2024 Rules Committee Nominees [4 candidates]

(3 positions for 2-year terms are open to be filled each year, the fourth candidate is presented as a replacement for a 1-year term)

Biographical Sketches for Rules Committee nominees for 2-year term from August 2024 through July 2026.

Dr. James Birdsong
Dr. David Marshall Miller
Dr. Danilea Werner

and one biographical sketch for a replacement to fill the vacancy of the 2-year term ending in 2025. This position will be filled in August as well.

Kasia Leousis

Dr. James Birdsong is the Delta Air Lines Endowed Assistant Professor and Chair of the Aviation Management Program at Auburn University. He has been a part of the aviation program since 2014 and has played a crucial role in its growth in student enrollment, faculty and staff, infrastructure, and development. As the chair, Dr. Birdsong is responsible for teaching, research, and outreach. He has developed and taught various aviation-related courses, ranging from air transportation analysis to human factors. Dr. Birdsong is also Auburn's principal investigator for the FAA's Technical Training and Human Performance Center of Excellence (TTHP COE). He serves as a TTHP COE executive leadership committee member and an educator trustee for the Aviation Accreditation Board International (AABI) and the University Aviation Association (UAA). His research interests include human performance and pilot development. Before joining Auburn, Dr. Birdsong was an Air Force officer and pilot. He flew the T-37, T-38, T-1, and C-130 Hercules during his service. He holds degrees from the United States Air Force Academy, Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, and Auburn University.

Dr. David Marshall Miller is an Associate Professor of Philosophy, specializing in the history and philosophy of science. He arrived at Auburn in January 2022 and joined the Senate in 2023. He had significant experience in faculty governance at his previous institution, and has been involved in the non-tenure track teaching faculty initiative and other efforts at Auburn.

Dr. Danilea Werner is an associate professor and Director of the MSW program at Auburn University. Before joining the faculty at Auburn University in 2009, she worked as the National Health Director for The OASIS Institute, and as an assistant clinical professor at St. Louis University. Werner has also worked in disaster preparedness, public health education and as a clinical therapist. Werner's research interests include health and wellness issues with individuals with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities (IDD), and mental health disaster preparedness. She currently serves as the co-director of the BraveHearts programs, serving individuals with IDD and their families. Dr. Werner has served on the Senate Steering committee and currently serves as the senator for the Department of Sociology, Anthropology and Social Work.

1 year term candidate

Kasia Leousis is Associate Professor in the Special Collections & Archives Department and Senator for the Libraries. She joined the faculty at Auburn University in 2011 and now serves as instruction and research librarian for special collections and liaison to the Department of Art and Art History and the Master of Community Planning program. She teaches a wide variety of workshops that engage students with primary sources and cultural artifacts related to their course curricula and conducts hands-on book arts and letterpress workshops with the library’s printing presses. This spring, Kasia is teaching an Honors College seminar, Art of the Book, on the history of book illustration, production, and technology. Her teaching and research interests include undergraduate student engagement with rare materials, primary source pedagogy, visual literacy, and visual thinking strategies. She is a member of the Rules Committee (2022-2024) and served on the Library Senate Committee (2012-2017).