Notable Honors or Awards for Five Women Educators at Major Universities

Nicol R. Howard, an assistant professor and director of the master’s degree program in education learning and teaching at the University of Redlands in California, received the Making IT Happen Award from the International Society for Technology in Education. The award honors educators who “demonstrate extraordinary commitment, leadership, courage, and persistence in improving digital learning opportunities for students.”

Dr. Howard is a graduate of the University of California, Los Angeles. She earned a master’s degree at Azusa Pacific University in California and a Ph.D. at Chapman University in Orange, California.

Jordan Laney, Presidential Pathway Postdoctoral Fellow in the department of religion and culture at Virginia Tech, has received the 2019 Rosenberg Bluegrass Scholarship Award from the International Bluegrass Music Association Foundation. The annual award recognizes a developing academic scholar who has presented the best paper on an aspect of bluegrass music at a juried academic conference. Dr. Laney’s paper, “Rehistoricization and Performance: a Methodological Approach to (Re)Creating the Bluegrass Genre,” examines Carlton Haney’s iconic “Bluegrass Story” from a feminist perspective. Along with the award, Dr. Laney will receive a $500 cash grant and present at the academic conference held in conjunction with the IBMA Business Conference in Raleigh, North Carolina in September.

Dr. Laney is a graduate of Goddard College in Plainfield, Vermont, where she majored in creative writing. She holds a master’s degree in Appalachian studies: roots music and influences and a Ph.D. from Virginia Tech.

Leora Zeitlin, the host of “Intermezzo,” a classical music program on New Mexico State University’s radio station KRWG, has received two first-place awards from the National Federation of Press Women. Her first award-winning piece was a tribute to legendary composer Leonard Bernstein. Her second piece was about Scaffolding Theatre Company’s production of “Othello: The Remix,” a rap adaptation of the Shakespeare play.

Zeitlin is a graduate of Bennington College In Vermont, where she majored in English literature. She holds a master’s degree in journalism from Boston University.

Jessica Wells, a poultry science extension instructor at Mississippi State University, received the 2019 Poultry Science Association recruitment award at the organization’s annual meeting in Montreal. The biennial award is presented to an individual who significantly improves the recruiting program of a respective department, college, or university through innovative means. Since joining the university’s department of poultry science faculty a decade ago, Dr. Wells has increased undergraduate enrollment in the department by 125 percent.

Dr. Wells holds a bachelor’s degree and a master’s degree both in poultry science and a Ph.D. in agricultural science/poultry science all from Mississippi State University.

Janice Lessman-Moss, professor of textiles in the School of Art at Kent State University in Ohio, has received the 2019 Lifetime Achievement Award from Cleveland Arts Prize. She has been a practicing and widely acclaimed artist of Northeast Ohio since arriving in 1981 to teach textiles at Kent State. She currently serves as head of the textile department. As an artist, she developed a technique to marry mathematical mapping to both two and three-dimensional aspects of her woven tapestry paintings. She creates form and surface through the integration of art and science, the imaginative and the logical segments of human experience.

Professor Lessman-Moss is a magna cum laude graduate of Temple University in Philadelphia, where she earned a bachelor of fine arts degree. She holds a master of fine arts degree from the University of Michigan.