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Cornell University

Faculty Nominations and Elections Committee Candidate Profiles - Spring 2018

(N&E) - 2 seats; 3-year term


Shorna Allred (srb237), Natural Resources

Biography:

Shorna Allred is an Associate Professor in the Dept. of Natural Resources and started at Cornell University in 2007.  She is also the Associate Director of the Human Dimensions Research Unit, which expands the understanding of academics, students, and natural resource agencies and organizations about social science dimensions of natural resource management and policy.  Dr. Allred also serves as the House Professor and Dean of Alice Cook House in the West Campus House System, a living and learning community for students.  She is the Co-Chair of the West Campus House Council and has served on the President’s Council on Sustainability since 2016.

Candidate Statement:

My interests in serving on this committee stems from its important mission of identifying qualified individuals to serve on a broad array of university committees.  The staffing of committees established by the Faculty Senate is critical to University governance. My research, teaching, and outreach have led to collaborations across various units on campus and I will be able to draw upon these networks in this role.  I have co-taught courses with faculty from Arts and Sciences (Dept. of Performing and Media Arts and Dept. of History of Art) and collaborate across departments in CALS in research and outreach (e.g. Rust to Green).  My leadership of the Cornell in Borneo programs connects me with those doing international work at Cornell, particularly in the Southeast Asia Program (SEAP) where I am a faculty affiliate and also with the Einaudi Center for International Studies and Global Cornell.  I also interact with a variety of faculty from across campus in my role recruiting House Fellows for Alice Cook House (we look for faculty from all Colleges).  I believe strongly in giving back to a university that has afforded me such a fulfilling career and network of colleagues to work with and I would be happy to serve in this role.  


 

Sara Warner (slw42), Performing & Media Arts

Biography:

Sara Warner is Associate Professor in the Department of Performing and Media Arts and a Stephen H. Weiss Junior Fellow.  She is a field faculty member of Feminist, Gender, and Sexuality Studies, Africana Studies, American Studies, Visual Studies, and LGBT Studies.  Sara has published widely, in academic journals and popular media, on dramatic literature and performance studies, feminist and queer studies, the prison industrial complex, and academic labor. Her book, Acts of Gaiety: LGBT Performance and the Politics of Pleasure, received the Outstanding Book Award from the Association of Theater in Higher Education (ATHE), an Honorable Mention for the Barnard Hewitt Award from the American Society for Theatre Research (ASTR), and was named a Lambda Literary Award finalist. Currently, Sara is collaborating with a CALS engineer and Ithaca’s Civic Ensemble on “Climates of Change: A Living Newspaper Project” about the human impact of global warming on the Finger Lakes.  This project is funded by an Engaged Cornell grant.  Sara has served as President of the Women and Theatre Program, Drama Division Delegate for the Modern Language Association, Secretary of ATHE, and she has been a member of several Boards of Directors, including the Center for Lesbian and Gay Studies (CLAGS), the Arch and Bruce Brown Foundation, and The Cherry Street Artspace.

Candidate Statement:

I am interested in serving on the Nominations and Elections Committee because I feel strongly about faculty governance. Since joining the Ithaca campus in 2004, I have worked on the A&S Budget Committee, the Humanities Council, and the campus-wide High Impact Teaching Practices Committee, to name only a few. This position would enable me to serve the University by guiding the staffing of standing and ad hoc committees established by the Faculty Senate. If elected, I will labor to identify and recommend a diverse roster of candidates.  Diversity, in the most capacious sense of this term, is especially important at this volatile period in history and this pivotal moment of growth and change for Cornell.  With a broad representation of engaged faculty committed to dialogue, collaboration, and transparency, the professoriate and student body can better understand the intricacies, and challenges, of university governance.  This helps all of us make more informed choices about the future while remaining as thoughtful as possible about how decisions and policies affect our teaching, research and relationships with the public. I vow to bring passion, perseverance, and optimism to this role.  I hope you’ll support my candidacy.