The People Behind REPAIR

REPAIR was founded by three public historians: Gail Dubrow, Laura Leppink, and Sarah Pawlicki, and has expanded to include an ever-increasing network of collaborators.

We take the concept of repair - as in, reparations - seriously, and know that when we search for disability histories, we will find them!

Shana Crosson is a white woman in her mid-50s with shoulder-length light brown hair. She is standing outside on a sunny day in front of a tall sculpture in terra cotta and limestone.

Shana Crosson (she/her) is a Spatial Technologies Consultant at U-Spatial at the Twin Cities Campus of the University of Minnesota, focusing on integrating geospatial technologies and spatial thinking across the curriculum in higher education and in K-12. She is co-leading a UMN GIS in K-12 collaborative that aims to accelerate geospatial literacy and GIS use for teaching in the K-12 environment to encourage and support educators using geospatial tools in MN K-12 education. 

Shana has a BA in History from Carleton College, a Masters of Arts in Teaching from the University of St. Thomas and is pursuing an MGIS degree from the University of Minnesota. Before working at the University of Minnesota, Shana was a Social Studies teacher and worked at the Minnesota Historical Society in several roles, including digital content development and historic sites.

The accessibility of digital content has long been a top priority, from the early days of web development in the early 2000s. Shana continues to teach workshops about digital accessibility best practices at the University of Minnesota and in other professional spaces, including map accessibility with the State of Minnesota and Esri.

Shana Crosson

Gail Dubrow, a white woman with shoulder-length hair, faces the camera and wears a patterned scarf, black glasses, and earrings.

Gail Dubrow (she/her) is Professor of Architecture, Landscape Architecture, Public Affairs & Planning, and History at University of Minnesota (UMN). She taught at University of Washington (Seattle) for 16 years before being recruited to serve as UMN’s Vice Provost and Dean of the Graduate School from 2005-2009. She currently teaches in the Heritage Studies and Public History Program. In 2020 Dubrow was designated a Distinguished Professor of the Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture and in 2022 a Fellow of the Society of Architectural Historians (SAH). 

Gail is a social historian of the built environment and cultural landscape in the US and is active in preserving places significant in the history of women, communities of color, LGBTQ, and other underrepresented groups. Her work has received support from the American Institute of Architects/American Architectural Foundation, National Endowment for the Humanities, National Park Service, Woodrow Wilson Foundation, and National Trust for Historic Preservation.

Gail Dubrow

Headshot of Lizzie Ehrenhalt.

Lizzie Ehrenhalt (she/her) is a public historian who specializes in the history of gender and sexuality. She edits MNopedia, the digital encyclopedia of Minnesota history. She has a master's degree in archives management from the University of Michigan, a master's certificate in museum studies from the University of Michigan, and a bachelor's degree in gender studies and Latin from Oberlin College. With Tilly Laskey, she is a co-editor of Precious and Adored: The Love Letters of Rose Cleveland and Evangeline Whipple, 1890‒1918 (Minnesota Historical Society Press, 2019). 

She has delivered presentations on public history to a wide range of audiences, including the American Historical Association, the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources, the National Council of Public History, Twin Cities Public Television, radio station KFAI, the Minnesota VA Office of Management, and the Office of Minnesota Governor Tim Walz and Lieutenant Governor Peggy Flanagan. She is at work on a book for the University of Minnesota Press.

She has collaborated with REPAIR on creating case studies focused on the queer histories of the Shakopee State Reformatory for Women.

Lizzie Ehrenhalt

Morgan LaCasse, a white masculine person with blue eyes and short dark blond hair, is wearing a teal and gray flannel shirt and silver stud earrings. Standing in front of a dark gray background, they are smiling and looking off to the side.

Morgan LaCasse (they/he) is a Minnesota-based graphic designer and illustrator. After graduating from the University of Minnesota with a BFA in Graphic Design and a BA in Art, they began working for a marketing and communications agency. However, a balance between a desire to explore many different kinds of projects and really exploring challenging projects has led them to pursue multiple freelance opportunities and diversity-focused projects. Embracing their many interests, Morgan has experience with book design, user experience, packaging design, branding, screen printing, digital illustration, and painting.

Morgan LaCasse

Laura Leppink, a white woman with blond hair and blue eyes wearing a dark blue blazer and flower pattern shirt smiles in front of a white wall.

