About Us
The Center for Community Engagement serves as The University of Texas at Austin’s central resource for those interested in volunteerism and service-learning throughout the UT and Austin communities.
Our continued goal is to connect the resources of the university to the community to meet community priorities.
We provide resources for anyone interested in getting more involved in the community, and our programs and services are designed for instructors, students, student organizations, campus departments, community partners, and local agencies.
Staff
Suchitra Gururaj, Ph.D.
Assistant Vice President, Community and Economic Engagement
suchi.gururaj@austin.utexas.edu
512-232-2164
Suchitra Gururaj, Ph.D., serves as Assistant Vice President for Community and Economic Engagement in the Division of Diversity and Community Engagement at The University of Texas at Austin, where she is the visionary and strategic lead for student engagement programs rooted in service, community-based learning course offerings, public engagement programming, and in-kind sponsorships. A lecturer in the College of Liberal Arts at UT-Austin, Dr. Gururaj teaches courses on community organizing and leadership development. Her research focuses on service-learning outcomes, university-community partnerships, and social inclusion policies in higher education. Dr. Gururaj earned a B.A. in English literature from Yale University, an M.A. in English from The University of Chicago, and a Ph.D. in educational administration from The University of Texas at Austin. Dr. Gururaj serves as book review editor for the Michigan Journal of Community Service Learning, sits on the editorial board of the Journal of Higher Education Outreach and Engagement, and holds a seat on the Executive Committee for the Commission on Economic and Community Engagement for the Association of Public and Land-Grant Universities.
Emma Middleton
Senior Administrative Associate, Center for Community Engagement
emma.middleton@austin.utexas.edu
512-232-8586
Emma has served as the senior administrative associate for the Center Community Engagement since 2015. She has been with the division for over eleven years. She provides administrative and logistical support, assists with day-to-day operations, as well as managerial support to the team. She is currently working on her B.A. in Christian Studies from the Austin Graduate School of Theology. In her spare time she enjoys family activities, people watching and good movies.
Student Engagement
Caitlin Casassa
Graduate Assistant, Student Engagement
caitlincasassa@utexas.edu
Caitlin started as a Graduate Assistant Student Advisor for the Longhorn Center for Community Engagement in 2019. She helps develop the Alternative Breaks program, which sends students on immersive service experiences focusing on social justice. Caitlin is pursuing a Master’s in Public Affairs at the Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs. Prior to graduate school, she served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Madagascar. She received her BA in Foreign Affairs from the University of Virginia and loves all UVA sports.
Shelby Evans
Graduate Assistant, Student Engagement
shelby.evans@fulbrightmail.org
Shelby Evans has worked as a Graduate Assistant Student Advisor at the Longhorn Center for Community Engagement since 2018 and has supported student development and execution of The Project, UT’s largest day of service. She is pursuing a Master’s in Public Affairs at the Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs. Shelby received her BA in Interpersonal and Organizational Communication from St. Edward’s University. She spent two years in Laos as a Fulbright Fellow and worked as a Communication Officer for the NGO Development in Gardening (DIG) in Uganda.
Amory Krueger
Director, Student Engagement Programs
amory.krueger@austin.utexas.edu
IG: @amoryelizabeth / Twitter @amoryelizabeth
512-471-6161
Amory Krueger currently serves as the director for student engagement programs in the Longhorn Center for Community Engagement, overseeing service resources and programs that connect anyone at UT looking to volunteer with community organizations who need volunteers. She has been a staff member in LCCE since fall of 2007, when she started as a graduate assistant while completing her master’s degree in Higher Education Administration (M.Ed ’09). Amory graduated from Arizona State University in 2007, and is also a proud Hoosier, having grown up in Indiana.
Mika Romo-Ortega
Program Coordinator, Student Engagement Programs
mika.romo@utexas.edu
IG: @mikaromortega
512-475-9462
Mika Romo-Ortega currently serves as a program coordinator in the Longhorn Center for Community Engagement. In her role, she serves as a primary manager for The Project, and support and advises undergraduate student leaders. See also oversees three (3) city-wide days of services including Martin Luther King Jr. Day of Service, Cesar Chavez Day of Service, and Be The Change Day of Service. Prior to her current role at UT, she served as the coordinator of new student programs at Texas A&M University-Central Texas where she facilitated and designed new student orientation and other transitional programming and experiences for first-year students. She received her B.A in Urban Education at Saint Louis University in St. Louis, Missouri. In the Spring of 2018, she returned to Texas an earned her M.Ed with a concentration in Urban Teaching from The University of Texas at Austin. Mika Romo-Ortega is originally from San Antonio, Texas.
