New Assignments in Higher Education for Eight Women Scholars

Veronica Hinman has been named head of the department of biological sciences in the Mellon College of Science at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh. She has been a member of the Carnegie Mellon faculty since 2006.

Dr. Hinman holds a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering, a bachelor’s degree in zoology, and a doctoral degree in zoology from the University of Queensland in Australia.

Kathleen Dorsey Bellow has been promoted to director of the Institute for Black Catholic Studies at Xavier University of Louisiana. She has served as the institute’s associate director since 2005.

Dr. Bellow is a graduate of Loyola College in Maryland where she majored in Spanish. She holds an MBA from McNeese State University in Louisiana, a master’s degree in pastoral theology from Xavier University of Louisiana, and a doctor of ministry degree in liturgical studies from the Catholic Theological Union in Chicago.

Marisa Pagnattaro has been named vice provost for academic affairs at the University of Georgia. She currently serves as the I.W. Cousins Professor of Business Ethics, a Josiah Meigs Distinguished Teaching Professor, and the associate dean for research and graduate programs in the university’s Terry College of Business.

Dr. Pagnattaro holds a juris doctorate from New York Law School and a Ph.D. in English from the University of Georgia.

J. Marlena Edwards is a new assistant professor of African American studies and history at Pennsylvania State University. She held a postdoctoral fellowship at Penn State’s Africana Research Center.

Dr. Edwards holds a bachelor’s degree in sociology and a master’s degree in history from Binghamton University of the State University of New York System. She earned a Ph.D. in African American and African studies and history from Michigan State University.

Stacie J. Fairley has been named assistant professor of microbiology and immunology at the Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine in Moultrie, Georgia.  She was previously an assistant professor at Lincoln Memorial University – DeBusk College of Osteopathic Medicine in Harrogate, Tennessee.

Dr. Fairley holds a bachelor’s degree and a Ph.D. in microbiology from Alabama State University.

Sally C. Morton has been named interim director of the Fralin Life Sciences Institute at Virginia Tech. She has served as dean of Virginia Tech’s College of Science since 2016.

Dr. Morton holds a doctoral degree in statistics from Stanford University.

Christine Lau has been named chair of the department of surgery at the University of Maryland School of Medicine and chief of surgery at the University of Maryland Medical Center. Her appointment makes her the first woman to chair the surgery department at  the medical school since its inception in the 1800s. Currently, she serves as the George Minor Professor of Surgery and chief of the Division of Thoracic Surgery at the University of Virginia.

Dr. Lau holds a medical degree from Dartmouth College.

Marie Hoepfl has been named associate dean of the Cratis D. Williams School of Graduate Studies at Appalachian State University in Boone, North Carolina. She is a professor in the university’s department of sustainable technology and the built environment and has been a faculty member since 1997.

Dr. Hoepfl is a graduate of Miami University in Ohio where she majored in industrial engineering. She holds a master’s degree in education administration and a doctorate in technology education both from West Virginia University.