College of Liberal Arts & Social Sciences > Academics > Refugee & Forced Migration Studies > Faculty > shana-wills

Shana Wills

Shana Wills is​ the Executive Director/Founder of Refugee Education & Adventure Challenge (REACH), a Chicago-based nonprofit that introduces refugee youth and their families to experiential learning opportunities focused on STEAM education and adventure sports. She’s also an independent consultant for local and global grassroots refugee-lead organizations, and a part-time faculty member at DePaul University, teaching undergrad and graduate courses on globalization, migration, experiential learning, and social justice. She has served as the Director of Chicago Public School’s International Newcomer Center for recently arrived refugee and immigrant high school students, and as the Executive Director of the International Organization for Adolescents (IOFA), a leading organization in the U.S. working for the protection of child victims of human trafficking. Shana also served as the Director of Refugee & Immigrant Services at Heartland Alliance for Human Needs & Human Rights, coordinating both policy and program ends of the refugee and immigrant integration spectrum at three sites and developing nationally recognized vocational English language training models and youth leadership development initiatives. She has conducted field research and established projects affecting vulnerable populations, including child soldiers, displaced children, landmine victims, and marginalized communities in Angola, Colombia, Eritrea, Haiti, Mozambique, & South Africa, and warehoused refugee populations in Kenya and Tanzania.