President
Lisa Siraganian
I am the J.R. Herbert Boone Chair in the Humanities and Professor in the Department of Comparative Thought and Literature at Krieger School of Arts and Sciences. I work as a scholar and teacher of law and literature, primarily in the late nineteenth and twentieth centuries. My research has always tackled democracy and rights: my last book examined corporate personhood in the United States (before Citizens United) and my latest book, coming out next February, shows how giving more rights to corporations has undermined citizenship. As a faculty member, JHU alum (KSAS, Ph.D. ’04), and daughter of immigrants, I feel called to serve our AAUP chapter to defend higher education–and Johns Hopkins–at this staggering moment in our history. For these reasons, I am standing for election as the AAUP JHU chapter President on the GROWTH platform, a document drafted with colleagues Ahmed Ragab (candidate for Vice-President), Siobhán Cooke (candidate for Secretary), and Graham Mooney (candidate for Treasurer).
As President, I will aim to build on the outreach, networking, and advocacy work of the executive board members Juliana, Photini, and François, who heroically resurrected our chapter in 2023. This is a big-tent moment, and we need everyone at Hopkins who is willing and able to help us protect and advocate for the tent.
During my 20 years or so in higher ed, I have served in numerous leadership roles within universities, scholarly associations, and beyond. I have led committees and units at Hopkins as well as at my previous institution, Southern Methodist University (SMU) in Dallas, TX. I ran a multifaceted institute as the Ruth Collins Altshuler Director of the Dedman College Interdisciplinary Institute at SMU. During the pandemic, I chaired my department at Hopkins, gaining an unmatched education in our university’s crisis management along the way.
More informally, last spring (2024), I worked for several weeks with a small group of Hopkins faculty and postdocs to successfully mediate the peaceful resolution of the encampment at the “Beach” in front of the Hopkins library. Last month, past AAUP JHU chapter president Derek Schilling and I drafted an open letter in support of academic freedom that has gathered over 250 signatures (I usually update its AAUP website page daily, so thank you for your patience with it). Most recently, Ahmed and I have been organizing with other AAUP faculty volunteers to run a Rapid Action Group, coordinating with the graduate student union, TRU, to assist students whose visas have been revoked under the Trump administration.
If elected, I will use all of my multidisciplinary skills to strategize and tactically plan on behalf of our chapter. After receiving tenure and while teaching and researching, I enrolled part-time in law school, took a year of course work at Harvard Law School, and earned a J.D. in May 2019. I foresee this legal background (which includes constitutional, labor, and employment discrimination law) as being particularly useful at a time when the judicial system has been one of the few remaining areas of resistance to the administration.
As AAUP JHU chapter president, I will be committed to talking to and working with members from every department and division, doing my utmost to put into practice the GROWTH platform with everyone who wants to participate. This is the moment for Hopkins to fight and defend itself–strategically, rapidly, and effectively. We need everyone, and we have no time to lose.
Vice President
Ahmed Ragab
I’m an associate professor in the Department of the History of Medicine at SoM. I focus on medieval medicine in the Islamic world as well as colonial and postcolonial medicine, emphasizing issues of race, gender, and sexuality. I’m running for the position of Vice President on the GROWTH platform alongside Lisa Siraganian (candidate for president), Siobhán Cooke (candidate for secretary), and Graham Mooney (candidate for treasurer). We are at a crucial moment where many of us face direct and constant attacks. I believe the AAUP should serve as a home and resource for all faculty, particularly those who are most vulnerable, and that we require a clear strategy and steady leadership to support the growth of our organization, organize our efforts, and advocate for our rights especially regarding international, BIPOC, and queer faculty and students.
I grew up in Egypt, where I learned to organize against autocratic regimes, and came to the US in 2007. Before Hopkins, I was a faculty member at Harvard. I organized with colleagues on campus before and during Trump’s first term, particularly regarding immigration, which earned me an arrest for civil disobedience in 2017. In 2023-2024, I co-chaired, with Katie O’Connor (SOM) the SOM’s Faculty Diversity Council, where we coordinated the faculty’s response to attacks against DEI efforts at the SoM and the doxxing and harassment of faculty, including our former Chief Diversity Officer at the SoM. Last spring, I worked with a small group of faculty and postdocs to successfully mediate the peaceful resolution of the campus encampment. Most recently, Lisa and I have been coordinating a faculty response group assisting students whose visas have been revoked.
I believe in the necessity of collective action through effective organizing and building spaces rooted in solidarity and generosity. I co-founded the Center for Black, Brown, and Queer Studies in 2019, and directed the Center since then. Over these five years, BBQ+ grew from a reading group to a center that independently raised more $2.5 millions to fund fellowships for minoritized scholars and research on diversity in education. This year, in collaboration with scholars and activists, I co-founded the Center for Progressive Research to foster collaboration and build new progressive solutions based on research and theoretical interventions.
If elected, I will work with Lisa, Siobhan, Graham, and AAUP past presidents and officers to help build on what Juliana, François, Photini, and others have accomplished and to ensure a targeted and organized approach that supports all our members, effectively represent our membership, and achieve the goals of our platform.
