C&UA Elections 2025

Thank you to all of our excellent candidates for standing in the 2025 College and University Archives Section election. Please take some time to review their candidate statements and get to know them so you can make an informed choice.

You will be voting for:

• One Vice Chair/Chair-Elect (or Co-chair), for a two-year term; and

• Two Steering Committee members (three-year terms). 

Vice Chair/Chair Elect

Emily Shelton

Clemson University

Biographical Statement: 

Emily Shelton is the University Archivist at Clemson University. Emily is an early career archivist and graduated from UW-Milwaukee with an MLIS degree with an archives concentration in 2024. Prior to her current role, Emily was an archives assistant at UW-Parkside and MSOE where she worked with academic and manuscript collections as well as assisting patrons and aiding in research requests. Emily also holds a BA in History.

Statement of Interest: 

I am interested in serving on the College and University Archives Section to learn and engage with the nuances of field and work with archivists from other academic institutions. I am interested in a wide range of topics such as the accessibility of unprocessed materials and the user experience of institutional online resources. I am excited to be a part of the future of academic and institutional archives and would like to contribute through SAA.

Jane LaBarbara

West Virginia University Libraries 

Biographical Statement: 

Jane LaBarbara is a mid-career archivist who has spent her entire professional life at one particular university, wondering if we do things the same way other archives do.  She currently serves as Head of Archives & Manuscripts for the West Virginia & Regional History Center, which is the special collections unit at West Virginia University Libraries.  Her work involves planning, prioritizing, and supervising accessioning and processing of regional history collections and the University Archives. She also creates and improves workflow documentation, answers tricky restrictions questions, untangles mysteries that previous staff left behind, and participates in acquisitions and preservation/disaster planning,. Jane previously served WVU as Assistant Curator, where she focused on processing with additional disaster planning, reference, and instruction work.  Her recent and current projects include developing a processing manual, prioritizing the backlog, developing a retention schedule for the University Libraries (it was finally approved this year, and we got rid of 41 linear feet of material so far!), and moving more than a dozen partially processed/publicly inaccessible collections into the sunlight of our public finding aid system. She earned her MLS with a concentration in Archives and Records Management from UNC.

She is an active member of SAA and the Mid-Atlantic Regional Archives Conference (MARAC), currently serving as SAA Key Contact subcommittee’s District Representative for her area. Her previous professional service includes MARAC conference committees, the SAA Awards committee, and the SAA Collection Management Tools Section Steering Committee. She is rolling out of the position of SAA College & University Archives Section steering committee member.  Her research interests include efficient accessioning/processing and university archives/records management.

Statement of Interest: 

I am excited to submit my nomination for Vice-Chair/Chair-Elect of the College and University Archives Section of SAA. I can bring the perspective of a non-tenured (but promotable) faculty archivist at a large institution which is still finding its way in terms of processes and policies. WVU doesn’t have a University Archivist or a Records Manager, just a retention schedule and persistent archivists who like to collect university records, which I know is not unique.  Plenty of archivists in university settings have to constantly build connections with other campus units, argue for the importance of preserving university history, argue for basic personnel and facilities resources, etc.  I want to be part of the conversation on how we all face our common concerns and obstacles.  

Part of my vision for the section involves supporting and encouraging research as a path to individual and collective growth.  I recently participated in a group that planned and analyzed a landscape survey of college and university archivists, and I am part of a group investigating university records management as well.  I’m hoping to apply what we learn to future programming for the section.  I’m also hoping to foster more research about college and university archives (and archives in general), which is why I helped start the Research Matching Spreadsheet effort and why I’m working with folks in CORDA to investigate possibilities for education about how to conduct and analyze research.  The CUA section is brimming with great ideas to investigate and share that can help all of us advance our practices.

I also want to continue conversations and information sharing through avenues like the coffee chats, the e-list (though it’s quieter than it used to be), the section’s “Tenure | Promotions | Sabbaticals (TaPaS)” work, etc.  We are living through an interesting historical moment, both nationally and in terms of higher education, and I get the sense that a lot of us are feeling a little burnt out in some areas. I’m hoping that I can work with our steering committee to help us keep moving, connecting, learning, and striving for our best (or at least keeping our heads above water) during this time. I see a lot of areas of need among my fellow college and university archivists, and a lot of ways we can grow individually and together.  I hope to be elected to work with the steering committee to determine what our membership wants to tackle first.

