Executive

, President, joined the Department of Building, Civil and Environmental Engineering in 2006. Prior to earning his M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Civil Engineering from Louisiana State University in 2003 and 2006, respectively, he worked as an Assistant Lecturer in the Transportation Faculty at the Polytechnic University of Bucharest between 1997 and 2001, where he also earned a B.Eng. degree in transportation and an M. Eng. diploma in the same field. Since joining Concordia University his area of research has focused on traffic operations and safety, with an emphasis on using computational intelligence and traffic simulation models. He is a professional engineer registered in Ontario and his work with CUFA spans over more than a decade, serving as a member of the CUFA Council (2010-2018), the Joint Grievance committee (2015-2017), the CUFA negotiation team (2014-2015, 2017-2018, 2022-2023), the CUFA executive since 2019.

Telephone: 514-848-2424, extension 8769

, Vice President, is a Professor of Sociology in the Department of Sociology and Anthropology. Prior to joining the department in 2003, she was an Assistant Professor at Memorial University of Newfoundland (2002-2003) and an (LTA) Assistant Professor at Queen’s University in Kingston (2001-2002), where she also completed her M.A. (1996) and PhD (2001). Her research has focused on disease classification, medical racialism, and reproductive decision-making. Her current research projects include a study of health promotion and responsibilisation in university health clinics; mothers who choose to live apart from their children; and a book about her mother’s holocaust survival. Shelley returns to the CUFA Executive having previously served for many years as a CUFA Councilor, Member-at-large, Communications Officer, and Secretary. She has represented CUFA on the Board of Governors Benefits Standing Committee (to which she is also returning) and the Pension Standing Committee. She has also been a CAUT Defence Fund Trustee and a Member-at-large of the CAUT Executive.

Telephone: 514-848-2424, extension 2174

, Secretary, is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Sociology and Anthropology.  He was appointed to his current position in 2000. Prior to 2000, he taught at Concordia as a part-time instructor and also worked as an analyst in the Faculty of Arts and Science. Aaron Brauer teaches statistics in traditional face-to-face classes and in an online format, and has a particular interest in using technology to foster student engagement. He is currently serving as Member-At-large of the CUFA Executive (2019-21), after having completed two term as Secretary (2017-19; 2015-17) and Member-At-Large (2013-15). He is also serving as a Trustee of the CAUT Defense Fund (2012-present). He was Secretary of the CUFA Executive (2009-11; 2011-13), a member of the FQPPU ad hoc committee on e-Learning (2010-2013), a member of the CUFA negotiating team (2006-09), an alternate member of the University Salary Committee (2005-09), and a Member-at-Large of the CUFA Executive (2004-06).

Telephone: 514-848-2424, extension 7333

, Past President, started teaching in the finance department at Concordia University in 1993 after extensive industry experience. He received his BSc degree from McGill University where he majored in mathematics and his MBA degree from Concordia University. He earned his PhD from Concordia in 2000. In 1997-1998 he taught at Wilfred Laurier University in Waterloo, Ontario where he received a commendation for teaching excellence. He regularly teaches courses at undergraduate and graduate levels in corporate finance, fixed income securities, equity valuation and derivatives. He has also taught courses in business statistics and in operations research. His research interests are in the microstructure of new and secondary equity offerings as well as the efficiency of Canadian capital markets. He has recently added sustainable investing to his list of research topics. He has published articles in the Journal of Banking and Finance, Multinational Finance, Engineering Economist, The Canadian Investment Review and the Journal of the Operational Research Society. He is the only two-time winner of the Gold Prize for outstanding paper awarded in an annual contest sponsored by the Montreal Society of Financial Analysts where he also served on the society’s board of directors. He completed the requirements for the Chartered Financial Analyst designation in 2001.  He directed the Investment MBA Program at Concordia University’s Goodman Institute of Investment Management for over ten years. This specialized MBA Program links the requirements of the CFA curriculum with the academic requirements of a traditional MBA degree. Since 2018, Dr. Rakita has been President of the Concordia University Faculty Association and has helped navigate the union through challenging times due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Telephone: 514-848-2424, extension 2786

