Four Women Appointed to Chair Their Academic Departments

Heidi Wengreen, a professor of dietetics, has been named head of the department of nutrition, dietetics and food sciences at Utah State University. Her research focuses on dietary assessment tools, child nutrition, and behavior change.  Dr. Wengreen joined the faculty at Utah State in 2003.

Dr. Wengreen holds a Ph.D. in nutrition and food sciences with an emphasis in nutritional epidemiology from Utah State University.

Stephanie Boss, assistant professor and chair of the department of sports and exercise science at Cameron University in Lawton, Oklahoma, will also serve as interim chair of the university’s department of education. She joined the faculty at the university in 2011.

Dr. Boss is a graduate of the University of Central Oklahoma, where she majored in health and physical education. She holds a master’s degree in education administration from Southwestern Oklahoma State University and an educational doctorate from Walden University.

Andreea Deciu Ritivoi was reappointed chair of the department of English at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh. A native of Romania, Professor Ritivoi joined Carnegie Mellon in 2001. Her research interests include rhetorical theory, narrative, globalization and migration, politics, and controversy. She is the author of several books, including Yesterday’s Self: Nostalgia and the Immigrant Identity (Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, 2002).

Professor Ritivoi holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the University of Bucharest. She earned a Ph.D. at the University of Minnesota.

Lisa Beckley-Roberts, associate professor of ethnomusicology, has been named the chair of the department of music in the College of Liberal Arts at Jackson State University in Mississippi. She has served as interim chair since 2017. Dr. Beckley-Roberts is an accomplished performer who has been principal harpist with the Valdosta Symphony Orchestra and the Central Florida Symphony Orchestra.

Dr. Beckley-Roberts is a graduate of Dillard University in New Orleans, where she majored in harp performance. She holds a master’s degree and a doctorate in ethnomusicology from Florida State University.