Six Women Scholars Who Are Taking on New Assignments in Higher Education

Terrah Foster Akard has been named director of the Ph.D. in nursing science program at the Vanderbilt University School of Nursing in Nashville. Dr. Akard, a Vanderbilt University Chancellor’s Faculty Fellow and noted scholar in pediatric palliative care, had been serving as co-director. She joined the faculty at the nursing school in 2008 as an assistant professor.

Professor Akard holds a bachelor’s degree in biology from Jacksonville State University in Alabama. She earned a master’s degree in nursing and a Ph.D. in nursing science at Vanderbilt University.

Cammy Romanuck Murphy has joined Trident University International’s College of Education as a full-time faculty member. She has been an adjunct faculty member at the university since 2019. Her primary research interests include special education, educational leadership, online learning, and faculty and student success in higher education.

Dr. Romanuck Murphy holds a bachelor’s degree in communication disorders and a master’s degree in speech-language pathology from Minot State University in North Dakota. She earned an educational doctorate from Trident University International.

Rachel Bean, professor of astronomy a Cornell University in Ithaca, New York, will be taking on the added duties of senior associate dean for math and science. She has been serving as senior associate dean for undergraduate education.

Dr. Bean is a graduate of the University of Cambridge in England. She holds a master’s degree and a Ph.D. in theoretical physics from Imperial College London.

Kim Fagan was named chief of sports medicine in the department of family and community medicine at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. She previously served on the faculty at the medical school but recently has been in private practice.

Dr. Fagan graduated from Auburn University in Alabama. She received her medical degree at the University of Alabama at Birmingham.

Ijeoma Opara will join the faculty at the Yale School of Public Health on July 1. She is an assistant professor of social work at Stony Brook University in New York. Her research focuses on how socio-cultural factors like systemic racism influence substance use and sexual health among Black and Latinx youth.

Dr. Opara is a graduate of New Jersey City University, where she majored in psychology. She earned a master of social work degree from New York University and a master of public health degree from New York Medical College. Dr. Opara holds a Ph.D. in family science and human development from Montclair State University in New Jersey.

Kimberly Hall, a professor and head of the Division of Education at the Meridien campus of Mississippi State University, is taking on the additional assignment as interim associate dean of academics for the university’s College of Education.

Dr. Hall holds a bachelor’s degree in educational psychology, a master’s degree in school counseling, and a Ph.D. in counselor education and supervision, all from Mississippi State University.