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Image description: Nell, a white woman with short black hair, wears thick, black-rimmed glasses and smiles at the camera. She also wears a collared, button-up shirt that is white with a dark quatrefoil pattern; a black and gold diagonal stripe bow tie; and a glass pendant necklace. She is outside on a sunny day and leans back on the concrete structure behind her.
Nell Koneczny joined AAA in June 2019 as the new Accessibility and Meetings Coordinator. In this role, Nell is responsible for the development and direction of the Association’s accessibility and accommodation initiatives for AAA’s meetings, conferences, and communications. Nell works with staff and members to promote disability and accessibility culture within the Association. She also supports the logistics for the AAA Annual Meeting, section spring meetings, and the call for papers process for both the Annual Meeting and section meetings.
As a graduate student at the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC), Nell co-organized the Chicago Disability Studies Conference for two years while ensuring its accessibility. She also spearheaded the development and campus-wide dissemination of the Accessible Classrooms Training as one of two student co-chairs of the Subcommittee on Disabled Student Experiences. Additionally, she contributed to the restructuring of UIC’s introductory disability and human development undergraduate course and implemented multiple accessible practices in a large-enrollment course context.
Nell earned her MS in disability and human development at the University of Illinois at Chicago and her BA in anthropology and European studies from Vanderbilt University. She identifies as a white, hearing, sighted, physically disabled, and neurodivergent queer woman. Outside her work on disability and accessibility issues, she adores Disney, Pokémon, dinosaurs, and animals, especially reptiles.
Cite as: Koneczny, Nell. 2019. “New AAA Staff: Nell Koneczny” Anthropology News website, September 9, 2019. DOI: 10.1111/AN.1256