Thomas O’Connell, Chair
Thomas O’Connell holds a Ph.D. from the Union Institute in Cincinnati, Ohio and is a Professor of Social Science at Metropolitan State University, where he teaches courses in political science and sociology and coordinates the social science internship program. Thomas has had extensive experience in alternative education and with community-based organizations, and helped develop the proposal that led to the establishment of the Urban Teacher Program (UTP) at Metropolitan State University. He currently serves as Coordinator of the UTP Social Studies Licensure Program.

Jennie Kratzer, Treasurer
Carol Kratzer currently holds the position of Operations Manager at Ameriprise Financial. She has worked at Ameriprise Financial for 11 years, and has extensive experience servicing mutual fund accounts and in managing call center operations. She holds a B.S. in Economics from Metropolitan State University, and has also served as a member of the fundraising and planning committee for Morris Park Players Community Theater Group. She has been involved with Somali Family Services for over four years, and has helped raise funds for the Puntland State University Scholarship Fund.

Lena Jones, Secretary
Lena Jones is a full-time faculty member at Minneapolis Community and Technical College (MCTC), where she has taught since 2002. She holds an M.A. in Political Science and is a Ph.D. candidate at the University of Minnesota’s Political Science Department. At MCTC, Lena teaches courses on American politics, state and local government, world politics, and the civil rights movement. She also teaches a course on civic engagement and critical pedagogy for MCTC’s Urban Teacher Program. Lena is active in several civic engagement initiatives in the Twin Cities and is part of a core team that received a 2006 Minnesota Campus Compact/Minnesota Office of Higher Education grant to create a Center for Civic Engagement at MCTC. In 2004, Lena received a fellowship from the University of Minnesota’s Human Rights Center to support a residency with the Institute for Democracy in South Africa (IDSA), where she participated in IDSA’s efforts to institute civic engagement projects in the Gauteng province. In 2006, she was part of a delegation that went to Somalia to begin building a relationship between Puntland State University and Minneapolis Community and Technical College.

Molly McCoy works with teachers and schools to promote their understanding of international issues through workshops, conferences and other events. She currently works as the Outreach Coordinator at the University of Minnesota’s Institute for Global Studies, where she develops programs that bring the talents and resources of university faculty to K-12 teachers and administrators. She holds an M.A. in Comparative and International Development Education from the University of Minnesota.  As a former Peace Corps volunteer in South Africa, she has a personal commitment to raising awareness about Africa, and more specifically, about Somali immigrant communities in Minnesota. She has been involved with Somali Family Services as a volunteer and board member since 2004.

Ali Warsame holds a Series 7 license and two bachelor’s degrees from Metropolitan State University: one in Global Studies and Political Science, and the other in Accounting and Business Management. He has extensive experience in a range of finance-related areas, including equity securities, securities markets and regulations, and taxation. Ali has worked in both the private and non-profit sectors for over 15 years, and has directed programs at various NGOs. Currently, Ali is the Director of East African Economic Development, and sits on the boards of various private and non-profit organizations.

Michal Moskow is a faculty member in the Communication, Writing and the Arts Department at Metropolitan State University. She holds an M.A. in Multicultural Education from the University of Akron and a Ph.D. in American Studies from Case Western Reserve University. She was educated and has taught in the U.S., Europe and Puerto Rico, including 17 years in Sweden at Göteborg University/University Väst where she remains as Docent. Her involvement with human rights and conflict negotiation includes work on domestic violence, foster care, and immigrant advocacy issues.  She teaches courses in sociolinguistics, discourse analysis, intercultural communication, ethnicity, gender studies, genocide, and human rights both in the classroom and online and recently facilitated training in human rights, leadership and team building at SFS Garowe.  She has helped connect classes in the U.S. and Europe through online discussions, and in 2007 she participated in a workshop on Conflict Prevention, Management and Resolution in Africa, held in Addis Ababa by the Africa Programme of the University for Peace.

Maslah Jama currently serves as a Financial Analyst at Best Buy, where he worked for over three years on the supplier finance business relations team. Before joining Best Buy, Maslah worked for Merrill Corporation as a Purchasing Coordinator, at Target Corporation as a Receipt and Control Specialist and at APD Global Services in automatic data processing. He currently serves as board member for East African Development and Economics Center, and has sat on the board of Somali Family Services since 2005.

Jamal Elmi, Advantage Program Assistant, CommonBand Communities

Advisory Board

Patrick Plonski, Executive Director, Books For Africa
Travis Burke, Field Program Officer, USAID
Adam Diehl, Consultant in Development Infrastructure, World Bank
Eric Robinson, Program Officer for East & Horn of Africa, National Endowment for Democracy
Mohamud Said, Program Coordinator, Diakonia
Khalif Farah, Program Specialist in Governance UNDP Somalia
Rang Hee Kim, Transportation Manager, Counterpart International
Phillip Cooper, Deputy Governance Manager, UNDP Somalia
Mohamud Hamud, Executive Director, Puntland State University
Zamzam Billow, Emergency Monitoring and Capacity Building Officer, Oxfam Novib