Faculty titleholders with University Voting Rights are eligible to vote.
Faculty Trustee 1 trustee position; 4 year term as a trustee and ex officio voting member of the Senate. Faculty-elected trustees serve as a full member of the Board of Trustees for Cornell University.
Abby Cohn – Statement
Christopher Ober – Statement
Tracy Stokol – Statement
University Faculty Committee (UFC) 4 vacant seats for a current Senator; 1 vacant seats for a non-Senator; 3 year term. This committee sets the Senate agenda and meets frequently with the Provost and President to represent the views of the faculty to the administration.
Senator Seats (4 Vacancies)
Rosemary Avery – Statement
Courtney Roby – Statement
Mike Thonney – Statement
Charles Walcott – Statement
Non-Senator Seats (1 Vacancy)
Alan Mathios – Statement
Nominations and Elections Committee (N&E) 3 vacant seats; 3 year term. This committee works to identify qualified and interested individuals to serve on a broad variety of standing and ad-hoc committees and to coordinate elections.
David Levitsky – Statement
Alison Power – Statement
Senator-at-Large 3 vacant seats for tenured faculty; 3 vacant seats for non-tenured faculty; 3 year term. At-large Senators are elected from the faculty as a whole, rather than through individual units, but otherwise serve as normal Senators.
Tenured Seats (3 Vacancies)
Brooke Duffy – Statement
Yuxin Mao – Statement
Alex Ophir– Statement
Kerry Shaw– Statement
RTE Seats (1 Vacancy)
Rod Getchell– Statement
Kim Kopko– Statement
FACULTY TRUSTEE: CANDIDATE STATEMENTS
Abby Cohn
As a faculty member in Linguistics (A&S) and the Southeast Asia program (Einaudi Center for International Studies) for over 30 years, I have been engaged in many facets of teaching, advising, research, and service at Cornell. As a former department chair and current director of the Southeast Asia program, I understand the complexity of the faculty and administration working together to support Cornell’s dynamic learning community and to achieve our shared educational and scholarly goals. As a member of the CU Library Advisory Council (which I serve on both as an alumna and faculty member), I have learned more about the Board of Trustees and the role the Board and alumni play in our rich, dynamic, and complex community. I believe that as a faculty-elected trustee, I could foster deeper understanding between the faculty and Board of Trustees, working toward our shared goals of continuing our longstanding traditions of teaching and scholarship, while innovating to meet the challenges we face. These include making education accessible to a diverse community of students, supporting faculty as they engage with traditional and innovative modes of teaching and scholarship, engaging globally, and educating the public about the value of the work we do. I would be honored to represent the faculty in the important work of the Board of Trustees.
Christopher Ober
Cornell University is a wonderfully unique institution. In my various roles and field memberships at Cornell I have come to marvel at and greatly appreciate the complexity, diversity, and buoyant multiculturalism evident in its many colleges and departments here in Ithaca, in New York City, and in its other sites across the state. The next few years are going to be exciting, even tumultuous, as we at the University collectively consider the future national and international roles of the university in society, how best to teach the next generation of students, how to fulfill the enormous potential of our new Cornell Tech campus, and deal with the societal and financial challenges and constraints that face every institution of higher learning. The Board of Trustees plays an essential role in setting a collective direction for Cornell, while reflecting its culture and spirit and thoughtfully dealing with both expected and unforeseen institutional hurdles as they arise. I would be honored to contribute to this effort as the University deals with these all-important issues.
Tracy Stokol
I am standing for Faculty Trustee because I strongly believe in academic freedom and faculty governance. I believe in and am dedicated to this institution and would like to contribute to its future through participation on the Board of Trustees. I would be a strong advocate and conduit for the concerns of the faculty. If elected, I would be the first Faculty Trustee from the College of Veterinary Medicine and believe that I would bring a valuable perspective of the land grant and professional colleges to the Board of Trustees.
UFC: CANDIDATE STATEMENTS
Senator Candidates
Rosemary Avery
If elected, I will strive to continue to be an effective voice for the Faculty Senate to the administration as they navigate priorities related to the economic recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic. Having served on the Cornell University Board of Trustee during the last financial crisis in 2008-2012, I will strive to protect and uphold the concerns of our faculty, staff, and students as decisions are made about cost cuts and priority initiatives during the COVID-19 recovery. Furthermore, I will strive to be an active voice for the faculty during the implementation of the Social Sciences initiatives announced this spring. I will strive to bring before the administration issues that impact excellence of the research and educational components of our mission.
