Six Women Promoted to Full Professor at the University of Delaware

The University of Delaware has announced the promotion of 17 faculty members to the rank of full professor. Six of the new full professors are women.

Katharina Billups was promoted to professor of marine science and policy. She holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees in geology from the University of California at Davis. She earned a Ph.D. in earth sciences from the University of California at Santa Cruz.

Rachel Davidson was named professor of civil and environmental engineering. Her research is focused on natural disaster risk modeling. She joined the faculty at the University of Delaware in 2007 after teaching at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte and Cornell University. Professor Davidson is a graduate of Princeton University. She holds a master’s degree and a Ph.D. from Stanford University.

Judith W. Herrman was appointed professor of nursing at the university. She holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees in nursing and a Ph.D. from the School of Urban Affairs and Public Policy at the University of Delaware. Her research is focused on teen pregnancy and high-risk teenage behavior.

Arwen Mohun was promoted to full professor of history. She is a graduate of the University of California at Santa Cruz and holds a Ph.D. in history from Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland. Professor Mohun is the author of Steam Laundries: Gender, Technology, and Work in the United States and Great Britain, 1880-1940 (Johns Hopkins University Press, 1999).

Marianna Safronova was named professor of physics and astronomy at the university. She has been on the faculty at the University of Delaware for the past decade. Dr. Safronova holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Moscow State University in Russia and a Ph.D. in physics from the University of Notre Dame.

Laura Salsini was promoted to full professor of foreign languages and literatures. Her research focuses on Italian literature and cinema. Professor Salsini, who holds a Ph.D. from Indiana University, previously taught at Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana , and Kenyon College in Gambier, Ohio. She is the author of Gendered Genres: Female Experiences and Narrative Patterns in the Works of Matilde Serao (Fairleigh Dickinson University Press, 1999).