Four faculty members at the University of Nebraska at Lincoln were named as Willa Cather/Charles Bessey Professors. The professorships were established in 2001 to recognize faculty members with the rank of full professor who have established exceptional records of distinguished scholarship or creative activity. Three of the four professors named to these posts are women.
Gwendolyn Audrey Foster joined the faculty at the university in 1996. She was promoted to associate professor in 2001 and to full professor of English in 2005. Professor Foster specializes in film studies. She is the author or editor of 13 books including Disruptive Feminisms: Raced, Gendered, and Classed Bodies in Film (Palgrave Pivot, 2015). Dr. Foster is a graduate of Rutgers University in New Jersey. She holds a master’s degree and a Ph.D. from the University of Nebraska.
Melanie Simpson is a professor of biochemistry who began her teaching career at the University of Nebraska in 2002. She has been serving since 2011 as the Susan J. Rosowski Professor of Biochemistry. Dr. Simpson’s research is focused on prostate cancer. Professor Simpson holds a bachelor’s degree and a Ph.D. in biochemistry, molecular biology, and biophysics from the University of Minnesota.
Kimberly A. Tyler is a professor of sociology. She joined the faculty at the university in 2001 as an assistant professor and was promoted to full professor in 2010. Earlier in her career, she taught at the University of Central Florida in Orlando. Professor Tyler is a graduate of the University of Winnipeg in Canada. She holds a master’s degree in sociology from the University of North Dakota and a Ph.D. in sociology from Iowa State University.