Ten Women Scholars Appointed to New Academic Posts in Higher Education

Linda Lorence Critelli was hired as an assistant professor of arts and entertainment industries management in the Westminster College of the Arts at Rider University in Princeton, New Jersey. She has been serving as an adjunct professor at the Tisch School of the Arts at New York University. Critelli was vice president of songwriter/publisher relations at SESAC New York, a performing rights organization.

Critelli holds a bachelor of music degree from the Berklee College of Music in Boston.

Circecie Olatunji was promoted to full professor of education and counseling at Xavier University of Louisiana in New Orleans. She also serves as the director of the Center for Traumatic Stress Research. She joined the faculty at Xavier University in 2015 after teaching at the University of Cincinnati. Dr. Olatunji is past president of the American Counseling Association.

A graduate of Dartmouth College in Hanover, New Hampshire, where she majored in drama, Professor Olatunji earned a master’s degree and a Ph.D. in counselor education from the University of New Orleans.

Sharon Weiss has been named director of the Vanderbilt Institute of Nanoscale Science and Engineering. She is the Cornelius Vanderbilt Professor of Engineering and a professor of electrical engineering and physics at Vanderbilt.

Dr. Weiss holds a bachelor’s degree, master’s degree, and Ph.D. in optics all from the University of Rochester.

Kimberly McIltrot has been named director of the Doctor of Nursing Practice program in the School of Nursing at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore. She has served as an assistant professor of nursing at Johns Hopkins since 2016.

Dr. McIltrot is a graduate of Widener University in Chester, Pennsylvania, where she majored in nursing. She holds a master’s degree in nursing from the University of Maryland and a doctor of nursing practice degree from Johns Hopkins University.

Nicole Rader has been named head of the sociology department at Mississippi State University. She is a professor of sociology who has been a faculty member at the university for the past 14 years.

Dr. Rader is a graduate of Central Methodist University in Fayette, Missouri, where she majored in criminal justice. She holds a master’s degree in criminology from Drury University in Springfield, Missouri, and a Ph.D. in sociology from Southern Illinois University.

Holly Angelique has been named assistant dean for academic affairs at Pennsylvania State University Harrisburg. She is a professor of community psychology who has been a Penn State Harrisburg faculty member since 1996.

Dr. Angelique holds a bachelor’s degree and master’s degree in psychology both from California State University, Long Beach, and a doctoral degree in ecological-community psychology with a concentration in developmental psychology and women’s studies from Michigan State University.

Pamela Jo Johnson has been named associate professor and chair of the department of public health in the College of Health Professions at North Dakota State University. She most recently served as senior research scientist in the Minnesota Department of Health, Centers for Health Equity and Community Health.

Dr. Johnson holds a master of public health degree in community health education and a Ph.D. in social epidemiology both from the University of Minnesota.

Cheryl Meyer, professor and associate dean of the School of Professional Psychology at Wright State University in Dayton, Ohio, has been given the added duties of vice provost for faculty affairs at the university. Dr. Meyer joined the faculty in 1997 after teaching at Northwest Missouri State University.

Dr. Meyer is a graduate of Bowling Green State University in Ohio, where she majored in psychology and communications. She holds a master’s degree in clinical psychology from Western Carolina University in Cullowhee, North Carolina, a law degree from DePaul University in Chicago, and a Ph.D. in social psychology from Miami University in Oxford, Ohio.

Sara Baer was appointed director of the Kansas Biological Survey at the University of Kansas. She will also serve as a full professor in the department of ecology and evolutionary biology at the university. She was a professor and chair of the department of plant biology at Southern Illinois University Carbondale.

Dr. Baer is a graduate of the University of North Texas. She holds a master’s degree in entomology from the University of Georgia and a Ph.D. in biology from Kansas State University.

Samantha Tornello was named the Ann Atherton Hertzler Early Career Professor in Health and Human Development at Pennsylvania State University. She has been serving as an assistant professor of human development and family studies at the university.

Dr. Tornello joined the faculty at the main campus of Pennsylvania State University in 2017 after teaching at Penn State-Altoona. She holds a Ph.D. in developmental and community psychology from the University of Virginia.