Community Engagement

Gretchen Carlson Natter

Assistant Dean of College Life and Executive Director of the Center for Public Service

Gettysburg College

Gretchen Carlson Natter P’15 is Assistant Dean of College Life and Executive Director of the Center for Public Service. Part of the Gettysburg and Adams County communities for 22 years, her work has focused on building partnerships focused on long-term change. 

Nich Vunn

Student Program Coordinator

Center for Public Service

Nich Vunn ’22 is an international student from Cambodia, a junior pursuing a dual degree in Economics and International Affairs, and a current program coordinator at the Center for Public Service. She is interested in economic development, women's empowerment, and poverty reduction. Her goal is to return to her home country and start a nonprofit organization that would help address these issues.

Katherine Mercer

Student Program Coordinator

Center for Public Service

Katherine Mercer ’21 is a senior Health Sciences student with a minor in Peace and Justice Studies. She has focused her studies and work with the Center for Public Service as a program coordinator and the Health Sciences Department as a research assistant around public health promotion and food security/access. 



Mercer is passionate about advocating for health as a human right, equitable access to affordable and appropriate foods, and the integration of intersectional feminism into local and global discussions. She hopes to pursue a career after Gettysburg in humanitarian health provision, focusing on the spread of disease in areas of conflict.

Yeimi Gagliardi

Community Health Educator

WellSpan Health

Yeimi K. Gagliardi, works as a Latino health educator in Adams County for Wellspan Health. She also serves as chairperson for the Latino Services Task Force and the Tobacco Prevention Task Force of Healthy Adams County, where she leads and collaborates, with other community-based organizations, in the development, implementation, and evaluation of initiatives to reach underserved communities in Adams County. 



Gagliardi graduated from Universidad Sergio Arboleda in Bogotá, Colombia with a Bachelor of Sciences Degree in Finance and Foreign Trade and holds a Master’s degree in Spanish and Latin American Studies from American University in Washington, D.C. Gagliardi is a certified English-to-Spanish translator, certified personal trainer from the American College of Sports Medicine, and Car Safety Technician from Safe Kids Worldwide. Gagliardi has 20 years of experience working with Latino communities in the United States. She is currently a board member at the Family Health Council of Central Pennsylvania, the YWCA of Adams County, Hispanic American Center-Manos Unidas and the Gettysburg Soup Kitchen. Gagliardi loves flamenco dancing, hiking, walking, and cooking for family and friends, she enjoys reading about behavioral economics, neuroscience and she is curious about mostly everything!

Megan Shreve

Executive Director

South Central Community Action Programs, Inc. (SCCAP)

Megan Shreve is the CEO of South Central Community Action Programs. She began her work with low-income and at-risk families in 1983 as a student in college and it changed the course of her career. Over the past 35 years, Shreve has worked in the human service field directing and implementing numerous programs designed to help at risk children, youth, and families build a better future. She has also worked in the private sector as a consultant doing business process analysis, implementation, and training around large change management projects. Shreve is committed to working on the micro and macro level to reduce poverty and strengthen the economic and social infrastructure of communities.

Melanie Pangol

Student Program Coordinator

Center for Public Service

Melanie Pango ’21 is a senior at Gettysburg College, born and raised in Ecuador. She moved to the United States when she was 9-years-old. Pangol is majoring in Africana Studies and minoring in Peace and Justice Studies. After graduation, she wants to pursue graduate school and focus on undocumented communities. Since her sophomore year, she has worked at the Center for Public Service, working with the migrant community in Adams County. 

Jenna Thoretz

President

Peace and Justice Student Council

Jenna Thoretz ’21 is a senior Political Science and Public Policy dual major with a minor in Peace and Justice Studies. She is passionate about gender justice and hopes to work in the field of policy advocacy post-graduation to help build a more just world. 

Owen Keenan

Co-Vice President

Peace and Justice Student Council

Owen Keenan ’21 is a senior Political Science and Public Policy dual major with a minor in Peace and Justice Studies. He is from Bucks County, Pennsylvania, and hopes to work in government after he graduates. 

Brynn Griffith

Co-Vice President

Peace and Justice Student Council

Brynn Griffith ’21 (she/her) is a senior Health Sciences major and Peace and Justice Studies minor. Her main interests are in public health and social justice within our healthcare system. 

Dr. Hakim Mohandas Amani Williams

Associate Professor of Africana Studies

Gettysburg College

Dr. Hakim Mohandas Amani Williams, native of Laventille, Trinidad and Tobago, is an Associate Professor of Africana Studies, and a faculty affiliate in Education, Globalization Studies, and Public Policy. He currently serves as the College’s Director of Peace and Justice Studies.  Prof. Williams teaches classes on human rights; post colonialism; race, gender and identity; education for social change; Caribbean studies; globalization.



He completed his B.A. (Honors) in Psychology at St. Francis College, Brooklyn; a Master of Education in Comparative and International Education with a concentration in philosophy of education, and a Master of Arts and Doctor of Education in International Educational Development, with a concentration in peace education, at Teachers College, Columbia University. His research centers on school/structural violence, educational inequities, and youth and community empowerment.



He is the recipient of the Early Career Alumni Award from Teachers College, Columbia University (2019), the inaugural Emerging Scholars Award from the African Diaspora SIG of the Comparative and International Education Society (2017), and the Dr. Ralph Cavaliere Award for Excellence in Teaching from Gettysburg College (2013).



Prof. Williams was a Visiting Scholar (15-16) at the Advanced Consortium on Cooperation, Conflict, & Complexity (AC4), Earth Institute (Columbia University) and during the summer of 2017 at the University of Illinois-Urbana Champaign, where he taught a week long class for high school students on human rights. Prof. Williams is an Associate Editor of the academic journal Anthropology and Education Quarterly, serves on the Editorial boards of InFactisPax, and the International Journal of Human Rights Education, and reviews for several other academic journals.  He is the founder of the Global Working Group on Decolonial Human Rights and Peace Education. He travels the world conducting restorative circles, workshops on peer mediation /conflict resolution and leadership development with parents, youth, teachers, political leaders, and varied NGOs.  Prof. Williams is also a theater actor.  He is currently working on a book manuscript:



"An Educational Neocolonial Warp and Douen Liberation"



See his personal website for more information: www.hakimwilliams.com