Five Women Who Are Retiring From Colleges and Universities

Kristi A. Nelson, provost at the Univerity of Cincinnati, announced that she is retiring at the end of the academic year. She has served as provost since 2017. Earlier, Dr. Nelson was a faculty member at the College of Design, Architecture, Art and Planning for 36 years and then served 15 years as senior vice provost.

Dr. Nelson is a graduate of Florida State University. She holds a Ph.D. in art history from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Barbara Craig, an associate professor of theatre at the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, Massachusetts, has retired. She joined the department of theatre and dance faculty in 2004. She is an expert in set and lighting design as well as technical production.

Craig is a graduate of Barnard College in New York City, where she majored in English. She holds a master of fine arts degree in design and technical theatre from the University of Minnesota.

Leslie Kirwan, dean for administration and finance for the Faculty of Arts and Sciences at Harvard University for more than a decade, will retire this spring. Before joining the staff at the university in 2009, Kiran was the first woman to serve as Secretary of Administration and Finance for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.

Kirwan holds a bachelor’s degree and a master of public policy degree from Harvard University.

Rebekka Wachter, who spent nearly 20 years at Arizona State University’s School of Molecular Sciences as an expert in the field of structural and functional characterization of proteins, recently retired. She also served as a faculty member in the Center for Bioenergy and Photosynthesis and more recently the Biodesign Institute for Applied Structural Discovery.

Dr. Watchter earned a bachelor’s degree in biochemistry and molecular biology from the University of California, Santa Cruz. She holds a Ph.D. in chemistry from the University of Oregon.

Vivien G. Fryd was named professor of history of art, emerita at Vanderbilt University. She joined the faculty in 1985 and was promoted to full professor in 2003. She is the author of several books including Art and Empire: The Politics of Ethnicity in the United States Capitol, 1815-1860 (Yale University Press, 1992).

Professor Fryd holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Ohio State Univerity. She earned a Ph.D. at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.