Eight Women Faculty Members Who Have Been Promoted or Assigned to New Roles

Laura J. Crossey was named a Distinguished University Professor of Earth and Planetary Sciences at the University of New Mexico. She works with aqueous and sedimentary geochemistry, and applications of low-temperature geochemistry to address problems in hydrochemistry, diagenesis, geomicrobiology, and geothermal processes. Professor Crossey joined the faculty at the University of New Mexico in 1985.

Dr. Crossey is a graduate of Colorado College, where she majored in geology. She earned a master’s degree in geochemistry at Washington University in St. Louis and a Ph.D. in low-temperature geochemistry from the University of Wyoming.

Michelle Effros, the George Van Osdol Professor of Electrical Engineering at the California Institute of Technology, was named vice provost. Her research focuses on information theory, specifically on mathematical models of communications systems. She joined the faculty at Caltech in 2004 as an assistant professor.

Dr. Effros received her undergraduate, master’s, and doctoral degrees from Stanford University.

Erin H. Moore is the new executive director of the Center for Racial and Social Justice at Shaw Univerity in Raleigh, North Carolina. She is a former assistant professor of history at Central State University in Wilberforce, Ohio.

Dr. Moore earned a bachelor’s degree in economics at Spelman College in Atlanta. She holds a master’s degree in African American studies from Ohio State University and a Ph.D. in African American studies from Temple University in Philadelphia.

Myriam Heiman was named the Latham Family Career Development Associate Professor of Neuroscience in the College of Science at the Massachusetts Institute of technology. She was also granted tenure. A molecular neurobiologist and geneticist, Dr. Heiman studies the selective vulnerability and pathophysiology seen in neurodegenerative diseases of the brain.

Dr. Heiman received a bachelor’s degree in molecular biology from Princeton University in New Jersey and a Ph.D. in biology from Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore.

Tania Bruguera will join the department of theater, dance & media at Harvard University as a senior lecturer in media and performance. A performance and installation artist, Bruguera choreographs political performances that examine institutionalized injustice.

Bruguera received a bachelor of fine arts degree from Escuela de Arte San Alejandro in Havana. She holds master of fine arts degrees from the Instituto Superior de Arte in Havana and the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.

Luzita Vela has been hired to lead the master’s degree program in athletic training in the department of health, human performance, and recreation at the University of Arkansas. She was previously a faculty member and clinical education coordinator for the University of Virginia’s athletic training program.

Dr. Vela is a graduate of Texas Woman’s University, where she majored in kinesiology. She holds a master’s degree in athletic training from Barry University in Miami and a Ph.D. in kinesiology from Pennsylvania State University

Francine Berman, renowned data scientist, researcher, and co-founder of the Research Data Alliance, will join the University of Massachusetts Amherst’s College of Information and Computer Sciences faculty in fall 2021 as a research professor. She has been serving as the Edward P. Hamilton Distinguished Professor in Computer Science at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, New York. Dr. Berman joined the faculty at RPI in 2009 after teaching at the University of California, San Diego.

Professor Berman is a graduate of the University of California, Los Angeles, where she majored in mathematics. She holds a master’s degree and a Ph.D. in mathematics from the University of Washington.

La Toya Hart was appointed assistant professor of educational administration and assistant vice president for institutional effectiveness and research at Jackson State University in Mississippi. Dr. Hart has been serving as institutional effectiveness and assessment director and institutional accreditation liaison at Alcorn State University in Mississippi. She previously served on the faculty at Jackson State from 2009 to 2012.

Dr. Hart holds a bachelor’s degree in exercise science and a Ph.D. in higher education administration from the Univerity of Southern Mississippi. She earned an MBA at William Carey University in Hattiesburg, Mississippi.