Steering Committee

Taylor F. Henning

Florida State University

Biographical Statement:  

Taylor Henning is the University Archivist at Florida State University (FSU) in Tallahassee, Florida. In this position, she is responsible for selecting, acquiring, appraising, arranging, describing, and promoting access to records and materials documenting the rich history of FSU. She also fields reference requests, provides research consultations, curates exhibits, contributes to instruction services, and leads other outreach activities. Before coming to FSU in the fall of 2023, she was the University Archivist at Wayne State University in Detroit, Michigan for two years. Taylor earned her MS/LIS at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC) in May 2020. At UIUC, Taylor worked at the Rare Book and Manuscript Library, University Archives, and Records and Information Management Services. At FSU, Taylor received a Master of Arts in German Studies in 2018 and a Bachelor of Arts in German and International Affairs in 2015.

Taylor has served in multiple roles in local and national archival organizations. She was the Vice President and Conference Coordinator of the Michigan Archival Association in 2022-2023. She currently serves on the SAA 2025 Program Committee and was previously an SAA Mentor. She has also assisted in planning the National Disaster Recovery Fund for the Archives (NDRFA) silent auction for the 2025 SAA Annual Meeting. Currently she is the Awards Committee Chair for the Society of Florida Archivists. Taylor is enthusiastic about serving SAA’s College and University Archives Section and collaborating with academic archivists across the country. As a University Archivist, Taylor is passionate about cultivating the Archives as a welcoming and inclusive space and about working to build a more diverse and inclusive historical record.

Statement of interest:

I am passionate about serving SAA’s College and University Archives section to give back to an organization that has become central to my professional work. My vision for the future of the section utilizes its strengths, namely its large and active membership, to enhance the offerings the section provides its members. For example, I enjoy the Coffee Chats as they are a fantastic opportunity to foster a sense of community, share information, and connect with others in the profession. I feel that these and similar programs could be offered more regularly so that we can even better support each other. Topics could include privacy and access in institutional repositories, trauma-informed practice, slow archives, and collecting in the current political climate. Similarly, I would like to see the Campus Case Studies series revitalized and updated more regularly as an avenue to share our work with one another and further learn from each other. Another service that would benefit the C&UA section’s membership is creating a library of resources. Members could share templates and other documents with one another that they have created and used in their work. These could provide useful starting points for members doing similar work at their institution. If elected, I would strive to bring these ideas to fruition in service of the section and its membership. I believe that my experience and vision for the section would be a benefit to the Section Committee and am honored to ask for your vote in this election.

Roberto E. Nañes

University of Houston–Clear Lake, Archives and Special Collections

Biographical Statement: 

Roberto E. Nañes is the Archivist for the University of Houston–Clear Lake Archives and Special Collections. He is a Certified Archivist with an M.L.S. from the University of North Texas and a Certificate in Archival Management. With over a decade of combined experience in education, records coordination, and archival work, he brings a passion for access equity, collaborative innovation, and emerging technologies—particularly AI integration in archives and institutional repositories.

Statement of Interest: 

I believe the Steering Committee is a space not only for service but for shaping the professional culture of our section. As a public university archivist, I understand the challenges many of us face working with limited resources—and the potential we unlock when we share tools, strategies, and support. I'm particularly interested in strengthening professional collaboration and expanding access to voices historically underrepresented in the archival record. I look forward to the opportunity to contribute to a responsive, practical, and forward-looking section.

Dulce Kersting-Lark 

University of Idaho Library, Special Collections & Archives

Biographical Statement: 

Dulce Kersting-Lark is the department head of Special Collections and Archives (Spec) at the University of Idaho Library (Moscow, ID). Since 2022, Dulce has led a 5-person team tasked with archiving the institution’s history, alongside collecting materials related to the region’s economic, social, and cultural history. As the largest archive in North Idaho, Spec serves campus stakeholders and community patrons with a broad array of research inquiries and preservation needs.