Laura Leppink (she/her) is a research and access assistant, working collaboratively with Dr. Gail Dubrow and Sarah Pawlicki at the University of Minnesota (UMN). Collectively their work explores how to bring disability justice to heritage conservation. Before completing her Master’s Degree in Heritage Studies and Public History at the UMN in 2020, Laura worked on historic preservation trade crews at the Western Center for Historic Preservation, Point Reyes National Seashore, and Northern Bedrock Historic Preservation Corps. During this time, she fell in love with the preservation trades and actively advocates for the preservation of trades skills alongside the conservation of our built environment. Laura teaches window and cemetery restoration projects in addition to her academic pursuits.

She is currently the Board Chair of Northern Bedrock Historic Preservation Corps, which seeks "to engage the next generation in the preservation trades by partnering with skilled trades professionals and Project Hosts to provide engaging hands-on learning experiences."

Laura Leppink

Perri Meldon is a white woman with cropped wavy brown hair. She wears a rust-orange v-neck blouse and a necklace with a small pendant.

Perri Meldon (she/her) is an American Conservation Experience fellow with the National Park Service. Since 2017, she has contributed to several NPS projects to tell fuller stories of American places and people. Perri currently assists the Park History Program with developing a Disability History Handbook, aimed to shape interpretation and education at park units nationwide. As a PhD candidate in Boston University’s American & New England Studies Program, Perri examines federal land management through the lens of public and environmental history. Her publications have featured in American Quarterly, The Public Historian, and the blogs of the American Historical Association and the African American Intellectual History Society.

Perri Meldon

Sarah Pawlicki, a white person with brown eyes and short brown hair, wearing a red scarf in their hair, a black sleeveless shirt, a necklace, and vivid red lipstick smiles at the camera. She is leaning her head against her left hand.

Sarah Pawlicki (she/they) earned her PhD in History at the University of Minnesota, with subfields in Heritage Studies and Public History and American Indian Studies. She is a white settler scholar currently living on Peoria and Meskwaki homelands (Springfield, IL). Sarah’s research has appeared in Nursing Clio and Early American Studies, and she has collaborated on articles appearing in the Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians and The Bloomsbury Global Encyclopedia of Women in Architecture.

Sarah has worked for the University of Minnesota’s Center for Race, Indigeneity, Disability, Gender & Sexuality Studies, where they created historically-grounded lesson plans to meet Minnesota’s newly-implemented K-12 Critical Ethnic Studies educational standards. She is now the Mellon Women’s History Postdoctoral Fellow with the National Historic Landmarks Program, developing pathways to more nuanced and inclusive interpretation of place-based women’s histories.

Sarah Pawlicki

Headshot of Jade Ryerson from the chest up. Jade is a Chinese American woman with short black hair. She is wearing a blue sweater and smiles directly at the camera. Her refrigerator and kitchen cabinets are blurred in the background behind her.

Jade Ryerson (she/her) received her Master's in Heritage Studies and Public History from the University of Minnesota. Since 2019, she has worked with the National Park Service Cultural Resources Office of Interpretation and Education to develop place-based digital resources about the stories of underrepresented communities, especially women, people of color, and queer folks. Her work has also appeared on the blogs of the America250 Foundation and the National Council on Public History.

 Jade first worked with REPAIR as a student in Gail Dubrow's Disability Justice and Cultural Heritage course. REPAIR later served as one of the community partners on her Master's capstone project, which examined the multi-layered, intersectional history of Lafayette Square in Washington, DC.

Jade Ryerson

Chelsea Wait is pictured in a black and white image of a femme person slightly smiling, wearing a dark blazer, and with long, straight hair, parted to one side. She is standing in front of a gridded wall of windows diminishing in perspective down a h

Chelsea Wait (she/her) is a doctoral dissertator and adjunct professor at the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee and University of Minnesota. She coordinates research projects at the intersection of community engagement, creative arts, cultural landscapes, and public history. Her dissertation, Building a Transformative Model of Community Care, analyzes the care practices of Milwaukee residents using ethnographic observation, architectural documentation, oral history, and archival research. She has presented her research at national conferences, and guest lectures. She is a co-author of an article in the peer-reviewed journal Dialectic VIII, entitled "The Role of Fieldwork: Buildings-Landscapes-Cultures Field School and Architectural Pedagogy."

Chelsea Wait