn. The Sankalpa Method, Yoga Alliance Approved 200HR & 300HR Yoga Teacher
Training. 2025
Book Introduction
Rode, Silvia. Forward: Utopia on the Wabash. Visions of New Harmony (editor: Dr. Greg Blair, University
of Southern Indiana) Society for Photographic Educators Conference, New Harmony, Indiana,
October 2025: 4
Conference Moderator
Greg Blair, Creative Collaborations: Innovative Ways of Sharing and Working Together. MACAA
Conference, Eastern Illinois University (Charleston, IL), 2025
Buck, Andrew. “First Draft, Fourth Estate, Free Press and Fearmongering.” 18th Annual Interdisciplinary
Colloquium, USI, 2026
Rode, Silvia. Moderator. “Governing Fear.” 18th Annual Interdisciplinary Colloquium. USI, 2026
Videos/Podcast/Interviews
Rode, Silvia. The Future of Intentional Communities. New York Times interview with Lucy Thompkins,
2025
Awards/Promotions/Board Memberships
Greg, Blair, President, Evansville Design Group, Evansville, IN, 2024-2026
Brown, Greg, Secretary. Board Member Historic New Harmony, 2023-2026.
Rode, Silvia, Chair. Historic New Harmony Advisory Board, 2023-2026
Rode, Silvia. Advisory Board, Bronstein Center for Healthy Aging and Wellness and the MINKA Project,
2023-present
Rode, Silvia. Advisory Board, Urban Seeds Organization, 2025-present
Roesch, Claudia. Messmer Foundation for the Best Postdoc Project in the Humanities for “Utopian
Engineering.” University of Konstanz. Konstanz, Germany, 2025
Roesch, Claudia. Vienna International Research Center for Cultural Studies Award. “Utopian Labor”
http://www.ifk.ac.at/home.html. 2026
Strezewski, Michael. USI College of Liberal Arts Faculty Development Award. Title of grant: Research for
Book Project on the Harmony Society Stores.
Workshop
Newyear, Tristra. Solace: An interactive art experience as part of the collective I co-founded
Conference Committees
Brown, Greg. 200th Owen/Maclure Anniversary Organizing Committee, 2025-2026
Buck, Andrew. 200th Owen/Maclure Anniversary Organizing Committee, 2025-2026
Greene, Jennifer. 200th Owen/Maclure Anniversary Organizing Committee, 2025-2026
Hanka, Matt, Chair. 200th Owen/Maclure Anniversary Organizing Committee, 2025-2026
Teaching
Buck, Andrew. Soc 200 St: Innovative Communities (3). Spring 2026
Lockyer, Joshua. ANTH 4983: Cults, Communes, and Cooperative Communities. Spring 2026
Under Review
Shefveland Kristalyn. Book Proposal Under Review, University Press of Florida, Lineage in the Heat: Hot
Yoga and the Making of a Modern Tradition
Community Outreach
Brown, Greg. Girl Scouts of Southwestern Indiana. Team Building, Camp Koch Family Camp. June 2025
Brown, Greg. Girl Scouts of Southwestern Indiana. USI Day Camp. June 2025