Executive Committee Members
President
President of Adjuncts United since Fall 2011, Laurel has been indirectly active in organizing since 2008 when AU negotiated its first agreement. She is a member of the joint SU/AU Labor Management Committee and has been an active member of NYSUT’s Higher Ed Policy Council since 2013. She represents AU on the University’s Faculty Senate and its Women’s Concerns Committee. Laurel has taught in the Design School since 1997 and also assumed a staff position in the Mary Ann Shaw Center for Community Engagement in 2018.
Vice President
AU Executive Committee Member, Labor Management Committee Member and current AU Vice President, Katie Clinton has been teaching Spanish courses in LLL since 2004. Besides teaching Spanish, Katie also currently acts as a First Year Seminar leader and a teacher observer for S.U. Project Advance. In the past, she has been the technology liaison for the Spanish Lower Division as well as supervisor/content consultant for the Spanish Education Program. Katie’s adventures have taken her to teach Aymara and Incan children in the Andean foothills of Bolivia, to work in the rural Mayan villages of the Yucatan Peninsula and to act as a liaison between the San José, CA Public School District and immigrant children and their families.
Treasurer
Kari Shaw has served as Treasurer for AU’s Executive Committee since 2008,
Kari is an original member of the union’s 2006 negotiating team. She has diligently represented members’ interests at each subsequent collective bargaining agreement negotiation. She was instrumental in shaping AU’s labor agreement with Syracuse University, and she has defended it with continued rigor. Among other things, Kari has enforced pay rates, pushed for consistent probation implementation and fought for retro-payments for members. She is a member of the joint SU/AU Labor Management Committee and has taught Mathematics in the School of Arts and Sciences since 1994.
Executive Committee Representative from Transmedia/VPA, Nancy teaches in film studies, where her courses have included film theory, the international Western, film noir, and the horror film. She is also a writer, editor, and curator whose work covers film, photo, and visual arts. She has conducted workshops for Light Work on the artist statement and is on the faculty at the Downtown Writers Center, teaching non-fiction prose and a new workshop on photo + text.
nancykeeferhodes@gmail.com or 315.427.6547
Danita Emma is an AU Executive Committee Member and Representative from VPA/ Drama Department. She has been teaching dance in the Drama Department for the past eight years. Additionally, she teaches dance in the College of Education in the dance minor program. Ms. Emma was awarded a Fulbright Specialist in Dance 2015 -2020. As a Fulbright Specialist, she had teaching residencies in Bulgaria and Montenegro. In addition, she has served on the Fulbright Peer Review Committee in the US (2015) and Bulgaria (2018, 2020). Ms. Emma was selected to participate in the documentary- Fulbright at 75: Bulgarian – American Visions and Voices in 2021.
https://vpa.syr.edu/people/danita-emma/
Adjunct Instructor and media technology consultant and engineer in Newhouse, manages “the CAGE”, researching new technologies that keep students up to date with industry standards. He also serves on SU’s Inclusivity, Diversity, Equity and Accessibility Committee, and created the Inner-City Media and News Team through his church, a project that paired Newhouse students of color with local middle and high school students to work on scripts, production, news reporting and editing workshops. He been married for over 40 years and has four adult children with college degrees, of whom three are Syracuse University alumni. Vince is originally from Warren Ohio; he moved to Syracuse New York in 1983 has been employed at Syracuse University since 1989 in a wide variety of positions. His most enjoyable and rewarding work comes from teaching and educating students so that they can live out their dreams as story tellers, journalist, filmmakers for rewarding and exciting opportunities in the communication field. Vince has been recognized for his impactful work:
Unsung Hero recipient Vince Cobb Sr. promotes Black student achievement - The Daily Orange
Joe Eppolito is an AU Executive Committee Member and Representative from Whitman, where, since 2008, he teaches Insurance & Personal Financial Planning courses in the Finance Department and Strategic HR in the Management Department. A Financial Advisor with 30 years of experience, Joe currently works for IBN Financial Services in Liverpool, NY. He is the Faculty Advisor for the SU Circle K service club and is Past President & current Board member of the Whitman Alumni Club.