Honors for Three Academic Women

Sheryl A. Sorby, professor of mechanical engineering at Michigan Technological University, was honored with the 2011 Sharon Keillor Award for Women in Engineering Education from the American Society of Engineering Education.

Dr. Sorby received her Ph.D. in engineering from Michigan Tech in 1991. In accepting the award, Professor Sorby said, “Things have changed for women in engineering since I started down this path. They aren’t perfect, but it has gotten better.”

Kaja Silverman, the Katherine Stein Sachs and Keith L. Sachs Professor of Art History at the University of Pennsylvania, received the Distinguished Achievement Award from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation for her “exemplary contributions to humanistic scholarship.” Professor Silverman will receive $1,5 million over the next six years to support her scholarship.

Professor Silverman came to Penn in 2010 after teaching at the University of California at Berkeley. She holds a Ph.D. in English from Brown University.

Autumn K. Tooms, professor and director of the Center for Educational Leadership at the University of Tennessee, received the 2011 William J. Davis Award for outstanding research in educational administration from the American Educational Research Association.

Dr. Tooms is a graduate of Arizona State University. She holds a master’s degree from Northern Arizona University and an educational doctorate from Arizona State.