New Assignments in Higher Education for Six Women Scholars

Elmira Bayrasli is the new director of the Bard College Globalization and International Affairs Program in New York City. The program provides a unique opportunity for college students and recent college graduates from around the world to take advanced courses in international affairs while working in carefully selected internships based on individual interests. She has taught in the program for the past four years.

Bayrasli is the author of From the Other Side of the World: Extraordinary Entrepreneurs, Unlikely Places (PublicAffairs, 2015). She holds a bachelor’s degree in political science from New York University and a master’s degree in Middle Eastern languages and literatures from Columbia University.

Brenda S. Faison, who has been serving as professor and chair of the art department at Claflin University in Orangeburg, South Carolina, was appointed director of the North Carolina Central University Art Museum. Before joining the faculty at Claflin University in 2016, she was an associate professor and chair of the department of graphic design technology at North Carolina A&T State University.

Dr. Faison earned a bachelor’s in visual communication design from North Carolina Central University and a master’s degree in product design from North Carolina State University. She also holds a Ph.D. in art education from Ohio State University.

Jacquelyn Meshelemiah, an associate professor in the College of Social Work at Ohio State University, has been given the added duties of associate vice provost for diversity and inclusion. Dr. Meshelemiah joined the faculty at the university in 1998 and was promoted to associate professor in 2005.

Dr. Meshelemiah holds a bachelor’s degree in social work, a master of social work degree, and a Ph.D. in social work with a concentration in substance abuse, all from Ohio State University.

Linda Wallace, associate professor of accounting and information systems in the College of Business at Virginia Tech, has been named the Konrad W. Kubin Senior Faculty Fellow in Accounting and Information Systems. A member of the Virginia Tech community since 1999, Dr. Wallace’s scholarship focuses on online communities, fitness technologies, software project risk, and crowdfunding.

Dr. Wallace received two bachelor’s degrees from Oglethorpe University in Atlanta and a Ph.D. from Georgia State University.

Tera Jordan, an associate professor of human development and family studies at Iowa State University has taken on the additional responsibilities of the assistant provost for faculty development at the university. Dr. Jordan joined the faculty at Iowa State in 2012.

Dr. Jordan is a graduate of Indiana University in Bloomington, where she majored in human development and family science. She earned a master’s degree and a Ph.D. at Pennsylvania State University.

Yvette Butler, an attorney who specializes in law related to sex work and human trafficking, sexual violence, and civil rights, was appointed to the faculty of the University of Mississippi School of Law for the fall 2020 semester. She has been serving as director of capacity building and systems change for the Center for Survivor Agency and Justice in Washington, D.C.

Butler is a graduate of the University of Minnesota at Morris, where she majored in philosophy. She earned her law degree at George Washington University.