Senator Spotlight November 2021

Category

This Month's Senator Spotlight is on Rimjhim Aggarwal

What unit do you represent?  

School of Sustainability, College of Global Futures

How many years have you served in the Senate? 

This is my third year

How many years have you been employed at ASU?

15 years

What other institutions have you taught at before coming to ASU?

University of Delhi; University of Maryland, College Park; Southern Methodist University.

What is your research and/or creative activities focus?  

Broadly speaking, my research focuses on the interface between international development and sustainability science. In ongoing research (with L. Haglund) we have been examining the emerging conflicts in the framing of water as a human right as well as an economic, ecological and social good in rapidly urbanizing regions of Delhi, São Paulo and Johannesburg. I am also currently working on a multidisciplinary project on Innovations in Food, Energy and Water Nexus.

Why did you decide to get involved with the Senate?

As a member of the inaugural cohort of the Leadership Academy at ASU, I had the opportunity to hear from several leaders at ASU about how they were working collectively to deliver on the promise of a New American University. Their work inspired me to join the Senate as a way of understanding and contributing to shared governance at ASU.

Describe what you have learned (or hope to learn) during your time in the Senate?

I have learned a lot about the role that faculty play in shared governance, and have a much greater appreciation of the complexity of decision making at a large university like ASU. Particularly when the pandemic started, it was very helpful to get regular updates from the University leadership about the various steps that ASU was taking to protect its students, staff and faculty, as well as how ASU was rising up to the occasion to serve the needs of our communities.

What committees have you participated in, or would like to participate in and what were you able to (or hope to) accomplish? 

I would like to participate in the Student-Faculty Policy Committee. I currently serve as Chair of the Undergraduate committee in the School of Sustainability and have been directly involved with reviewing our course and programmatic offerings and how these map on to the various sustainability competencies. I have also been engaged with several initiatives to promote the participation of undergraduate students in faculty research. I would like to serve at the university level in a student-faculty policy forming and advising capacity to contribute towards our goals of delivering high quality education while being inclusive and socially impactful.

What would you say to your peers who might be considering accepting a nomination or nominating himself or herself for a position in the University Senate?

I think this is a great opportunity to get involved and understand how shared governance works practically at the university level. It is also a great way to represent your unit and make sure that university administrators are responsive to the concerns of faculty, staff and students.