University of California, Merced Hires Four Women to Its Faculty

The University of California at Merced, the newest undergraduate campus of the university system, has announced that there are 12 new faculty members on campus this fall. Four of the new faculty hires are women.

Heather Bortfeld was appointed full professor of developmental psychology. She was an associate professor of psychology at the University of Connecticut. Her research is focused on typical and atypical speech and language development with an emphasis on language learning under adverse listening conditions. Professor Bortfield is a summa cum laude graduate of the University of California, Santa Barbara. She holds a master’s degree and a Ph.D. from the State University of New York.

Nancy Burke was named an associate professor of public health. She was an associate professor of anthropology, history, and social medicine at the University of California, San Francisco. Dr. Burke is a graduate of the University of Tennessee, where she majored in English literature. She holds a master’s degree from the University of Oregon and a Ph.D. in cultural anthropology from the University of New Mexico.

Maria DePrano is a new assistant professor of art history. She had taught art history at Washington State University. Dr. DePrano holds bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral degrees, all from the University of California, Los Angeles. Her research focuses on women’s life passage rituals, portraiture, the domestic interior, and family art patronage in fifteenth-century Florence.

Danielle L. Edwards was appointed assistant professor of life and environmental sciences. She was an associate research scientist at the Institute for Biospheric Studies at Yale University. Dr. Edwards is a graduate of the University of Newcastle in Callaghan, New South Wales, Australia. She holds a Ph.D. in evolutionary biology from the University of Western Australia in Perth.