Board and Staff
Board of Trustees
Staff
Board bios
David Spain Jump to top ^
Rev. David Spain, President of The Xenia Institute, is the Senior Minister of the First Christian Church of Norman, Oklahoma. Rev. Spain serves on the board of Norman Mission Ministries and also on the Oklahoma Regional Board of the Commission on the Clergy. A resident of Norman for 10 years, Rev. Spain is committed to the work of social justice and community reconciliation. Rev. Spain has worked with and on behalf of the local of chapter of Habitat for Humanity, Food and Shelter for Friends, Health for Friends, and has traveled nationally and internationally on mission trips. Rev. Spain recognizes that addressing the root causes of injustice and inequality are essential to healing a society and its people and that the starting place for such healing is learning how to speak, listen, and engage our fellow citizens for the common good.
Lynne Levy Jump to top ^
Lynne Levy is a medievalist working on The Variorum Chaucer, a research project at OU, publishing editions of the works of the 14th century English poet Geoffrey Chaucer. Lynne received her undergraduate degree from The Ohio State University and her MA and PhD from the University of Oklahoma. Before becoming one of the editors of the Variorum Chaucer she taught in the English Department at OU. She presently teaches an Adult Sunday School class at First Christian Church, Norman; the class, called the Seekers’ Class, continually strives to increase the overall religious literacy of its members and is a weekly exercise in implementing the sort of dialogue that Xenia promotes. Lynne has many and varied interests, among them: reading, gardening, singing, hand work of all sorts, birdwatching, travelling, and reading Latin and Biblical Greek. She is married to David Levy, emeritus professor of American History at OU; they have two adult children, also professors. David and Lynne have lived in Norman for more than 30 years and have been active in the civic life of the community as well as in campus life. Lynne has been active in the Xenia Fellows program from its inception.
Melanie Hall Jump to top ^
Melanie Hall, Secretary of The Xenia Institute, is the Deputy Administrator and Director of Enforcement for the Oklahoma Department of Securities. A native Oklahoman, Melanie graduated with a BBA from the University of Oklahoma and earned her law degree from the University of Oklahoma College of Law. A resident of Norman since 1977, Melanie is a member of the First Presbyterian Church where she is active in the mission and social justice programs. With a keen interest in politics at the local, state, and national levels, Melanie recognizes the ever increasing importance of dialogue in solving the critical issues of our communities, nation and world.
Michael Palermo Jump to top ^
Michael Palermo, a native of Houston, Texas, retired from real estate in 2005 after spending 33 years building a successful office with over 40 agents. After moving to Norman two years ago, he and his wife Paula opened Michelangelo’s Coffee & Wine Bar, a similar establishment to the coffee and wine bar Michael opened in Denver by the same name. Michael has served the various communities in which he has lived by volunteering with Big Brothers Big Sisters and Catholic Charities of Houston, Galveston and Denver. Michael has also traveled abroad on various mission trips. Michael believes there is a need for dialogue in all kinds of communities and feels fortunate that The Xenia Institute is committed to fostering dialogue and communication right here. Upon first learning of Xenia, Michael was reminded of a saying of his late father, “talk slow, but think fast.” Michael appreciates the skills of careful consideration and meaningful dialogue that are reflected in that saying, and he is pleased to see them at work in the Norman community.
Charles Gilbert Jump to top ^
Charles Gilbert is a retired professor in the University of Oklahoma School of Geology and Geophysics. An alumnus of OU from the late 1950s, he taught at Virginia Tech for 15 years, Texas A&M for 7 years, and OU for 17 years. Major research interests now are concentrated on understanding the geological history of the Wichita Mountains area of southwest Oklahoma. As a member of First Presbyterian Church, he was a representative to Xenia’s predecessor organization, the United Ministry Center, and has continued on the board with the founding of Xenia in 2008. Charles is particularly interested in the way Xenia’s work brings diverse groups in our community into dialogue, improving the lives of all involved and working toward a dialectic of the commons.
