Academic Agenda
Monday, October 31- Sunday, November 6, 2022
Graduate Faculty Spotlight- Shannon Orr
Dr. Shannon Orr has been teaching at BGSU for 18 years and is Professor of Political Science and Director of the Falcon Food and Resource Community/Falcon Food Pantry. Her classes are broadly in the areas of public administration and sustainable development. The graduate students in her classes have completed more than 150 community based projects for clients including the National Park Service, Toledo Symphony, the Glass City Marathon, NASA, and city governments across the region. 
 
She has published two books, 18 journal articles and 3 book chapters. In addition to scholarly research, she also does community based work such as co-chairing the Bowling Green City Charter Review Commission, and developing the management plan for Old Woman Creek National Estuarine Research Reserve. 
 
During COVID, Shannon began volunteering with Brown Bag Food Project, a community food pantry in Bowling Green. That experience led to a passion for working in food insecurity. Today she is a board member and volunteer with Brown Bag, the Director of the Falcon Food Pantry and is currently working on a grant-funded book project on how food insecurity programs in the United States respond to challenges including the pandemic and inflation. The research includes a national survey of food pantries as well as focus groups/interviews with people working in the field. She is the Director of the new Falcon Food Pantry which provides a free bag of groceries to any BGSU student, faculty or staff member in need. The Pantry averages almost 500 visitors a month.
 
Shannon has been a curler for 15 years and also takes tap classes at The Beat Dance Studio. She is a proud dance mom of 15 year old Bella. She and her husband Marco (a BGSU Physics professor) enjoy cooking, traveling and watching disaster movies where the nerdy professor saves the day.