Who We Are

The Public Stories Lab is coordinated collaboratively by a small group of faculty, staff, and students (both graduate and undergraduate). We meet monthly or more to plan events and support one another’s ongoing storytelling projects and engagements. If you are interested in joining the organizing group, please email publicstorieslab@umbc.edu.

Viridiana Colosio-Martinez is a PhD student in the Language, Literacy, and Culture Doctoral program and an adjunct in the MLLI department at UMBC. Her research interests focus on storytelling, bilingualism, and cultural identity. Currently, she is collaborating with Latine/x communities in Baltimore to explore culture as a vital coping strategy and source of social support for survival.
Victoria Saravia is a Visual Arts major at UMBC, joined the Public Stories Lab because she has a passion for editing videos, animation, and learning about cultures around the world through storytelling.
Tania Lizarazo is an Associate Professor at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC) contributing to the Global Studies Program, the Spanish Area, and the MA in Intercultural Communication. She is Affiliate Faculty of Gender, Women’s + Sexuality Studies, and Language, Literacy & Culture.

Sarah Jewett is the Director of Learning Partnerships in Research and Practice (Honors College) at UMBC, and one of the founding members of the Public Stories Lab. She coordinates storytelling collaborations with Montgomery College (MC) and the Storytelling Academy at Loughborough University (LU). The Storytelling Academy @ LU hosted her as a Fulbright Scholar in 2024. She is an affiliate faculty member in Sociology, Anthropology and Public Health and in the Language, Literacy & Culture Doctoral Program.

Charlotte Keniston is the Director of the Shriver Peaceworker Fellows Program at UMBC and one of the founding members of the Public Stories Lab. She has expertise in story circle methodology and teaches digital storytelling on the UMBC campus and in a variety of community-based settings. She is affiliate faculty in the Community Leadership program where she teaches a digital storytelling course and the core methodology course.