Five Women Appointed to Diversity Positions at Colleges and Universities

Jin Feng, professor of Chinese and Japanese and the Orville and Mary Patterson Routt Professor of Literature, has been named the associate dean for faculty development and diversity, equity, and inclusion at Grinnell College in Iowa. She will assume her new duties on July 1.

Professor Feng’s latest book is Tasting Paradise on Earth: Jiangnan Foodways (University of Washington Press, 2019). She joined the faculty at Grinnell College in 2001. Dr. Feng is a graduate of Fudan University in Shanghai, China. She holds a master’s degree in comparative literature from the University of Illinois and a Ph.D. in Asian literatures and culture from the University of Michigan.

Jessica Harris is the first vice chancellor for equity, diversity, and inclusion at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville. Dr. Harris is an associate professor of historical studies and director of the interdisciplinary Black studies program at the university. She joined the faculty in 2011.

Dr. Harris is a graduate of Dillard University in New Orleans. She holds a master’s degree and a Ph.D. in history from Cornell University in Ithaca, New York.

Rosta Farzan, an associate professor in the University of Pittsburgh’s School of Computing and Information, was recently appointed associate dean for diversity, equity, and inclusion at the school. She joined the faculty at the university in 2012 and was promoted to associate professor in 2018.

Dr. Fazan is a graduate of Sharif University of Technology in Tehran, Iran, where she majored in computer engineering. She earned a master’s degree in computer science from California State University, East Bay in Hayward. Dr. Fazan holds a Ph.D. in intelligent systems programing from the University of Pittsburgh.

Precious Porras was chosen as the chief diversity officer for Dominican University in River Forest, Illinois. She was assistant vice provost for student affairs at the University of Kansas. She had been on the staff at the University of Kansas for 15 years.

Dr. Porras holds a bachelor’s degree in psychology and sociology from Northwest Missouri State University and a master’s degree in counseling/student personnel from Emporia State University in Kansas. She earned a doctorate in educational leadership and policy studies from the University of Kansas.

Marilyn Clark was named director of supplier diversity for the University of Kentucky. In this role, she will seek to expand the university’s supplier diversity procurement efforts. She held a similar position for the Fayette County School system.

A native of Odessa, Texas, Clark majored in broadcast communications and minored in journalism at the University of North Texas in Denton. She later received an Executive MBA through a joint program with the University of Kentucky and the University of Louisville.