Biography
Darla Schumm is the Associate Provost and Professor of Religious Studies at Hollins University—a small liberal arts college for women in Roanoke, Virginia. Her research interests are located at the nexus of religious and critical disability studies, gender and religion, social ethics, and comparative religions. Schumm writes and presents for public and scholarly audiences. She is the co-editor of four books in comparative religion and disability, most recently Disability and World Religions: An Introduction (Baylor University Press, 2016). She is currently writing a crossover book tentatively titled Redeeming, Ruining, and Reimagining Disability and Religion: Extraordinary Stories about How Ordinary People with Disabilities Experience God and Religious Life. Schumm is a disability rights advocate, especially for students and faculty with disabilities, and recently penned two op eds for Inside Higher Ed: “Why Higher Ed Needs Leaders with Disabilities” (September 25, 2022) and “It’s Time for Crip Time” (June 26, 2022). Schumm has been active at the national and regional levels of AAR for over twenty-five years.
Candidate Statement
I am delighted to be nominated for the at-large director position of the AAR. I attended my first annual meeting in 1996 as a doctoral student, and I have been an active member of the guild ever since. I regularly participate in the AAR as a presenter, respondent, panel and special topic forum convener, and mentor. As the lone faculty member in religious studies at my university, the connections I cultivated over the years through the AAR proved critically important to my development as a scholar, teacher, administrator, and leader. I have been an active leader at the regional and national levels of AAR. I was honored to be an inaugural member of the Status Committee for People with Disabilities (PWD) in the Profession, and to serve as chair of the PWD Committee for the last three years of my term. During my tenure with the PWD committee, we worked with the other status committees to promote safety policies and procedures, best practices for hiring and professional conduct, accessibility and inclusion for all AAR members, and more. I collaborated with status committee colleagues to plan sessions for the annual meeting highlighting the cutting-edge research of minoritized scholars. My time on the PWD status committee brought into bold relief that although progress has been made, there is still much work left to do, and I will work tirelessly as an at-large director to ensure equity, inclusion, and accessibility for all AAR members.
I was also involved in leadership in my AAR region—Southeast Commission for the Study of Religion (SECSOR). I chaired the ethics section of SECSOR for two terms, and then was elected vice-president and president. My leadership at the regional level provided a window into the ways that the regions are particularly poised to support graduate students, faculty at smaller institutions, and contingent faculty, who are important AAR members whose issues the guild must continue to elevate.
The Board of Directors guides the strategic direction of the AAR. Our guild is entering a critical phase of development as we prepare to welcome a new executive director, continue to process the ways the Covid-19 pandemic impacts student and faculty learning and wellbeing, contend with divisive national debates around social justice concerns such as racism, immigration, or abortion, and confront growing skepticism about the value of a liberal education. I am committed to thinking with you about these important issues, and to ensuring that the AAR remains actively engaged in the public arena.
I am eager to get to work representing your issues and concerns. My long-term involvement with the AAR prepared me well to take on this new role. I am ready to collaborate with you to move the AAR forward and make certain that not only the AAR, but also the study and teaching of religion remain vital contributors to conversations held in the public square.