Team Provocate
Provocate is well-known for attracting the most creative thinkers and most energetic doers in Central Indiana…. and increasingly from around the world. The current Provocate team is no exception. Look for them at events around Indianapolis. Check out their articles. Let us know how they can help connect you to some of the many important initiatives that are transforming neighborhoods and the world. And if you would like to learn about joining Team Provocate, contact us.
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John Clark
Primus inter pares
John Clark, First Among Equals and creator of Provocate, is recognized as one of Central Indiana’s leading experts on international affairs. Until 2005 he was a senior fellow at Hudson Institute and Director of the Center for Central European and Eurasian Studies. In 2005 he helped establish the Sagamore Institute for Policy Research, a think tank in Indianapolis. He is the author of more than a hundred books, articles and reports about topics such as the collapse of communism, environmental policy, welfare reform in the United Kingdom, economic development in Central Asia and immigration in Indiana. He teaches graduate courses on globalization at Indiana University’s School of Environmental and Public Affairs. He has recently helped set up the Cold Spring Institute, a think tank focusing on the experience of Islam and Muslims in the U.S. He is currently helping build up Marian University’s Richard G. Lugar Franciscan Center for Global Studies and is working with dozens of other local organizations seeking solutions for global problems. The Indianapolis Star has called him “the foremost public intellectual in Indiana” (which he thinks cannot possibly be true). Clark is the only person to receive NUVO’s Cultural Vision Award and commendations from the FBI and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police for contributions on counter-terrorism.
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Dawn Araujo
Editor-in-Chief of Provocate … The Magazine
Dawn Araujo is an award winning writer who has recently graduated from Ball State University with a degree in magazine journalism and a minor in French. She will pursue a master’s in urban and intercultural studies at Cincinnati Bible Seminary in the fall of 2010. Dawn plans to work one day as an international human rights writer. She is an active advocate for Invisible Children and has lobbied for Ugandan legislation across the United States. Last year, Dawn was a part of a group of activists who appeared on “Oprah” to raise awareness about Joseph Kony’s crimes in Central Africa. She has been honored by the National Association of Black Journalists and the Indianapolis Press Club Foundation. Dawn enjoys pageants, Russian literature, theology and—of course—FarmVille.
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Sola Olutope Omosegbon
Coordinator of African Initiatives
Olutope (Sola … pronounced “show-lah”) Omosegbon is a Nigerian native and graduate of Pike High School where she received the President’s Education Award, was named a top high school senior by Ebony magazine and received numerous academic awards in poetry and math. Sola is a recent alumna of IUPUI’s Purdue School of Science in Indianapolis where she majored in biology and minored in medical humanities and health studies and also in medical sociology. (Her published research includes “Isoprenylcysteine methylation and demethylation regulate abscisic acid signaling in Arabidopsis.”) In 2010 she was nominated for the Indiana Commission on Women’s Torchbearer Award, the state’s highest recognition of women who have achieved new levels of excellence in leadership. That she will go on to further post-graduate education is without a doubt … the question is which disciplines — natural sciences or policy analysis, social sciences or medicine — will benefit from Sola’s engagement.
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Laura Chatel
Coordinator of Transatlantic Dialogue
Laura Chatel is in the second year of a double degree in English and French law between the University of Leicester in the UK and the University of Strasbourg in France. She is currently living in Leicester, and next September will finish her degree in Strasbourg, the political center of the European Union. She finds the European Union a genuinely exciting project. Laura grew up in the western part of France and has always been interested in international issues and the dialogue between different cultures. She is very concerned about environmental issues and has been part of her university’s environment volunteer team for the past two years.
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Maria Stohler
Middle East Research Coordinator
Maria Stohler is currently studying for a master’s in international relations at the University of Indianapolis. She graduated from the University of Notre Dame in 2009 with a bachelor’s in political science and Arabic and wrote her thesis on the politics of power in Saudi Arabia. Maria’s research interests include radicalism and religious fundamentalism, government reform, women’s rights, and international political economy — especially in the Middle East. She spent the summer of 2008 living in Cairo, Egypt. Maria worked for the friend of Provocate, International Interfaith Initiative, in 2009 and is currently employed at Joy’s House, a not-for-profit adult day center in Broad Ripple. Maria likes running, soccer and cheering for Notre Dame football.
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Zach Patterson
Economic Development Research Coordinator
Born and raised in the Central Indiana area, Zach Patterson has watched Indianapolis transform into a globalized metro, increasingly connecting to global issues and solutions. Zach recently completed his master’s degree in public affairs at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI). An avid researcher, Zach focuses much of his work in the area of basic needs international development approaches. Zach has presented international development research at Indiana University-Bloomington, Boston University and West Virginia University. Zach holds a bachelor’s degree in political science from Marian University and an associate degree in legal studies from Vincennes University. Zach has been the research and information coordinator for the Indy Partnership, an Indianapolis-based economic development organization. He is spending much of summer 2010 in Kenya and Uganda analyzing development and humanitarian partnerships between groups in Central Indiana and Africa.
