Faculty Senate President
Dr. Sarah Karpanty is president of the 2012-2013 Faculty Senate.
Dr. Sarah Karpanty is an associate professor in the Department of Fish and Wildlife Conservation. She earned a B.S. degree in zoology from Miami University in 1998 and a Ph.D. in ecology and evolutionary biology from The State University of New York at Stony Brook in 2003.
Dr. Karpanty's research includes studies of both wildlife behavioral ecology (in the U.S. and internationally) and the restoration of tropical native forests in Madagascar.
Unifying themes in her domestic and international research projects include:
- studying how behaviorally-mediated interactions between multiple species influence population dynamics and community structure in ways that cannot be predicted from examining pairs of species alone;
- understanding how the release of meso-predators, whether caused by human hunting or development activities that eliminate endemic top predators, impacts threatened and endangered prey species, through lethal and sub-lethal effects, and
- bringing together ecological and natural resource management theories to best manage ecosystems at the landscape level for wildlife movement and sustainable resource extraction.
Duties of the Faculty Senate president are:
- To represent the faculty to the Board of Visitors and the administration.
- To preside at all meetings of the Faculty Senate and cabinet.
- To perform duties prescribed in the constitution and bylaws or as appropriate to the office.
- To outline the year's objectives at the opening session of the Faculty Senate in the fall.
- To prepare an annual report of the Faculty Senate's accomplishments during the year, and to distribute the report to the Faculty Senate, faculty, administration, and Board of Visitors.
- To prepare the agenda for Faculty Senate cabinet and senate meetings, in consultation with officers as appropriate.
- To select three senators from different departments to serve as tellers for Faculty Senate elections.