Bylaws | Structure | BoD Standing Committees | BOD Shared Commitments 2021
Welcome to the webpage for the UCIMC Board of Directors! The Board has the honor and privilege of being elected by the general membership of the UCIMC.
Board meetings are open to all members that wish to attend and are the 4th Tuesday of the month at 7 pm virtually (via zoom). Public input is at the beginning of the meeting. If you would like to attend, please contact <tech at ucimc dot org> or [email protected] or 217-344-8820.
If you would like to contact the Board, please email the President at [email protected].
You can also join the board! The General Membership Meeting is in the Fall and you can apply to be on the ballot (PDF Version | Google Doc). The IMC members elect the board.
Any member can join a committee and you don't need to be a board member. The IMC Board has six standing committees -- Programming, Facilities, Finance, Personnel, Tech and Fundraising. These committees support the core infrastructure of the IMC. If you are interested in joining a committee, but not sure where you'd fit in best, you can read more about our standing committees and what they do.
The Current List of Board of Directors for 2022
Danielle Chynoweth
Danielle has 30 years of experience in community organizing, media justice, and public policy. She is a cofounder of UCIMC and a recognized leader in the Indymedia movement. She has facilitated social change workshops in Thailand, Burma, Kenya, Italy, as at Evans Scholar at Evergreen State College, at Highlander Research and Education Center, and throughout the U.S. At UCIMC she negotiated the purchase of 202 S. Broadway, managed the $150,000 build out project, and co-authored numerous grants (National Endowment of the Arts, AmeriCorps, Illinois Arts Council, Media Justice Fund).
Danielle currently serves as Cunningham Township Supervisor, Field Instructor for the School for Social Work, as chair of the CU Public Health Board.
As Organizing Director at the Center for Media Justice, she coordinated a national network of racial justice leaders to win political campaigns for net neutrality, prison phone justice, and broadband expansion for low-income families. She managed the national campaign that won passage of the Local Community Radio Act. She served on Urbana's City Council, spearheading the creation of the Urbana Public Arts program and Living Wage ordinance. For 15 years she was Vice President and partner of Pixo, a technology company in Urbana.
She holds a Masters Degree in Political Science from the New School for Social Research. She trained in advanced facilitation at SOUL (School for Unity in Liberation), in Digital Organizing at Wellstone Action, and in Executive Training by the Ford Foundation and Management for Change by The Management Center.
She was awarded the McKinley Foundation Social Justice Award, Woman of the Year by Central Illinois Business Magazine, and was named a Media Giraffe by the University of Massachusetts. She is currently co-authoring a book entitled Democratize This! which was launched as a webinar series in 2020. She is mom to Ezra Shine.
Don Owen | Board Treasurer
Dr. Donald Owen has spent the last 30 years as an educator and leader in Urbana School District #116. He earned his BA In Psychology and Social Studies Education from Carleton College, and an MA in history from Illinois State University. He completed his MEd and EdD in Educational Organization and Leadership from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. During his tenure as a district administrator, Dr. Owen is most proud of the work he led to reduce disparities around issues of race. During his tenure as Superintendent, the graduation rate for White and Black students were within one percentage point of each other - essentially erasing the graduation gap between Black and White students. The work he led in the district earned Urbana High School the status of one of 20 high schools in the country to be named a School of Opportunity in 2016. In 2017, he was selected by his peers as the “Superintendent of Distinction” for the Illini Region in the Illinois Association of School Administrators. His leadership focuses on educational excellence through equity, engagement, and student voice. Dr. Owen is continuing to devote his energy to advocate for students and families of the Urbana-Champaign area. He currently serves as the Founder and CEO of Lead for Equity and Engagement LLC. In that role, Don works with organizations, individuals, and schools to provide training, racial equity audits, and leadership training.
David Cisneros | Board Secretary
David Cisneros has lived in Urbana-Champaign for ten years. He is an educator, writer, researcher, and organizer. He teaches classes on rhetoric, public advocacy, and social movements at the University of Illinois. David has published research on immigrant justice, border abolition, and Latinx movements. Passionate about media, communication, and social change at the IMC, he is also involved with supporting labor organizing, immigrant justice work, and political education around abolitionism. David is also a Star Trek nerd, a cat lover, a novice gardner, and writes bad poetry.
Gus Wood | Board President
Jane McClintock | Facilities Committee Chair
"I’m from Urbana and first knew IMC in high school as a member of the shows group. I have worked as a carpenter for about a decade around Urbana and now work as an energy efficiency consultant and educator. I have been on the IMC BOD 2 years now as the facilities chair taking care of the building and systems.
Giving voice to underrepresented voices and perspectives. Providing space for ideas and projects to flourish.
"Previous service on the board, fixing things as a carpenter and examining savings opportunities in HVAC systems as energy consultant."
Karthik Kakarala | Programming Committee Chair
"Growing up in Springfield, IL has resulted in Central Illinois always being a “home base” regardless of journeys and moves for education. Minimum wage labor has alternated with research internships in the medical field for years. However, it was college radio and the DIY music scene that reshaped my commitment to volunteering in the arts, regardless of whether I was personally the performer. Which brings me to the current moment, where I am a medical student, creating experimental music, and serving on the Board of Directors for an organization I first encountered because I drove in from Bloomington to see a national touring noise act almost a decade and a half ago."
Darya Shahgheibi
Darya Shahgheibi (she/they) is a queer parent, activist, and artist. Darya has experience working in nonprofit management and administration, community organizing, advocacy, and fundraising. Currently, Darya is employed at Champaign Urbana Public Health District (CUPHD) where she acts as a Case Manager/Counselor for folks living with HIV/AIDS.
Darya is passionate about social change, community healing, transformative justice, health/mental health equity, art justice, and worker's rights. Darya recently assisted in unionization efforts at her workplace, and was part of the Organizing Committee and Communications Committee for the newly established union, "CUPHD United". Darya also serves on the Urbana Park District's Community Outreach And Support Team, and National Foster Parent LGBTQ Committee. They have previously served on the Urbana School District LGBTQ Task Force, Carle Hospital LGBTQ Committee, and Visit Champaign County DEI Committee. When not working, Darya can be found painting with their 6 year old, designing tshirts for local community agencies, or hiking.
Stuart Levy | Chair of the Tech Group
Volunteer as tech person for IMC's radio station WRFU. Am on the executive committee of the local Sierra Club Prairie Group.
Have been event staff at many IMC events.
Was an active member of AWARE from about 2006-2018, and moderately active in other groups that have been in the IMC, including C-U Citizens for Peace and Justice and Build Programs Not Jails.
benjamin sTone
"Raised mostly in Sullivan, Illinois, I moved to Urbana-Champaign for college in 1994 and loved the cities enough to never leave. An employee of the UIUC library since 2004, I am currently at the Oak Street High Density Storage Facility, working the front desk and running social media. I live with my partner-in-crime Nadja Robot, as well as three cats and six chickens. My local activism has been as diverse as fighting for healthcare rights for trans students at UIUC to battling the City of Urbana on TASERs, the MRAP vehicle, and the 2020 debacle of Urbana police brutalizing a woman. As a non-binary, very neurodivergent person, I spend a lot of time advocating and fighting for both the queer and mental health community."
Terri Ciofalo
Frank DiNovo
Kamau Grantham
Kamau Grantham is a psychologist and the Assistant Director for clinical services at the University of Illinois. He also co-chairs St. COFA, the black student outreach team and he co-started a Black men's therapy group.
Jake Fava
