Jeanne E. Manese - The Steve Fund

Jeanne E. Manese, Ph.D., received her doctoral degree from the University of Maryland, College Park. She also attained an M.Ed. from Harvard University. Dr. Manese is an independent consultant and serves as a national advisor with The Steve Fund. As an advocate-practitioner-scholar, Dr. Manese is currently focused on organizational transformation aimed at equity, diversity and inclusion through capacity building, sustainable program development, and promoting leadership development. Dr. Manese’s counseling center career has spanned over four decades including serving as the Director at the UC Irvine Counseling Center and Training Director at UC San Diego. She also worked internationally as the shipboard psychologist with the Semester at Sea program. In these roles, her passions included implementing strengths-based programs for first generation college students, community building, and clinical supervision. In 2018, Dr. Manese was bestowed the honor of Lifetime Achievement in Service from the American Psychological Association (APA) Minority Fellowship Program (MFP),. She continues in her long cherished role as a Mentor for the MFP Psychology Summer Institute. She was also honored by the Society of Counseling Psychology with the 2022 Lifetime Achievement in Mentoring Award. Dr. Manese is an Asian American Psychological Association Fellow, an APA Fellow in Divisions 45 and 17, and holds emerita status in the Association for University and College Counseling Center Directors (AUCCCD).

Gratitude: “Gifts, Givers, Goodness & Grace”

INSIGHT 23 Nov 2023

At this moment, many are in the midst of getting ready for the holiday season; however, for others, “the world is on fire” with global turmoil. As such, it is so timely to bring gratitude to the forefront. Many of us first learned about gratitude from our parents or grandparents when we were taught to say “thank you” as we gathered together for a meal or received a gift. But since the early 2000s, the study of gratitude has been a focus of scientific examination, particularly in the field of psychology.

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Building Capacity Beyond Diversity, Equity & Inclusion

INSIGHT 20 Oct 2023

The notion of “capacity building” is one we hear everywhere, and is often connected with ideas of helping an individual or teams grow their ability to expand or better meet an organizational mission. In the Steve Fund’s higher education consulting practice, we think of capacity building as a process that starts from the ground up. With our clients, we shape transformational change that is rooted in building a new, inclusive foundation, rather than adding on to an existing structure. For us, capacity involves more than enhancing the skills and knowledge of individuals; indeed, capacity building becomes tightly tied to the quality of an organization.

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