Senator-At-Large
Brooke Erin Duffy, Associate Professor
Biography
Brooke Erin Duffy, Ph.D., is an associate professor at Cornell University, where she holds appointments in the Department of Communication and the Program in Feminist, Gender and Sexuality Studies. Her specific areas of interest include digital and social media industries; gender, identity, and inequality; and the impact of new technologies on work and labor. She's the author of (Not) Getting Paid to Do What You Love: Gender, Social Media, and Aspirational Work (Yale University Press, 2017)—which Wired named among its “Top Tech Books of 2017”-- and Remake, Remodel: Women’s Magazines in the Digital Age (University of Illinois Press, 2013). She is also co-editor of Key Readings in Media Today: Mass Communication in Contexts with Joseph Turow (Routledge, 2009) and co-author of the forthcoming Platforms and Cultural Production (Polity, 2021) with Thomas Poell and David Nieborg.
Her research has been published in such journals as Journal of Communication, New Media & Society, the International Journal of Communication, Critical Studies in Media Communication, Communication, Culture & Critique, the International Journal of Cultural Studies, Feminist Media Studies, and Social Media + Society, among others. In addition to her academic publications, Duffy has disseminated her research to a broader audience through popular writing in The Atlantic, Times Higher Education, Wired, and Quartz. Her commentary has been featured in The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and The Washington Post, and USA Today, among others.
Duffy completed her Ph.D. at the Annenberg School for Communication at the University of Pennsylvania in 2011. She holds an M.A. from the University of Pennsylvania and B.A. from The Pennsylvania State University, where she was the student marshal for the College of Communications.
Candidate Statement
The research and teaching activities I have pursued over the last decade have sought to challenge various power inequalities that structure contemporary culture and society. Now, as a newly tenured member of the Cornell faculty, I am eager to participate in leadership and service activities that further my pursuit of diversity and inclusiveness within the academy. I value collaboration, fairness, and transparency at all levels of governance. If given the opportunity to serve as a Faculty Senator-at-Large, I would work to find creative ways to fulfill the University’s mission at a critical juncture in higher education—one that is upending our longstanding models of scholarship, mentorship, and pedagogy.
Yuxin Mao, Associate Professor
Biography
Yuxin Mao is an Associate Professor of the Department of Molecular Biology and Genetics and a member of the Weill Institute for Cell and Molecular Biology (Weill Institute). Dr. Yuxin Mao received a B.S. in Molecular Biology and Biochemistry from Nankai University in China and a Ph.D. in Structural Biology from Baylor College of Medicine. He did his postdoctoral research at Yale University School of Medicine, Department of Cell Biology where he was awarded a HHMI postdoctoral fellowship from the Life Sciences Research Foundation.
Dr. Mao studies the molecular mechanism of bacterial pathogen and host interactions. Funded by NIH, Dr Mao’s laboratory has made important discoveries on how the bacterial pathogen Legionella pneumophila hijacks eukaryotic cellular processes. The lab identified and characterized Legionella effectors, which adopt a novel structural fold, exploiting host ubiquitination pathway as ubiquitin E3 ligase. Dr Mao’s laboratory also revealed the molecular mechanism of a novel type of ubiquitination, phosphoribosyl- (PR-) ubiquitination found in Legionella. Furthermore, his lab recently discovered two PR-ubiquitination specific DUBs encoded by Legionella, that specifically reverse PR-ubiquitination during Legionella infection.
Dr. Mao currently teaches under graduate biochemistry and molecular biology (BioMG 3350). Dr. Mao also serves as an honors thesis group leader for the Molecular and cellular biology group.
Candidate Statement
A vibrant, dynamic, and collegial academic environment is built upon the service contributions by all members of the institution. I have been involved in a variety of service activities at the departmental, institutional, and university levels, as well as the outside scientific community. I consider academic service as an integral part of a successful career for a scientist and I look forward to this opportunity to serve as a faculty senator.
Alex Ophir, Associate Professor
Biography
Alex Ophir is an Associate Professor in the Department of Psychology. He received his BA cum laude from the University of Texas in Psychology and Anthropology, his PhD in experimental psychology (animal behavior) at McMaster University in 2004, and was a postdoctoral associate at the University of Florida Department of Biology, where he studied behavioral ecology and neurobiology of social behavior. Prior to joining the faculty at Cornell, Dr. Ophir was an Assistant Professor at Oklahoma State University, Dept of Integrative Biology. Ophir has developed an active research group, motivated to understand the proximate control of social behavior and the ultimate consequences of social and cognitive systems. His research has been funded by the NSF, NIH, and DoD and he has published over 50 papers on topics ranging from the neurobiology of reproductive decision-making, to the metabolic costs and constraints of acoustic communication, to developmental plasticity in social behavior neural circuitry. He received the Stephen and Margery Russell Distinguished Teaching Award in 2017, has mentored over 75 Cornell undergraduates in research, and has established a strong record of recruiting and retaining students at all levels (undergraduate, graduate and postdoc) from underserved and underrepresented groups in science.
