Madeleine (Maddie) DelVicario started as the Experiential Learning Coordinator in the Jandon Center in January of 2020. Through her work, she supports students completing the Community Engagement & Social Change concentration by helping them make connections with community partners. Maddie also leads the Refugee and Immigrant Support Initiative and directly supports several community partners, including the Hampshire Franklin Commission on the Status of Women & Girls, The International Language Institute (ILI), GPS (Group Peer Support), and Riquezas del Campo. Before coming to the Jandon Center, Maddie worked in the alumni relations department at Smith, working to establish meaningful connections between Smith students, particularly BIPOC and First Gen, and alumni with shared interests and identities.
When she’s not at work, Maddie is a total homebody and introvert. She enjoys curling up on the couch with an audiobook and her best pup Bree and her feisty free-range, bunny, Elsa. She also loves sewing, crocheting, board games, hiking, bike riding, and car camping with her husband, Corn and, when she can convince them to join, her sons, Nico and Sam. If you visit her home in Hatfield, you’ll see multiple ongoing home interior, cooking, and crafting projects.
Asli Ali
Asli Ali returned to Smith as the STEAM outreach coordinator in 2023 after having recently obtained her environmental science and policy degree with a minor in Arabic and an elective focus in chemistry. As a previous lab supervisor, environmental justice publicist, and student of the pre-med curriculum, Asli has extensive knowledge in many science fields. She also has experiences in educational leadership, spanning from preschool to the collegiate level. Most recently, as a transition coach for the organization, Let’s Get Ready, Asli has worked extensively to increase access to educational resources for underserved and diverse students across New England. She has also conducted outreach programs to create and advise high school students through student-led conversations during the pandemic.
As the site supervisor at Homework House, Asli developed curricula for elementary and secondary students with a variety of backgrounds and academic confidence. Additionally, while working to increase equity in STEAM fields, she has become a proponent of social-emotional activities that build trust and open communication between peers. As the STEAM outreach coordinator, Asli hopes to use her deep passion for science communication, youth mentorship, and inclusive engagement to increase access to science initiatives for the Smith community and beyond.
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Hannah Gates
Hannah Gates is continuing her involvement with the Jandon Center after working with the center throughout her recent Smith undergraduate degree. After graduating with her degree in education and child studies, Hannah is now a proud member of the Jandon team as the community engagement organizer where she works to coordinate volunteer programs, advisee student fellows, facilitate community building events, and much more. Hannah is passionate about K-12 education and has spent many years as an educator in the natural sciences, most recently with the Denver Zoo Safari Camp program. With the program, Hannah worked with 2nd and 3rd grade students to inspire love, knowledge, and advocacy for nature– from the biggest elephant to the tiniest bug! Hannah is excited to transfer her teaching and curriculum development experience to support for Jandon’s many K-12 educational programs including Homework House.
In addition to working with young students, Hannah relies on her experience with data analysis to support Jandon’s data-driven decision making. As a Smith student, Hannah worked extensively with the Smith College Museum of Art (SCMA) to develop accessible, digital data dashboards across several SCMA departments. Hannah is thrilled to bring this asset to the Jandon Center to facilitate effective reflection, discussion, and generate new ideas for programs and partnerships.
Outside of work, Hannah enjoys watercolor painting, baking, cooking, hiking local trails, working with children and families, building her skill as an amateur unicyclist, and the occasional roofing project with her family.
Denys Candy
Before coming to the Jandon Center in 2016, Denys had a decades-long career as a community organizer focused on Creative Regeneration, the process of collaboratively designing and implementing resident-driven initiatives in communities adversely impacted by disinvestment, demolition and displacement. He founded a consulting cooperative based in Pittsburgh, PA that not only establishes partnerships between regions, neighborhoods and universities, but also connects residents with public and private sector stakeholders to pilot innovative initiatives addressing interdisciplinary aspects of community health – economic, ecological, physiological, mental, educational and socio-cultural. Denys has also been a lecturer at the University of Pittsburgh and a visiting scholar at the University of Edinburgh and the National University of Ireland (his home country).
One example of Denys’s wonderful work is Confluence, a musical and literary project aimed at improving race relations in Pittsburgh. In collaboration wth the University Pittsburgh creative writing faculty, Denys provided counsel to an audience of over 400 diverse participants on partnering with community-based organizations and developing opportunities for research and civic engagement for high school and college students.
Laura Boban
Laura Boban is the education initiative coordinator and works closely with students in the Smith Mindich Fellowship program. She has held a variety of roles in education as a high school art teacher in Chicago, a middle school art teacher in Milwaukee, and the coordinator of a free design internship program for high school students at Milwaukee Institute of Art & Design. Laura is very passionate about community-building through art and integrating contemporary art practices into school curriculum.
Laura earned her BFA in art education from the University of Illinois at Chicago in 2008 and her MFA in studio arts from Virginia Commonwealth University in 2020 with a focus in textiles. In her personal art practice, she explores the intersections of identity formation, craft, and the body through quilting traditions and sculpture. Currently, she is experimenting with natural dye techniques using food and plants. Outside of the studio, Laura likes to hike, camp, and ride bikes with her partner, Finn.
Nancy Jimenez Zigler
Nancy Jimenez Zigler is the director of programs and partnerships at the Jandon Center. Her role is to oversee operations for the complex network of Jandon partners on and off campus.
Nancy graduated from Texas A&M with degrees in chemistry and finance and received her M.F.A. in creative writing from the University of Pittsburgh. Nancy’s early professional experiences range from serving as a reader for Callaloo, A Journal of the African Diaspora, x-ray crystallography research, and working for NASA at the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence Institute and in the office of STEM engagement. Her other positions include natural gas marketing, curriculum development, teaching, and working for Union Pacific as a sales manager.
Nancy envisions her role in the world as a storyteller. As such, she has now been recognized for her writing in print, online, and in podcast form. Nancy’s hobbies include art journaling, reading, and exploring western Massachusetts with her husband and son.
Charlotte Ljustina
Charlotte is an alumna of Mount Holyoke College, where she earned her Bachelor’s Degree in mathematics and English in 2014. She has 6 years of experience as an educator, working most recently at a high school in East Boston as an Associate Dean of Students and special education administrator. Charlotte also serves as a consultant in K-12 public education, providing support with student re-engagement, intervention, and school-wide systems.
Charlotte has been a gymnastics coach for the past 15 years, and in her free time loves attempting to hike, paint-by-number, film photography, and baking (albeit, poorly). Charlotte’s friends and family call her “Charlie” (but she loves both names equally!). Charlotte lives in Feeding Hills with her husband, Matt, and their 6-month-old puppy, Zora!
Ana Del Conde
Ana Del Conde is a cultural anthropologist who specializes in feminist theory and engaged ethnographic research. Her research and teaching interests lie at the intersection of political anthropology and feminist studies and focus on (in)security, conflict, justice, and collective action. Ana is a postdoctoral fellow at Smith and teaches courses between the Jandon Center and the Program for the Study of Women and Gender.
In her free time, Ana likes spending time with her son, partner, and dog, and taking long walks or bike rides around the area. And, whenever she’s not outside, she enjoys cooking and baking, playing board games and watching films. She also wonders if she’ll ever learn how to knit.
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