New Assignments for a Dozen Women Faculty Members at Universities

Karen Johnson has been named chair of the department of preventive medicine at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center in Memphis. She is the College of Medicine Endowed Professor in Women’s Health at the University of Tennessee.

Dr. Johnson holds a master’s degree from Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore and a medical degree from the University of Tennessee.

Una Stojnić has been named an assistant professor of philosophy at Princeton University in New Jersey. She has served as an assistant professor at Columbia University since 2017.

Dr. Stojnić is a graduate of the University of Belgrade in Serbia. She holds a Ph.D. in philosophy from Rutgers University in New Jersey.

Jeanette M. Mendez has been named vice provost in the Division of Academic Affairs at Oregon State University. She currently serves as interim dean of the College of Arts and Sciences and is a tenured professor of political science.

Dr. Mendez is a graduate of Santa Clara University in California, where she majored in combined sciences. She holds a master’s degree and doctorate both in political science from Indiana University.

Ellen Peters has been named to the Philip H. Knight Chair and director of the Media Center for Science and Technology in the School of Journalism at the University of Oregon. She currently serves as a distinguished professor of psychology and director of the Decision Sciences Collaborative at Ohio State University.

Dr. Peters holds a doctorate in judgment and decision sciences from the University of Oregon.

Sharon Bird has been named director of the Center for Women’s and Gender Studies and professor of women’s and gender studies at West Virginia University. She currently serves as professor and head of the department of sociology at Oklahoma State University.

Dr. Bird holds a Ph.D. in sociology from Washington State University.

Colleen Sheehan has been named the visiting scholar in conservative thought and policy at the Bruce D. Benson Center for the Study of Western Civilization at the University of Colorado. She is a professor of political science and director of the Matthew J. Ryan Center for Free Institutions and the Public Good at Villanova University in Pennsylvania.

Dr. Sheehan is a graduate of the now closed Eisenhower College in Seneca Falls, New York, where she majored in political science. She holds a master’s degree in government and a Ph.D. in political philosophy and American government both from Claremont Graduate University in California.

Jessica Scoffield has been named the first recipient of the American Association for Dental Research and Procter & Gamble Underrepresented Faculty Research Fellowship. She is an assistant professor of microbiology at the University of Alabama at Birmingham.

Dr. Scoffield holds a bachelor’s degree and master’s degree both in biology from Tuskegee University in Alabama, and a Ph.D in microbiology from Auburn University in Alabama.

Mary Beth Williams has been named senior associate dean of instruction and curricula in the Eberly College of Science at Pennsylvania State University. She currently serves as a professor of chemistry and the college’s senior associate dean of undergraduate education.

Dr. Williams is a graduate of St. John Fisher College in Rochester, New York. She holds a doctoral degree from the University of North Carolina.

Christine Stewart has been named Poet Laureate for the state of South Dakota. She is an English professor at South Dakota State University.

Dr. Stewart is a graduate of the University of Northern Iowa where she majored in English education and writing. She holds a master’s degree in literature from Arizona State University and a doctorate in creative writing from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.

Patricia Sime has been named chair of the department of internal medicine at Virginia Commonwealth University. She most recently served as division chief of pulmonary and critical care, vice chair for research in the department of medicine, Jane Davis and C. Robert Davis Distinguished Professor in Pulmonary Medicine, and professor of medicine, environmental medicine, microbiology/immunology, and oncology at the University of Rochester in New York.

Dr. Sime holds a medical doctorate from the University of Edinburgh in Scotland.

Denise Donica has been named chair of the department of occupational therapy in the College of Allied Health Sciences at East Carolina University in Greenville, North Carolina. She has served as a faculty member in the department for 11 years.

Dr. Donica is a graduate of Indiana University, where she earned a bachelor’s degree in psychology and criminal justice and a second bachelor’s degree in occupational therapy. She holds a master’s degree and doctorate both in occupational therapy from the University of Indianapolis.

Joanna Anderson has been named the reference and instruction librarian in the Boonshoft School of Medicine at Wright State University in Dayton, Ohio. She previously served as the distance education librarian at East Tennessee University.

Anderson is a graduate of Ohio State University where she majored in history and English. She holds a master of library and information science degree from Kent State University in Ohio.