Treasurer
Graham Mooney
My name is Graham Mooney (he/him) and I am standing for election as the AAUP JHU chapter treasurer. I am a co-author of the GROWTH platform and support the candidacies of Lisa Siraganian (president), Ahmed Ragab (vice-president), and Siobhán Cooke (candidate for secretary). It is clear that in the face of unprecedented attacks from the federal government, the AAUP JHU chapter is poised for an increase in membership as our colleagues seek a space for solidarity and collective representation. The AAUP needs to be ready to harness its members’ energy to meet the current moment and respond to future challenges.
I have been at Hopkins since 2003, I am currently Associate Professor in the Department of the History of Medicine in the School of Medicine, with joint appointments in the Department of Epidemiology (BSPH) and History of Science and Technology (KSAS). I teach students in all three of these schools. My research interests are in the histories of liberal and neoliberal public health in the UK and USA; historical epidemiology and demography; and urban historical geography. I am an elected fellow of the Royal Historical Society (UK) and the Royal Society of Public Health (UK).
I bring a wealth of administrative and organizational experience to AAUP. I have held various departmental and school-wide service positions at JHU, including two terms as departmental representative on the SOM Faculty Senate. I was a member of the SOM Joint Oversight Committee for Faculty Development and Gender (2005-11), which, for the first time, collated divisional compensation plans and analyzed data on gender imbalances in compensation across all SOM divisions. The annual reports of this committee were used to implement and monitor the equalization of gender differentials in salary compensation. I was a co-founder and former director of the Online Program in the History of Medicine (2015), which returned a budgetary surplus within 24 months. I have filled these and other roles ethically and responsibly and will do the same for AAUP JHU if elected as Treasurer.
Since 2015 I have delivered, alongside graduate student workers and faculty colleagues, various anti-oppression training and workshops across JHU and beyond. I view anti-oppression as a tool to resist the attacks on academic freedoms and threats to the status and safety of international students and scholars. Based on the assumption that the AAUP JHU chapter is, and will continue to be, anti-oppressive in its practice, I am particularly committed to transparent and accountable systems that are both self-reflexive and responsive to members’ concerns. To strengthen the collective basis of AAUP activities, I will seek to increase representation in AAUP of postdocs and adjuncts whose views tend to be less visible and influential in our community.
Secretary
Siobhán B. Cooke
I am an associate professor in the Center for Functional Anatomy and Evolution in the School of Medicine. I arrived at Hopkins in 2016, after previously holding a faculty position at Northeastern Illinois University (NEIU), a public teaching-focused institution in Chicago. My research program focuses on mammalian evolution with a particular interest in the evolution of diet, dentition, and ecological niche differentiation. I am running for AAUP secretary on the GROWTH platform alongside my colleagues, Lisa Siraganian (President), Ahmed Ragab (Vice-President), and Graham Mooney (Treasurer). At this moment when universities are facing attacks on intellectual freedom and research funding is being slashed, I feel it’s critical to organize a strong, united response across departments, divisions, and schools.
I have over 12 years of academic leadership experience. I am currently course director for the first-year anatomy class for medical and graduate students—a role which has allowed me to work with clinical faculty to deliver a comprehensive anatomy curriculum. I have been a departmental faculty senate representative at both JHU SoM and NEIU—allowing me to participate in the shared governance process. I have also served on committees focusing on curriculum and curricular changes, student success, animal care and use (IACUC), and administrative policy. If elected Secretary, I will be able to draw on these experiences to provide accurate, timely record-keeping and communication to the AAUP membership.
I also have experience working at unionized campuses both as a faculty member at NEIU (University Professionals of Illinois Local 4100) and while a graduate student adjunct lecturer at the City University of New York (Professional Staff Congress CUNY). At NEIU, I was the departmental union representative for several years including during the Illinois Budget Impasse (2015-2017) when the university was under austerity measures and faculty were furloughed. During this period, my union colleagues and I participated in state-level political advocacy work as well as demonstrations to preserve university funding and to safeguard the educational well-being of our students. These experiences taught me the power of organized advocacy, and if elected, I’m committed to strengthening ties between AAUP and other campus workers.
At a national level, I am a founding member of the LGBTQIA+ subcommittee of the Committee on Diversity of the American Association of Biological Anthropologists. We have worked to support LGBTQIA+ scholars and allies by offering workshops on field safety, sponsoring outreach events, and providing informal mentoring for students. As a member of the LGBTQIA+ community, I am particularly troubled by the federal government’s attacks on my trans and non-binary colleagues, students, and friends. I’m absolutely committed to advocating for inclusive academic spaces.
My leadership roles and administrative work have deepened my appreciation for the diverse perspectives of my colleagues and challenges they encounter. If elected, I will work with Lisa, Ahmed, and Graham to implement the GROWTH platform, respond to the needs of the AAUP membership, and represent the diverse voices of the JHU community.