New Assignments for Four Women Faculty Members at Colleges and Universities

Karen V. Guth was promoted to associate professor of religious studies at the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, Massachusetts. She was also awarded tenure. Dr. Guth’s research focuses on Christian social ethics, public and political theology, and feminist ethics and theologies. She has been a member of the faculty at the College of the Holy Cross since 2016.

Dr. Guth holds a bachelor’s degree in religion from Furman University in Greenville, South Carolina. She earned master’s degrees from the University of Glasgow in Scotland and Harvard University Divinity School. Dr. Guth received a Ph.D. in religious ethics from the University of Virginia.

Noel Schulz, the Edmund O. Schweitzer III Chair in Power Apparatus and Systems in the School of Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences at Washington State University, has been appointed interim co-director of the WSU-Pacific Northwest National Laboratory Advanced Grid Institute. The WSU-PNNL Advanced Grid Institute is a joint research collaboration between Washington State University and the U.S. Department of Energy. The goal of the institute is to enhance the resilience of the power grid to withstand all hazards, including natural disasters and malicious threats.

Prior to arriving at Washington State Univerity, Dr. Schulz served as associate dean for research and graduate programs in the College of Engineering at Kansas State University. She holds a bachelor’s degree and a master’s degree in electrical engineering from Virginia Tech and a Ph.D. n electrical engineering from the University of Minnesota.

Laura Perna, GSE Centennial Presidential Professor in the Graduate School of Education at the University of Pennsylvania, was given the added duties of vice provost for faculty, beginning July 1, 2020. Professor Perna also serves as chair of the higher education division and executive director of the Alliance for Higher Education and Democracy. She has taught at Penn since 2005, following six years of teaching at the University of Maryland at College Park.

Dr. Perna is a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania, where she doubled majored in psychology and economics. She holds a master of public policy degree and a Ph.D. from the University of Michigan.

Naho Maruta was promoted to associate professor of the practice in East Asian studies at Wesleyan University in Middletown, Connecticut. She coordinates the Japanese language program at the university. She teaches courses in elementary, intermediate, and advanced Japanese.

Maruta is a graduate of Kansai Gaidai University in Osaka, Japan. She holds a master’s degree in Japanese linguistics and pedagogy from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.