Biographical Statement: 

Dulce is particularly interested in understanding the responsibilities that surround managing an archive at a land-grant university. There are challenges related to the collection scope of a Morrill Act institution, like documenting the work of Extension Services. There are outreach responsibilities that faculty across the university share. Most importantly, there are legacies of dispossession, appropriation, and erasure that must be attended to with care. As the U of I archive continues to benefit from the theft of Indigenous land, Dulce seeks opportunities for reparative action and holistic collection development. 

Amy Sherwood

University of Illinois Chicago

Biographical Statement: 

I’m Amy Sherwood, Assistant Professor and Manuscript Archivist for the University of Illinois Chicago’s Special Collections and University Archives. Prior to this position, I served as the Manuscript Archivist for Columbia College Chicago’s College Archives and Center for Black Music Research. I’ve also held roles in government, museum, and religious archives. In addition to my years as an archivist, I have nearly a decade of research and instructional experience in the social sciences, which has given me a well- rounded perspective on the needs of an academic community. I received my MSIS from the University of Texas at Austin and an MA in anthropology from the University of Chicago. Since then, I have made a concerted effort to keep my knowledge and skills up to date through continued education, earning certificates in both the Digital Archives Specialist and Arrangement & Description programs, as well as taking the full suite of courses on DEI practices. My current work and research focus on co-collaborative efforts with Chicago’s community organizations and cultural centers, expanding their archival capacity while developing UIC’s collections to better reflect Chicago’s diverse history.

Statement of Interest:

I am interested in serving on the Steering Committee for the College & University Archives Section because I’d like the opportunity to give back to the professional community in a more significant way. I can’t imagine a more important time to get involved than the circumstances that we find ourselves in now, as we confront unprecedented challenges as academic archivists. I am especially interested in sharing ideas and resources to aid university archivists in supporting their students, researchers, and wider communities as we address financial constraints, threats to DEI initiatives, along with the myriad other challenges we’ve always faced. I believe my anthropology background and diverse work history would allow me to provide a valuable contribution to the Steering Committee, and I look forward to the opportunity to support the mission of this section.

DiAnna Hemsath

University of Nebraska Medical Center

Biographical Statement:  

DiAnna Hemsath is the archivist of the Robert S. Wigton Department of Special Collections and Archives at the University of Nebraska Medical Center’s McGoogan Health Sciences Library. Before joining the library in 2018, she spent the majority of her career working with university special collections. As such, she served as Curator and Collections Manager of the Kruger Collection at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and as a Technical Services Archivist at the University of Pennsylvania Archives and Records Center. As a Certified Archivist and Digital Archives Specialist, she is an active member of the Society of American Archivists, the Academy of Certified Archivists, and the Midwest Archives Conference.  

She believes that SAA volunteers should be service-oriented, collaborative, and accountable to the membership. Her involvement with SAA includes both leadership roles and session speaker.  

Statement of Interest:

It would be an honor to serve as a steering committee member of the Society of American Archivists College & University Archives Section Committee. As an archivist with over a decade of experience in university archives, I have a deep understanding of the administration, organization, and long-term care of institutional records—work that is fundamental to the mission of academic archives. I appreciate the unique role archives play within academic institutions, balancing administrative responsibilities with research accessibility and the preservation of institutional memory. My work is grounded in archival best practices, and I am well-versed in both traditional and digital preservation methods as well as metadata standards. 

In my role as archivist of the Robert S. Wigton Department of Special Collections and Archives at the University of Nebraska Medical Center’s Leon S. McGoogan Health Sciences Library, I have overseen the packing and relocation of collections for a major renovation, established intellectual control over holdings, and developed key policies and procedures. I have also initiated a processing program that addresses backlog and storage issues while shaping the collection to better reflect the broader historical narrative and development of the university. 

As an archivist at a medical university, I work with materials that are bound by both FERPA and HIPAA federal laws. Through the role of past chair of SAA’s Privacy and Confidentiality section, I promoted the section’s mission by providing resources to the membership through webinars, annual meetings, and other engagement activities. I have experience following SAA's annual schedule and deadlines for section leadership. Additionally, I am familiar with posting on SAA’s Connect and SAA’s microsite editing.  

