CEP Team

Jelena Petrovic - Program Director and Co-Founder

Jelena Petrovic, who earned her PhD from the University of New Mexico, is an Associate Professor in communication and media studies at Stetson University. In 2015, she co-founded the Community Education Project with other Stetson professors. In her work with CEP, she focuses on strategic planning and partnerships, organizational culture, the development of new educational programming for CEP, and connecting current and former CEP students with needed academic and professional resources. In addition to this work, Petrovic also has been offering courses and workshops in media studies, migration and identity, cultural studies, interpersonal communication and public speaking to CEP students. Her research focuses on media representations of national identity and immigration in Europe as well as critical pedagogy in carceral spaces.

Melinda Hall - Assistant Director of Grants and Research

Melinda C. Hall (PhD, Vanderbilt University) is Interim Associate Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences and Associate Professor of Philosophy at Stetson University. She is Assistant Director of Grants for the Community Education Project, Stetson’s higher education in prison program. She has also served as the Chair of the University Faculty Senate, Chair of the Philosophy Department, and Director of Gender Studies. Professor Hall’s research specialties are bioethics, Continental philosophy, and the philosophy of disability. She is the author of The Bioethics of Enhancement: Transhumanism, Disability, and Biopolitics (Lexington Books 2016). Her current book projects focus on the ethics and politics of risk and on claiming a disability history of philosophy. Professor Hall is also the author of articles published in Disability Studies Quarterly, International Journal of Feminist Approaches to Bioethics, Philosophy Compass, and Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, among other venues.

Rick Wheatley - On-Site Program Coordinator

Rick Wheatley, who earned his BS from the University of Wisconsin, is the on-site program coordinator at Tomoka CI. In 2021, he was hired as the garden manager for the Community Education Project. In his work with CEP, he focuses on the development of a space within the prison to build and maintain a garden, provide education and resources about community gardening, bio-dynamic organic gardening, and developing partnerships with the community. In 2023, he became the on-site program coordinator, focusing on coordinating with the Tomoka Administration and CEP, providing support and logistics for students, volunteers, and CEP staff relating to work within Tomoka CI.

Sarah Cramer - Assistant Director for Curriculum and Faculty Relations

Sarah Cramer earned both a master of public health degree and a PhD in agricultural education from the University of Missouri. She is an assistant professor of sustainable food systems in the Department of Environmental Science and Studies at Stetson, and the CEP director of food studies. She teaches a variety of sustainable food systems courses at Tomoka CI and supervises independent student research on relevant food systems/food studies topics. In 2021 she earned the pedagogy award from the Association for the Study of Food and Society for her teaching at Tomoka. Her research interests include garden-based learning, alternative food networks, gender and agriculture, and institutional food system change.

Royanne Dowden - Administrative Assistant

Royanne Dowden, who graduated from Kean University with a BA in Communication in January 2021, is the Administrative Assistant for the CEP. She assists the CEP leadership team with paperwork, event coordination, and social media posts. She has greatly enjoyed working with a program dedicated to such a meaningful cause.

Sam Houston - Coordinator for Community Relations and Outreach

Sam Houston, who earned his PhD from Florida State University, is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Religious Studies at Stetson University. He serves as internship supervisor and re-entry guide specialist. He has given talks on American Islam and storytelling as ethics in Islam at Tomoka Correctional Institution. His research focuses on moral formation in Muslim and other faith-based forms of activism and community organizing, and has appeared in the Journal of Religious Ethics, the American Journal of Islam and Society, the Journal of Africana Religions, and Religion Compass.

Christlie Poteau - Student Intern

Christlie Poteau, a current Undergraduate Senior at Stetson University, is a Psychology major and a Certificate of Community Engagement minor. She is an active Bonner Foundation Scholar, Fronk Scholar, WISE Mentor, and serves CEP in assisting with the organization, planning, and promotion of past and ongoing CEP projects, under the supervision of Sam Houston.