Candidate Statement
I am an integrative behavioral neuroscientist. The focus of my research is to understand individual variation in non-human decision-making, the cognitive behaviors that contribute to these decisions, and the developmental consequences that both influence and result from these decisions. My interest in these areas is also what attracts me the Senate-at-Large seat. It is an outstanding opportunity to thoughtfully consider and shape decisions that impact the faculty and influence the future of our institution toward being increasingly inclusive and forward thinking, while advancing our reputation as leaders and innovators in research, teaching and engagement. I look forward to the opportunity to partner with colleagues from outside my scientific discipline to meet the challenges that affect us all.
Kerry Shaw, Professor
Biography
Kerry L. Shaw joined the faculty at Cornell in 2007 as Professor in the Department of Neurobiology and Behavior. She received her A.B. from Princeton University in 1985, her PhD in Biology from Washington University in St. Louis in 1993, and previously served on the faculty at Harvard and the University of Maryland. Her research investigates the nature and origin of species, focusing on genetic and phylogenetic behavioral changes that diverge early in speciation. She teaches a variety of courses on the subject of behavior and evolution, at both the undergraduate and graduate levels. She is currently a Fellow in the Public Voices Op Ed project, and in 2017 was elected a Fellow of the Animal Behavior Society.
Candidate Statement
I will bring a perspective gained from experience on multiple faculties and through research and teaching to my service in the senate at large position.
Rodman Getchell, Assistant Research Professor
Biography
I came to Cornell in 1990 and earned my Ph.D. through the employee degree program while pursuing research and diagnostic work in several different labs within the Avian and Aquatic Animal Medicine Department at the College of Veterinary Medicine. My thesis focused on retrovirus-induced tumors in fish using walleye as a model species. As a Research Associate in the Bowser Lab, I contributed to studies on a variety of fish diseases, as well as independent projects assessing the impacts of koi herpes virus, largemouth bass virus, and type E botulism outbreaks in fish within New York State. Over the past 15 years, we have been investigating the invasion of viral hemorrhagic septicemia virus in the Great Lakes.
I am now an Assistant Research Professor in the Department of Microbiology and Immunology at the Veterinary College, where I mentor students with aquatic interests, teach the Anatomy and Histology of Fish course, serve as the Associate Director of AQUAVET®, coordinate the AQUAVET® II course that focuses on Comparative Pathology of Aquatic Animals, and continue to provide diagnostics services for the Aquatic Animal Health Program. With funding from the NYSDEC and USDA, my present research efforts are focused on evaluating the non-target effects of ultrasonic control of harmful algal blooms on seven species of fish plus tadpoles, the prevalence of mycobacteria in Hudson River striped bass, and the safety of AQUI-S®20E (10% Eugenol) as a sedative for marine fish. I presently serve on the General Committee, Committee for Review of Research Faculty Appointments and Promotions, and the Admissions Committee at CVM. All of these opportunities allow me to give back to the college.
Candidate Statement
I am interested in being a Senate-at-Large member to attend Faculty Senate meetings to learn more about the governance process and contribute to current discussion topics.
Kimberly Kopko, Sr. Research Associate
Biography
Kimberly Kopko received her Ph.D. in Child Development from the Department of Human Development at Cornell University and joined the Department of Policy Analysis & Management in the College of Human Ecology. Her research and Extension work examines child development, parenting and family processes. Current research and outreach projects include parenting and child learning, parenting education in School-Based Health Centers (SBHCs), teens being raised by custodial grandparents, and the use of research and evidence-based parent education programs to promote positive parenting behaviors and strengthen families. Ongoing academic and research interests incorporate an international dimension with a focus on comparative parenting and child and family social policies in Scandinavian countries and global early childhood education and care.
Kopko was recently appointed as a designated representative to the United Nations for The World Organization for Early Childhood Education, known internationally as OMEP. A multinational nongovernmental organization, OMEP is a nonprofit that works for all aspects of early childhood education and care, and advocates for the rights, well-being, health and education of young children, their parents, their teachers and the institutions that serve them.
Candidate Statement
My involvement in faculty governance began with election to the SUNY Faculty Senate as representative for the College of Human Ecology. I served one term (2014-2018) and was reelected for a second term (2018-2021). The University Faculty Senate (UFS) membership consists of the Chancellor of the University, two University representatives and representatives from each State-operated unit and contract college for a total of 33 SUNY colleges, making the UFS one of the largest faculty governance organizations in the country.
In addition to SUNY Faculty Senator, I have also served on two Research, Teaching and Extension (RTE) Committees: the Committee on Academic Title-Holder Representation (2018), and the RTE Faculty Issues Committee (May 2019-current). Under the direction of Dean Charles Van Loan, these Committees consider unique issues relevant to RTE faculty. Election to the RTE Senate-at-Large seat would allow me to advocate on a larger scale for RTE faculty.
