Four Women Named Distinguished Professors at Indiana University

Indiana University trustees have approved the appointment of 15 faculty members as Distinguished Professors. This is the highest academic title at the university. Of the 15 new Distinguished Professors, four are women.

Lisa Blomgren Amsler is the Keller-Runden Professor of Public Service in the O’Neill School of Public and Environmental Affairs. Her research examines dispute systems design and the legal infrastructure for collaboration, dispute resolution, and public participation in governance. She has co-edited three books and authored more than 120 articles, monographs, and book chapters. Professor Amsler joined the university’s faculty in 1989 after practicing labor and employment law. She is a graduate of Smith College in Northampton, Massachusetts, where she majored in ancient Greek and philosophy and the University of Connecticut School of Law. Her co-authored book, Dispute System Design: Preventing, Managing, and Resolving Conflict, will be published by Stanford University Press in May.

Lynda Bonewald is a professor of anatomy and cell biology. She also is a professor of orthopedic surgery in the School of Medicine. Dr. Bonewald is the founding director of the Indiana Center for Musculoskeletal Health, which has more than 100 members from 36 departments on four campuses. She has been continually funded by National Institutes of Health for more than 30 years and is responsible for tools used by researchers globally to determine osteocyte biology and function. Dr. Bonewall received a Ph.D. in immunology/ microbiology from the Medical University of South Carolina. Before joining the faculty at Indiana University, Dr. Bonewall was a full professor at the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio and served as director of the Bone Biology Research Program and as vice chancellor for research at the University of Missouri-Kansas City.

Ann Elsner is a professor in the School of Optometry. Her research led to the discovery that infrared light can image the retina, and she has studied a range of retinal pathologies with a focus on diabetic retinopathy, age-related macular degeneration and normal aging of the eye. Dr. Elsner is a fourth-generation Indiana University alumna who earned her bachelor’s degree in 1972 with departmental honors for undergraduate research. She holds a Ph.D. from the University of Oregon. Professor Elsner joined the faculty at Indiana University in 2005 as a professor in the School of Optometry. She served as director of the Borish Center for Ophthalmic Research and as associate dean for research.

Marietta Simpson is a Rudy Professor of Music in the Jacobs School of Music. She is one of the most sought-after mezzo-sopranos and is greatly admired for the rich beauty of her deeply expressive voice. Simpson has performed with many of the world’s great conductors and has performed with all the major orchestras in the U.S. and most of those in Europe. A native of Philadelphia, she graduated from Temple University with a bachelor’s degree in music education in 1981 and received a master’s degree in music from Binghamton University in New York in 1983. Professor Simpson then began her operatic training at Tri-Cities Opera in Binghamton and then became a member of the Houston Opera Studio.