Board of Directors Election: Results
In accordance with its bylaws, the American Humanist Association (AHA) has conducted an election for eight positions on the AHA Board of Directors. All AHA members in good standing received a ballot via e-mail through Votenet Solutions Inc., a third-party voting site, and/or were notified via Free Mind. Voting opened on August 20, 2018 and closed on September 27, 2018. A total of 981 members voted in this year’s elections.
Elected to four year terms are: John Hooper, Jenny Kalmanson, Howard Katz, Monica R. Miller, Juhem Navarro-Rivera, and Christine Shellska. Elected to two-year terms are: Ellen Sutliff and Sharon Welch. New board members include Dr. Monica R. Miller, Dr. Juhem Navarro-Rivera, Ellen Sutliff, and Dr. Sharon Welch
Dr. Monica R. Miller is an associate professor of religion and Africana studies at Lehigh University, in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. She also serves as the director of women, gender, and sexuality studies. Miller holds research interests in religion/irreligion in youth cultures and popular culture, changing contours of identity and difference, new black religious movements, diasporic mobility in transatlantic context, and theory and method in the academic study of religion. Dr. Juhem Navarro-Rivera is one of the leading scholars at the intersection of race, religion, and politics in the United States. Born in Puerto Rico, Navarro-Rivera holds degrees in Political Science from the University of Puerto Rico (B.A.) and the University of Connecticut (M.A., Ph.D.).
Ellen Sutliff is a Humanist Celebrant and the founder and president of Humanists & Freethinkers of New Bern, North Carolina. She founded the chapter in October 2012 to provide a secular community for humanists, freethinkers, atheists, agnostics, nonbelievers, and nontheists in eastern North Carolina. Dr. Sharon Welch is the author of five books and is a regular contributor to Tikkun magazine. Welch holds a M.A. and Ph.D. in theology from Vanderbilt University, and has held positions at the University of Missouri and at Harvard Divinity School.
Continuing to serve on the board are: Rob Boston, Ian Dodd, Rebecca Hale, and Sunil Panikkath, as well as non-voting member Roy Speckhardt.
The AHA thanks the members of the Nominations Committee—chaired by Mandisa Thomas, and including Candace Gorham, Kimberly Ellington, Tris Mamone, and Anthony Pinn—for volunteering their time. The AHA wishes to recognize Geri Bridges and Aron Ra, who also stood for election.
Thank you to all who participated in this election, continuing the AHA’s tradition of being the largest democratic humanist organization in the United States.