Five Women in New Faculty Posts

Jane Christopher-Hennings was appointed chair of the department of veterinary and biomedical sciences at South Dakota State University. She will also serve as director of the Animal Disease Research and Diagnostic Laboratory.

Dr. Christopher-Hennings has been on the faculty at the university for the past 17 years. She holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the University of Wisconsin and a doctor of veterinary medicine degree from the University of Minnesota.

Donna Fick, Distinguished Professor of Nursing at Pennsylvania State University, has been appointed a visiting professor for the 2013-14 academic year at the Institute for Aging Research in Boston, an affiliate of Harvard Medical School. Dr. Fick is also the co-director of the John A. Hartford Center for Geriatric Nursing Excellence at Penn State.

Dr. Fick is a graduate of Berea College in Kentucky. She holds a master’s degree in nursing from the University of Cincinnati and a Ph.D. from the University of California at San Francisco.

Catherine Royer was named professor of biology and holder of the Constellation Chair in Biocomputation and Bioinformatics at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, New York. She has been serving as director of the Centre for Biochimie Structurale in Montpellier, France.

Dr. Royer holds a general academic degree and a license in biochemistry from the University of Pierre and Marie Curie in France and a Ph.D. in biochemistry from the University of Illinois.

Kimberly Mathe-Soulek was appointed assistant professor of hospitality and tourism management in the Pamplin College of Business at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University.

Dr. Mathe-Soulek holds a bachelor’s degree, an MBA, and a Ph.D. in hospitality administration from Oklahoma State University in Stillwater.

Holly Michael was named to the Unidel Fraser Russell Chair for the Environment at the University of Delaware. Her research focuses on coastal groundwater contaminants, submarine groundwater discharge, and water supply sustainability. She joined the faculty at the University of Delaware in 2008.

Dr. Michael holds a Ph.D. in hydrology from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and conducted postdoctoral research at Stanford University and the U.S. Geological Survey.