CoGen Members
The Council for Gender Equity on the Faculty (CoGen) includes the following representation:
Co-Chair
Jimena Sagàs
Co-Chair of the Commission on Women and Gender Equity
Assistant Professor, Libraries
Warner College of Natural Resources Representative
Liba Pejchar
Associate Professor, Department of Fish, Wildlife & Conservation Biology
Co-chairs
Jimena Sagàs
Co-Chair of the Commission on Women and Gender Equity
Assistant Professor, Libraries
Mexican. Pronouns: She/her(s). Born in Mexico City. Raised in Chicago and Mexico City. Mother of a Latino boy. Completed her Master’s degree in Library and Information Science at the University of Denver in 2013. Presently, a College Liaison Librarian/Assistant Professor at Colorado State University (CSU), where she is a subject area specialist in the areas of Social Sciences, Humanities, and Arts, and serves special populations, such as international, underrepresented, and underserved students. She is a third year student at CSU in the Ph.D. Education and Human Resource Studies/Organizational Learning, Performance and Change program. Her research interests include comparative and international librarianship, library services for international students, underserved and underrepresented students, and librarian of color upward mobility in the workplace. In pursuit of her devotion to social justice, she has served as a Commissioner on the Human Relations Commission for the City of Fort Collins and as a Chair of the Multicultural Staff and Faculty Network on her campus. She currently serves as Co-Chair of the President’s Commission for Women and Gender Equity and as Member of the President’s Commission for Diversity and Inclusion.
Jessica Metcalf
Associate Professor, Animal Sciences
Jessica L. Metcalf received her B.S. in chemistry from the University of Georgia and her Ph.D. in ecology and evolutionary biology from University of Colorado Boulder. She is a microbiome scientist who leads highly interdisciplinary, innovative research projects that span the fields of forensics, animal science, and health by combining experimental ecology, large genomic datasets, and bioinformatics tools. Her lab studies the complex suite of microorganisms (bacteria, archaea, fungi, protists, etc) driving decomposition of postmortem vertebrate animals. She is developing a microbial clock to estimate how long human remains have been decomposing. She also studies the vertebrate gut microbiome with a focus on the effects of captivity, domestication, and lifestyle on animal and human health. She is also a founding member and on the leadership board of 500 Women Scientists, a non-profit with the mission to serve society by making science open, inclusive, and accessible.
College of Business Representative
Lumina Albert
Associate Professor, Department of Management
Dr. Lumina Albert is an Associate Professor of Management, OtterBox Faculty Fellow and a Daniels Ethics Fellow in the College of Business at Colorado State University. Her research seeks to extend knowledge of social justice, ethical behavior, and interpersonal relationships in the business world. She has an MBA (with a dual specialization in Marketing and Human Resource Management) and a PhD in Business Management. Following her doctoral studies, Dr. Albert received the prestigious AAUW International Postdoctoral Fellowship to continue her research at the Department of Psychology at Stanford University and at the Graduate School of Business at Stanford University. She is an award-winning teacher, and has been honored with the College of Business Excellence in Teaching Award and the ‘Best Teacher of CSU’ Award, which is given to outstanding educators at CSU by the CSU Alumni Association and Student Alumni Connection. She is also an Associate Editor of Journal of Managerial Psychology. Her research has been published in scholarly journals such as Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, Journal of Business Ethics, Human Resource Management Review, Organizational Psychology Review and Group & Organizations Management. Dr. Albert’s service to the CSU and Northern Colorado Community has been recognized with the College of Business Outstanding Service Award, CSU Multicultural Distinguished Service Award and the Distinguished Service Award from the Office of International Programs at CSU. She has served as a consultant with organizations such as Procter & Gamble, International Justice Mission and Child Relief & You (CRY) on issues ranging from strategic public relations to organizing social marketing campaigns. She also serves on the Board of Directors of Rescue Freedom International, an international organization committed to empower the rescue and restoration of those in sexual slavery and to prevent exploitation. In her spare time, Dr. Albert enjoys cooking for her friends and family, interior designing, and traveling around the world!
