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In 2015-16, Dr. Menon completed the prestigious American Council on Education Fellowship program as a fellow in the president’s office at San Francisco State University. As part of that assignment, she explored effective models for university-wide initiatives on community engagement and design thinking for social innovation, at San Francisco State and Stanford University’s d.school.

Dr. Menon held several positions at Grand Valley State University including Associate Dean in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences and working on Community Engagement and Design Thinking for Social Innovation in the Provost’s Office. She served as chair of the biology department, co-director of an NSF project for STEM majors, co-director of an NSF ADVANCE project, inclusion advocate, mentor to faculty and department chairs, and as a trained mediator on campus. She was a member of a Claiming a Liberal Education Advisory Committee and a University Strategic Planning Committee and chaired a University Referendum Task Force.

As part of community engagement and professional service, Dr. Menon facilitated a Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) Mural Arts Project with Global Philadelphia Association and Mural Arts, co-chaired a diversity Initiative in Northwest Ottawa County called Lakeshore Ethnic Diversity Alliance- North (LEDA-North), and served on the Boards of Pierce Cedar Creek Institute, a non-profit for environmental education, and Campus Philly, a regional organization. She currently serves on the board of two national organizations: Asian and Pacific Americans in Higher Education (APAHE) and Council of Colleges of Arts and Sciences (CCAS).

Dr. Menon served as a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Massachusetts, Boston. She received a Presidential Fellowship and a University Fellowship to complete her Ph.D. at The Ohio State University through an interdisciplinary program in zoology, natural resources, and anthropology. She completed a M.S. in animal behavior and ecology at the University of South Carolina. In addition, she earned a master’s degree (animal physiology) and bachelor’s degree (biology) from Bombay University in Bombay, India.

Recent Leadership Training and Professional Development

2019-20: Ignatian Colleagues Program
2018-19: Academy for Innovative Higher Education Leadership, Georgetown University and Arizona State University)
2018: Digital Humanities Summer Institute
2015-16: ACE Fellow, President’s Office, San Francisco State University
2014: Harvard Institute for Management and Leadership in Education (MLE)
2012: Leadership Development Program for Higher Education (LEAP Advance)

Board Memberships

2020-Present: Board of Directors, Council of Colleges of Arts and Sciences (CCAS)
2017-Present: Board of Directors, Asian Pacific Americans in Higher Education (APAHE)
2018-2021: Board of Directors, Campus Philly
2013-2017: Board of Trustees, Willard G. Pierce and Jessie M. Pierce Foundation
2011-2017: Pierce Cedar Creek Biological Field Station Advisory Board

Selected Grants (Principal Investigator)

2020-21: NEH CARES Strengthening the Humanities Core and Supporting Contingent Faculty During COVID-19 ($294,471)

2017: NSF S-STEM Retaining and Inspiring Students in Science and Engineering (RISE), Submitted by Menon as PI, Awarded after Menon left GVSU ($1M)

2012-14: NSF WIDER (Widening Implementation and Demonstration of Evidence-based Reforms) to conduct an Inventory of Instructional Practices at GVSU ($150,000)

2011-16: NSF STEM Mentoring, Academic Support, and Scholarships for Science Students (MAS4) to support undergraduate students in the sciences ($600,000)

2009-10: American Rhododendron Society grant on predictive modeling for conservation of endangered, rare and endemic rhododendron species in NE India ($5,000)

2006-10: NSF ADVANCE PAID (Partnerships for Adaptation, Implementation and Dissemination) grant to increase participation and advancement of women in science and engineering ($500,000)

M. Z. Islam, S. Menon, X. Li, and A. T. Peterson. 2013. Forecasting Ecological Impacts of Sea-level Rise on Coastal Conservation Areas in India. Journal of Threatened Taxa 5(9): 4349-4358.

Menon, S., M. L. Khan, A. Paul, and A. T. Peterson. 2012. Rhododendron species in the Indian Eastern Himalayas: New approaches to understanding rare plant species distributions. Journal of American Rhododendron Society Spring 2012: 78-84.

Peterson, A. T., S. Menon, and X. Li. 2010. Recent advances in the climate change biology literature: Describing the whole elephant. Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews: Climate Change. DOI: 10.1002/wcc.59.

Menon, S., B. I. Choudhury, M. L. Khan, and A. T. Peterson. 2010. Ecological niche modeling predicts new populations of Gymnocladus assamicus, a critically endangered tree species. Endangered Species Research 11:175-181.

Menon, S., J. Soberón, X. Li, and A. T. Peterson. 2010. Preliminary global assessment of biodiversity consequences of sea level rise mediated by climate change. Biodiversity and Conservation 19 (6):1599-1609. DOI: 10.1007/s10531-010-9790-4.

Other Recent Publications

Menon, S. 2020. A new way of thinking about service learning at Saint Joseph’s. Connections, Association of Jesuit Colleges and Universities, Spring Issue.

Menon, S. et al. 2017. The nuts and bolts of Civic Action Planning: Grand Valley State University’s Story. A Campus Compact blog post.

Menon, S. 2016. A different Ending. Short Story. Stories of the Week: 2016-17, Narrative Magazine.

Menon, S. 2015. Befriended. Short Story. Stories of the Week: 2015-16, Narrative Magazine.

Menon, S. 2014. Effects of biases and schemas in the stories we tell. Grand Haven Tribune Community Column, October 28, 2014.

Menon, S. 2011. Climate Change, Biodiversity and Sustainability in the Americas: Impacts and Adaptations. Book Review. The Quarterly Review of Biology 86(3): 220.

Menon, S. 2010. Stories I Would Have Written. Short Story. Halfway Down the Stairs. (published as M. Noisel)

Menon, S. 2010. Natural Climate Variability and Global Warming: A Holocene Perspective. Book Review. The Quarterly Review of Biology 85:494-495.

Recent Presentations

Bringing the Liberal Arts to all Majors, Panel discussion. Council of Colleges of Arts and Sciences (CCAS) Annual Meeting, November 2020. Virtual Conference.

A Liberal Arts Approach to Climate Change Education. Keynote Address. Climate Change Education Solutions Summit (CCESS), October 2020, Virtual Conference.

Creating and Sustaining Equitable Campuses: Advancing Inclusive Excellence in Times of Change and Uncertainty. Panel presentation, Council of Colleges of Arts and Sciences Meeting November 2019, Atlanta, GA.

Celebrating the Pipeline: Alternative Forms of Leadership. Council of Colleges of Arts and Sciences Annual Meeting November 2018, Chicago IL.

MI ACE Senior Level Leadership Job Shadow Program: Moving the Needle. Panel presentation at the MI-ACE Women’s Network Conference, June 6, 2017. Lansing, MI.

Diversity, Ethics, Courage, and Survival: A year of campus unrest. Panel presentation at the ACE Fellows Closing Retreat. June 2016. Washington D.C.

Forecasting Sea-level Rise Impacts on Coastal Conservation Areas in India. Invited Presentation. July 14, 2010. Bombay Natural History Society (BNHS), Mumbai, India.

Ecological Niche Modeling and Ecological Forecasting. Invited presentation. July 7, 2010, Botany Department, Delhi University, New Delhi.