Staff Biographies

JANE M. SAKS, Executive Director

Ms. Saks is the founding Executive Director of the Ellen Stone Belic Institute for the Study of Women and Gender in the Arts and Media. The Institute is a creator and curator of innovative work and ideas investigating issues relating to women and gender through all the arts and media. The first and only entity of its kind in the nation, the Institute offers an innovative approach that merges arts and cultural production with critical theory, research and education. The Institute addresses human rights, access, representation, equity and participation, as well as race and class, using the arts and media as a central means of educational and policy engagement and advocacy.
 
As a cultural advocate, arts producer, writer and educator she has worked to challenge and champion issues of gender, sexuality, human rights, race and power within the worlds of arts and culture, politics and civil rights, academia and philanthropy. Currently, she serves on several boards including: Co-Chair, Chicago Foundation for Women’s Lesbian Leadership Council, Radio Diaries of National Public Radio, Friends of the South Africa Constitutional Court Architecture and Art Programme Committee, OUT at Chicago History Museum, Program Committee, Chicago Committee of the African Women’s Development Fund and Human Rights Watch. She is a Fellow in the Chief Executive Program of National Arts Strategies, 2011-2013. She is also a member of the Mayor’s Cultural Advisory Council for the City of Chicago.

She is a published poet and, as a writer collaborates with visual artist and architects including, Jim Hodges, Kerry James Marshal and Inigo Manglano-Ovalle. In May 2010 she was commissioned to write for the exhibition catalogue, Jim Hodges: New Work solo exhibit at Dieu Donne, New York, NY. She has served as the Producer, Co-Producer, Creative Advisor and Series Producer on many original creative works in various media and art forms including “Sweet Tea: Gay Black Men of the South,” “MILKWEED,” “Congo: Women Portraits of War,” JOMAMA JONES, *RADIATE, and the new international radio series in partnership with Chicago Public Media and NPR “Gender, Human Rights, Leadership and Media.” 

She is an invited lecturer at civic, cultural and educational institutions internationally, and the recipient of awards and honors including: a 2005 Leadership Greater Chicago Fellowship; 2008 Woman of Valor Award; 2009 Business and Professional People for the Public Interest “40 Who’ve Made A Difference Award;” and a 2009 inductee to the City of Chicago Gay and Lesbian Hall of Fame. In 2010 she received the Impact Award from the Chicago Foundation for Women, the Visionary Award from Rape Victims Advocates and the Beyondmedia Education’s 2010 Media Justice Award.  She and the Institute were also awarded the Leppen Leadership Award from About Face Theatre in 2010. Along with her work at the Institute involving public lectures, recently she has been an invited speaker by Northwestern University, University of Chicago, the Field Museum of Chicago, the United Nations, the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), the Woodrow Wilson Center, US State Department, Department of Cultural Affairs Chicago, New York University and at the International UN sponsored conference in Washington DC, Women Deliver.  Currently, she is a Visiting Faculty member at Yale University.

Ms. Davis joined the Institute in October 2008 as the Assistant to the Executive Director. She brings with her extensive knowledge of non-profit administration specializing in accounting procedures, branding and marketing, grants management, event planning, and database administration. Ms. Davis has a solid background in business administration and non-profit management. She has a long time interest and education in women’s studies, literature, and political science.

In her role as Assistant to the Executive Director, Ms. Davis provides essential administrative support to the Executive Director, manages budget and financial systems, provides support for the Institute’s programs and events, maintains correspondence with donors, artists, scholars, Fellows, Advisory Board members and community partners, and has developed and maintains the growing communications and marketing strategies of the Institute. Ms. Davis oversees contract agreements with host venues for the nationally and internationally travelling photographic exhibition Congo/Women. She works closely with the Institute’s Research Assistant on short and long-term research initiatives and projects. Ms. Davis works with representatives from multiple units across Columbia College including academic departments, student organizations, and various offices of the College on Institute collaborations as well as external collaborators.

Jennifer Patino, Research Assistant

Ms. Patino joined the Institute in Spring 2012. She assists the Institute by providing its staff and Fellows with administrative, research and communications support. She sees her goal at the Institute as helping to incubate works of art that challenge social injustice. 

Ms. Patino has a B.A. in Art History from Columbia College with minors in Latino/Hispanic Studies and Poetry. She is currently working on her M.A. in Journalism, with an emphasis on public policy reporting. Fusing her passion for gender equality and journalism, she is working on an independent study that exmines the role of women in the new media. Ms. Patino has written for Chicago Talks and is a contributing editor for Gozamos, Sixty Inches From Center, and Latina Voices. She has read her poetry at the Columbia's Gay Ole Jamboree, the Westside School for the Desperate, and the Guild Complex's Palabra Pura series.

Chelsea Rendlen, Research Assistant

Ms. Chelsea Rendlen joined the institute in Spring 2012. Her role as Research Assistant includes administrative support for the Institute. She also helps to produce programs, as well as document them. She sees the Institute as a place to merge her interests regarding media, social issues, and creating change.
 
She is pursuing her B.A. in Film and Video from Columbia College, concentrating in Directing and Screenwriting, with studies in Philosophy. Ms. Rendlen intends on graduating Spring of 2014. Her development of technical video skills have enabled her to adequately document different events hosted by the Women's Institute while marrying that with a critical eye developed in the study of Philosophy. While at Columbia, she has produced and written several short films.

Tricia VanGessel, Research Assistant

Ms. VanGessel joined the Institute Spring 2012. Her work within the Institute is based on providing support for both the staff and Institute Fellows through administrative, creative and research based endeavors. She sees her role at the Institute as a place to kindle her growing passion for the arts, activism and social change.

Pursuing a B.A. in Photography and a minor in Cultural Studies, Tricia intends to graduate from Columbia College in December 2012. Supplied with photographic and design skills, a budding involvement in non-profit organizations and an academic fascination with the future of gender theory and equality, Ms. VanGessel is able to combine her interests while documenting and promoting the Institute's many events. While at Columbia, she has been featured in student exhibitions and worked in the field of photography.