Five Women Scholars Taking on New Assignments at Colleges and Universities

Natalia Molina was named a Distinguished Professor at the Univerity of Southern California. She is a professor of American studies and ethnicity at the university. She is the author of two award-winning books, Fit to be Citizens? Public Health and Race in Los Angeles, 1879-1939 (University of California Press, 2006) and How Race Is Made in America: Immigration, Citizenship, and the Historical Power of Racial Scripts (University of California Press, 2014). She joined the faculty at the university in 2018.

Dr. Molina is a graduate of the University of California, Los Angeles, where she majored in history and women’s studies. She holds a master’s degree and a Ph.D. in American history from the University of Michigan.

Nina Johnson was promoted to associate professor of sociology at Swarthmore College in Pennsylvania. She was also awarded tenure. Her research interests lie in the areas of inequality, politics, race, class, culture, stratification, and mobility.

Dr. Johnson is a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania, where she majored in urban studies and African American studies. She holds a master’s degree in culture and communication from New York University and a master’s degree and a Ph.D. in sociology from Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois.

Dianah Wynter will be the next director of the Sidney Poitier New American Film School at Arizona State Univerity, effective July 1. She has been serving as a professor and chair of the department of cinema and television arts at California State University, Northridge. She was taught at CalState, Northridge for 17 years.

Wynter is a graduate of Princeton University, where she majored in English literature. She holds master of fine arts degrees from Yale Drama School and the American Film Institute.

Sarah Peyre, a clinical professor of nursing, a professor of surgery, nursing, medical humanities, and bioethics, and dean of the Warner School of Education at the University of Rochester, will serve as interim provost while a national search is conducted to fill the position permanently.

Dr. Petre is a graduate of the University of California, Berkeley, where she majored in sociology. She holds a master’s degree in medical education and a doctorate in educational psychology from the University of Southern California.

Grace Musila has been named associate professor of English at Duke University in Durham, North Carolina. She has been serving as an associate professor of African literature at the University of Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, South Africa. Earlier, she taught at Stellenbosch University in South Africa.

Dr. Musila holds a Ph.D. from the University of Witwatersrand. She is the author of A Death Retold in Truth and Rumour: Kenya, Britain, and the Julie Ward Murder (James Curry, 2015).