Director
Dr. Silvia Rode (Associate Dean, College of Liberal Arts; Professor of German, 缅北强奸) Administrative Assistant
Ms. Julie Cox
Center Location
缅北强奸, University Archives and Special Collections (David L. Rice Library, Communal Studies Reading Room 3022)
Meeting Location
缅北强奸 Campus UC 2217/18
Board Members Present
Dr. Gregory W. Brown (Retired Principal Christa McCauliffe Alternative Middle School); Ms. Jennifer Greene (Archivist Librarian, 缅北强奸); Ms. Leslie Townshend (Director Community Engagement, 缅北强奸); Dr. Del Doughty (Dean, College of Liberal Arts); Ms. Marna Hostetler (Director Rice Library, 缅北强奸); Dr. Matthew Hanka (Professor of Political Science, 缅北强奸); Mr. G. Graham Perry Ill (Tennessee Historical Society Columbia State Community College); Dr. Kristalyn Shefveland (Assistant Dean, College of Liberal Arts, Associate Professor of History, 缅北强奸); Dr. Carol Medlicott (Professor of Geography. Northern Kentucky University); Dr. Greg Blair, Assistant Professor of Art and Design, 缅北强奸; Dr. Tristra Newyear (Lecturer, Researcher, Writer); Dr. Claudia Roesch (Assistant Professor of Modern History, University of Konstanz, Germany); Dr. Andrew Buck (Professor of Sociology, 缅北强奸); Dr. Mike Strezewski (Professor of Anthropology, 缅北强奸); Wendy Bredhold (Senior Manager Transmission Initiative National Audubon Society's Climate Team); Dr. Joshua Lockyer (Professor of Anthropology Arkansas Tech University)
Welcome Board Members
New board members: Dr. Greg Blair, Dr. Tristra Newyear; Dr. Claudia Roesch
I. Special Guest
Danna Schu, Summer 2025 Intern at New Lanark, Scotland.
II. Update Owen-Maclure 200th Anniversary, New Harmony (Ms. Sanders)
Ill. Update Owen-Maclure Conference October 2026 (Dr. Hanka) Keynote Speaker recommendation:
Dr. Gregory Claeys, History of Political Thought and Utopian Dystopian ideas. Dr. Rosabeth Moss Kanter, Harvard School of Business.
IV. Communal Studies Minor Course (Dr. Buck)
Spring 2026: SOC 200: Innovative Communities - Past, Present and Future. How can communities help improve human flourishing? (see handout)
V. Academics, Outreach and Engagement
鈥� USl101: Screaming Eagles Experience (Dr. Kristalyn Shefveland, Ms. Diane Sanders)
鈥� New Harmony Photo Book (Dr. Greg Blair)
鈥� NYT interview with Lucy Thompkins (Dr. Rode)
鈥� Meeting with faculty from the Institute for Migration Research and lntercultural Studies {/MIS} at the University of OsnabrUck to discuss "FuturMig and collaborative research cluster on "Production of Migration" and "Utopian Scenarios." (Dr. Rode)
鈥� Indiana Historical Society is designing an exhibit on New Harmony, Indiana and asked Rode to
review and advise on exhibit. (Dr. Rode)
鈥� Introducing Look Both Ways: New Harmony Gallery of Contemporary Art" 50th Anniversary
VI. CCS Prizes and Grant
Solicitations for submissions are posted in the Communities Magazine, ICSA newsletter, and to approx. 500 academic email addresses.
VII. University Archives & Special Collections (Ms. Greene) Researchers/Community Visitors
鈥� Dr. John West-Sooby, Professor of French Studies, University of Adelaide
鈥� Dr. Jean Fornasiero, Professor of History, University of Adelaide
鈥� Tour with visiting scholars, Michelangelo Sabatino, Professor of Architectural History and Preservation at College of Architecture, IIT, and Dr. Rode of Communal Collections and archives.
鈥� Tour of Communal Collections with Dr. Rode and Jud Hendrix (New Harmony Community) Collection Development
Beverly Seckinger, "Hippie Family Values" documentary on a communal group in Arizona. Working to secure the film, b-roll, and supporting materials.
