Research

Research Interests

Data Justice & Community Informatics

I study the political economy of data: how data collection, AI, and proprietary infrastructures reshape human service organizations and the lives of young people. I also work toward alternatives — community-controlled data practices, data cooperatives, and frameworks that center care and community self-determination over efficiency.

Learning Partnerships & Transitioning Leadership

How do we support youth-serving organizations to become more participatory and community-led? I work with partners to develop Learning Partnerships — an ethical-methodological approach that draws from developmental evaluation, participatory action research, and adaptive leadership. The goal is to transition organizational leadership to those most impacted by the issues programs seek to solve.

Publications

• Exploring folk theories of data labor in human services
  Fink, A. & Goldkind, L. Economic Anthropology, 12(2) (2025).
• Examining state policy responses to racial disparities in social work licensure exams
  Nienow, M., Apgar, D., Fink, A., & Quinonez, J. Advances in Social Work, 25(2) (2025).
• Critical activities for integrating theory and practice
  Samimi, C. & Fink, A. Teaching Activities for Social Work: Creative Pedagogies to Engage Students, Springer Nature (2025).
• AI in the nonprofit human services: Distinguishing between hype, harm, and hope
  Goldkind, L., Ming, J., & Fink, A. Human Service Organizations: Management, Leadership & Governance (2024).
• Data cooperative
  Fink, A. Internet Policy Review, 13(2) (2024).
• Everybody teach! Upending traditional disciplinary curriculum to create co-taught, praxis-based higher education courses
  Fink, A., Habtamu, B., Kunkel-Linares, A., Pence, M., Woller, K., & Alexander, I. Disrupting Hierarchy in Education, Teachers College Press (2024).
• Leadership to what end? Connecting our practice to broader movements
  Fink, A. New Directions in Student Leadership, 181 (2024).
• The classroom as laboratory: A theoretical grounding of the Intentional Emergence framework for leadership development
  Werner, L. & Fink, A. New Directions in Student Leadership, 181 (2024).
• Everyday lived engagement: Working in-between young people, communities, and the university
  Fink, A., VeLure Roholt, R., & Anderson-Nathe, B. (Eds.) Child & Youth Services, 45(2) (2024).
• A Festschrift to, for, and of Michael Baizerman
  VeLure Roholt, R., Fink, A., & Anderson-Nathe, B. Child & Youth Services, 45(2) (2024).
• Creating the field by shaping its ideas, rejoinder
  Fink, A. Child & Youth Services, 45(2) (2024).
• From concrete to abstract and back again: Co-creating transformative moments
  Fink, A. Child & Youth Services, 45(2) (2024).
• 'Maybe he knows what he's talking about': An interview with Steve Randall
  Randall, S., & Fink, A. Child & Youth Services, 45(2) (2024).
• The Learning Partner: Dialogic approaches to monitoring and evaluation in international social development
  VeLure Roholt, R., Fink, A., & Ahmed, M. M. Knowledge Management for Development Journal, 17(1/2) (2023).
• Emerging tensions in data work: Staff and youth perspectives in youth-serving organizations
  Fink, A. & VeLure Roholt, R. Social Service Review, 96(4) (2022).
• Surfacing human service organizations' data use practices: Toward a critical performance measurement framework
  Fink, A. & VeLure Roholt, R. Journal of Community Informatics, 18 (2022).
• The process of becoming
  Brito, M., & Fink, A. Hybrid Teaching: Pedagogy, People, Politics, Hybrid Pedagogy, Inc. (2021).
• Real big data: How we know who we know in youth work
  Fink, A. & Brito, M. Child & Youth Services (2020).
• Love in the time of peer review
  Brito, M., Fink, A., Friend, C., Heidebrink-Bruno, A., Moe, R., Shaffer, K., Robin, V., & Wharton, R. Critical Digital Pedagogy, Hybrid Pedagogy, Inc. (2020).
• Designing an inclusive intercultural online participatory seminar for higher education teachers and professionals
  Alexander, I., & Fink, A. Networked Learning: Reflections and Challenges, Springer (2018).
• Bigger data, less wisdom: The need for more inclusive collective intelligence in social service provision
  Fink, A. AI & Society, 33 (2018).
• 'We don't want a teacher': Using the past to offer fresh eyes to contemporary practice
  Fink, A. Child & Youth Services, 36(1) (2015).
• Walking the razor's edge: Risks and rewards for students and faculty adopting case in point teaching and learning approaches
  Wildermuth, C., Smith-Bright, E., Noll-Wilson, S., & Fink, A. Journal of Leadership Education, 14(2) (2015).
• Evaluation advisory boards
  VeLure Roholt, R., Baizerman, M., & Fink, A. Research on Social Work Practice, 24(1) (2013).
• Learning from Early Childhood Education - Higher Ed and the Process of Becoming
  Brito, M., & Fink, A. Hybrid Pedagogy (2013).
• Leadership and social change in undergraduate education
  Soria, K., Fink, A., Snyder, L., & Lepkowski, C. Journal of College and Character, 14(3) (2013).
• Examining the intersections between undergraduates' engagement in community service and the development of socially responsible leadership
  Soria, K., Nobbe, J., & Fink, A. Journal of Leadership Education, 12(1) (2013).
• From Consilium to Advice: A Review of the Evaluation and Related Literature on Advisory Structures and Processes
  Baizerman, M., Fink, A., & VeLure Roholt, R. New Directions for Evaluation, 136 (2012).

