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Meet the Keck Research Team

​Meet the Keck Research Team

The California State University would like to thank the W.M. Keck Foundation for their support of this study.

Judy Botelho 

Judy Botelho
Director, Center for Community Engagement, California State University, Office of the Chancellor 

For 20 years, Judy Botelho has been leading and implementing innovative service learning and community engagement initiatives that support the unique needs and interests of higher education institutions and their surrounding communities. Since 2010, her office has successfully supported the expansion of service learning in STEM disciplines by 93%. As the director of the CSU Center for Community Engagement (CCE), Judy delivers, inspires and sustains high-quality learning opportunities by promoting programs and initiatives that create inclusive spaces for authentic relationships to occur, and that honor personal growth, self-empowerment and life-long learning. CCE has a successful history of garnering and managing external grant funding ($15 million since 1998) to support and advance service-learning programs across the system.

Cathy Avila-Linn 

Cathy Avila-Linn
​Consultant to the Center for Community Engagement, California State University, Office of the Chancellor

Cathy Avila-Linn has worked with the CCE since 2006 and sustains positive relationships with the organization’s leaders and with the network of community engagement personnel across all 23 CSU campuses. With experience in education, non-profit, and business settings, she effectively utilizes her specialized training when providing project management, leading professional development opportunities and training community engagement leaders. Throughout her nearly 20-year career in higher education she created and implemented a variety of educational opportunities for diverse youth and adults and as a program director, Cathy was responsible for all programmatic goals, successfully administering a variety of private and federal grants ranging from $25K to $2M. A native Californian, Cathy earned her undergraduate degree in Psychology from California State University, Chico and her M.Ed. from Loyola University Chicago in Educational Leadership and Policy with an emphasis in adult development.

Dr. Rebecca M. Eddy 

Dr. Rebecca M. Eddy
President, Cobblestone Applied Research & Evaluation, Inc.

Dr. Rebecca Eddy has conducted evaluation or applied research studies on numerous projects including Service Learning Transforming Educational Models in STEM through the CSU Chancellor’s Office, funded by Learn and Serve America through which she also co-authored New partnerships for a new economy: A guide to effectively prepare STEM students for careers of choice (Podolske, Dixon, Langford & Eddy, 2011). Other clients include programs funded by the National Science Foundation; U. S. Department of Education Title III and Title V; National Institutes of Health; and Howard Hughes Medical Institute. Dr. Eddy also trains professional evaluators from around the world as a faculty member at Claremont Graduate University in the Advanced Certificate in Evaluation Program. Under her leadership, Cobblestone has developed many instruments to test constructs of interest for programs such as student civic engagement, student interest in STEM majors and careers, as well as established a number of procedures to monitor program implementation and outcomes.

Nicole Galport 

Nicole Galport
Research Associate, Cobblestone Applied Research & Evaluation, Inc.

Nicole Galport is a research associate at Cobblestone and a doctoral student at Claremont Graduate University (CGU), where she is pursuing her degree in Psychology with a concentration in Evaluation and Applied Research Methods. As an evaluator, she has worked on a range of projects throughout the education spectrum including the evaluation of STEM education programs and retention/graduation initiatives. As a doctoral student, Nicole’s research focuses on evaluator competency development, professional development, and training programs. Nicole received her B.A. in Psychology and Leadership and Organizational Studies from Chapman University and M.A. in Psychology with a co-concentration in Positive Organizational Psychology and Evaluation from CGU.

T​​​he research team would also like to thank and acknowledge the following individuals for their contributions to this project:  David Mendelsohn, M.A., & Piper GrandJean Targos, M.A., Erin DeSantis, Ph.D., Traci Reid, Brianna Wagner, Diane Podolske, Ph.D., and Erika Randall, M.Ed.

​Find Out More About the Keck Service Learning Study