Sixteen Women Faculty Members Taking on New Assignments in Higher Education

Claudia Tatinge Nascimento was appointed professor and chair of the theatre and dance department at Macalester College in St. Paul, Minnesota. For the past 15 years, she served on the faculty at Wesleyan University in Middletown, Connecticut.

A native of Rio de Janeiro, Dr. Nascimento is the author of Crossing Cultural Borders Through the Actor’s Work: Foreign Bodies of Knowledge (Routledge, 2008). She holds a Ph.D. in theatre and drama from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Yvette Murphy-Erby, a professor of social work at the University of Arkansas, has been given the added duties of vice provost for diversity and inclusion at the university. Dr. Murphy-Erby first came to the University of Arkansas in 2004. After a year at the Duke Endowment, she returned to the university in 2009.

Dr. Murphy-Erby is a graduate of the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. She holds a master of social work degree from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and a doctorate in social work from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro.

Una Osili, a professor of economics and philanthropic study at School of Philanthropy of Indiana University, was given the added duties of associate dean for research and international programs. Since 2009, she has been director of research at the school.

Dr. Osili is a graduate of Harvard University, where she majored in economics. She holds a master’s degree and a Ph.D. in economics from Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois.

Valeria Lopez Fadul is a new assistant professor of history at Wesleyan University in Middletown, Connecticut. She was a postdoctoral scholar at the University of Chicago. Her research focuses on the history of colonial Latin America.

Dr. Fadul is a graduate of Yale University. She holds a master’s degree and a Ph.D. from Princeton University.

Doreen Lorenzo was named a clinical professor of design and director of the new School of Design and Creative Technologies at the University of Texas at Austin. The new school is the fourth major academic unit in the university’s College of Fine Arts. Professor Lorenzo joined the faculty at the university in 2016 as director of the Center for Integrated Design.

Professor Lorenzo is a graduate of Stony Brook University of the State University of New York System. She holds a master’s degree in communication and media studies from Boston University.

Aline Gubrium, an associate professor of community health education at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, has been selected to chair the Sexual and Reproductive Health Section of the American Public Health Association. She will serve as chair-elect and then assume the leadership role in December 2018.

Dr. Gubrium is a graduate of Indiana University. She earned a master’s degree and a Ph.D. in anthropology from the University of Florida. She joined the faculty at the University of Massachusetts in 2006.

A. Kimberly McAllister, a professor of neurobiology at the University of California, Davis, was named director of the Center for Neuroscience at the university. She has been serving as interim director and was named associate director in 2013. Dr. McAllister has been on the faculty at the university since 2000.

Professor McAllister is a graduate of Davidson College in North Carolina. She holds a Ph.D. in neurobiology from Duke University in Durham, North Carolina.

Dawn Elliot was appointed the Blue and Gold Distinguished Professor of Biomedical Engineering at the University of Delaware. She is a professor and chair of the department of biomedical engineering at the university. She joined the faculty at the university in 2011.

Professor Elliot is a graduate of the University of Michigan, where she majored in mechanical engineering. She holds a master’s degree in engineering mechanics from the University of Cincinnati and a Ph.D. in biomedical engineering from Duke University.

Erin Tapley, a professor of art education at Western Carolina University in Cullowhee, North Carolina, is the new director of the university’s School of Art and Design. She joined the faculty in 2005 after teaching at the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh.

Professor Tapley holds a master of fine arts degree in printmaking and drawing from the University of Alabama. She earned a doctorate in art education at the University of Iowa.

Christina Plemmons, an assistant professor of nursing at South Dakota State University, was named director of academic nursing education at the university’s West River campus in Rapid City.

Dr. Plemmons holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees in nursing from South Dakota State University and a doctorate in nursing education from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.

Lisa Baker, an associate professor of social work at the University of Alabama Birmingham, was named associate editor of the journal Disaster Medicine and Public Health Preparedness. She joined the faculty at the university in 2011. Dr. Baker is the immediate past president of the National Association of Perinatal Social Workers.

Dr. Baker holds a bachelor’s degree and a Ph.D. from the University of Georgia. She earned a master of social work degree at Florida International University in Miami.

Rebecca Lamason is a new assistant professor of biology at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. She had been conducting postdoctoral research at the University of California, Berkeley.

Dr. Lamason is a graduate of Millersville University in Pennsylvania, where she majored in molecular biology. She holds a Ph.D. from in immunology from Johns Hopkins University.

Rosemary Ndubuizu is a new assistant professor of African American studies at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C. Her research is focused on racial and gender issues involving housing.

Dr. Ndubuizu is a graduate of Stanford University. She earned a Ph.D. in women’s and gender studies at Rutgers University in New Jersey.

Grace Kao was appointed a professor of sociology at Yale University. She is the first woman of color to hold tenure in Yale’s department of sociology. Earlier, she taught at the University of Pennsylvania.

Professor Kao is a graduate of the University of California, Berkeley. She holds a Ph.D. from the University of Chicago.

Mecca Jamilah Sullivan was named an assistant professor of English at Bryn Mawr College in Pennsylvania. She was an assistant professor of Women, Gender & Sexuality studies at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. Dr. Sullivan is the author of a short story collection Blue Talk and Love (Riverdale Avenue Books, 2015).

Dr. Sullivan is a graduate of Smith College in Northampton, Massachusetts. She holds a master’s degree in English and creative writing from Temple University in Philadelphia and a Ph.D. in English literature from the University of Pennsylvania.

Victoria Sahani was appointed an associate professor of law at the Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law at Arizona State University. She was an associate professor at the law school of Washington and Lee University in Lexington, Virginia.

Professor Sahani is a graduate of Harvard University, where she majored in psychology. She earned a juris doctorate at Harvard Law School.