Allison Weiner Heinemann

Allison Weiner Heinemann is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Labor Relations, Law, and History and the Director of Writing at the School of Industrial and Labor Relations. Her teaching and research focus on disability law, intersectional approaches to disability studies, and writing pedagogy. She is the recipient of a Stephen H. Weiss Teaching Award, the highest recognition at Cornell for excellence in undergraduate teaching. She has also received the MacIntyre Award for Exemplary Teaching, and has twice been a recipient of the Robert N. Stern Award for Teaching and Mentoring. She has been named six times by Merrill Presidential Scholar recipients as the Cornell faculty member who most significantly contributed to their college experience. She serves as the founding and current advisor to Perspectives: The Cornell Undergraduate Journal of Disability Studies, as well as the advisor to the Disability Advocates Union (DAU) at Cornell. She holds a Ph.D. in comparative literature from Yale University and an A.B., summa cum laude, from Bryn Mawr College.

Teaching Statement 

At ILR, I have the privilege of instructing students in advanced writing seminars on how to develop sustainable techniques for clear, well-organized, and well-developed writing. My course focuses topically on the disability experience through a variety of disciplinary texts, from historical documents to legal cases to contemporary first-person accounts, through both theoretical and applied perspectives. Careful, attentive discussion of the texts in question, which is often a new practice for students primarily used to large lecture classes, brings a heightened awareness of the importance of language, whether through our analytical examination of the history of words used to classify disability in policy and law, or the close interpretation of a single term upon which a Supreme Court decision hinges. In working through such modeled inquiries in small groups and in class discussion, students begin to understand the implications of the linguistic choices that they make in their own papers, as well as the constant need for precision--the hallmark of good writing.

Further, the disability studies sequence affords me a unique opportunity to educate ILR students—in addition to the many students from across the university who are attracted to our important program—on inclusion and equity for people with disabilities in the workplace, and beyond. In doing so, I necessarily make clear that we must be attentive to the heterogeneity of perspectives and lived experiences, especially of multiply-marginalized individuals, within the disability community. Thus, I consistently strive to center and amplify those experiences within our course materials, as well as invite guest speakers with lived experience from the Cornell and greater communities. I am committed to not only teaching about, but in accordance with, Universal Design principles.

I also view my honors thesis advising as a central component of my teaching. While I want my students to feel confident about independently developing and pursuing substantive research and scholarship, I firmly believe in providing close, attentive feedback on both students' process and writing, so as to allow for the richest intellectual dialogue and growth possible.

I consider a great deal of my pedagogical work to additionally happen outside of structured classroom experiences. That includes one-on-one meetings with students, especially for my writing seminar students who are required to have conferences with me, but who also wonderfully elect to consult with me as much as possible during the writing process. While I always seek in my actual classrooms to create a space in which students can ask for clarification without any inhibition, freely and meaningfully exchange ideas, and even voice their own lived experiences, I also ensure that I am widely available outside of the classroom to facilitate further opportunities for learning and for sharing.

Research Statement 

Contributor to Sex, Identity, Aesthetics: The Work of Tobin Siebers and Disability Studies, ed. by Jina B. Kim, Joshua Kupetz, Crystal Yin Lie, and Cynthia Wu. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 2021: https://www.press.umich.edu/11769364/sex_identity_aesthetics

Service Statement 

By appointment of the Tompkins County Legislature, I serve on the Developmental Disabilities Subcommittee of the Mental Health Community Services Board.