Five Women Academics Receive Honors

Karen VanDerhoof, vice president for business and finance at the County College of Morris in Randolph, New Jersey, received the 2011 Distinguished Business Officer Award from the National Association of College and University Business Officers. VanDerhoof has been an administrator at the college since 1992 and has served in her present position since 2005.

VanDerhoof is a graduate of Centenary College in Hackettstown, New Jersey. She earned a master’s degree at Fairleigh Dickinson University in Madison, New Jersey.

Janette L. Dates, dean of the School of Communications at Howard University in Washington, D.C., was inducted into the Minority Media & Telecom Council’s Hall of Fame for her work to bring greater diversity to the nation’s media. Dr. Dates has served as dean since 1996.

Dean Dates is a graduate of Coppin State University. She earned a master’s degree in education at Johns Hopkins University and a doctorate at the University of Maryland at College Park.

Katherine A. Kelley, associate professor of oceanography at the Graduate School of Oceanography at the University of Rhode Island, won the 2011 Hisashi Kuno Award from the American Geophysical Union. The award is given to young scientists who have made significant contributions in the fields of geochemistry, volcanology, or petrology. She will receive the award at the AGU’s annual meeting in San Francisco this December.

Dr. Kelley is a graduate of Macalester College in St. Paul, Minnesota, and holds a Ph.D. in earth sciences from Boston University.

Adria Baker, associate vice provost for international education and executive director of the Office of International Students and Scholars at Rice University in Houston, Texas, received the inaugural Knowledge Community for International Student and Scholar Services Award for Excellence from the National Association of Foreign Student Advisers of the Association of International Educators. Baker has worked in international education programs for the past 25 years.

Sylvia Reynolds Eckes, professor emerita of piano at Ohio University, was awarded the Medal of St. Olav and the Royal Norwegian Order of Merit. The award honors non-Norwegians who have performed outstanding service in the interest of Norway. Professor Eckes was honored for her research and performances of Norwegian composer and pianist Edvard Grieg (1843-1907).

Professor Eckes is a graduate of the Peabody Institute and the Juilliard School of Music. She earned a doctorate of music arts at the University of Kansas. She was a professor of piano at Ohio University from 1995 to 2011.