Six Women Scholars Honored With Distinguished Awards

Barbara J. Grosz, the Higgins Professor of Natural Sciences in the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences at Harvard University, received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Association for Computation Linguistics. Professor Grosz joined the faculty at Harvard in 1986.

Dr. Grosz is a graduate of Cornell University in Ithaca, New York, Where she majored in mathematics. She holds a master’s degree and a Ph.D. in computer science from the University of California, Berkeley.

May-Lee Chai, an assistant professor of creative writing at the University of North Carolina at Wilmington, received the 2017 Doris Bakwin Award for writing by women from Carolina Wren Press. She will receive a cash award and have her story collection Useful Phrases for Immigrants published by the press in 2018. Chai is the author of several novels including Tiger Girl (GemmaMedia, 2013).

Chai is a graduate of Grinnell College in Iowa. She holds master’s degrees from Yale University and the University of Colorado and a master of fine arts degree from San Francisco State University.

Kate Shoulders, an associate professor of agricultural education in the College of Agricultural, Food, and Life Sciences at the University of Arkansas, received the National Educator Award from the North American Colleges and Teachers of Agriculture.

Dr. Shoulders holds a bachelor’s degree and two master’s degrees from Murray State University in Kentucky. She earned a Ph.D. in agricultural education at the University of Florida.

Patricia Ann Conrad, a professor of parasitology and associate dean for global programs at the University of California, Davis School of Veterinary Medicine, was named as the recipient of the 2017 Lifetime Excellence in Research Award from the American Veterinary Medical Association.

Dr. Conrad holds a bachelor’s degree and a doctor of veterinary medicine degree from Colorado State University. She holds a Ph.D. in protozoology/tropical animal health from the University of Edinburgh in Scotland.

Ilana B. Witten, an assistant professor of psychology at Princeton University in New Jersey, received the 2017 Freedman Prize for Exceptional Basic Research from the Brain & Behavior Research Foundation. Dr. Witten joined the Princeton faculty in 2012.

Dr. Witten is a magna cum laude graduate of Princeton University, where she majored in physics. She holds a Ph.D. in neuorscience from Stanford University.

Beverly Daniel Tatum, the former president of Spelman College in Atlanta, has been selected to received the Joseph B. and Toby Gittler Prize from the International Center for Ethics, Justice and Public Life at Brandies University in Waltham, Massachusetts. The prize honors an individual who has made lasting scholarly contributions to racial, ethnic and/or religious relations. Dr. Tatum will receive a medal and a $25,000 prize at a ceremony in October 2018.

Dr. Tatum is the author of the best-selling book, Why Are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria? And Other Conversations About Race. She is a graduate of Wesleyan University in Connecticut. Dr. Tatum earned a master’s degree at the Hartford Seminary and a second master’s degree and a Ph.D. in clinical psychology at the University of Michigan.