Dr. Cecilia Herles, the Assistant Director of the Institute for Women’s Studies, is a Senior Academic Professional who earned her Ph.D. in Philosophy (2006) and graduate certificates in Women’s Studies and Environmental Ethics from the University of Georgia. She was a Service-Learning Fellow in 2009-2010, and has developed service-learning courses on The Gendered Politics of Food and Environment, Gender, Race, Class. She has also created a course on North American Asian Feminisms and serves as a member of the NWSA (National Women’s Studies Association) NAAF caucus. She is the recipient of the Service-Learning Teaching Excellence Award (2019), the Creative Teaching Award (2016), the Sustainable UGA Outstanding Faculty Award (2016), and the Certificate of Merit for Excellence in Academic Advising.

Dr. Herles’ publications have focused on ecological feminisms, gender and violence, service-learning, food, sustainability, and feminist pedagogy, and she has mentored student research on various issues including colorism, food insecurity, food waste, community learning, and climate change. She is the undergraduate coordinator and advisor to undergraduate students in Women’s Studies, and she currently serves as the faculty advisor for WSSO, Campus Kitchen Project at UGA, and Triota Honor Society. She participated in a USDA Higher Education grant on Food Scholars, served as President of the board of The Cottage Sexual Assault Center and Children's Advocacy Center and was a 2025-2026 Georgia Women's Policy Institute Fellow. She has recently joined the Classic City Rotary Club.