Meet The Board

Carmen Marchaline McGill (Co-Founder and Board Chair)

is a retired admissions counselor and personnel administrator. She is an advocate for the rights and justice of all people, particularly sensitive to the needs of people of color. During her 45 years in Poughkeepsie, she has been active in the Kwanzaa Committee, Poughkeepsie City Schools PTA, Board of Education committees, the Black History Project Committee, the Dutchess County Historical Society Board, NAACP, AAUW, and many others. She is a mentor to countless individuals throughout the community.

Katherine (Katie) Hite (Co-Founder and Board Chair)

is Professor of Political Science on the Frederick Ferris Thompson Chair at Vassar College. She is the author of several publications on history and memory, memorials and memorial museums. Her research has been supported by the Fulbright Foundation, the Ford Foundation, and the Social Science Research Council. She teaches courses on social movements, Latin American politics, and the politics of memory, and is an active member of several community organizations in Poughkeepsie and Kingston, NY.

Kalimah Karim (Co-Founder and Board Treasurer)

is a Community Health Nurse whose career has been dedicated to improving health outcomes for people of color. A Lamaze Certified Childbirth Educator, she is also the founder of OurstoryCollectibles.com, offering Afrocentric, Western and Asian art and décor. A lifelong New Yorker and Poughkeepsie resident for the past eight years, Kalimah is a mother, grandmother, and entrepreneur who believes that “it’s vital that everyone can feel their surroundings reflect their story.”

Jean-Marc Superville Sovak (Board Member)

is a public artist and educator whose creative work focuses on the silent and silenced histories of multiracial identities in and around the Hudson Valley. A Bard College M.F.A. graduate, his works are held in the permanent collections of the Dorsky Museum at SUNY New Paltz and the Loeb Art Center at Vassar College.

Markly Wilson (Board Member)

is the Director of International Marketing for Empire State Development, Division of Tourism. He currently serves as President of the Board of Directors for the Unitarian Universalist Congregation at Rock Tavern. He previously served as Deputy Secretary General and Director of Marketing for the Caribbean Tourism Organization and as the U.S. Manager for the Tourist Board of Barbados.

Dr. India Barkley, D.Ac. (Board Member)

is a tenured Doctor of Acupuncture, educator, clinician, and Reiki master/teacher whose work advances trauma-informed, patient-centered healing in both local and global contexts. She operates The Heal WithYin Center of Health & Wellness in Poughkeepsie and serves as the resident acupuncturist for Global Trauma Wellness’s on-site mental-health clinic. She is also a Healing Community Trauma Trainer with Acupuncturists Without Borders and collaborates with Vassar College’s Women’s Health and Wellness Fair initiatives to expand access to integrative medicine for underserved populations.

Silke von der Emde (Board Secretary)

is Associate Professor and Chair of the German Studies Department and Director of the Self-Instructional Language Program at Vassar College. She has published widely on GDR literature, feminist theory, and German film, and is currently completing a book titled An Archive of Trauma: Displacement, Disability, and the Politics of Remembering Nazi Persecution. She also serves on the board of Community Family Development in Poughkeepsie.