Notable Honors or Awards for Six Women Scholars at Colleges and Universities

Phyllis Worthy Dawkins, president of Bennett College in Greensboro, North Carolina, has received the Trailblazer Award from the Higher Education Leadership Foundation. She was recognized for her longstanding commitment to education and leadership development.

Dr. Dawkins is a graduate of Johnson C. Smith University in Charlotte. She holds a master’s degree from the University of Michigan and a doctorate from Ohio State University.

Jessica Jensen, associate professor and department head of emergency management at North Dakota State University, has received the Dr. B. Wayne Blanchard Award for Academic Excellence in Emergency Management Higher Education from the Federal Emergency Management Agency. She was recognized for her innovative efforts to build the emergency management program at NDSU, her collaboration with various partners in practice settings, and her leadership in emergency management higher education at the national level.

Dr. Jensen is a graduate of California State University, Northridge. She holds a master’s degree and Ph.D. both in emergency management from North Dakota State University.

Kim LaScola Needy, dean of the Graduate School and International Education and professor of industrial engineering at the University of Arkansas, has been honored with two awards from the Institute of Industrial and Systems Engineering for her contributions to the field of industrial engineering: the Albert G. Holzman Distinguished Educator Award and the Engineering Economy Wellington Award.

Dr. Needy holds a bachelor’s degree and master’s degree in industrial engineering from the University of Pittsburgh, and a Ph.D. from Wichita State University in Kansas.

Diana Fishbein, professor of human development and family studies and director of the Program for Translational Research on Adversity and Neuroscience at Pennsylvania State University, has received the Presidential Award from the Society for Prevention Research. The award is presented to an individual or group who has made a major specific contribution to prevention science research. Dr. Fishbein’s research is based on a developmental approach to understanding ways in which interactions between neurobiological mechanisms and environmental contexts alter trajectories either toward or away from risk behaviors in disadvantaged populations.

Dr. Fishbein holds a bachelor’s degree, master’s degree, and Ph.D. all in criminology and psychobiology from Florida State University.

Maria Shirey, a professor and associate dean for clinical and global partnerships in the School of Nursing at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, has received the American Organization of Nurse Executives Foundation Nurse Researcher Award. The award recognizes an individual who has made a significant contribution to nursing and health systems research.

Dr. Shirey is a graduate of Florida State University where she majored in nursing. She holds a master’s degree in nursing from Texas Woman’s University, an MBA in executive leadership practice from Tulane University in New Orleans, and a Ph.D. in nursing from Indiana University.

Margaret Readdy, professor of mathematics in the College of Arts and Sciences at the University of Kentucky, has been recognized for her work as an academic program manager for the Women and Mathematics Program (WAM) at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, New Jersey. Thanks to her contributions, WAM has received the 2019 Award for Mathematics Programs that Make a Difference from the American Mathematical Society. The award recognizes mathematical organizations that aim to bring underrepresented populations into the field and to provide models for others to establish similar programs.

Dr. Readdy is a graduate of Rutgers University in New Jersey, where she majored in mathematics. She holds a master’s degree in mathematics from the University of Michigan and a Ph.D. in mathematics from Michigan State University.