Four Women Earn Academic Honors

Rebecca Tsosie, Regents Professor at Arizona State University, received the 2014 Individual Leadership Award from the National Association of Diversity Officers in Higher Education. She was honored for her work as executive director of the Indian Legal Program in the university’s Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law.

Professor Tsosie has been on the faculty at Arizona State University since 1993. She holds a bachelor’s degree and a juris doctorate from the University of California at Los Angeles.

Janelle Masters, dean of academic affairs at Bismarck State College in North Dakota, received the 2014 Idahlynn Karre Exemplary Leadership Award from the Chair Academy at the academy’s annual conference in St. Louis. The Chair Academy offers leadership development programs for colleges and universities throughout the world.

Dr. Masters is a graduate of Minot State University in North Dakota. After serving in the Peace Corps in Thailand, she earned a master’s degree from Rollins College in Winter Park, Florida, and a Ph.D. in English from the University of North Dakota.

Susan M. Abram, an adjunct faculty member in history at Western Carolina University in Cullowhee, North Carolina, received the Anne B. and James B. McMillan Prize from the University of Alabama Press. The award is given to an author for the best book on Alabama or southern history. The award includes a cash prize and the publication of the manuscript by the University of Alabama Press. The forthcoming book is titled The Forging of a Cherokee-American Alliance in the Creek War: From Its Creation to its Betrayal.

Dr. Abram holds a master’s degree from Western Carolina University and a Ph.D. in early American history from Auburn University in Alabama.

Jessica Perea-Houston, an assistant professor of chemical engineering at New Mexico State University has been honored as an International Society for Advancement of Cytometry Scholar. Cytometry is a laser-based technology for examining the structure of cells.

Dr. Perea-Houston is a graduate of New Mexico State University and holds a Ph.D. from Texas A&M University.