Four Women Academics Announce Their Retirements

Lois Banner is retiring from her position as professor of history and gender studies at the University of Southern California. She taught at the university for 30 years.

Professor Banner is a graduate of the University of California at Los Angeles and earned her master’s and Ph.D. at Columbia University. She is the author of several books including Women in Modern America: A Brief History, American Beauty, and a biography of Marilyn Monroe entitled Marilyn: The Passion and the Paradox (Bloomsbury, 2012).

Louise Vale, vice chancellor for administration at the University of Colorado, has announced that she is retiring on March 14. Before assuming her current post, Vale was director of internal audit for the University of Colorado system and associate vice chancellor for budget and operations at the University of Colorado in Denver.

Vale is a graduate of the University of Nebraska-Kearney, where she majored in business management. She holds a master’s degree in management from the University of Colorado in Denver.

Phyllis Johnson will retire this June from her post as vice president for research and economic development at the University of North Dakota. She joined the university’s staff in 2009. She is a former clinical instructor in internal medicine at the University of North Dakota School of Medicine.

Dr. Johnson holds a bachelor’s degree and a Ph.D. in physical chemistry from the University of North Dakota.

Ruth Ault, the Maddrey Professor of Psychology at Davidson College has retired after teaching for 34 years. Her research focused on child development.

Professor Ault taught at the University of Utah for seven years before joining the Davidson College faculty in 1979. She holds a master’s degree and a Ph.D. in psychology from the University of California at Los Angeles.