Zachary Tompkins

LSU Special Collections

Biographical Statement:

Zachary Tompkins has been the University Archivist at LSU since 2019. He is a member of the LSU Special Collections curatorial, teaching, and research teams. As a curator, he is responsible for filling gaps in the institution’s shared memory, primarily by collecting records from former and current students to elevate their perspectives in the official record. He works with faculty to integrate the university history collections into their curricula and has developed archival projects on LSU’s literary history, social welfare and justice in Louisiana, desegregation in higher education, and more. He is the primary contact for research being conducted about the history of the university and has been a mentor for student research grants and collaborator faculty fellowships. Zach is the SAA Key Contact for Louisiana and has held leadership and committee appointments at various statewide and regional professional groups.

Statement of Interest:

At last year’s conference in Chicago, I made a post on Whova asking any and all university archives workers to meet up. We found a corner of the exhibition hall one day during lunch. We sat in a circle on the floor and listened to each other’s experiences, and as we were building community, we learned about a shared goal of capturing and elevating student experiences in the shared memories of our respective institutions. Shortly after I joined the library faculty at LSU in 2019, I began prioritizing the work of preserving student voices past and present. Six months into my job, the world shut down due to the coronavirus pandemic. Shortly after, the world witnessed the brutality of George Floyd’s death. Students at LSU marched on the campus and demanded that the university confront its own racist past. I spent the summer researching the thirteen problematic building names on our campus that had been identified by student leaders. Oftentimes, I was the only person in the library due to distancing rules. A colleague and I investigated the records of the university and furnished the university’s administration with the evidence they needed to remove the first name on the students’ list—the namesake of LSU’s main library building. Later that summer, the name came down. From that point, I chose to reorient my curatorial duties to preserving the records of students’ critical role in shaping policy at LSU. Three years later in the spring of 2023, I had the chance to meet A.P. Tureaud, Jr. who was the first Black student to integrate LSU in 1953. We built a relationship and later that year he donated his family papers to LSU

Special Collections. We have used this collection in numerous classes, and it became the centerpiece of a social welfare and justice course that was part of our faculty fellowship program. I want to join the steering committee to be an advocate for university archives workers whose work is aimed at repairing the relationships between their instructions and students who were marginalized from the official record. I want to cultivate a community of archives workers who can support one another as we navigate the multitude of difficulties we all face. I want to learn about what others are doing, so that I might improve my own work as archivist focused on creating a fairer and more inclusive memory of LSU.

Sarah Roberts

Michigan State University Archives and Historical Collections.

Biographical Statement:

Sarah Roberts received her MLS from the University of Wisconsin-Madison with a specialization in Archives in 2002 and BA in History from the University of Iowa in 2000.  She has been with the Michigan State University Archives and Historical collections since 2002.  Until fall 2024, she served as Acquisitions Archivist selecting materials, working with donors and departments, and accessioning new donations.  Since then, her position has transitioned to collection evaluation including deaccessioning.  Throughout her time at MSU, her duties have also included assisting researchers, processing collections, supervising students and serving on MSU Libraries’ committees.  Her committee work has included board member-at-large for the Michigan Archival Association (MAA) from 2010-2017 as well as chair of the MAA Marilyn McNitt Memorial Scholarship Committee from 2013-2017. From 2021 to 2024, she served as a steering committee member with the SAA Manuscript Repository section.

Statement of Interest:

I would like to serve as a committee member of the College and University Archives section to both bring value to other archivists as well as learn from them.  Since my term is up with the Manuscript Repositories section, I want to continue my service with SAA, but with a focus on college and university archives.  I believe this section is a wonderful resource for SAA members.  Although I have worked in a university setting all my career, I see this as a great opportunity to broaden my work by serving and collaborating with colleagues from other institutions.  Since my position has transitioned to collection evaluation, particularly deaccessioning, I would like to learn from and share knowledge with others on this topic.  We are all navigating unique challenges in our profession and at our institutions, I believe by working together and helping each other we can all benefit.