Stepansky Travels to Israel for Field Project with Kids4Peace

Flexibility, opportunity and inspiration define the William James College Org Psych program for Ellen Stepansky. While working full time as a human resources professional at Oxfam America, Ellen will earn her MA in December 2016, thanks to a blended, hybrid program that offers weekend face to face studies along with online courses. For her 2-1/2 week field project, Ellen traveled to Jerusalem to work with Christians, Muslims and Jews involved in an educational program that runs over a 6-year period for young people in grades 6-11 called Kids4Peace. “They work with children and whole families,” Ellen explains, to build trusting relationships. I’m hopeful,” she says. “It’s a model for other organizations.” 

Ellen worked with Kids4Peace synthesizing survey materials, analyzing parental feedback. She says the participants and staff are very focused on evaluating their impact and using those findings to tweak elements of what they’re doing. “It’s very self-reflective and very inclusive,” says Ellen. After graduation, she hopes to work with corporations and organizations to help them analyze and improve problems with management and staff. She is attracted to courses at the College that enable leaders to understand their strengths, biases and areas needing improvement. Along with her busy schedule of work and studies, Ellen is also a singer who performs in the Boston area. 

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