Amy Ferrer has been Executive Director of the APA since 2012. She holds a bachelor’s degree in women’s studies and a master’s degree in public policy and administration, both from the University of Massachusetts Amherst. She has spent more than fifteen years in nonprofit management, having previously worked for national and regional organizations focusing on civil liberties, public health, and advocacy.
What do you do at the APA?
As executive director, I’m responsible in some way for just about everything the APA does. I work with the other members of the APA staff to serve and support our members, organize divisional meetings, plan communications, manage the APA finances, and facilitate the work of the board and committees, including the executive committee of each division. I serve on the APA board of officers and work closely with the board chair and the divisional secretary-treasurers on both day-to-day and big picture issues. And I also represent the APA to our partner organizations, such as the American Council of Learned Societies and National Humanities Alliance.
What is your favorite part of your job?
I really enjoy participating in meetings and conferences—APA divisional meetings as well as other conferences and events. I enjoy the travel, but more importantly, conferences are wonderful opportunities to meet and spend time with friends and colleagues I otherwise interact with mostly through email (or Zoom). APA meetings are an especially valuable venue for connecting with APA members and members of APA committees and task forces, and those conversations often lead directly to changes in how the APA does things. Other conferences, like the American Council of Learned Societies annual meeting and the National Humanities Conference, provide opportunities to learn from and share with leaders of other scholarly societies and organizations.
What are you most proud of in your professional life?
I’m proud of just how much the APA has changed and developed over the past decade. The association has modernized and professionalized in all sorts of ways. There have been lots of administrative changes that are mostly invisible to members, but that make it possible for the association to be more efficient and do more with less. But more visibly, over the last ten years the APA launched a journal and a blog, added at-large members to the board, established the Graduate Student Council, partnered with the PhilPapers Foundation to create PhilJobs: Jobs for Philosophers, secured grants from both the Mellon Foundation and the National Endowment for the Humanities, held its first virtual meetings, created the APA Live online event series and APA On Demand video library, and so much more. It’s been a lot of work, but really rewarding to see how much the APA staff and leadership have accomplished together.
What do you like to do outside work?
My husband and I are beer nerds and beer tourists, so we love to visit breweries wherever we go and taste the best of the local offerings. We’re especially big fans of Dogfish Head and usually make a trip to their brewpub in Rehoboth Beach, DE, a few times a year—they always have new brews for us to try.
I also enjoy cooking and got into baking bread during the pandemic (cliché, I know). My favorite thing to bake these days is sourdough popovers—they’re surprisingly easy and remind me of going to the Jordan Pond House in Acadia National Park in Maine, which I did every year growing up.
And I spend probably too much time watching TV—mostly the Great British Bake-Off (and all its spinoffs), RuPaul’s Drag Race (and all its spinoffs), and just about anything in the true crime genre.
Do you have any pets? If so, tell us about them.
Three cats! Brothers Ajax and Orion, who are just over a year old, and Persephone, who’s about seven. They’re the best.
What is your least favorite type of fruit and why?
Bananas. I hate the flavor of them and can detect it even in tiny amounts. I basically can’t ever order a smoothie because they’re always tainted with banana.
Which super power would you like to have?
Teleportation. I love to travel but not the hassle of getting there. My philosopher husband insists it’s not possible (and would kill me anyway), but I’m still holding out hope.
