The 4D Team
The University of Denver 4D team, supported by a unique partnership of executive leadership in student affairs, academic affairs and career and professional development, develops and operationalizes strategic goals designed to enhance the 4D Experience at DU. They do so in three critical ways. First, by educating the DU community and offering consultations to raise awareness, increase dialogue and elevate practice around the 4D model of holistic student development. Second, by building creative capacity to support and generate innovative approaches to embedding and amplifying the 4D experience. And third, by engaging the community through strategic initiatives and programming, in close collaboration with campus partners, to ensure that the DU experience is the 4D Experience.
If you have questions about the 4D Experience, or want to know how to get involved, the 4D team invites you to reach out.
Laura Perille, PhD
4D Executive Director
Laura Perille, PhD, provides strategic leadership for the development and operationalization of the university-wide 4D model and experience centered on holistic learning and development. She brings to this role deep experience designing and overseeing high-impact, co-curricular programs. Previously, Laura served as associate director of the Center for Research and Fellowships at Georgetown University, where she guided undergraduate students, graduate students and alumni in reflecting on and integrating their learning, deepening their expertise and telling their stories. Prior to Georgetown, she worked as an associate with the Office of National Fellowships and the Hamel Center for Undergraduate Research at the University of New Hampshire. She holds a PhD and AM in history from Brown University, where she was a Peter Green Doctoral Scholar and Brown/Wheaton Faculty Fellow. She has participated in special institutes through the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Folger Shakespeare Library.
Audrey Townsend
4D Director of Experiential Learning
Audrey Townsend has many years of experience conducting research on internationalization at home and study abroad programming in higher education. In addition to her work on the 4D team, she is an adjunct instructor in the Office of Internationalization and Living and Learning Communities and is currently pursuing her doctorate in higher education with a cognate in internationalization at the University of Denver. She received her BA in International Studies and BS in Natural Resources Recreation and Tourism from Colorado State University and her master's degree in higher education with a focus on student affairs and administration from the Morgridge College of Education at the University of Denver.
Erin Anderson-Camenzind, PhD
4D Director of Faculty Innovation; Professor, Communication Studies
Dr. Anderson-Camenzind's work is guided by two questions: 1) how do grievers narrate their lives against the backdrop of complex systems of power? and 2) how can we engage storytelling, art, and embodied practices to cultivate well-being, communication, creativity, compassion, and community in the face of illness, death, and loss? Erin teaches several courses at DU, including Communicating Grief and Loss; Communication, Compassion, and Craftivism; Visual Narratives of Women’s Health; and Running as Feminist Embodiment. She has served in several administrative positions, including the Communication Studies Director of Graduate Studies and Graduate Teaching Instructors, as well as the Faculty Director of the Wellness Living and Learning Community. Dr. Anderson-Camenzind has been honored with several research and teaching awards, including the 2016 DU Center for Community Engagement to Advance Scholarship and Learning’s (CCESL) Service-Learning Faculty of the Year Award, the 2018 Journal of Family Communication Article of the Year Award, and the 2020 Western States Communication Association’s Distinguished Teacher Award.
Lauren K.G. Brassfield, PhD
4D Assistant Director for Reflection and Planning
she/they
Dr. Brassfield comes to Denver by way of Ohio. They have worked within higher education in numerous roles throughout their tenure. These roles include academic advising, national fellowships advising, student engagement, and residential life. In addition to working within the field, Dr. Brassfield completed her PhD In Student Affairs in Higher Education at Miami University (Ohio) during the Summer of 2024 where their research centers the lived experiences of Black women staff at colleges and universities. Within her role with 4D, Dr. Brassfield is focused on building and maintaining connections across the campus and community through the lens of reflection as well as offering consultative meetings for those at DU who wish to align their own work with the Four Dimensions.
Krystoff Kissoon, DA
Assistant Director, Social Justice Education
he/him
Krystoff earned his Bachelor of Political Science and International Studies in 2017, and his Master of Public Administration and Doctor of Arts in Political Science in 2022, at Idaho State University (ISU).
Throughout his time at ISU, he served in leadership positions including President of the International Students Association, President of the Political Science Club, and Senator in the Associated Students of Idaho State University Student Government for three terms. He worked in the Office of Marketing and Communications, the Office of Alumni Relations, and the Department of Political Science as a Graduate Teaching Assistant. He also hosted and produced his own award-winning public affairs program, Navigating Diversity, at KISU-FM, ISU’s NPR-affiliated public radio station.
His research interests include identity politics and international relations, looking particularly at the intersection of race, gender and sexuality and their combined impact on government policies. He presented research at the Midwest Political Science Association Conference and Intermountain Gender & Sexuality Conference.
His hobbies include creative writing, taking walks in nature, listening to podcasts, watching foreign films and shows, and cooking. He is a proud national of Trinidad & Tobago, a twin-island country in the Southern Caribbean. He was born to a Hindu father and a Muslim mother—descended from Indian indentured laborers—and has four loving and supportive older siblings.
Cris Tietsort, PhD
4D Faculty Fellow of Character; Assistant Professor, Communication Studies
The heart of Dr. Tietsort’s research centers on how we can strengthen human connection. For him, this has led to research on empathy and compassion in personal and organizational contexts. Much of his research has examined the contextual factors that limit or constrain compassion, such as how organizational discourses impact whether or not people receive compassion at work. He is also very interested in how it is that we can cultivate empathic and compassionate abilities as well, such as pedagogical theories that help people *become* more empathic as opposed to just understanding what empathy is. In his role as 4D Faculty Fellow of Character, he hopes to partner with other faculty to think critically about the ways we are equipping our students with enduring qualities and commitments - like empathy and compassion - that will support their ability to live lives of purpose and work for the public good.