Autumn Rain
Autumn is the CFA’s Manager of Faculty Initiatives.
My role in the CFA
I work closely with Dr. Niyati Parekh, Associate Vice Provost of Faculty Initiatives & Global Engagement, and the entire CFA team to strengthen and scale programs focused on advancing faculty excellence—as scholars, educators, leaders, and members of our global campuses and communities. I work with Dr. Parekh to provide programming that supports and amplifies professional excellence throughout the journeys of full-time tenure-track, contract, and clinical faculty.
Most enjoyable thing about my work
I really enjoy the leadership styles and team dynamics at the CFA! The excellence and expertise represented by the team are matched by deep respect and appreciation for each person’s contribution to realizing our collective goals. From data-driven leadership and program design to creating innovative faculty resources, super efficient operations, and fantastic media, the CFA team is stellar within and across units and roles. I am thrilled to be a part of the team!
How my previous work relates to my new role at the CFA
Working in the Office of Global Inclusion (OGI) taught me so much about inclusive leadership and cross-functional strategies for realizing institutional equity through an intersectional lens. My work on OGI Global Faculty Engagement and Innovation initiatives directly aligns with my new CFA portfolio. I deeply appreciate the perspectives and learnings that I carry with me!
I deeply appreciate the perspectives and learnings that I carry with me
Left to right: Christopher Crain, Grace Turner, Autumn Rain, and Michael Blakey at the 2007 opening of the African Burial Ground National Monument in Manhattan. Photo courtesy of the Institute for Historical Biology, College of William & Mary.
Proudest recent accomplishment outside work
I am co-editing a book, Beyond the African Burying Ground, with Michael L. Blakey, NEH Professor of Anthropology at William & Mary. As a graduate student at William & Mary, I was a skeletal biologist, Senior Research Associate, and Associate Director of the Institute for Historical Biology, where I worked with Michael Blakey in his advisory role during the development of the African Burial Ground National Monument visitor center in Manhattan.
Working on a book that demonstrates the reverberating impact and resonance of the New York African Burial Ground research model and outcomes is profoundly meaningful and also humbling. The volume features over 20 international scholars who use the clientage model of public-engaged research, centering the authority of descendant and indigenous communities. The model emerged through Michael Blakey’s work as Scientific Director of the New York African Burial Ground Research Project. The significance of the African Burial Ground in New York as a reclaimed sacred site, a memorial site, and a historical monument has been a throughline in most of my academic journey.
Someone who inspires me professionally
I have a deep admiration for Dr. Alondra Nelson’s leadership as a scholar and policy advisor. The Social Life of DNA is an example of Dr. Nelson’s analysis of science and technology as tools generated from and embedded in sociocultural and historical processes—and that have often been employed to naturalize and legitimize social inequity. She leverages this understanding within her leadership roles to communicate the power, importance, and promise of critically informed research and policies for social equity outcomes. I was thrilled when I learned she was awarded the 2025 NYU Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Humanitarian Award!
Christin Drake
Clinical Associate Professor, Department of Psychiatry
As a colleague, I learned and continue to learn from Autumn about the importance of building and nurturing communities in universities. Autumn has inspired me to make the people with whom I share responsibilities feel as important as Autumn makes us all feel. As an academic, I learned from Autumn to have deep reverence for the impact of history—of place, of context, of biology—on everything that we seek to better understand through our work.
Robyn Weiss
Assistant Vice President, Accessibility and Inclusive Culture
I started collaborating with Autumn in the fall of 2024. For many years, my approach to disability was primarily focused on compliance as a means of ensuring accessibility. From the outset of our collaboration, Autumn has emphasized the importance of adopting a holistic perspective on inclusion, reminding me to consider how disability intersects with other identities to enhance our ability to engage with diverse audiences.