The Ohio State University​

Dr. Tina Pierce is the Chief of Strategy and Belonging for The Ohio State University Alumni Association (OSUAA). She brings over 20 years of experience in higher education, civic engagement, leadership development, and in-depth knowledge of the strength and reach of the Buckeye nation.  Dr. Pierce is an alumna of The Ohio State University, President of the OSU Undergraduate Student Government Alumni Society, a distinguished thought leader and a highly effective partner on strategic priorities and initiatives for diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging.  She has received several honors including the OSUAA Pay It Forward Award for Volunteerism and the Association of Staff and Faculty Women Mary Ann Williams Leadership Award. Not only is she passionate about equity and inclusion, but also community service. Dr. Pierce is a servant leader who empowers individuals to create positive transformative change in their communities. She is serving her first term (elected in 2019) as a proud member of the Columbus Board of Education. In her first term, she has been a tireless advocate for diversity, equity, and inclusion – leading the committee responsible for updating and re-writing the district’s equity policy.  Her dedication to leadership extends statewide where she serves as the President of the Ohio School Board Association Central Region.

Ruth Ellen Wasem joined the Levin College of Public Affairs and Education at Cleveland State University as a Senior Fellow in August 2022. For more than 25 years, Wasem was a legislative policy specialist at the Library of Congress & Congressional Research Service (CRS). From 2016 to 2022, Wasem was a professor of public policy practice at the Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs at the University of Texas in Austin, where she taught courses on immigration and citizenship, refugee and human security, legislative development, and public management. Wasem remains engaged in Washington, D.C., as a Fellow at the Bipartisan Policy Center. Her widely cited publications span academic journals, books, and policy institute reports. Wasem earned her masters and doctoral degrees in history at the University of Michigan and received her baccalaureate degree magna cum laude from Muskingum University.

Dr. Junfeng Wang is an associate professor in the School of Public Management and Policy, University of Illinois Springfield. She is the Academic Program Lead for the MPA program. Dr. Wang received her Ph.D. in Public Policy from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte in 2008. Her research interests include environmental policies, nonprofit leadership, and MPA education. Dr. Wang is a contributing author to the book Community Action Leaders: Rooting out Poverty at the Local Level (New York: Routledge, 2016). Her research has been published in China Land Science, State and Local Government Review, E-Mentor, Illinois Municipal Policy Journal, and The Journal of Extension.