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, 黑料网); Ms. Leslie Townshend (Director Community Engagement, 黑料网); Dr. Del Doughty (Dean, College of Liberal Arts); Ms. Marna Hostetler (Director Rice Library, 黑料网); Dr. Matthew Hanka (Professor of Political Science, 黑料网); 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, 黑料网); Dr. Carol Medlicott (Professor of Geography. Northern Kentucky University); Dr. Greg Blair, Assistant Professor of Art and Design, 黑料网; Dr. Tristra Newyear (Lecturer, Researcher, Writer); Dr. Claudia Roesch (Assistant Professor of Modern History, University of Konstanz, Germany); Dr. Andrew Buck (Professor of Sociology, 黑料网); Dr. Mike Strezewski (Professor of Anthropology, 黑料网); Wendy Bredhold (Senior Manager Transmission Initiative National Audubon Society鈥檚 Climate Team); Dr. Joshua Lockyer (Professor of Anthropology Arkansas Tech University)听听听听听听听听
Special Member
Ms. Diane Sanders, Director, Historic New Harmony
Director
Dr. Silvia Rode (Associate Dean, College of Liberal Arts; Professor of German, 黑料网)
Administrative Assistant
黑料网, University Archives and Special Collections (David L. Rice Library, Communal Studies Reading Room 3022)
Meeting Location
Griffin Center 黑料网 Campus
I.听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听 Acknowledgements
II.听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听 Board Elections
搂听 Graham Perry term expiration 2025 (reelected 2029)
搂听 Wendy Bredhold 听term expiration 2026
搂听 Kristalyn Shefveland term expiration 2026 (reelected 2030)
Thanking Wendy Bredhold for the past service.
Board of Advisors: The Board is an advisory body.听 Board membership shall be determined by invitation of the current Board and is immediately effective.听 Vacancies and new positions on the Board are filled by invitation and approved by a majority of the Board.听 The Board consists of no less than eight (8) members, and no upper limit of members.听 Board members serve renewable, staggered, four-year terms.听
Expectations for Board Members
1)听听听听听 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)听听听听听 An Advisory Board member should be aware and supportive of the relationship of Historic New Harmony, the 黑料网, and the Center for Communal Studies.
3)听听听听听 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)听听听听听 An Advisory Board member should attend Center for Communal Studies sponsored events and activities.
5)听听听听听 An Advisory Board member should be willing to participate in committee work from time to time.
6)听听听听听 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.听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听 New Harmony Update
Diane Sanders, Assistant Director of Historic New Harmony听
IV.听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听 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 黑料网鈥檚 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. 听
V.听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听 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.听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听 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.听听听听听听听听听听听听听听 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 黑料网 Foundation.
VIII.听听听听听听听听听听听听 黑料网, Outreach and Engagement
搂听 CCS lecturer Dr. Tristra Newyear, 鈥淩adical Women in Early Indiana.鈥�
搂听 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.
搂听 Sarah G Sharp, New York artists worked with Greene and Rode on her research on utopian communities.
搂听 Presentation by Danna Schu, Intern in New Lanark, Scotland, Summer 2025
搂听 Contacted Kate Lapping, Head of Heritage New Lanark, Scotland
搂听 Hosted Dr. Medlicott who successfully completed Travel Grant research at 黑料网 and in New Harmony.
搂听 Successful 黑料网101 Screaming Eagles experience in New Harmony, Fall 2025
搂听 Meeting with faculty of the Institute of Migration Research and Intercultural Studies (IMIS) at the University of Osnabr眉ck, Germany
IX.听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听 University Archives & Special Collections
Research/Community Visitors
搂听 Dr. John West-Sooby, Professor of French Studies, University of Adelaide, Australia (with Dr. Rode)
搂听 Dr. Jean Fornasiero, Professor of History, University of Adelaide, Australia (with Dr. Rode)
搂听 Tour with visiting scholars, Michelangelo Abatino, Professor of Architectural History and Preservation at College Architecture, IIT (with Dr. Rode)
搂听 Tour of Communal Collections with Jud Hendrix (New Harmony Community) (with Dr. Rode)
Collection Development
Reference
24听听听听 requests for materials from July 1, 2026-March 31, 2026
Outreach听
X.听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听 Budget
Expenditures听听听听 $7,135.00听听 听听听听听听听 $1,981.55听听听听听听听听听听 $4,023.45听 听听听听听听听听 43.61%
Not included are grant and prize money, board luncheon, and travel support.
