Three Women Appointed to Endowed Positions at Major Universities

Jenny Kim was appointed to the Terry Umbreit Distinguished Professorship in Hospitality Business Management in the Carson College of Business at Washington State University. Professor Umbreit joined the Carson College faculty in 1975 and was a vibrant contributor to the hospitality school for more than 30 years. He served as the hospitality school’s director from 1984 until his retirement in 2008.

Dr. Kim joined the faculty at Washington State University in 2002 and was promoted to full professor in 2014. She is a graduate of Yonsei University in Seoul, South Korea, where she majored in English language and literature. Dr. Kim holds a master’s degree in hotel and food industry management from Florida International University in Miami and a Ph.D. in hotel, restaurant and institution management from Kansas State University.

Jennifer L. Biddle was appointed to the Gough Whitlam and Malcolm Fraser Chair of Australian Studies at Harvard University for the 2021-22 academic year. She is an associate professor of visual anthropology and visual culture at the University of New South Wales in Kensington, Australia. Her research has focused on contemporary Aboriginal visual culture, highlighting innovations in the materials and themes of artists working in remote Outback communities.

Dr. Biddle joined the faculty at the University of New South Wales in 2007. Her most recent book Remote Avant-Garde: Aboriginal Art under Occupation (Duke University Press, 2016) models the importance of new and emergent desert Aboriginal aesthetics as an art of survival.

Barbara Rockenbach was appointed the Stephen F. Gates ’68 University Librarian at Yale University, effective July 1, 2020. She is currently the associate university librarian for research and learning at Columbia University. Earlier in her career, Rockenbach served as the director of undergraduate and library research education at Yale and as an instructional services librarian for the arts library.

Rockenbach is a graduate of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, where she majored in English. She holds a master of library and information science degree from the University of Pittsburgh, and a master’s degree in art history from Hunter College of the City University of New York.