2010 Faculty Governance Awards
Citation for Leisa Meyer
Leisa Meyer, Associate Professor of History, American Studies, and Women's Studies, has served as a tireless leader, campus citizen, and advocate on issues of diversity and equality for all three programs in which she is a faculty member, for Arts & Sciences, and for the College of William and Mary as a whole.
Prof. Meyer has served as director of Women's Studies twice, for a total of over five years, director of graduate studies in History for two years, and a member of the American Studies executive committee for over ten years. Her extensive committee service in both her department and her two programs as well as in Arts & Sciences and the College is marked by how many times she has served as chair of those committees. She has been chair of search committees in History and American Studies and co-chair of the Dean of Arts & Sciences Advisory Council. She has served as chair of Nominations and Elections Committee of Arts & Sciences. As a member of Faculty Assembly, she currently serves as chair of the Faculty Affairs Subcommittee. The full range of her campus citizenship is extraordinary-freshman advisor, Graduate Studies Ombudsperson for Arts & Sciences, member of the procedural review committee, associate registrar search committee, provost's evaluation committee, executive committee of the women's network, and even the never-ending planning steering committee. And, she has served as coach of the women's rugby team. And then there is her national service to her profession-co-chair of the taskforce on lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender and queer history for the professional division of the American Historical Association, program committee member for the Berkshire Conference of Women Historians, and member of numerous other committees on gay and lesbian history and women's studies. But memberships and chair positions on committees do not capture the full measure of her service. Leisa Meyer has been an advocate for gay and lesbian students, faculty, and staff, a spokesperson for women all across campus, and, in a sense, a conscience of the college for anyone who might be excluded or suffer discrimination. As one of her colleagues, Phil Daileader, current chair of the History department, put it well: "every gay and every lesbian student who can attend William and Mary without fear of openly acknowledging their sexual orientation owes that freedom, in part, to Leisa Meyer; every female student and every female faculty member who finds the College responsive to the challenges and issues affecting them as women likewise benefits, knowingly or unknowingly, from Leisa's pioneering service at William and Mary."
For tireless devotion to her colleagues and to making the College an inclusive community for all, Prof. Leisa Meyer is a worthy recipient of the inaugural 2010 Arts & Sciences Faculty Governance Award.