Jack Hobson Jump to top ^
A native of Oklahoma, Jack Hobson received his BA in 2000 in French language and literature from the University of Oklahoma while serving as Special Assistant to President David L. Boren. After his graduation, Hobson worked in Washington DC for the Public Forum Institute, a non-partisan think tank that creates town hall forums for members of Congress. He returned to OU in 2002 to work in the Office of Education Abroad. In 2009, he was named Director of the office that manages overseas education at the University of Oklahoma, sending over 750 students to over 35 countries during 2010. Hobson additionally hold a Masters in International and Areas Studies from OU and is currently conducting his PhD work in Political Science. Hobson’s research interests are focused on human migration and security in the developing world.
Vicki Schaeffer Jump to top ^
Dr. Vicki J. Schaeffer, a native of Salem, Ohio, is currently Director of Recruitment for the McClendon Honors College and an adjunct Assistant Professor for the College of Liberal Studies at the University of Oklahoma. She received a Doctor of Music Degree from Indiana University-Bloomington, with a double major in organ performance and church music. She also holds degrees from Mount Union College and Kent State University. A church organist since the age of 15, currently serving as organist at First Christian Church in Oklahoma City while maintaining an active recital and workshop schedule, Dr. Schaeffer has spent the majority of her career in education, having held teaching positions in Ohio, Hawaii, and Oklahoma. Serving both public and private institutions as well as universities has laid the foundation for her belief in the Xenia mission. She has seen first hand how building relationships through listening and dialogue can help to transform lives.
Staff bios
Clint Williams Jump to top ^
Clint Williams, executive director of The Xenia Institute, holds degrees in Religious Studies and Musical Arts (Voice) from the University of Oklahoma. In his capacity as executive director, Clint oversees the day to day operations of the institute, designs and facilitates much of the institute’s programming, and is the staff liaison to the institute’s Board of Trustees. Clint’s areas of professional interest include: using various dialogue techniques as a means toward honest and open interpersonal relations, researching and examining public discourse formats and the way they affect deliberation on important issues, and fostering meaningful dialogue on the internet, as is being conducted through Xenia’s online magazine, Dialogic. Clint is serving in his first term on the Norman Human Rights Commission and has also been a professional church musician for 10 years, currently holding an appointment as Director of Music at St. Stephen’s United Methodist Church, Norman. Clint has previously served on the steering committee of the Norman Justice Alliance and as Trustee and Secretary of the Sinfonia Educational Foundation, a national philanthropic organization for men in music.
Barbara Schwartz Jump to top ^
Barbara Schwartz is the editorial director for The Xenia Institute and the online editor for Dialogic Magazine, The Xenia Institute’s Web publication. A native Oklahoman, Barbara holds a degree in journalism from Oklahoma State University and a degree in religious studies from the University of Oklahoma. She recently graduated from Phillips Theological Seminary in Tulsa with a Master of Divinity, and will soon begin as a PhD candidate in theology, ethics and history at Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary in Evanston, Il. She spent 15 years working in newspaper journalism in Oklahoma before coming to The Xenia Institute. Barbara is a lay leader in the United Church of Christ, and for the past three years has served as an adult education leader at Mayflower Congregational Church in Oklahoma City and at United Church of Norman, UCC. At her blog at Dialogic Magazine, Barbara blogs primarily about race and racism, sexuality, religion, justice and globalization.
Lisa Schmidt Jump to top ^
Lisa Schmidt, Xenia’s Director of Community Engagement, is a doctoral candidate in adult and higher education at the University of Oklahoma with more than thirty years of higher education administration and university teaching experience. She is currently serving her fourth term on the Norman Human Rights Commission and is an active and engaged member of St. Thomas More University Parish. Her dissertation topic is academic service-learning, exploring how engaging in deliberate, meaningful and reflective service as an undergraduate might impact professional commitment as well as degree completion, especially among women in engineering and science. As Director of Community Engagement, Lisa is responsible for identifying and developing ways for Xenia to be involved in addressing critical community issues through dialogue, partnerships, and public events. Of particular interest to her are issues related to social and economic justice and inclusiveness. She is a Norman native and her doctorate will be her third degree from the University of Oklahoma.