Four Women Named to Endowed Chairs at Vassar College

Vassar College, the highly rated liberal arts college in Poughkeepsie, New York, has named seven scholars to endowed chairs. Four women are among those named to endowed professorships.

(L to R) Katherine Hite, Maria Hohn, Jodi Schwartz, and Patricia Wallace

Katherine Hite was named to the Frederick Ferris Thompson Chair in Political Science. Dr. Hite has been on the faculty at Vassar since 1997. She is the director of the college’s Latin American studies program.

Professor Hite is a graduate of Duke University. She holds a master’s degree and a Ph.D. in political science from Columbia University.

Maria Hohn was appointed to the Marion Musser Lloyd ’32 Chair in History and International Studies. She is a leading scholar of the American military presence in Germany.

Her latest book is Over There: Living with the U.S. Military Empire from World War Two to the Present (Duke University Press, 2010). She is currently working on a new book entitled, From Du Bois to Obama: The Civil Right Struggle, African American GIs, and Germany.

Jodi Schwartz is the new Mary Clark Rockefeller Chair in Environmental Studies. She focuses her research on coral reefs.

Professor Schwartz holds a bachelor’s degree in history from Oberlin College. She holds a second bachelor’s degree and a master’s degree in marine science from the University of California Santa Cruz. She earned a Ph.D. in zoology from Oregon State University.

Patricia Wallace was appointed to the Mary Augusta Scott Chair in English. She has served as the college’s affirmative action officer and teaches in multidisciplinary programs in American culture and women’s studies.

Professor Wallace holds a Ph.D. from the University of Iowa.

Vassar College is one of the original Seven Sister schools. It went co-ed in 1970. Now, about 42 percent of the student body is male.