Three Women Scholars Appointed Full Professor at Swarthmore College in Pennsylvania

Swarthmore College, the highly rated liberal arts educational institution in suburban Philadelphia, has announced the promotion of four faculty members to the rank of full professor. Three of these four promotions went to women.

Linda Chen was promoted to full professor of mathematics. She is a scholar of algebraic geometry and algebraic combinatorics. Dr. Chen serves as associate editor for American Mathematical Monthly. She joined the faculty at Swarthmore College in 2008 after teaching at Ohio State University. From 2011 to 2013, Dr. Chen was a program director in the Topology and Geometric Analysis Programs in the Division of Mathematical Sciences at the National Science Foundation. She is a graduate of Harvard University and holds a Ph.D. in mathematics from the University of Chicago.

Bakirathi Mani was appointed professor of English. She is a specialist in Asian American cultural studies with particular emphasis on South Asian diasporas. Dr. Mani teaches courses on transnational feminist studies, postcolonial theory, and literatures of globalization. She is the author of Aspiring to Home: South Asians in America (Stanford University Press, 2012). Dr. Mani earned a bachelor’s degree in non-Western history and diplomacy from Georgetown University in Washington, D.C. She holds a master’s degree in modern Indian history from Jawaharlal Nehru University and a Ph.D. in modern thought and literature from Stanford University.

Tomoko Sakomura was named a full professor of art history at the college. She also serves as assistant vice president and dean of academic success at the college. Dr. Sakomura is a specialist in Japanese art history whose work examines the relationship between word and image in the visual culture of late medieval Japan. She joined the faculty at Swarthmore College in 2005 as an instructor. Dr. Sakomura is a graduate of Keio University in Tokyo. She earned a master’s degree and a Ph.D. in art history and archaeology at Columbia University in New York City.