Susanna (Susie) Flug-Silva will be joining the Center for Youth and Communities at Brandeis University’s Heller School for Social Policy and Management as the new director of the Eli J. & Phyllis N. Segal Citizen Leadership Program in August 2017.
Flug-Silva comes to Brandeis from the Massachusetts Service Alliance (MSA), where she managed the Commonwealth Corps year-of-service program. During her five years at MSA, she directed the supervision, training, reflection, technical assistance and team building for 40 to 50 service members and 15 to 20 host site partners across Massachusetts each year.
Flug-Silva brings over 15 years of experience in the civic engagement, service/service learning, community partnerships and education policy worlds. Prior to MSA, she served as the youth services planner for the City of Cambridge’s Department of Human Service Programs and as a family engagement consultant for the National College Advising Corps at Brown University. She has managed community partnerships and service learning programming at Simmons College and Phillips Academy Andover, and fostered civic engagement programming at the national level at Idealist.org/COOL. She currently chairs Cambridge’s Citizens’ Committee on Civic Unity.
“It is an honor to take on the role of Director,” says Flug-Silva. “I’m thrilled to continue to promote the legacy and work of the Segal family, the Segal Fellows and the larger network of those who know the power of service and citizen leadership and the importance of fostering social justice.”
Flug-Silva recently completed a Certification in Nonprofit Management and Leadership at Boston University’s Questrom School of Business, holds an A.M. in Urban Education Policy from Brown University and an A.B. in Social Studies from Harvard University where she graduated magna cum laude and earned honors for her thesis on Boston’s living wage legislation.
“Susie brings important strengths and experience to the Segal Program as it begins its second decade,” says Phyllis N. Segal, founding chair of the Segal Program. “I am looking forward to her leadership and couldn’t be more thrilled to welcome her to our extended family of fellows, founders and friends.”
Susan P. Curnan, director of the Center for Youth and Communities, says that Flug-Silva emerged as the leading candidate from among more than 60 applicants. “She brings dedication to our mission, demonstrated effectiveness as a leader in civic engagement and is just what we need to spark innovation and growth in the next decade.”
Flug-Silva will take over as Segal Program director from Tam Emerson, who has been in the role for five years. Emerson, who is leaving Brandeis to pursue an MBA at UC-Berkeley, is a Segal Fellow who will remain engaged with the program while building her new career.
About the Eli J. and Phyllis N. Segal Citizen Leadership Program
Housed within the Center for Youth and Communities, the Segal Program has a mission to promote citizen leadership as an imperative for our nation. The program was established in 2007 to honor and extend the work of Eli Segal ’64, who is best known for his leadership developing AmeriCorps and Welfare-to-Work initiatives in the Clinton Administration and for his talent for inspiring young people. The program commemorates this legacy, advances Segal’s passion for citizen engagement, and continues Eli’s, and now Phyllis’, commitment to developing new generations of citizen leaders. With nearly 100 fellows today at different ages and stages, and a network of more than 600 founders, coaches and internship partners, the program is beginning its tenth year of operation at Brandeis. Learn more at the Segal Program’s website.