Leadership, Research Assistants, Faculty and Staff Affiliates and Research Fellows
Institute for Metropolitan Affairs

Kathleen Kane-Willis
Interim Director, Institute for Metropolitan Affairs at Roosevelt University
Director, Illinois Consortium on Drug Policy
kkane@roosevelt.edu
312.341.4336

Ms. Kane-Willis' public policy research experience spans more than a decade. Her main areas of focus are on drug policy, drug misuse, drug education curriculum development, and research involving women drug users. In recent years, Kane-Willis has focused her research on drug policy at the intersection of criminal justice reform and has managed over 20 research projects and authored dozens of reports. Reports include the Illinois Consortium on Drug Policy's New Directions in Illinois Drug Policy: An Update on Incarceration for Drug Offenses in Illinois, Intersecting Voices: Impacts of Illinois' Drug Policies, What Youth Want: Youth Perceptions of Drug Education Programs, and Through a Different Lens: Shifting the Focus on Illinois Drug Policy. Kane-Willis' reports on drug use and policies have been featured on the front pages of the Chicago Sun-Times and the Chicago Tribune, the Chicago Daily Herald and other publications across the Midwest. She has also appeared on local and national television and radio discussing drug use, trends and policies. Ms. Kane-Willis has presented her research findings at over 15 academic conferences across the country and is frequently asked to moderate panels dealing with substance use disorders. In addition, she currently serves on the Research Committee and the Policy Committee for the Illinois General Assembly's Disproportionate Justice Impact Study.

Ms. Kane-Willis designed and teaches Drugs, Alcohol and Society, a course about drug use and policy at the both undergraduate and graduate levels in the Sociology Department at Roosevelt University. She also supervises and mentors students every semester through research assistantships with the Institute for Metropolitan Affairs. Kane-Willis serves as the faculty mentor for Roosevelt University's Students for Sensible Drug Policy chapter and received the Advisor of the Year award in 2008.

Gregory Greenman
Acting Assistant Director, Institute for Metropolitan Affairs at Roosevelt University
Assistant Director, Illinois Consortium on Drug Policy
ggreenman@roosevelt.edu
312.341.2141

Gregory Greenman is the acting assistant director for the Institute for Metropolitan Affairs and is the assistant director for the Illinois Consortium on Drug Policy. Mr. Greenman completed his undergraduate degree in Political Science and Economics in 2008 and is currently a graduate student in Public Administration at Roosevelt University. His areas of interest include HIV/AIDS advocacy, LGBT policy development, non-profit management, political process and policy creation analysis, strategic planning. He also serves on the Chicago Taskforce on LGBT Substance Ab/use.

Stephanie Schmitz
Project Manager, Institute for Metropolitan Affairs at Roosevelt University
Associate Director, Illinois Consortium on Drug Policy
sbechteler@roosevelt.edu
312.341.2458

Stephanie Schmitz is the research project manager for the Institute for Metropolitan Affairs and serves as the associate director for the Illinois Consortium on Drug Policy. Ms. Schmitz has completed masters-level education and practicum training in social work and has over five years experience working with substance use and mental health issues. She is also experienced in evaluating social service delivery systems. Schmitz is currently a doctoral student at Jane Addams College of Social Work at the University of Illinois at Chicago. Her doctoral work at the University of Illinois at Chicago focuses on mental health and substance use treatment needs, feelings of stigma and their relationship to service utilization among incarcerated populations. Her professional work focuses on public policy analysis and criminal justice reforms to address the social and legal consequences of national and local drug policies, studying service use patterns among individuals with mental and substance use disorders to improve service delivery systems and assisting community organizations in their advocacy efforts through the development of targeted research and advocacy messages. She currently serves on the Research and Policy Committees for the Illinois General Assembly's Disproportionate Justice Impact Study. She also serves on the Chicago Taskforce on LGBT Substance Ab/use.

Research Assistants:

• Vilmarie Fraguada
  

  Vilmarie is currently enrolled in the PsyD program at Roosevelt. She received her M.A. in Counseling and Psychological Services from Saint Mary's University of Minnesota. Her focus is on children and families, with a primary interest in working with adolescents suffering from substance use issues. Vilmarie is also Secretary of Roosevelt's Students for Sensible Drug Policy chapter.

• Jeremiah Franklin
  

  Jeremiah is a graduate student in the public administration program at Roosevelt University. Jeremiah is specializing in sealing and expunging criminal records in Illinois and has done much work in the area of criminal justice.  Jeremiah plans to pursue a Ph.D. in criminology.  

• Kevin Jones
  

  Kevin is a senior in Roosevelt University’s sociology program. His interests include re-entry policies, alternatives to incarceration and substance use recovery programs.

• Gavin Lewis
  

  Gavin Lewis is a graduate student in the Sociology Master's program at Roosevelt University.  With a BA in Sociology from Xavier University of Louisiana, Mr. Lewis' work focuses on the intersection of race and class within the African American community, Black-Latino scholarship, Afro-Hispanic studies and Geographic Information Systems (GIS).

• Nicholas Lombard
  

  Nicholas Lombard is currently a graduate student at Roosevelt in the Sociology department.  He holds his BA in Criminology and his interests are in critical and convict criminology, the prison industrial complex, and correctional systems.

• Abigail Moore
  

  Abigail is a sophomore at Roosevelt University with interests in art, art advocacy, and Museum studies. She is the treasurer of Students for a sensible drug policy and on the executive board of Illinois committee of the National Museum of Women in the Arts.

• Laura Reichel
  

  Laura is a senior undergraduate at Roosevelt. She is majoring in International Studies and minoring in Economics. She is also President of Roosevelt's Students for Sensible Drug Policy chapter.

• Elizabeth Weber
  

  Liz is a graduate student at Roosevelt and is in her first semester in the Public Administration program.  She is a public relations assistant for the IMA and is interested in pursuing a career path in public relations and communications for nonprofits.