Program Administration

Kenwyn Smith, Ph.D.Program Director and Governance Committee Chair
Kenwyn Smith, PhD
Phone: (215) 898-1238
Email: kenwyns@sp2.upenn.edu

Dr. Smith is a Professor of Organiza-tional Behavior and the Director of Penn's Masters Program in Nonprofit/NGO Leadership. Dr. Smith teaches leadership, group and intergroup dynamics, organizational politics, change management in three of Penn’s schools: the School of Social Policy & Practice, the Wharton School and the Fels Institute of Government (Arts and Sciences).

  • Dr. Smith is an international scholar in the fields of group and intergroup dynamics, organizational change and leadership. His research experience ranges from prisons to schools, from businesses to health care institutions, from state enterprises to social entrepreneurial activities, from oppressed black townships in South Africa to agencies creating sustainable livelihoods in rural India, from pharmaceuticals in Belgium to financial services in urban America, from the World Bank to a community in Philadelphia wrestling with the anguish of people living with HIV/AIDS.
  • Dr. Smith’s most recent books are MANNA in the Wilderness of AIDS: Ten Lessons in Abundance (2002), Yearning for Home in Troubled Times (2003), and Freed to be Fathers: Lessons from Men Doing Time (2003), all published by Pilgrim Press, Cleveland, OH.
  • Dr. Smith has founded a number of volunteer-based, nonprofit organizations and is about to launch several research initiatives that will be at the heart of Penn’s Center on Nonprofit Leadership.

Joretha Bourjolly, Ph.D. Femida Handy, PhD
Phone: (215) 573-2660
Email: fhandy@sp2.upenn.edu

Dr. Handy's area of expertise is nonprofit sector economics. She has significant experience in the micro foundational issues of the nonprofit sector as well as NGOs, and volunteerism.

  • Dr. Handy's research interests include nonprofit entrepreneurship and volunteerism, comparative and international aspects of the nonprofit and voluntary sector, and social accounting.
  • Dr. Handy's teaching interests include various topics related to the nonprofit sector, the economics of human behavior and organizational life, social welfare and the environment.
  • Dr. Handy serves as the Academic Advisor for the Nonprofit/NGO Leadership Masters program.

Eric Ashton, JD, MPH, MSAssociate Director of the NPL Program
Eric D. Ashton, JD, MPH, MS
Phone: (215) 898-1857
Email: ashtoned@sp2.upenn.edu

Eric Ashton received his law degree from the University of Pennsylvania and his masters of public health from Yale University.  He has significant work experience with both the federal government and the nonprofit sector.  Eric has extensive background in nonprofit volunteer work in the areas of HIV/AIDS, adolescent homelessness and domestic violence.  Prior to coming to the School of Social Policy & Practice his work focused on children’s mental health policy for a regional nonprofit organization.  As Associate Director for the NPL Program, Eric oversees the administrative functions of the program and is available to answer questions of prospective students from the United States and abroad.

Mary Mazzola, MSW, LCSWAssociate Dean of Enrollment Management
Mary Mazzola, MSW, EdD
Tel: (215) 898-5511
Email: mmazzola@sp2.upenn.edu

Mary Mazzola is the Associate Dean for Enrollment Management. Dr. Mazzola received her EdD in Higher Education Management at the University of Pennsylvania, Graduate School of Education. She earned her MSW degree from the University of Pennsylvania, School of Social Policy & Practice. Prior to coming to Penn, Dr. Mazzola worked in the health care arena. She has extensive clinical and administrative experience that includes serving on a senior management team of a Philadelphia hospital for five years. Dr. Mazzola returned to the School in 1994 (part-time) as a lecturer. She continues to teach courses in the clinical area. In 2000, Dr. Mazzola began her full time tenure at Penn assuming admission and recruitment responsibility for the MSW program. Currently, she is responsible for the enrollment management functions for all degree programs offered at the School. Dr. Mazzola’s research and scholarly interests include internationalization of higher education, outcomes measurement, and leadership.