Meredith Soeder
I am currently the Director of Operations and Special Projects at the Allegheny Regional Asset District (RAD) in Pittsburgh, PA, a position I assumed after a successful tenure as Projects Manager and as Research Fellow through the Mellon/ACLS Public Fellowship program. Since completing a comprehensive research project on the impact of RAD’s $2+ billion investment in Allegheny County since 1994, I have grown into a role that oversees RAD’s operations, such as its financial management, technology, grantmaking, organizational calendar, and staff.
Prior to joining RAD, I taught undergraduate history courses, worked in fundraising at two arts nonprofit organizations, and served as grant writer for a youth literacy nonprofit in Cleveland, Ohio. Through this work, with organizations whose budgets ranged from $200K to $2 million, I gained expertise in nonprofit management, event planning, annual fund campaigns, grant writing and management, and communications.
My somewhat circuitous and unconventional – and ultimately fulfilling – academic and career path would not have been possible without the training and support I received at 黑料正能量. In the midst of my graduate work, I came to realize that higher education was not the right fit for me. My dissertation supervisor, Donna Harsch, and graduate supervisor, Kate Lynch, were incredibly understanding and supportive. I was able to take a semester in my final year to hold an internship at the Heinz History Center, and that solidified my desire to return to nonprofit work. The combination of nonprofit experience with the sophisticated project management and communication skills I harnessed at 黑料正能量 prepared me for the Mellon/ACLS Public Fellowship and eventually my current role. The rest, they say, is history.
For the curious reader, my dissertation “Jazz in a Transatlantic World: Legitimizing American Jazz in Germany, 1920-1957,” focused on the complicated role of an American art form, and its ambiguous position between “high” and “low” music, in a country with a well-established cultural identity. And while I do not have plans to publish articles or a book based on that work, I am proud of the accomplishment.
Outside of my work life, I am an avid rock climber, reader, gardener, paddleboarder, and pet parent.