Presentations

• Strengthening interdisciplinary capacity and engagement in community-based data science
  Fink, A. & Zobitz, J. ARNOVA Annual Conference, Philadelphia, PA (Nov 2026).
• Civic youth work: Healing ourselves and repairing a fractured world
  VeLure Roholt, R. & Fink, A. Critical Youth Work, Weimar, Germany (Aug 2026).
• Critical youth futures in an era of predictive surveillance
  Fink, A. & VeLure Roholt, R. Critical Youth Work, Weimar, Germany (Aug 2026).
• Strengthening interdisciplinary undergraduate capacity in community-based data science
  Zobitz, J., Fink, A., Forstie, M., & Bamattre, R. International Conference on Teaching Statistics, Brisbane, AU (July 2026).
• Toward acknowledgements of the more-than-human in the material production of AI
  Fink, A., Nienow, M., & Brito, M. European Conference on Social Work Research, Aberdeen, UK (Apr 2026).
• Participatory data governance & data cooperatives
  Fink, A. Alan Turing Institute, University of Berkeley (Nov 2025).
• Minding AI: Creating assignments for learning with artificial intelligence
  Fink, A. & Lind, N. Days in May, Augsburg University (May 2025).
• Tenure and collegiality
  Fink, A. Panel for Preparing Future Faculty, University of Minnesota (Mar 2025).
• Creating civic cultures on every campus: Innovative models of civic learning across institution types
  Fink, A. Campus Compact's Civic Learning Week (Mar 2025).
• Creating tools to support anti-oppressive co-determination in practice
  Fink, A. & Moua, K. N. Council on Social Work Education, Kansas City, MO (Oct 2024).
• Augsburg Local: A Framework for Advancing Anchor Institution Strategies Amidst Changes in Campus and Culture
  Gilmer, J., Peacock, S., & Fink, A. Coalition of Urban and Metropolitan Universities, Minneapolis, MN (Oct 2024).
• Evaluated by students, for students: Participatory evaluation of a justice-oriented anchor program
  Hei Yue Lee, C., Fink, A., & Benasutti, M. Coalition of Urban and Metropolitan Universities, Minneapolis, MN (Oct 2024).
• A third sector albatross: Critical data studies in the human services
  Goldkind, L. & Fink, A. Joint meeting of the Society for Economic Anthropology and the Society for the Anthropology of Work, Boston, MA (Oct 2024).
• Transitioning leadership to those most impacted by social issues
  Fink, A. & VeLure Roholt, R. Minnesota Social Service Association Webinar, Minneapolis, MN (Apr 2024).
• Expanding imaginations toward just social work futures
  Moua, K. N. L. & Fink, A. Minnesota Social Service Association Annual Conference, Minneapolis, MN (Apr 2024).
• Building co-determination through visualizations with clients
  Fink, A., Spratt, R., Zidenga, E., Quinn, K., Glader, K., Mancini-de-León, M., León-de-Mancini, T. & Weaver, J. Minnesota Social Service Association Annual Conference, Minneapolis, MN (Mar 2024).
• Social work training to transition leadership to those most impacted by social issues
  Fink, A. & VeLure Roholt, R. Council on Social Work Education, Atlanta, GA (Mar 2024).
• Youth advisory structures
  Fink, A. Ann Bancroft Foundation, Board of Directors (Jan 2024).
• Developing open educational resources using popular education
  Fink, A. & Samimi, C. Council on Social Work Education, Anaheim, CA (Oct 2023).
• Nonprofit Staff and Youth Participants' Perspectives on M&E in a Datafied World
  Fink, A. & VeLure Roholt, R. American Evaluation Association, New Orleans, LA (Nov 2022).
• Client-Led Philanthropy: Justice-Based Giving Practices
  Fink, A., Vue, A., Zhang, A., Miller, J., Rau, L., & VeLure Roholt, R. Minnesota Social Service Association, Minneapolis, MN (Nov 2022).
• Co-Creating Educational Resources with Clients
  Fink, A., Alexander, I., Woller, K., & Pence, M. Minnesota Social Service Association, Minneapolis, MN (Mar 2022).
• Data Justice in Performance Measurement and Client Tracking
  Fink, A., VeLure Roholt, R., & Samimi, C. Minnesota Social Service Association, Minneapolis, MN (Mar 2022).
• Adaptive Leadership in Evaluation Use
  Fink, A., & VeLure Roholt, R. American Evaluation Association, Minneapolis, MN (Mar 2022).
• Evaluating Data Collection Systems for Youth Programs
  Fink, A., & VeLure Roholt, R. American Evaluation Association, Minneapolis, MN (Oct 2020).
