Seven Women Faculty Members Who Are Taking on New Assignments at American Universities

Shereen Marisol Meraji is joining the faculty at the Graduate School of Journalism at the Univerity of California, Berkeley. She will be the school’s first female tenure-track faculty member specializing in audio journalism. Since 2003, Meraji has been the host, reporter. and senior producer of National Public Radio’s Code Switch podcast.

Meraji is a native Californian with family roots in Puerto Rico and Iran. She is a graduate of San Francisco State University, where she majored in Latino/a studies.

Jennifer Macalady, a professor of geosciences at Pennsylvania State University, has been appointed director of the university’s Ecology Institute. Her research concerns microbial interactions with basic earth materials like soils, minerals, rocks, and atmospheric gases.

Macalady received her bachelor’s degree in geology from Carleton College in Northfield, Minnesota. She received a master’s degree and a doctorate in soil science from the University of California at Davis.

Victoria Zigmont is joining the faculty in the department of health, exercise science, and recreation management at the University of Mississippi. She was an assistant professor of public health at Southern Connecticut State University. Dr. Zigmnt’s research focuses on chronic disease prevention, food insecurity, and epidemiology methods.

Dr. Zigmont is a graduate of the University of Connecticut, where she majored in chemistry. She holds a master of public health degree from Southern Connecticut State University and a Ph.D. in epidemiology from Ohio State University.

Deborah Hickman was named a clinical professor of comparative pathobiology in the College of Veterinary Medicine at Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana. She will also serve as associate vice president for animal resources. She has been an adjunct professor at the veterinary school. Earlier, she was director of the Laboratory Animal Resource Center and attending veterinarian for the School of Medicine at Indiana University.

Dr. Hickman earned a bachelor’s degree, a master’s degree, and a doctor of veterinary medicine degree, all from the University of Illinois.

Jamie Simpson, a professor of psychology at Midland University in Fremont, Nebraska, was given the added duties of vice president for student affairs and institutional effectiveness at the university. She previously served as the dean of the College of Health Professionals and associate vice president of institutional effectiveness at the university.

Dr. Simpson earned her undergraduate, master’s, and doctoral degrees from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.

Cynthia Peterson, dean of the College of Science at Louisiana State University, has been named special adviser to the president of the university for science. She has served as dean since 2014 and will continue in that role. Earlier in her career, Dr. Peterson taught at the University of Tennessee.

Dr. Peterson earned a bachelor’s degree from Louisiana State University and a Ph.D. in biochemistry from the LSU Health Sciences Center in Shreveport.

Sociologist Lisa Broidy was named a Distinguished University Professor at the University of New Mexico. Her research focuses on the ways in which gender frames the structural, individual, and situational processes associated with violence and antisocial behavior. Dr. Broidy has served on the faculty since 1999.

Professor Broidy is a graduate of the University of California, San Diego. She holds a master’s degree and a Ph.D. in sociology from Washington State University.