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Nominee Bios 2018 for
Auburn University Senate Rules Committee

Jitendra K Tugnait joined the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Auburn University in the fall of 1989, after having worked at the University of Iowa, Iowa City, and Exxon Production Research Co., Houston, TX. He received his PhD in electrical engineering from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. He has been a Senator for his department, and has also been a member of a number of University and Senate committees including the Faculty Grievance Committee, the Post Tenure Review Committee, and the Alumni Professorships Committee. He is currently a James B Davis Professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering. His research interests are in statistical signal processing and wireless physical communications, and he has published over 145 journal and 217 conference papers as well as 12 book chapters. Dr. Tugnait is a Fellow of the Institute of Electrical & Electronics Engineers, and was an Alumni Professor 2000-05 and Distinguished Graduate Faculty Lectureship recipient 2002-03.

Tracy Witte is an associate professor in the Department of Psychology. She received her B.S. in Psychology from The Ohio State University in 2004 and her M.S. and Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology from Florida State University in 2006 and 2010, respectively. She completed a clinical psychology pre-doctoral internship at the Brown University Training Consortium, Brown Medical School in 2010.  Dr. Witte’s research is broadly concerned with understanding and preventing suicidal behavior. She has a secondary interest in psychopathology (e.g., posttraumatic stress disorder, eating disorders, alcohol use disorders) insofar as it overlaps with suicidal behavior. Dr. Witte has served on the Faculty Senate since 2015.

Michelle R. Worosz is an associate professor of rural sociology in the Department of Agricultural Economics and Rural Sociology.  She joined the AU faculty in 2008. She earned her doctorate in sociology at Michigan State University in 2006 where she also served as Research Associate and Assistant Professor in the Food Safety Policy Center (2005-2008). Her research interests are in small-scale supply chain food safety and food security.  She has served on the University Senate (2015-2018), the University Writing Committee (2015-2018), and the Admissions Appeals Committee (2014-2017). She has also served on several departmental committees and has been the Co-Director of the Interdepartmental Graduate Program in Sociology and Coordinator of the Rural and Community Development minor since 2014. She is also a Research Team Leader in the College of Agriculture (2018-), and she has served on many Rural Sociological Society committees.

Last Updated:March 20, 2018