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Mona Li
Developmental Economics Analyst
Mona Qiangmeng Li is currently an undergrad pursuing a dual degree in economics and development studies at Brown University in the geographically miniscule but grand in spirit state of Rhode Island. She has spent half of her life in China and half in the U.S. One of her goals is to implement holistic microfinance projects in rural China. Beyond academics, Mona juggles her time between mentoring adopted children from China, advocating for sustainable community development, organizing community-activism seminars and discussions, charcoal drawing and piano playing. She is also passionate about art history, forever entranced by the works of Klimt, Bosch, Gehry and I.M Pei among others. Last, but certainly not least, be sure to check out her newly launched collaborative blog 2 Asians, 1 Wok documenting her and her friend’s journey to learn traditional Chinese cooking and their various food finds.
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Heather Zurek
Human Rights Analyst
Heather Zurek is a recent graduate of Indiana University with a B.A. in French and international studies, with concentrations in human rights and West European studies. She has spent time studying abroad in Paris and has also conducted research on East Asian education reform in Japan and China. Most recently, Heather interned with the U.S. Department of State where she worked on the Franklin Fellows Program. While with the program, Heather promoted the recruitment of mid- to senior- level professionals to work on vitally important international issues at the State Department. Heather was also recognized as one of the top 10 student leaders at Indiana University for her internship with the Indiana Public Interest Research Group. With this position, Heather lead a team of dedicated interns and volunteers to fight for an end to hunger and homelessness on both a local and global scale. In her free time, she loves volunteering for various cancer organizations and playing softball.
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Lauren Binning
Coordinator of Visual Design
Lauren Binning is multimedia designer and artist who is passionate about learning and exploring. In the spring of 2010, Lauren graduated from Butler University with a degree in multimedia design and a minor in psychology. Her background in drawing and painting led to her specialization in design and multimedia. Studying at Victoria University in New Zealand inspired her interest in global travel and exploring different cultures. “Living Monuments,” Lauren’s starkly beautiful exhibit of photographs of abandoned and decaying factories, was featured at the opening of the Center for Interfaith Cooperation in April of 2010. See samples of Lauren’s work at www.laurenbinning.com.
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Sarah Jilani
Coordinator of Health & Medical Initiatives
Sarah’s international background of growing up in Pakistan and being half Swiss and half Pakistani has provided her with an insightful perspective on global health issues in developing countries. Sarah came to the U.S. in 2001 and graduated from the University of Chicago with a bachelor’s in biological sciences. She recently received her MPH from Yale School of Public Health in May 2009, focusing on infectious disease and global health. Sarah has been involved with several global health initiatives in the U.S. including the Global Health Leadership Institute, the Tumaini Children’s Center for street children in Eldoret Kenya, the Yale Community Outreach and Education in El Salvador and the Tsunami Hospital Foundation. Sarah moved to Indianapolis in June 2009 and is currently working on H1N1 for the Marion County Health Department.
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Adam Fer
Contact Adam
Adam Fer is an Indianapolis native currently in his third year at Indiana University Bloomington where he studies economics, political science and Spanish. Starting at a young age, he has been increasingly interested in global affairs, which he attributes to many summers spent in his father’s home country of Turkey. Always eager to expand his interests, Adam began learning guitar in high school and continues to find time for his original childhood passion of film. He is still unsure of his goals for after college, but he hopes to attend graduate school to study international affairs or international political economy.
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Ryan Perk
Contact Ryan
Ryan Perk is currently in his third year at the Kelley School of Business at Indiana University in Bloomington. He plans to pursue degrees in marketing, entrepreneurship and sociology. Ryan was born and raised in Indianapolis where he still lives. His interests include movies, music and sports. Ryan is not certain of his plans after college but is considering graduate or law school as possibilities.
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Amy King
Haiti Liaison
Amy King has been visiting Haiti since March 2007 when she accompanied a medical mission to Belle Riviere with St. Thomas Aquinas Church of Indianapolis. Since then she has worked on medical missions and with orphanages throughout country. For the past eight years, Amy has used her degree in nuclear medical technology from Indiana University to work for the Veterans Administration. Within six days of the earthquake in January 2010, Amy and her husband Rob were in Haiti with a team of surgeons. Her socio-medical photo exhibit at the Athenaeum in May, “A Nod to Haiti,” received critical acclaim and will be shown near Chicago in the summer of 2010.
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Kelly Patrick
Kelly Patrick is studying for a master’s degree in Public Affairs from the Indiana University School of Public and Environmental Affairs. She has a degree in biology and biochemistry from the University of North Texas. Kelly has had a career as a scientist working in cancer, cardiovascular, and neuro-cardiovascular research in both the academic and pharmaceutical industry settings. She also spent several years working with colleagues around the world in international pharmaceutical regulatory affairs. Kelly has traveled around the world for both business and pleasure, visiting much of Europe, the former USSR, Asia, North America and the Caribbean. She spent a summer in Mexico learning Spanish as well as silversmithing—part of her passion for mastering and teaching a wide range of arts and crafts, including quilting and weaving. Of the many global issues that drive Kelly, preventing violence against women is one of the most important. She is currently working with CARE to press members of the U.S. Congress to pass the International Violence Against Women Act. For many years, Kelly drove fundraising for breast cancer research at the Eli Lilly Lee Denim Day event; today she is writing grant proposals to raise funds for the International Interfaith Initiative.
