2026-27 Hope Fellows

Christiane Schwarz

Christiane Schwarz, Ph.D.

Christiane Schwarz, Ph.D., is an Assistant Professor of Sociology and Criminology at Gonzaga University. She earned her Ph.D. at Rutgers–Newark University and conducted qualitative research on learning programs inside Austrian prisons. Prior to that, she examined stigmatization of persons formerly incarcerated and their families in the U.S. and U.K. At Gonzaga, she teaches courses on corrections, comparative criminal justice, and modernizing the criminal justice system. She partnered with local institutions to bring experiential learning into the community. Most recently, she guided students in her CRIM 352: Corrections course to design and deliver workshops for justice-involved youth at the Spokane County Juvenile Detention Center. This collaboration turned classroom theory into hands-on programs grounded in creativity, care, and self-expression.
Maggie Cox

Maggie Cox, Ph.D.

Before coming to Gonzaga, Dr. Cox earned her Ph.D. at the University of Oregon, where she also completed an APA-accredited internship in school-based mental health. She previously served as a K–12 school psychologist and school-based therapist in two public school districts in the Omaha, NE, metro area, providing consultation and technical assistance related to universal mental health screening, multi-tiered systems of support (MTSS), and intervention across tiers. Her current research focuses on the development, adaptation, and evaluation of school-based, culturally responsive mental health interventions grounded in emotion science and cognitive-behavioral approaches, with an emphasis on fostering psychological flexibility among youth and the adults who support them. She is particularly interested in prevention-oriented practices that build systems-level capacity in schools, including supports for educator well-being, equitable discipline practices for all students, and reducing pathways into exclusionary discipline and justice involvement. Her work also emphasizes outcome-focused psychoeducational assessment processes and integrates mindfulness- and movement-based approaches to social–emotional learning, with a commitment to community-engaged, co-constructed intervention design alongside youth and school partners.
Rebecca Donaway

Rebecca Donaway, Ph.D.

Rebecca Donaway (Ph.D., Washington State University) studies political communication, specifically the forms political messages take, the emotions they evoke, and how people engage in the political process as a result. Her work prioritizes participatory democracy as the ideal teaching about dialogue and active participation. Her classes in the Core carry a community-engaged learning designation, and alongside her students, she's learning about all the ways communication can develop, foster, and advocate for community.