, Treasurer, has been a Professor of Economics at Concordia since his arrival in 2006.  He is a graduate of Wilfrid Laurier University (Hon. BA) and the University of Western Ontario (MA and Ph.D.).  Paul has previously worked as an economist at the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland and a professor at the University of Iowa and Simon Fraser University. Paul’s teaching includes macroeconomics, monetary economics and international finance at the graduate and undergraduate levels.  He is a quantitative macroeconomist whose research includes the study of business cycles, international finance, the effects of monetary and fiscal policy on the economy, the determinants of unemployment, the effects of labor market policies on unemployment and labor market participation, the interaction of epidemiology and macroeconomics.  Paul is an associate editor at the Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, and the European Economic Review.  He contributes to a blog (econsnapshot.com) on current economic conditions in the United States.  Prior to joining the executive as Treasurer, Paul was a CUFA councillor (2024-25) and served on the Joint Employment Equity Committee (JEEC) from 2008 to 2012.

Telephone: 514-848-2424, extension 3934

, Member-at-Large, is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Psychology. Theresa joined the department in 2003 as an LTA, taught part-time from 2006-2008, and was hired as an ETA in 2008. Trained in sport psychology (PhD, University of Western Australia), Theresa teaches several courses in the psychology department including quantitative research methods, qualitative inquiry, health psychology, social psychology, sport psychology, and science communication. Theresa has a special interest in curriculum design, particularly experiential learning and the effective use of AI and other technologies in the classroom. Theresa previously served on the CUFA Executive (Member-at-Large, 2014-2018), the Board of Governors (2016-2017), the President’s Task Force on Sexual Misconduct and Sexual Violence (2018), the Joint Grievance Committee (2020-2021), and the Faculty of Arts & Science Curriculum Committee (2020-2022). She is currently a member of Senate (2023-2026) and will soon be joining the Senate Steering Committee (2024-2025) and the Board of Governors for a three-year mandate (2024-2027).

Telephone: 514-848-2424, extension 2217

, Member-at-Large, received his PhD (research and intervention) in organizational psychology from the Université de Montréal in 2005. His first faculty position was in the Department of Psychology of Université de Sherbrooke (2003-2012), where he served as council member for SPPUS (union) while being a licenced organizational psychologist. He then moved to Australia to join the Centre for Positive Psychology and Education (2012-2014; University of Western Sydney), which then became the Institute for Positive Psychology and Education (2014-2016 Australian Catholic University). He came back to his hometown of Montreal in 2017 when he joined the Department of Psychology of Concordia University. Alex defines himself as a lifespan developmental psychologist, with broad research interests anchored in the social determinants of psychological well-being at various life stages and in various settings, such as schools and organizations. Many of his 350+ publications are anchored in a substantive-methodological synergy framework, representing joint ventures in which new methodological and statistical developments are applied to substantively important issues. Methodologically, he is known for his work related to bifactor exploratory structural equation modeling, person-centered analyses, longitudinal analyses, and psychometric validations. Consistent with his multidisciplinary focus, he has been identified as a “Highly Cited Researcher” in the cross-field category by the Web of Science since 2019. More information on his work can be found on his lab’s webpage: https://smslabstats.weebly.com/

Telephone: 514-848-2424, extension 3533

, Member-at-Large, is Associate Professor at the History Department, Co-Director of the Media History Research Centre, and Co-Director of the Media and Materiality Cluster of Milieux at Concordia. She joined Concordia in 2005 and co-funded the Centre for Oral History and Digital Storytelling in 2006, serving as its co-Director in 2006-2011. She was co-Director of the Media History Research Centre in 2018-2019 and 2023-2025. She served as CUFA Councilor for History and Irish Studies in 2011-2015, 2020-2021, and 2024-2025. Her training is in U.S. History and Cultural Studies. She has written a book, articles, and book chapters about U.S. radio history; the history of independent music; music recommendation, recognition, and mastering algorithms; film translation; Global South cinema networks; Soviet international film festivals; and the relationship between decolonizing and nonaligned countries with the socialist world during the Global Cold War. Her work has appeared in Russian, Italian, and Czech as well as English. All her writing is available at http://elenarazlogova.org

Telephone: 514-848-2424, extension 5074