Staff

Malana Rogers-Bursen is the Project Coordinator for Food Security, Environmental Justice and Sustainability with the Bailey College of the Environment. Malana is a community organizer and urbanist with extensive experience in racial equity, community outreach strategies, participatory democracy, and collaborative research. Before joining the Bailey College of the Environment, she was the program coordinator and co-founder for a community center in Bern, Switzerland. She also worked at Everyday Democracy for ten years as a coach and trainer for community engagement processes. In 2015/2016, she served as an AmeriCorps VISTA with the CT Youth Food Program Alliance (formerly the CT Food Justice Youth Corps). Malana has volunteered with a number of racial justice and immigrant justice groups in the US and Switzerland, including Hartford Deportation Defense, CT Students for a Dream, Black Infinity Collective, the Alliance Against Racial Profiling, and the Racial Justice Student Collective. She has a B.A. in Political Science from Boston University and an M.A. in Critical Urbanisms from the University of Basel. Malana currently lives in Hartford, CT. She loves to sing and dance and is learning how to DJ.

Laurie Kenney has been a member of the Wesleyan University community since 2014. A lifelong fangirl, her debut album, Every Apple Does Go Bad Eventually, is available now (October 6, 2023 - Cynical Girl Music Publishing ASCAP). Before joining the Bailey College of the Environment as an administrative assistant, she was a senior writer/editor and the editorial marketing manager in Wesleyan's Office of University Communications. Laurie's professional experience includes 20+ years in publishing, public relations, marketing, and education. A past recipient of a National Make a Difference Day Award and an American Red Cross Community Impact Award, she was the scriptwriter for Wesleyan's 2018 Telly Award-winning video short, "Wes, Actually."