Four Women in Academia Who Are Stepping Down From Their University Positions

Maura E. Hagan, a professor of physics and dean of the College of Science at Utah State University, has announced that she will retire at the end of 2020. The New England native became dean in 2015, after serving as interim director of the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, Colorado. Elected to the National Academy of Sciences in 2019, Dr. Hagan has been recognized for her groundbreaking contributions to atmospheric and space research.

Professor Hagan holds a bachelor’s degree in physics from Emmanuel College in Boston and a Ph.D. in physics from Boston College.

Julie Barrett Heffington, director of the Seymour Marine Discovery Center at the University of California, Santa Cruz, has retired. She has served as director of the center for the past 21 years. At the beginning of her tenure, the center was housed in a trailer. Earlier in her career, Heffington was director of education and gardens for the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center at the University of Texas at Austin.

Heffington holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Humboldt State University in Arcata, California.

Lenore D. Miller, director of university art galleries and chief curator at George Washington University in Washington, D.C., is retiring. She began her career at the university in 1973 as the assistant to the curator at the Dimock Gallery. She was appointed as curator of art in 1975 and has served as director 0f university art galleries since 2007.

Miller holds a master of fine arts degree from George Washington University.

Jennifer Sinclair Curtis, dean of the College of Engineering at the University of California, Davis, is stepping down at the end of the calendar year.  After a sabbatical commencing in January, she will return to teaching and research in the department of chemical engineering. Professor Curtis has been dean for five years. Earlier, she was associate dean for research and facilities for the College of Engineering at the University of Florida.

Dr. Curtis is a graduate of Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana. She holds a Ph.D. in chemical engineering from Princeton University in New Jersey.