Anabella Tarango, MSSW
Program Coordinator, Student Engagement Programs
anabella@austin.utexas.edu
512-471-6161
Anabella has served as a program coordinator for the Center for the Longhorn Community Engagement since 2017 and currently oversees three signature service-based programs, Alternative Breaks, UT Service Scholars, and the Google Community Mentor Program. Prior to working at LCCE, Anabella worked in the nonprofit sector of Austin working towards providing educational opportunities for Latinas. She received her B.A. and M.A. in Social Work from the Steve Hicks School of Social Work at the University of Texas at Austin. Anabella joined LCCE because she believes in the power of the community. Working with students provides her the opportunity to show students the strength within themselves, and how power within a community leads to positive change.
Community-Based Learning
Brianna Davis Johnson , MS
Graduate Research Assistant, Community-Based Learning
bsdavis@utexas.edu
512-471-6161
Brianna Davis Johnson has served as a graduate research assistant at the Longhorn Center for Community Engagement since 2017. She provides resources and consultation for faculty interested in community-engaged teaching and scholarship and conducts research on community engagement best practices in higher education. Brianna is a Ph.D. student in the Department of Educational Leadership and Policy in the College of Education at UT. Her dissertation seeks to understand the ways in which colleges and universities — through structures, policies, and norms — facilitate or impede the work of diversity administrators as they seek to create inclusive campus environments. Brianna holds an M.S. in Higher Education & Social Policy from Northwestern University and a B.A. in Educational Studies and Urban Studies from Washington University in St. Louis.
Lakeya Omogun
Graduate Research Assistant, Community-Based Learning
lomogun@utexas.edu
Lakeya has served as a Graduate Research Assistant at the Longhorn Center for Community Engagement since 2018. She works in the area of Professional Development with Student Staff and in the area of Community-Based Learning with university faculty and their research. Currently, she is pursuing her Ph.D. in Language and Literacy Studies in the Department of Curriculum and Instruction at The University of Texas at Austin. She received her B.A. in Elementary Education from Michigan State University and her M.A. in Literacy Education from Teachers College, Columbia University. Her scholarship, teaching, personal writing, and engagement with summer educational programs and Black immigrant youth signify her commitment to racial and social equity.
Equity and Community Advocacy
Virginia A. Cumberbatch, MPAff
Director, Equity and Community Advocacy
vacumberbatch@austin.utexas.edu
IG: @vacumberbatch / Twitter @vacumberbatch
512-471-9183
Virginia has served as a director for the Center for Community Engagement since 2016 and has helped build signature programs like the Front Porch Gathering, Community Housing Hub and the Community Classroom. She is also the co-founder of Rosa Rebellion, “a platform for creative activism by and for women of color.” She received her B.A. in history from Williams College and her M.A. in Public Affairs from the Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs. In 2018 she co-authored the book As We Saw It: The Story of Integration at The University of Texas at Austin and is the recipient of the 2016 Anti-Defamation League Social Justice Award and 2018 Austin 40 Under 40 Public Affairs Award.
Jeremy D. Horne, M.A.
Graduate Assistant, Center for Community Engagement
jdhorne@utexas.edu
(817) 718-3081
Jeremy started as a Graduate Assistant for the Longhorn Center for Community Engagement in 2019. In this position, he is responsible for supporting initiatives that link university resources with community members and organizations. Jeremy is also currently pursuing his doctorate in Education Policy and Planning at the University of Texas at Austin. Broadly speaking, his research focuses on the manifestations of racial trauma in educational spaces, and the ways in which students of color actively resist sources of cognitive distress. Prior to his doctoral studies, Jeremy received a Master of Art degree in Education Policy from the University of Michigan, and a Bachelor of Science degree in Psychology from THE Howard University.
Stephanie L. Lang
Program Administrator
Stephanielang@austin.utexas.edu
512-471-7683
Stephanie L. Lang is a writer, community curator, and passionate advocate for social justice. In her current position as Program Administrator, Ms. Lang leads cultural and historical preservation efforts on behalf of the Center for Community Engagement (CCE) and provides high level programmatic support for strategic initiatives in the Office of the Vice President in the Division of Diversity and Community Engagement (DDCE) at The University of Texas at Austin.
Harriet Sedgwick
Assistant Director for Programs, Texas Grants Resource Center
harriet.sedgwick@austin.utexas.edu
512-475-7373
Harriet Sedgwick brings nearly a decade of nonprofit and community organizing experience to her role with the TGRC. As Assistant Director for Programs, she is responsible for facilitating the link between the grantmaking and grant-seeking communities in Austin. After earning a B.A. in Political Studies from Bard College, she began her career in the nonprofit world at The White House Project, supporting women’s leadership in the political and corporate worlds. Harriet is proud to have worked for causes she believes in, from presidential and gubernatorial campaigns to her more recent work in the Austin nonprofit community. When she is not working, Harriet enjoys baking, travel, and hiking the Texas Hill Country with her husky.