Don Janzen, continuing to collect online information about groups across the country with an emphasis on minority collections.
386 articles about life in communities.
200 + examples of art in community.
252 community logos.
525+ events posters
Dr. Janson forwarded article entitled, "The Glue that Builds Cooperative Living and Holds Communities Together."
References
5 requests for materials from May 1, 2025-August
VIII. Lecture -
Dr. Tristra Newyear earned her Ph.D. in Central Eurasian Studies from Indiana University. She conducted extensive field research in Siberian and Mongolian communities. Besides teaching and publishing in her field (a book chapter on Siberian history, published by Routledge 2026), Newyear has 20 years' experience in the music/PR industries. She is a creative artist (writer, audio creator, instigator) devoted to the history of New Harmony and community creativity. Currently, she is the Chief Strategy Officer at Rock Paper Scissors, a Bloomington-based PR/marketing agency with an international reputation for excellence in music and entertainment technology PR. In addition, she has decades of experience in public relations and the music industry, as well as several semesters' experience teaching classes solo at the college level and a PhD from IU in cultural history/area studies. Newyear is also an artist who published several novels, most recently Star/all, dubbed "visionary" by NUVO Indianapolis, based on New Harmony's history. She also wrote and produced a limited-run podcast on early 19th-century firebrand Frances Wright and has been interviewed on NPR stations (WNIN, WVXU Cincinnati). And she regularly co-creates arts events in her hometown of Bloomington as part of an arts collective, MDWST Fable.
鈥� Tentative CCS lecture spring 2026 G. Graham Perry Ill (Tennessee Historical Society Columbia State Community College)
IX. Professional Updates and Acknowledgements
Blair, Greg. (Primary Editor) What Punk Taught Me. Wilmington, DE: Vernon Press.
Blair, Greg. (Curator, Designer) Utopia on the Wabash: Visions of New Harmony, 2024 Society of Photographic Educators Midwest Conference.
Blair, Greg. (Reviewer), Land Loss, Emigration, and Immigration: Toward a Theory of Immigrant-Diaspora Control of Space by David Toohey. Bloomsbury Publishing.
Blair, Greg. (Reviewer). "Three Early Modern Receptions of Hipparchia: Gilles Menage, Pierre Bayle, Mary Hays" in Hypatia: A Journal of Feminist Philosophy, Cambridge University Press
Brown, Greg. Board Member Historic New Harmony, 2023-2026. Secretary, 2025-26 Brown, Greg. Committees: 200th Owen/Maclure Anniversary Committee 2024-2026 Brown, Greg. Board Member, Communal Studies Association, 2022-2026
Brown, Greg. 缅北强奸 Communal Studies Course Revision Committee
Brown, Greg. "Loose-Tight Coupling as a Path to Community Vitality," CSA Conference, October 10, 2025, Amana, Iowa. (upcoming)
Brown Greg. Review of Burn: Using Fire to Cool the Earth, ALBERT BATES AND KATHLEEN DRAPER, White River Junction, VT: Chelsea Green, 2019. 288 pp. to be published in "Check It Out," Communal Societies. 44, 2.
Lockyer, Joshua and K. Brooke Jones. 2025. "Does Living Sustainably Suck?: Reduced Consumption and Quality of Life at Dancing Rabbit Ecovillage During the Anthropocene." Invited contribution to Eco-Communities: Surviving Well Together. J. Pickerill, eds, p. 33-46. London: Bloomsbury Academic.
Roesch, Claudia. Postdoc-Fellowship, German Historical Institute London, Manchester Archival Research in the Cooperative Archive of the Robert Owens Estate.
Rode, Silvia. (Forward) Utopia on the Wabash: Visions of New Harmony, 2024 Society of Photographic Educators Midwest Conference.
Rode, Silvia. Interview with Lucy Thompkins of The New York Time on intentional communities.
Shefveland, Kristalyn. Designed and submitted to Yoga Alliance a 200 RYT teacher training and will be a lead trainer for the program in partnership with YogaSpace.