• Data futures for youth work
  Fink, A. Department of Juvenile Justice, Minneapolis, MN (Jan 2020).
• Adaptive Leadership in Evaluation Use
  Fink, A., & VeLure Roholt, R. American Evaluation Association, Minneapolis, MN (Nov 2019).
• OOPS! Or, Designing an Intercultural Online Participatory Seminar in the Spirit of the Highlander Folk School
  Alexander, I., & Fink, A. Networked Learning, Lancashire, UK (Nov 2019).
• It takes a village (of computers?) to raise a child: A political economic perspective on youth and family agency in social service mass data collection systems
  Fink, A. Institute for Advanced Studies Critical Data Studies Fellowship Presentation, Minneapolis, MN (Sept 2016).
• School Climate and Native American Youth Wellbeing
  Johnston-Goodstar, K., VeLure Roholt, R., Fink, A., & Zieffler, A. American Educational Research Association Annual Conference, Washington, DC (Apr 2016).
• The New Collective Intelligence for Narrow Goods in Social Service Provision
  Fink, A. Communities and Technology, Limerick, Ireland (Apr 2016).
• Developing (mobile) apps with Qualtrics
  Fink, A. Conversations & Computing Club, Minneapolis, MN (Nov 2015).
• OOPS! Or, Designing an Intercultural Online Participatory Seminar that Draws on the Spirit of Highlander Folk School
  Alexander, I., & Fink, A. Center for Educational Innovation, Minneapolis, MN (Oct 2015).
• Big Data and Inequality
  Fink, A. Ethics in the Information Age Course, Metro State University, Saint Paul, MN (Oct 2015).
• Engaging Youth in Research to Improve Systems
  Fink, A., Rivas, J., Kingsley, K., Weah, W. Every Hour Counts 2015, Oakland, CA (Sept 2015).
• The Political Economy of Data in Collective Impact Strategies
  Fink, A. Data Power, Sheffield, UK (June 2015).
• OOPS! We created an Open, Online, Participatory Seminar
  Alexander, I., & Fink, A. Academy of Distinguished Teachers 2015, University of Minnesota (June 2015).
• We Can Do Better: Freeing Education from the Cultural Artifact of Childhood
  Brito, M., & Fink, A. American Philosophical Association Annual Conference, Philadelphia, PA (Apr 2015).
• The Right to Research & Action: Participatory Advocacy in the Digital Age
  Fink, A. Macro Policy Advocacy Course, University of Minnesota School of Social Work, Minneapolis, MN (Apr 2015).
• Schooled by those who come before us: Lessons in pedagogy from early childhood education
  Brito, M., & Fink, A. American Association of Philosophy Teachers Conference, Collegeville, MN (Dec 2014).
• Open Data and Civic Technology
  Fink, A., Bushey, B., Springer, A., & Murray, K. Digital Arts, Sciences, and Humanities Panel, Minneapolis, MN (Nov 2014).
• Digital pedagogy
  Fink, A., Anklesaria, F., & Marsh, L. Digital Arts, Sciences, and Humanities Workshop, Minneapolis, MN (Oct 2014).
• Is it 'just data'? The political economy and infrastructure of data in community research
  Fink, A. What Went Wrong?: Reflecting and Learning from Community-Engaged Research Conference 2014, Minneapolis, MN (Aug 2014).
• From Integration to Community Control: Educational Strategies of the Black Freedom Movement, 1954-1982
  Fink, A. History of Youth Work Conference 2014, Minneapolis, MN (July 2014).
• A civic youth work approach to social justice
  Fink, A., Baizerman, M., VeLure Roholt, R. Child & Youth Care Annual Conference 2014, Victoria, BC, Canada (June 2014).
• How the rapidly evolving open access and open data movements will transform child & youth care research in the 21st century
  Fink, A., & Anderson-Nathe, B. Child & Youth Care Annual Conference 2014, Victoria, BC, Canada (May 2014).
• Doctoral education in social work: Exploring the possibilities
  Lightfoot, E., Reinardy, J., Fink, A., Hamre, K., Kalomo, N., Moua, K. N. Minnesota Social Services Association Annual Conference 2014, Minneapolis, MN (May 2014).
• Working from within: The pedagogical and programmatic elements of education behind the Civil Rights movement, 1954 to 1969
  Fink, A. Historical Research Seminar, Minneapolis, MN (May 2014).
• Effective training to support the diffusion of quality civic youth work
  Fink, A., & VeLure Roholt, R. Research Poster Day, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN (May 2014).
