Senate Leadership
Purpose and Functions
The University Academic Council (UAC) shall serve as the executive board of the University Senate.
Membership Guidelines
The UAC shall consist of the presidents, presidents-elect, and immediate past presidents of the campuses.
The assembly membership of each campus shall elect a new president-elect each spring semester in accordance with procedures established in Bylaw III of the University Senate. The president-elect will take office June 1. Read the history of the University Academic Council here.
2026–2027 Leadership
Elisa Kawam
Senate President and Chair of the UAC
Contact
Biography
Elisa Kawam has her BSW, MSW, and PhD in social work. Her scholarship has focused on children, youth, and families in the intersectionality of poverty, violence, substance use/abuse, trauma, and child welfare.
She has a passion for preventing, understanding, and then for empowering the healing of trauma and PTSD. Kawam believes in the goodness of people, the strength of families, and the power of communities in co-creating a just society. A grassroots social worker, Kawam is called to public service, servant leadership and education.
She is a trauma informed yoga teacher and loves animals, music, books, and hiking.
Maureen McCoy
President, Downtown Phoenix campus
President-elect, Julie Sullivan-Detheridge | Past president, Ian Derk
Contact
Biography
Maureen McCoy is a Teaching Professor in the College Of Health Solutions and has been teaching at ASU since 2014. McCoy is the Dietetic Internship Director as well as the faculty advisor for the Pitchfork Pantry (food pantry for ASU students). Her research interests include child and school nutrition, health policy and equity, and food insecurity.
McCoy loves working with students and sharing her experiences in the field. The most rewarding are the one-on-one conversations with students and helping them navigate their future.
Prior to joining academia, McCoy worked as a dietitian for the University of Florida Athletic Department, Lifetime Fitness, Washington Elementary School District, and Maricopa County Head Start.
Penny Dolin
President, Polytechnic campus
President-elect, Michael Gifford | Past president, David Burel
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Biography
Penny Ann Dolin has been involved in the graphics field for many years. As founder and operator of Silver Sight Studio, a successful commercial photography studio based in Stamford, Connecticut, she photographed for Fortune 500 companies and traveled extensively. Her early career included photojournalism for The New York Times and Newsday. After receiving her Masters in Technology from Arizona State University (Phi Kappa Phi) she joined American Color, the third largest prepress company in the United States at the time, as a member of the Corporate Research and Development team. Prior to joining the faculty at Arizona State University in 1998, she held the position of Western Region Technical Manager for American Color, with responsibilities for four facilities. She maintains her ties with industry through consulting and professional organizations. Her books include Printing Technology, 5th Edition,(2002), and Exploring Digital Workflow (2006) (Both Thomson/Delmar Publishers).
She teaches in the Ira A. Fulton Schools of Engineering. She served as the Graphic Information Technology Program chair in the Polytechnic School from 2011-2015 under the College of Innovation and Technology and Fulton Schools of Engineering. Dolin’s core expertise is in commercial photography, technical imaging and digital publishing. She is the founder of the GIT Commercial Photography Studio at the Polytechnic Campus, and director of the Technical Imaging Lab which explores high speed imaging, stroboscopic and thermal photography. A strong believer in exposing students to the world beyond campus, Prof. Dolin takes students abroad to Paris on photographic programs every year.
She is recognized as an Adobe Educator Leader, is on the Adobe Partners by Design Advisory Board, is a member of the Barrett Faculty Honors Council. She is the immediate past President of the University Senate 2022-23. She is the current Arizona Faculties Council chair ( ASU/NAU/UA) 2023-2024.
Jenny Brian
President, Tempe campus
President-elect, Samantha Perkins | Past president, Sarah Bolmarcich
Contact
Biography
Jenny Dyck Brian is Faculty Chair and Honors Faculty Fellow at Barrett, the Honors College and a Senior Global Futures Scientist at the School for the Future of Innovation in Society. She previously held a position as assistant professor of bioethics at the Asian University for Women in Chittagong, Bangladesh. Her work in bioethics and science and technology studies has been funded by grants from the National Science Foundation and PEO Scholars, and has been published in journals such as American Journal of Bioethics and Journal of Business Ethics. She was a 2017-18 fellow at the ASU Institute for Humanities Research. Dr. Brian's current research project is focused on sexuality, reproduction and carceral systems. She is also the head coach of ASU's Ethics Bowl team, which successfully secured a bid at the National Ethics Bowl Championships in 2017, 2018, 2019 and 2020. She is the Director and coach of ASU's Regents' Cup team, which won the Regents' Cup in 2020 and 2021 and 2023.
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Biography
Hala King is a clinical associate professor of mathematics at the West Valley campus. She was born and raised in Lebanon, during a war that helped shape her resilient spirit. She earned her doctoral degree in pure mathematics from Stanford University.
King has held academic positions at the American University of Beirut, the University of California at Santa Cruz, Pepperdine University, and California Lutheran University. While at California Lutheran, she cofounded the Math Teachers’ Circle, the first such circle in Southern California, and became interested in social justice issues, diversity initiatives and mentoring first-generation college students.
Her main academic passions are teaching and mentoring, and she has had a powerful impact on many students.
Philip VanderMeer
Secretary, Academic Assembly and University Senate
Contact
Biography
Philip VanderMeer began teaching at ASU in 1985 and retired in May 2016 as a professor of history. He taught American political and urban history, concentrating on the 20th century. As a faculty member, he served as president of the University Senate (2008–2009); member of the University Academic Council (2007–2011); senate member (1998–1990 and 2004–2008); parliamentarian (2006–2008 and 2010–2011). He also served on the ACD Manual Revision Committee and the Grievance Policy Task Force.
VanderMeer has been a member of the Emeritus College since 2016, served on the Emeritus Council from 2018 to 2022 and has been the Emeritus College representative to the University Senate since 2017.