Service

I am an advisor to the Women’s and Gender Studies Student Society at StFX. I have been active in sexual violence prevention work at StFX, and am currently a member of Sexualized Violence Policy Implementation Committee, and was a member of the advisory board of the Status of Women Canada-funded project Unsilence the Violence: Preventing Violence Against Women at StFX from 2012-2014. In September 2013, I received training to become a trainer for the Bringing in the Bystander programme. I am also a Positive Space trainer in Antigonish. For four years (2010-2014), I belonged to the Student Life Team at St. Francis Xavier University, where I served as LGBTQ Student Advisor. In this role, I offered academic and personal support and advocacy for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Transsexual, Queer, and Questioning students at StFX, as well as educational programming for university employees and student groups. I advised the LGBTQ student society on campus, X-Pride, and I co-organized the International Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia. While I am no longer an LGBTQ Student Advisor, I continue to support LGBTQ students and this work informs my other service to students.

In addition to my service to students, I also serve on a variety of university committees. I am a member of the Women’s and Gender Studies Advising Faculty, where I contribute to curriculum development, events planning, and community outreach. Presently I am a member of the Senate Committee on Course Evaluations. I was a University Senator from 2012-2015, and I was Secretary of the University Senate of StFX for the 2013-2014 academic year. I also served as a member of the Presidential Task Force on Academic Priorities at StFX (August 2013-July 2014). I recently finished a three-year term on the Faculty Development Committee, where I co-organized the new faculty orientation with Jonathan Rosborough for 2012 and 2013, and organized brown bag lunch sessions for faculty. Finally, I was a member of the Equity Advisory Committee from 2010-2014, and I was co-chair in 2010-2011.

I am a member of the St. Francis Xavier Association of University Teachers, and am currently an appointed member of the Joint Committee for the Administration of the Third Collective Agreement. I have served my union as a member of the Status of Women and Equity Committee (2010-2014), as well as the Social Affairs Committee (2012-2014). From January-February 2013, my union went on strike and with my friend and colleague Ryan Billington, formed R&R Productions, a two-person dress-up cheer squad and video crew. We made two short videos to raise awareness about our strike and connect with students and community members: Power to the StFXAUT Pickets! and A Video Valentine to the StFX Students from the StFXAUT. I also founded the StFXAUT Unionversity during the last week of our strike, which was another way to connect with students through teach-ins related to our strike and union organizing more generally. A course calendar for the Unionversity can be found here.

I am terrible at letting professional memberships lapse, but sometimes I am a current member of the Women’s and Gender Studies Et Recherches Féministes, the Canadian Association of Cultural Studies, the Universities Art Association of Canada, and the Association for the Psychoanalysis of Culture and Society. From 2014-2016, I am a member at large for Women’s and Gender Studies Et Recherches Féministes, serving as the Membership Coordinator on the executive.