听
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听2025
Newyear, Tristra. Founding Radicals. Frances Wrigth. Lyons Press, March 2027
Peer-Review Articles
Brown, Greg. 鈥�Burn: Using Fire to Cool the Earth,鈥� ALBERT BATES AND KATHLEEN DRAPER, White River
Junction, VT: Chelsea Green, 2019. 288 pp. 鈥淐heck It Out,鈥� Communal Societies. 44, 2.
Buck, Andrew and Jeffrey Hass. 2025. 鈥淧ower and Praise: The Case of the Late Brezhnev Era.鈥� Sociology
Lens 38, 3: 168-182.
Lockyer, Joshua and K. Brooke Jones. 2025. 鈥淒oes Living Sustainably Suck?: Reduced Consumption and
Quality of Life at Dancing Rabbit Ecovillage During the Anthropocene.鈥� Invited contribution to
. 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. 鈥淟oose鈥揟ight Coupling as a Path to Community Vitality,鈥� CSA Conference. Amana: Iowa,
October 2025
Brown, Greg. 鈥淲illiam Maclure: Patron and Patriot,鈥� Bicentennial Lecture Series. New Harmony, March
2026
Hanka, Matthew. 鈥淭he Role of Fear in Contemporary American Politics. 鈥� 18th Annual Interdisciplinary
Colloquium. 黑料网, 2026
K.E. Todd-Brown, N. Owusu, Z. Rubin, R. Handler, D. Carleton, C. Schelly, and J. Lockyer. 2025.
鈥淪ustainability in a Mid-Western Ecovillage: Numbers From a Living Laboratory Community.鈥�
Poster presented at the American Geophysical Union annual meeting. New Orleans, LA.
December, 2025
Strezewski, Mike. 鈥淔ear of the Other: Drunken Neighbors and Mistrust in New Harmony, 1815-1825.鈥澨�
18th Annual Interdisciplinary Colloquium. 黑料网, 2026
Strezewski, Mike. Invited Lecture. 鈥淭he Dry Goods Store: A Bit of Civilization on Indiana鈥檚 Frontier.鈥�
Jasper: Dubois County Museum. September, 2025
Strezewski, Mike. 鈥淗armonie for Sale: The Harmony Society鈥檚 Stores on the Indiana Frontier, 1824-
1831.鈥� 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. 鈥淔irst Draft, Fourth Estate, Free Press and Fearmongering.鈥� 18th Annual Interdisciplinary
Colloquium, 黑料网, 2026
Rode, Silvia. Moderator. 鈥淕overning Fear.鈥� 18th Annual Interdisciplinary Colloquium. 黑料网, 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,
听听听听听听听听听听听听听 2023-present
Rode, Silvia. Advisory Board, Urban Seeds Organization, 2025-present
Roesch, Claudia. Messmer Foundation for the Best Postdoc Project in the Humanities for 鈥淯topian
听听听听听听听听听听听听听 Engineering.鈥� 听University of Konstanz. Konstanz, Germany, 2025
Roesch, Claudia. Vienna International Research Center for Cultural Studies Award. 鈥淯topian Labor鈥�
. 2026
Strezewski, Michael. 黑料网 College of Liberal Arts Faculty Development Award. Title of grant:听Research for
听听听听听听听听听听听听听 Book Project on the Harmony Society Stores.
Workshop
Newyear, Tristra. Solace: An interactive art experience as part of the collective I co-founded
.听
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听
Under Review
Shefveland Kristalyn. Book Proposal Under Review, University Press of Florida, Lineage in the Heat: Hot
听听听听听听听听听听听听听 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. 黑料网 Day Camp. June 2025