Tsu-Jae King Liu, a professor of electrical engineering and computer science at the University of California, Berkeley, has been given the added role as vice provost for academic and space planning at the university. Professor Liu joined the faculty at Berkeley in 1996 and was promoted to full professor in 2003.
Dr. Liu holds bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral degrees in electrical engineering, all from Stanford University.
Jessica Simes, an assistant professor of sociology at Boston University in Massachusetts, was named the university’s first Provost’s Career Development Professorship. The award will provide her extra money for her research on racial disparities in incarceration rates.
Dr. Simes is a magna cum laude graduate of Occidental College in Los Angeles. She holds a master’s degree and a Ph.D. in sociology from Harvard University.
Kathleen Huttlinger, a professor of nursing at New Mexico State University, was named interim director of the School of Nursing. She joined the faculty at the university in 2006 after teaching at Kent State University in Ohio and the University of Virginia.
Dr. Huttlinger holds bachelor’s degrees in anthropology and nursing from the University of Alabama. She earned two master’s degrees at the University of Alabama Birmingham and a Ph.D. in nursing from the University of Arizona.

Dr. Houghteling is a summa cum laude graduate of Harvard University. She holds a master’s degree in history from the University of Cambridge in England and a Ph.D. in the history of art from Yale University.

A native of the United Arab Emirates, Dr. Almutawa is a graduate of Mount Holyoke College in South Hadley, Massachusetts. She holds a master’s degree and a Ph.D. in Muslim and Jewish intellectual history from the University of Chicago.

Dr. Gaffney is a graduate of Bethany College in West Virginia, where she majored in communication. She earned a master’s degree from Kent State University in Ohio and a Ph.D. in communication, rhetoric, and digital media from North Carolina State University in Raleigh.

Dr. Connor holds bachelor’ and master’s degrees from the University of Maryland-College Park. She earned a Ph.D. in neurophysiology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Dr. Miller conducted her medical training at the University of Massachusetts.

Professor Rubin is the author of several books including Songs of Ourselves: The Uses of Poetry in America (Harvard University Press, 2007). She holds a Ph.D. in history from Yale University.

Dr. Daniel is a graduate of Bryn Mawr College. She holds a master’s degree and a Ph.D. from Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore.

Dr. Payton is a graduate of Tulsa University in Oklahoma. She holds master’s and doctoral degrees in computer science and engineering from Washington University in St. Louis.

Dr. Rickard is a graduate of the University of Alabama. She holds a master’s degree and a Ph.D. in clinical psychology from the University of Georgia.

Dr. McGaha earned her medical degree at the University of Missouri.

Dr. deWinter joined the faculty at the university in 2009. She holds a bachelor’s degree and two master’s degrees from Eastern Washington University. She earned a Ph.D. in rhetoric, composition, and teaching English from the University of Arizona.


