Carmen Denison
Co- Executive Director of Community Engagement
Carmen Brewton Denison is the Co-Executive Director (Director of Community Engagement) at the racial justice and educational equity-focused nonprofit Campus Compact of Oregon. In this role she supports the development and implementation of racial justice programming in partnership with 2- and 4-year colleges and universities, K-12 schools, government, and nonprofit entities across the state of Oregon. She also coordinates Campus Compact’s Community Advisory Board, educational programming, and community engagement programming. Beginning her career as an artist, Denison’s work drew heavily upon histories of social intervention, anti-colonial and anti-racist pedagogy, and institutional critique. Ultimately, Denison’s creative practice led to work in social and racial justice with the co-founding of the Creative Activism Lab in 2013 with an Innovation Award from the Pacific Northwest College of Art. Since then, Denison has worked on collaborative projects with Portland’s houseless community, youth at the Donald E. Long Detention Center, the Portland Housing Commissioner Office, faculty at Portland State University, Portland Community College, youth and mentors at Friends of the Children: Portland, to name a few. In addition to this, Denison supported the development of interdisciplinary and socially engaged-programming in Marylhurst University’s art department, where she taught critical theory and interdisciplinary thesis writing. She currently works with students in Portland State University’s University Studies Program, Wayfinding Academy, and the Pacific Northwest College of Arts Critical Studies Program.
Carmen Brewton Denison is the Co-Executive Director (Director of Community Engagement) at the racial justice and educational equity-focused nonprofit Campus Compact of Oregon. In this role she supports the development and implementation of racial justice programming in partnership with 2- and 4-year colleges and universities, K-12 schools, government, and nonprofit entities across the state of Oregon. She also coordinates Campus Compact’s Community Advisory Board, educational programming, and community engagement programming. Beginning her career as an artist, Denison’s work drew heavily upon histories of social intervention, anti-colonial and anti-racist pedagogy, and institutional critique. Ultimately, Denison’s creative practice led to work in social and racial justice with the co-founding of the Creative Activism Lab in 2013 with an Innovation Award from the Pacific Northwest College of Art. Since then, Denison has worked on collaborative projects with Portland’s houseless community, youth at the Donald E. Long Detention Center, the Portland Housing Commissioner Office, faculty at Portland State University, Portland Community College, youth and mentors at Friends of the Children: Portland, to name a few. In addition to this, Denison supported the development of interdisciplinary and socially engaged-programming in Marylhurst University’s art department, where she taught critical theory and interdisciplinary thesis writing. She currently works with students in Portland State University’s University Studies Program, Wayfinding Academy, and the Pacific Northwest College of Arts Critical Studies Program.