New Assignments for 14 Women Faculty Members

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.

Sylvia Houghteling is a new assistant professor of the history of art at Bryn Mawr College in Pennsylvania. Her research focuses on South Asian textiles.

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.

Shatha Almutawa is a new assistant professor of religious studies at Willamette University in Salem, Oregon. She was an adjunct professor at George Washington University and earlier taught at Qatar 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.

Amy Gaffney was appointed director of the Oral Communications Center on the campus of Hamilton College in Clinton, New York. She was an assistant professor in the department of instructional communication and research at the University of Kentucky.

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.

Nadine Connor, a professor of communication sciences and disorders and a professor of surgery at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, has been given the added role as interim associate vice chancellor for research policy and compliance.

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.

Kim Miller was appointed associate professor of family and community medicine and director of University Health Services at the University of Cincinnati. For the past five years, she was the medical director at Xavier University in Cincinnati.

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

Joan Shelly Rubin, the Dexter Perkins Professor in History at the University of Rochester in New York, is being given the added responsibilities as the Ani and Mark Gabrellian Director of the Humanities Center at the university. Professor Rubin joined the faculty at the university in 1995.

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.

Kathryne Daniel is an assistant professor of physics at Bryn Mawr College in Pennsylvania. She was a visiting assistant professor at Swarthmore College in Pennsylvania.

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.

Jamie Payton is a new associate professor in the department of computer and information science at Temple University in Philadelphia. She was an associate professor at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte.

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.

Kathy Rickard, an associate professor of psychology at Colorado State University is taking on new duties as an omsbudperson in the Office of Omsbuds and Employee Assistance Program. Dr. Rickard joined the faculty at Colorado State in 1983.

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.

Amy McGaha was appointed chair of the department of family medicine at Creighton University School of Medicine in Omaha, Nebraska. She has served on the faculty at the medical school since 2011. Earlier in her career, Dr. McGaha was assistant director for medical education at the American Academy of Family Practice.

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

Jennifer deWinter, an associate professor in the department of humanities and arts at Worcester Polytechnic Institute in Massachusetts, was given the added responsibility of directing the university’s Interactive Media and Game Development Program.

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.