Four Women Named to Distinguished Professorships

Kate Flint was appointed Provost Professor of English and Art History at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles. She was chair of the department of English at Rutgers University in New Jersey. She previously taught at Bristol University and Oxford University.

Dr. Flint holds bachelor’s, master’s, and Ph.D. degrees from Oxford. She earned a second master’s degree at the Courtauld Institute of Art of the University of London. Her most recent book is The Transatlantic Indian, 1776-1930 (Princeton University Press).

Also at the University of Southern California, Lee Epstein was named Provost Professor of Law and Politics Science with appointments at the Gould School of Law and USC’s Dornsife College. She has been serving as the Henry Wade Rogers Professor at Northwestern University.

Dr. Epstein holds bachelor’s, master’s, and Ph.D. degrees from Emory University. She is the co-editor of the Journal of Law, Economics & Organization.

Joan K. Smith, dean of the Jeannine Rainbolt College of Education at the University of Oklahoma, was awarded a Regents’ Professorship at the university. Dr. Smith is stepping down as dean on June 30 after 16 years in the post to devote her time to teaching. An educator for more than 30 years, Dean Smith is the author of four books and is noted for her scholarship on educational foundations.

Lisa Wedeen, a noted scholar of Middle East politics, was named the Mary R. Morton Professor in Political Science at the University of Chicago. She has spent the current academic year on sabbatical in Syria.

Dr. Wedeen, who holds a Ph.D. from the University of California at Berkeley, is the author of Peripheral Visions: Politics, Power, and Performance in Yemen (University of Chicago Press).