Six Women in New Faculty Roles at Colleges and Universities

Jie Xiao was named an associate professor of chemistry and biochemistry at the University of Arkansas. She will be designated an Arkansas Research Alliance Scholar and received a three-year, $500,000 grant to support her research. Dr. Xiao was a senior scientist at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, a U.S. Department of Energy facility in Richland, Washington.

Dr. Xiao received bachelor’s and master’s degree in electrochemistry from Wuhan University in China. She earned a Ph.D. in materials chemistry from Binghamton University of the State University of New York System.

Felicia Knaul was named a professor of public health sciences at the School of Medicine of the University of Miami in Florida. She will also serve as director of the Miami Institute for the Americas in the university’s College of Arts and Sciences. Dr. Knaul was an associate professor at Harvard Medical School and director of the Harvard Global Health Initiative.

Dr. Knaul is a graduate of the University of Toronto, where she majored in economics and international development. She earned a master’s degree and a Ph.D. in economics from Harvard University.

Graziella Parati, the Paul D. Paganucci Professor of Italian Language and Literature at Dartmouth College has been assigned additional duties as director of the Leslie Center for the Humanities at the college.

Dr. Parati joined the Dartmouth College faculty in 1992. She earned a master’s degree at the University of Washington and a Ph.D. at Northwestern University.

Yajin Wang is a new assistant professor of marketing at the Robert H. Smith School of Business at the University of Maryland. Her research is focused on the psychological and behavioral consequences of the consumption of luxury products.

Dr. Wang is a graduate of Peking University in China, where she majored in journalism. She holds a master’s degree in communication and a Ph.D. in marketing from the University of Minnesota.

Jessica E. Brophy was appointed assistant professor of communication studies at Bridgewater College in Virginia. She has been serving as the interim director of Deer Isle Adult and Community Education in Maine.

Dr. Brophy is a graduate of Smith College in Northampton, Massachusetts. She earned a master’s degree and a Ph.D. in communication from the University of Maine.

Leigh Ann White was named a visiting assistant professor of economics at Sweet Briar College in Virginia. Dr. White was associate director of global market access for Biogen Inc., a leading biotechnology company based in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Dr. White earned a bachelor’s degree in mathematics at Sweet Briar College in 1986. She holds a master’s degree in demography from Georgetown University and a Ph.D. in health economics and health policy from Johns Hopkins University.