College of Liberal Arts Representative
Katie McShane
Professor, Department of Philosophy
Katie McShane is a Professor in the Department of Philosophy. She received her B.A. from Northwestern University and her Ph.D. from the University of Michigan. After a year as a Visiting Scholar at Harvard University, she worked as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Philosophy and Religious Studies at North Carolina State University before coming to Colorado State University in 2008. Her research interests are primarily in environmental ethics and ethical theory. She has written articles on ecosystem health, the place of environmental concerns in theories of value, and the moral significance of our emotional engagements with nature. She teaches at both the undergraduate and graduate levels, including courses on ethics, environmental philosophy, feminist philosophy, and normative ethical theory.
Warner College of Natural Resources Representative
Liba Pejchar
Associate Professor, Department of Fish, Wildlife & Conservation Biology
Liba Pejchar received her BA in Environmental Studies and Biology from Middlebury College, and her Ph.D. in Environmental Studies from the University of California, Santa Cruz. Before joining CSU, she completed a postdoctoral fellowship in Biology at Stanford University. Liba’s research program focuses on sustaining and restoring biodiversity on private working lands, in ways that are compatible with human well-being. She is a field ecologist that actively collaborates with colleagues in the social sciences to address major environmental challenges in the Pacific Islands and Rocky Mountain west. More recently, her research and service has also focused on resolving gender inequities in her discipline, and the disproportionate role of under-represented faculty in advancing diversity initiatives. Liba loves working with her amazing group of graduate students, and enjoys teaching courses on conservation biology and bird ecology and conservation. She feels lucky to spend lots of time outdoors with her husband, two young children, and lively bernedoodle.
At Large Members
Noa Román-Muñiz
Associate Professor, Department of Animal Sciences
Dr. Noa Roman-Muniz is an Associate Professor and Extension Dairy Specialist in the Department of Animal Sciences. Her research focuses on the intersection between animal and human wellbeing and productivity on dairy operations. Roman-Muniz completed a pre-veterinary program at the University of Puerto Rico, Mayaguez in 1997. She earned her DVM from the University of Wisconsin, Madison in 2001 and her MS in Clinical Sciences from Colorado State University in 2004.
Silvia Sara Canetto
Professor, Department of Psychology
Silvia Sara Canetto is Professor of Psychology at Colorado State University, USA. She has graduate degrees, from the University of Padova, Italy, the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel, and Northwestern University Medical School, Chicago, USA, in physiological, general, and clinical psychology/gerontology, respectively. She grew up Italy, and is the first in her family to graduate from high school. She came to the United States, by herself, for a third round of graduate studies. English is her fifth language. In addition to Italian, she knows French, Spanish, Hebrew, Latin, and Ancient Greek. The United States are a primary site of her cultural studies – with dominant U.S. culture as her main focus.
At CSU Dr. Canetto teaches classes on women, men, and gender; and on lifespan developmental psychology. She also writes about teaching from intersectional and transnational diversity perspectives. Prior to taking a position at CSU, she was a professor at the University of Montana, and at the University of Vermont. Dr. Canetto is most well-known for her research on cultural scripts of gender and suicidal behaviors. This research has received major national and international recognition, including the American Association of Suicidology’s Shneidman Early-Career Award. Her research on views and experiences by women and men in science and engineering has also gained national and international visibility, including funding from the National Science Foundation. Finally, her scholarship on women’s human rights was recognized with an invited lecture at the 2019 conference of the International Council of Psychologists (ICP), and with ICP’s Denmark-Gunvald award. In 2019 Dr. Canetto also received the prestigious American Psychological Association’s Heritage Award for her distinguished and long-standing contributions to research, teaching, and service about women and gender. Dr. Canetto is “Fellow” of the American Psychological Association (APA), the Association for Psychological Science, and the Gerontological Society of America.