Nine Women Scholars Who Are Taking on New Responsibilities in Higher Education

Laura J. Steinberg will be the inaugural Seidner Executive Director of the Schiller Institute for Integrated Science and Society at Boston College. She has been serving as a professor of civil and environmental engineering, special assistant to the vice chancellor for strategic initiatives and innovation, interim executive director for Syracuse Center of Excellence, and executive director of the Syracuse University Infrastructure Institute.

Dr. Steinberg holds a bachelor’s degree in civil and urban engineering from the University of Pennsylvania and master’s and doctoral degrees in environmental engineering from Duke University.

Constance Meadors was appointed associate professor of engineering and associate dean of the School of Arts and Sciences at the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff. She was program director for electronic engineering technology at ECPI University in Virginia Beach.

Dr. Meadors is a graduate of Grambling State University in Louisiana, Where she majored in physics. She holds a master’s degree in applied science and instrumentation and a Ph.D. in applied science engineering and systems from the University of Arkansas at Little Rock.

Halina M. Zyczynski, a professor in the department of obstetrics, gynecology & reproductive sciences at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, will assume the additional duties of medical director of the new Magee-Womens Research Institute in Erie, Pennsylvania. Dr. Zyczynski, a urogynecologist, started working at UPMC Magee-Womens Hospital in Pittsburgh about 30 years ago.

Professor Zyczynski earned her medical doctorate at Albany Medical College in New York.

Kathleen Quinn, associate teaching professor in family and consumer medicine and associate dean for rural health at the University of Missouri, has been given the additional responsibilities as senior program director for health and safety. Dr. Quinn joined the faculty at the university in 2000.

Dr. Quinn holds a Ph.D. in educational leadership and policy analysis from the University of Missouri,

Anne M. Mungai, professor of education at Adelphi University in Garden City, New York, was given the added duties of associate provost for strategic initiatives and graduate studies. Since September 2019, Dr. Mungai has served as special assistant to the provost, working on diverse academic initiatives. Prior to that appointment, she served as interim dean of Adelphi’s Ruth S. Ammon School of Education for two years. She joined the faculty at the university in 1998.

Dr. Mungai earned a bachelor’s degree in English and religious education from Kenyatta University in Nairobi, Kenya. She holds a master’s degree and a doctorate in special education from Michigan State University.

Christine Wilson is the new associate dean and director of academic programs for the College of Agriculture at Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana. She was a professor and director of undergraduate programs for the agricultural economics department at Kansas State University. She previously taught at Purdue University from 2001 to 2008.

Dr. Wilson earned her bachelor’s degree in agribusiness, and her master’s and doctoral degrees in agricultural economics, all from Kansas State University.

Kathryn W. Jablokow, professor of engineering design and mechanical engineering and associate chief academic officer, at the Great Valley campus of Pennsylvania State University in Devault, will serve a two-year term as program director for the National Science Foundation’s Engineering Design and Systems Engineering program in the Division of Civil, Mechanical and Manufacturing Innovation.

Dr. Jablokow came to Penn State in 1990 as an assistant professor of mechanical engineering. She holds bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral degrees in electrical engineering, all from Ohio State University.

Helen Reed, who holds the Edward “Pete” Aldridge ’60 Professorship in the department of aerospace engineering at Texas A&M University, was the only woman among seven faculty members recently awarded the title of University Distinguished Professor.

Dr. Reed is a graduate of Goucher College in Baltimore, where she majored in mathematics. She holds a master’s degree and a Ph.D. in engineering mechanics from Virginia Tech.

Emmeline Chuang is a new associate professor of social welfare at the University of California, Berkeley. She was an associate professor in the School of Public Health at the University of California, Los Angeles. Her research focuses on how health and human service organizations can improve service access and the well-being of underserved populations.

Dr. Chuang is a graduate of Harvard University and earned a Ph.D. in health policy and management at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.