Six Women Academics Honored With Awards

Rita Knuesel, provost of the College of Saint Benedict and Saint John’s University in Minnesota, was presented with the 2013 Chief Academic Officer Award from the Council of Independent Colleges. The council represents 624 colleges and universities.

Dr. Knuesel has served as provost since 2007. She earned a bachelor’s degree in music at the  College of Saint Benedict in 1975 and joined the faculty in 1977. For 11 years, she chaired the department of music.

Elizabeth Capezuti, the John W. Rowe Professor in Successful Aging at the New York University College of Nursing, received the 2013 Nurse Leader in Aging Award from the American Academy of Nursing and the John A. Hartford Foundation.

Professor Capezuti is a graduate of Lehman College of the City University of New York. She holds a master’s degree from Hunter College and a Ph.D. from the University of Pennsylvania.

Margaret Potter, professor of health policy and management in the Graduate School of Public Health at the University of Pittsburgh, received the 2013 Pfizer Faculty Award in Academic Public Health Practice from the Association of Schools and Programs of Public Health at the association’s annual meeting in Boston.

Professor Potter is a graduate of Mundelein College in Chicago. She holds a master’s degree from the Illinois Institute of Technology and a law degree from Rutgers University in New Jersey.

Charlene Johnson, director of athletics at South Carolina State University in Orangeburg received the Jesse Jackson Sr. Sports Person of the Year Award at the 14th annual Creating Opportunity Conference in Atlanta sponsored by Rainbow PUSH.

Johnson has been athletics director for 10 years and has been at the university for 30 years. She holds a bachelor’s degree and a master’s degree from South Carolina State University.

Beth A. Todd, an associate professor of mechanical engineering at the University of Alabama, received the Distinguished Engineering Educator Award from the Society of Women Engineers. Dr. Todd has been on the faculty at the University of Alabama since 1992.

Professor Todd is a graduate of Pennsylvania State University. She holds a master’s degree and a Ph.D. in mechanical and aerospace engineering from the University of Virginia.

Tamzen Stringham, professor in the department of agriculture, nutrition, and veterinary sciences at the University of Nevada, Reno, received the Secretary of Agriculture Honor Award. Dr. Stringham was honored for her work on the Interagency Ecological Site Implementation project.

Professor Stringham is a graduate of California State University at Chico. She earned a master’s degree and a Ph.D. at Oregon State University.