• Using open data and open source tools to support social services and social change
  Fink, A. Minnesota Social Services Association Annual Conference 2014, Minneapolis, MN (Mar 2014).
• What do I do now? The impacts of the new training program on transformational mentoring at the University of Minnesota
  Frazzini, R., & Fink, A. University of New Mexico Mentoring Institute Conference 2013, Albuquerque, NM (Mar 2014).
• Transformational Leadership
  Fink, A. Leadership in Film and Media, Minneapolis, MN (Nov 2013).
• From Consilium to Advice
  Baizerman, M., VeLure Roholt, R., Fink, A. American Evaluation Association, Washington, D.C. (Oct 2013).
• What do I do now? The impacts of the new training program on transformational mentoring at the University of Minnesota
  Frazzini, R., & Fink, A. University of New Mexico Mentoring Institute Conference 2013, Albuquerque, NM (Oct 2013).
• New Frontiers in Global Youth Empowerment Strategies: Effective Training to Support Effective Youth Work
  VeLure Roholt, R., & Fink, A. International Consortium for Social Development, Kampala, Uganda (Oct 2013).
• Envoyss
  Carlson, M., & Fink, A. Open Engagement 2013: Art & Social Practice, Portland State University (July 2013).
• From What? To Wow!: Exploring Case-In-Point Teaching
  Werner, L., Hellstrom, D., & Fink, A. Leadership Can Be Taught Symposium 2013, Minneapolis, MN (June 2013).
• Asking the Right Questions of Occupy Wall Street
  Brito, M., & Fink, A. The Crisis in American Democracy, Purdue University (May 2013).
• Training for mentors assigned to first year students
  Fink, A., Frazzini, R., & Speer, J. Focusing on the First-Year, University of Minnesota (Apr 2013).
• Leadership and social action in undergraduate education
  Soria, K., Fink, A., Lepkowski, C., & Snyder, L. Association for the Study of Higher Education (Feb 2013).
• Creating a mentor training program for transformational mentoring in the University of Minnesota leadership programs
  Fink, A., Frazzini, R., & Speer, J. University of New Mexico Mentoring Institute Conference 2012, Albuquerque, NM (Nov 2012).
• Necessary processes and characteristics for transformational mentoring
  Fink, A., Frazzini, R., & Speer, J. University of New Mexico Mentoring Institute Conference 2012, Albuquerque, NM (Oct 2012).
• 'Making Things Better': The Role of Leadership in Evaluation Use
  Fink, A. & Link, A. Evaluation in Practice, Pori, Finland (Oct 2012).
• Where is the Youth Work(er) in Afterschool?
  Fink, A. National Afterschool Association 2012 Annual Convention, Dallas, TX (June 2012).
• The Everyday Experience of Hope in Micro, Mezzo, and Macro Social Work Practitioners
  Nienow, M. & Fink, A. Minnesota Social Services Administrations Annual Meeting 2012 (Apr 2012).
• Curricular and Programmatic Structures to Support Sustained Community Research and Action in a Large Undergraduate Student Leadership Program
  Fink, A. & Werner, L. International Symposium on Research, Education, and Problem-Solving 2011, Orlando, FL (Mar 2012).
• Transformational Mentoring in University of Minnesota Co-Curricular Leadership Programs
  Frazzini, R. & Fink, A. University of New Mexico Mentoring Conference, Albuquerque, NM (Nov 2011).
• Opportunities for Strengthening Democracy through Campus/Community Engagement
  Fink, A. Imagining America 2011 National Conference, Minneapolis, MN (Oct 2011).
• Innovations in Youth Entrepreneurship: A Strengths-Based Approach to Workforce and Community Development
  Fink, A. & Blevins, J. National Association of Social Workers – Minnesota Annual Conference, Saint Paul, MN (Sept 2011).
• The Green M&M Project: a reality-based examination of myths and message about sex, power, and growing up male and female
  Fink, A. National Sexual Assault Conference, Washington, DC (May 2011).

Awards & Grants

• Distinguished Teaching, Early Career Faculty
  Augsburg University (2026).
• Tony Bibus Social Work Faculty of the Year
  National Association of Social Workers – MN Chapter (2026).
• NSF HNDS: Advancing motivational science through labor force capacity building and community data science infrastructure
  National Science Foundation, $220,956 (2025–2028). Co-PI with John Zobitz