New Roles for 10 Women Faculty Members in Higher Education

Tina Lu, professor of East Asian languages and literatures at Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut, was named head of the new Pauli Murray Residential College at the university. The new residential college is expected to open in the fall of 2017. Professor Lu joined the faculty at Yale in 2008. Earlier, she taught at the University of Pennsylvania for more than a decade.

Dr. Lu holds a bachelor’s degree in East Asian languages and civilizations and a Ph.D. in comparative literature from Harvard University.

Daphne Bernard, an associate professor and former interim dean of the College of Pharmacy at Howard University in Washington, D.C., has been given the added duties of associate provost for institutional accreditation and assessment.

A licensed pharmacist in Maryland, Virginia, and the District of Columbia, Dr. Bernard earned her doctor of pharmacy degree at Howard University.

Virginia Buechner-Maxwell, a professor in the department of large animal clinical sciences at the Virginia-Maryland College of Veterinary Medicine in Blacksburg, Virginia, was appointed director of the Center for Animal Human Relationships at the college.

Dr. Buechner-Maxwell is a graduate of Goucher College in Baltimore, Maryland. She holds two master’s degrees and a doctorate in veterinary medicine from the Virginia-Maryland College of Veterinary Medicine.

Wei Yang was named  a professor of molecular biosciences at the University of Texas. Dr. Yang has been conducting research at the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases in Bethesda, Maryland.

Professor Yang is a native of Shanghai, China. She earned a bachelor’s degree at Stony Brook University of the State University of New York System and a master’s degree and a Ph.D. in biochemistry and molecular biophysics from Columbia University in New York City.

Cassandra Medvedeff was hired as an assistant professor of biological sciences at Chapman University in Orange, California. She has been at the university since 2013 as a postdoctoral researcher.

Dr. Medvedeff earned a master’s degree at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro and a Ph.D. at the University of Florida.

Trisalyn Nelson was appointed director of the School of Geographical Sciences and Urban Planning at Arizona State University. She was director of the Geomatics Program and held the Lansdowne Research Chair in Spatial Sciences at the University of Victoria in British Columbia, Canada.

Dr. Nelson earned her Ph.D. at Wilfrid Laurier University in Waterloo, Ontario.

Sue Roberts, a professor of geography at the University of Kentucky, has been given the added duties as associate vice provost for internationalization at the university. She served as chair of the geography department at the university from 2008 to 2012.

Dr. Roberts is a graduate of the University of Leicester in England. She earned a master’s degree and a Ph.D. in geography from Syracuse University in New York.

Esther Biswas-Fiss was named chair of the department of medical laboratory sciences at the University of Delaware. She has been serving as the director of the biotechnology program at Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia.

Professor Biswas-Fiss is a graduate of the University of Washington. She holds a master’s degree in biochemistry at the University Maryland Baltimore County and a Ph.D. in molecular bioscience from Rutgers University in New Brunswick, New Jersey.

Jennifer Holtz was appointed director of the School of Counseling, Human Performance, and Rehabilitation at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock. She joined the faculty at the university in 2012 and was promoted to associate professor in 2015.

Dr. Holtz is a graduate of Newman University in Wichita, Kansas. She earned a master’s degree in gerentology from Wichita State University and a doctoral degree in education from Kansas State University.

Stacy A. Hall was named chair of the department of economic development, tourism, and sports management in the College of Business at the University of Southern Mississippi. She joined the faculty at the university a decade ago.

Dr. Hall is a native of Northern Ireland. She holds bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral degrees, all from the University of Southern Mississippi.