This committee has the primary function of nominating candidates for elected positions at ERUUF. The goal of the Committee is to recognize, nurture, and call upon the talents and gifts of a wide cross section of the congregation who are willing and able to represent the Fellowship as a whole.
We work to provide an open and inclusive process to develop and sustain ERUUF leaders, and so we consider all ERUUF members with an interest in an available elected position. In making nominations we try to build a team of members with complementary talents. The election process is open since any member may petition to join the ballot. We also help ERUUF leaders connect with non-elected positions where they fit.
The Nominating Committee consists of seven members of ERUUF who serve for terms of three years. The terms are staggered, such that two or three positions will typically be filled each year. A member of the Board of Trustees serves as a non-voting liaison.
Documents and Forms
Job descriptions for the Board of Trustees, Healthy Congregations Committee, and Nominating Committee along with nomination and petition forms can be found by clicking the button below.
Members of the Nominating Committee
Sloan Alday
I moved to the Triangle in 2022 and quickly began to visit places of worship. ERUUF provided the kind of diverse, social justice-oriented space I wanted, and I was delighted to become a member in the Spring of 2023. At ERUUF, I serve on the Coffee Team and have been a part of two different Chalice Circles. Professionally, I work as a Clinical Psychologist at the VA in Durham and absolutely love what I do! When I’m not working or at ERUUF, I enjoy walking in the woods and working with yarn. I live in Durham with my adult son, Sam, and our two cats, Pip and Charlie.
Susan Baylies
Susan began attending ERUUF in the mid 90’s and has found her wider community of caring people here. She has taught RE for many years, served on the Coffee team, has co-founded the current Eno River CUUPS group, sings with the Beloved Community Chorus, participates in a chalice circle, and has joined in many social justice initiatives throughout her time here.
She lives with her life partner, Vance Hunter, and has one married son who also lives in Durham. She is a Democratic Precinct Chair in her neighborhood. She has always created her own path as a creative self-employed person. She still works in her first business, Snake and Snake Productions, designing t-shirts and selling lunar cards. She tutors some children in her second business, Pathway to English, which was actually inspired by some ERUUF volunteer work she did teaching English to Montagnard refugees over 20 years ago.
Mark Kuhn
Mark has been an ERUUF member for more than 30 years. He has taught religious exploration, has served on the board of the Fellowship, and served on the board of the Eno River Fellowship Foundation. He currently serves on the Business Finance Advisory Committee. Mark thinks ERUUF plays a vital role in our community and is a place for kindred spirits to gather and accomplish good in the world.
Rebecca Martinez Fitzgerald
Rebecca Martinez Fitzgerald (she/her) is a nominee to the Nominating Committee. Rebecca is a clinical social worker and former public radio journalist, and she counts her lucky stars that people entrust her with stories about their fears, strengths and hopes everyday. Rebecca strives to be complicit in acts of justice and to support the empowerment of BIPOC, LGBTQ+, disabled and immigrant neighbors. Over the last decade at ERUUF, Rebecca has served as a visitor host, OWL teacher, and campout coordinator, and Halloween costume contest runner-up. This community is a source of connection and inspiration for Rebecca, her spouse and their child, and she hopes to support it by finding well-suited leadership candidates for ERUUF's continued growth and development.
Clint McSherry
Clint is a middle child from a family of 12 siblings who managed two auto parts stores for ten years until he returned to college to complete his undergraduate degree. Not wanting to stop learning, he completed his PhD in Clinical Psychology, then a two-year postdoctoral research fellowship at Johns Hopkins in the Pulmonary Medicine department focused on nicotine dependence and smoking cessation. Clint worked as a Health Psychologist in the VA for 25 years, which brought him and Flynn to Durham in 2011.
Clint loves nearly everything about ERUUF, and has served on the Stewardship team, Foundation board, Safety team, Small Ministry team, Visitor Host team, and other roles. He is a dedicated nontheist secular humanist who believes in the powers of reason and love to unite us For good.
Cheryl Turney
I came to ERUUF in 1991 looking for a religious education program for my 6-year old daughter and found my spiritual home. Though never having belonged to a congregation, it took me 2 years to take the plunge and become a member. I saw myself as a seeker rather than a joiner. Yet joining ERUUF was one of the best things I’ve ever done.
Over the years I’ve participated in many ERUUF activities and served the fellowship in various roles. I’ve been a greeter, baked cookies and casseroles for the Urban Ministries Shelter, sung in the choir, organized Dinners in Homes, participated in a Chalice Circle and facilitated Adult Programs. I served as chair of the Adult Enrichment Committee in 1993-1995 and then explored service to ERUUF in governance roles, serving 2 terms on the Board of Trustees: in 1995-1998 and then again in 2008-2011. Between my terms on the Board I served on a couple of ministerial search committees.
In 2012 I stepped back a bit from ERUUF in order to focus my energies outside of work on the risky endeavor of creating a cohousing community in downtown Durham. We were a group of 9 people in 2009 who shared a vision and decided to find others to help make it a reality. We talked and worked and had potlucks and meetings, and then more meetings. In the Summer of 2014 our new home was ready and we started to move in. Yet I hadn’t totally abandoned ERUUF and in 2013 I participated in the eye-opening Dismantling Racism workshop and a related White Awareness Group.
On returning more fully to ERUUF in 2015 I also returned to an interest in Earth-based spirituality and joined the Earth Justice (EJ) Action Group of the Justice Ministry Council. I served as co-facilitator of the EJ Action group from 2016-2019. Then there was COVID. As activities at ERUUF began to resume after the worst of the pandemic, I agreed to serve a 2-year term as co-moderator of the Justice Ministry Council in 2021-2023 and enjoyed a brief involvement in Durham CAN. In 2023 I also had the peak experience of joining ERUUF’s Montgomery Pilgrimage.
So many opportunities to engage and serve! I’m ready for what’s next.
Bev Wedda
Bev joined ERUUF with her spouse Denise in 2016 shortly after relocating to Durham from central MA to be closer to Denise’s mom and family. Having come from a much smaller UU congregation, she joined a Chalice Circle to foster deeper connection with a small group of members and friends first. She soon became a group leader, then joined the program’s Steering Team where she’s been serving for a number of years, currently as Co-Chair. She’s served for brief times as an RE teacher and on the Coffee Hour team. She’s participated in Pride+, Multicultural and Earth Justice activities, and often provides background event support for larger Earth Justice and Justice Ministry gatherings. She has attended a number of ERUUF’s REI trainings and the Transgender Inclusion in Congregation training.
Bev works part-time as a Primary Care Physician and Educator with the Durham VA Healthcare System and is especially passionate about the Whole Health approach to Veteran care being adopted at sites across the country. Outside of work, she enjoys being outdoors hiking, bicycling, gardening and kayaking. She’s a plot owner at Briggs Ave. Community Garden in Durham and a member of the Harvest team that gathers produce weekly for donation to the food pantry at Durham Tech.
She hopes to bring her experiences and skills in service as an effective member of the Nominating Committee.
