Seven Women Scholars Who Have Been Selected to Receive Notable Awards

Tayari Jones, a professor of English and creative writing at Emory University in Atlanta, has received an NAACP Image Award for her novel, An American Marriage (Algonquin Books, 2018). The awards celebrate the accomplishments of people of color in the fields of television, music, literature, and film, as well as people or groups who promote social justice or creative endeavors.

Professor Jones is a graduate of Spelman College in Atlanta, the University of Iowa, and Arizona State University.

Jamilla Lyiscott, an assistant professor of social justice education at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, has received the Outstanding Public Communication of Education Research award from the American Educational Research Association. The annual award recognizes collaborative projects between researchers and practitioners that have had sustained and observed effects on the contexts of practice.

Dr. Lyiscott holds a master’s degree in Black literature from Hunter College of the City University of New York and a Ph.D. in English education with a focus on African diasporic education from Columbia University.

Susan Dresser, director of the Adult-Gerontology CNS Program at the Fran and Earl Ziegler College of Nursing at the University of Oklahoma, has received the Educator of the Year Award from the National Association of Clinical Nurse Specialists (NACNS). The award recognizes an NACNS member for outstanding professional achievement as a clinical nurse specialist educator and acknowledges his/her commitment to excellence and innovation in preparing critical nurse specialists and implementing the NACNS Statement on CNS Practice and Education.

Dresser is a graduate of the University of North Carolina at Greensboro where she majored in nursing. She holds a master’s degree in adult critical care nursing from Duke University.

Bertha Hidalgo, an assistant professor in the department of epidemiology in the School of Public Health at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, was recognized with the Early Career Achievement Award at the 2019 Robert Wood Johnson Foundation New Connections capstone symposium. The award is given to scholars, who have received their doctorate within the past 10 years, for outstanding contributions to their field.

Dr. Hidalgo is a graduate of Stanford University where she majored in human biology. She earned a master of public health degree from the University of Southern California and a Ph.D. from the University of Alabama at Birmingham.

Sherry Farra, an associate professor in the College of Nursing and Health and director for the National Disaster Health Course at Wright State University in Ohio, has received a Certified Nurse Award from the American Nurses Credentialing Center. The awards program showcases certified nurses in various specialities who have made impactful and valuable contributions to the nursing profession and the field of healthcare. Dr. Farra won in the National Healthcare Disaster Professional category.

Dr. Farra holds a bachelor’s degree in nursing and a master’s degree in clinical nursing and adult health from Wright State University, and a Ph.D. in nursing with a focus on scholarship of teaching and learning from the University of Cincinnati.

Eranda Nikolla, an associate professor of chemical engineering and materials science at Wayne State University in Detroit, has received a 2019 Women Chemists Committee Rising Star Award from the America Chemical Society. The award recognizes outstanding, early-to-mid-career women scientists. Dr. Nikolla was honored for innovative research in the field of electrocatalysis.

Dr. Nikolla is a graduate of Oakland University where she majored in engineering chemistry. She holds a master’s degree and Ph.D. both in chemical engineering from the University of Michigan.

Camelia Maier, a professor of biology and director of the herbarium at Texas Woman’s University, has received the National Society Daughters of the American Revolution Conservation Medal from the Texas Society Daughters of the American Revolution. She was honored for recent volunteer work and procurement of a $75,000 grant for the university’s Dr. Bettye Myers Butterfly Garden.

Dr. Maier is a graduate of the University of Bucharest in Romania where she majored in biology. She holds a master’s degree in biology and a Ph.D. in molecular biology both from the University of North Texas.