Meet our Staff
Program Manager
TERI MURPHY
Interim director and Faculty Associate for Religious Studies Department and
School of Justice and Social Inquiry
Teri has worked in the field of conflict transformation for over 20 years. She is focused especially on identity based conflicts with an emphasis on the roles religion and religious identity play in the creation and cessation of conflict and violence. As adjunct faculty, she also teaches classes in community and social justice, globalization of human rights, transitional justice, conflict transformation and peacebuilding. Teri is the co-director of the South Africa Community Fund out of which she has been directing academic and service learning programs in Cape Town for the last several years.
Teri's professional career has been primarily nested in the arena of Higher Education Administration. She served as an Episcopal chaplain at ASU and an Assistant Dean of Chapel at Gordon College at which time she created and administrated international service learning programs under the auspices of local or indigenous NGO's. Through these experiences abroad, her interest in peace building was heightened. A trained mediator, she now serves as a conflict transformation facilitator and consultant in a variety of international and domestic contexts.
Areas of responsibility: Focusing on student social justice leadership programs, including interreligious dialogues!
Education: M.A., Educational Ministry (Wheaton, 1983); B.A., Elementary Education (Taylor, 1980)
Instructional Professional
DR. MARCELA CASTRO
Areas of responsibility: Coordinates center curriculum development and program evaluation; national research projects, webpage and publications.
Subject Interests: Online Peer Interaction, Distance Education, Educational Technology, Instructional Design, Teacher and Multicultural Education
Education: Ph.D., Curriculum and Instruction (ASU, 2005); M.A., Educational Media and Computers (ASU, 1995); B.A., Communication (Universidad de Occidente, 1987).
Program Coordinator, Sr.
ELMA DZANIC
Prior to joining the ASU staff Elma worked at the United States Attorney’s Office, serving as a Community Resource Specialist and a Weed&Seed Program Coordinator. In those positions, she oversaw a federal grant program to address crime issues and promote community development in high crime areas throughout Arizona. She continues that work by being an active member of the Executive Council on Human Trafficking working closely with ALERT (Arizona League to End Regional Trafficking) on the development of a state protocol to address trafficking victims. Prior to working for the Department of Justice, Elma worked at ASU Career Services Center where she helped develop and execute the peer advising program.
Elma and her immediate family immigrated to the United States in 1995 after a civil war broke out in her home country of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Her deep commitment to her former country and its people lead her to seek work in areas of post conflict development and refugee re-settlement.
Areas of responsibility: Coordinates student and faculty programs including Diversity Scholar Series and Faculty Cross-Talks.
Subject Interests: Post conflict development, ethnic and national identity, international humanitarian and human rights law, transitional justice, refugee re-settlement, community involvement.
Education: B. S., Justice and Social Inquiry (ASU, 2007).
Program Coordinator
GRACE C. CHANG
Areas of responsibility: Coordinates student programs and tech connections.
Subject Interests: International law, conflict resolution, trauma and forgiviness, immigrant rights, human rights law.
Education: B. S., Justice and Social Inquiry/International Studies (ASU, 2005).
Bussiness Manager
BECKY MONTEZ
Areas of responsibility: Coordinates daily operations of the Center and its finances; coordinates in-office resource collection; supervises student staff.
Education: B.S. Purchasing/Materials Management (ASU, 1988)