Courtney Roby
I have served as my department’s faculty senator for the past year, and in that time I have already learned a lot about the challenges of balancing the diverse interests that make shared governance possible. As a senator, I have been a co-sponsor both of Richard Bensel’s resolution to require more transparency from the central administration in retroactive grade changes, and Caroline Levine’s resolution to request that the Board of Trustees divest Cornell’s endowment of fossil fuel investments. I have a strong passion for undergraduate education, and I also serve as a Faculty Fellow at Risley Residential College, following a stint as a Faculty Fellow at Donlon College. My research and teaching bridge the humanities and sciences (my first career was as an electrical engineer), and I have collaborated in research and teaching with faculty and staff in CALS, the Botanic Gardens (where I am also a Faculty Fellow), and other groups at Cornell. I would welcome the chance to bring the same perspective of interdisciplinary collaboration to the UFC.
Mike Thonney
I am honored to have been nominated to serve on the University Faculty Committee. Faculty are the core of the university, and individual faculty programs drive its mission. This reality is too often diluted by our relatively large and complicated university bureaucracy. With the comparatively recent advent of the need to respond to a continuous stream of email messages and to create and update social media presences and course sites, the work that faculty are expected to do has increased exponentially compared with 40 years ago. Faculty time needs to be protected from the bureaucracy so that we actually have time for scholarship. I’m passionate about effective and efficient faculty governance. The University Faculty Committee provides a vital bridge between the faculty and the administration. As the executive committee of the University Faculty Senate, the committee has a major role in making university policy. As member, I would be committed to: * Ensuring that decisions of the faculty are incorporated into university policy * Improving efficiency of Senate meetings by encouraging the effective use of parliamentary procedures * Encouraging policies that protect faculty time If elected to the committee, I will represent all faculty to the best of my ability
Charles Walcott
I am a strong believer in shared governance, and I’ve been involved in it in many different capacities over my 39 years at Cornell. I am currently a member of the University Faculty Senate and been speaker in past years. I’ve chaired the University Assembly and the University Hearing Board and am currently a member of the Financial Policy Committee and the ROTC committee. As the University Ombudsman I try to help faculty, students and staff with a wide variety of issues and that experience would help me bring general issues to the University Faculty Committee.
Nonsenator Candidates
Alan Mathios
Institutions, corporations, or organizations that have thrived for over 150 years are far and few between. I believe that the long standing success of institutions like Cornell is linked to the relatively unique shared governance model that has been established in the higher education sector. Consequently, I see shared governance as a crucial element in shaping how Cornell can maintain its excellence and continue to successfully evolve. I would bring significant experience to the University Faculty Committee: as an educator, as a researcher, as a former Dean of the College of Human Ecology, as a faculty member that has served on a large number of committees spanning a wide variety of topics, and as a Commissioner for the Middle States Commission on Higher Education (MSCHE). I am especially enthusiastic about using what I have learned from serving as a Commissioner for MSCHE to help guide Cornell. The Commission oversees the accreditation of over 500 colleges and universities ranging from community colleges to the major research universities such as Cornell, New York University, Columbia, and Princeton. One of the key factors that the MSCHE evaluates for granting accreditation is the quality and robustness of the governance process. Few faculty have had the opportunity to be exposed to such a broad scope of experiences relating to governance and I look forward to bringing this perspective to the University Faculty Committee.
NOMINATIONS AND ELECTIONS COMMITTEE: CANDIDATE STATEMENTS
David Levitsky
I look forward towards making my contribution on this committee as proud member of this University.
Alison Power
I look forward to contributing to the Nominations and Elections Committee by helping to identify a diverse pool of excellent candidates for faculty governance positions.
SENATOR-AT-LARGE: CANDIDATE STATEMENTS
Tenured Candidates
Brooke Duffy
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
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
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
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.
RTE Candidates
Rod Getchell
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.
Kim Kopko
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.
