Five Women Faculty Members Appointed to New University Positions

Terrah Akard, an associate professor of nursing and pediatrics at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, has been given the added duties of associate dean for academic affairs for the Graduate School at the university. She has been serving as the director of graduate studies for the Ph.D. in nursing science program. Dr. Akard has been on the nursing school’s faculty since 2008.

Dr. Akard is a graduate of Jacksonville State University in Alabama. She holds a master’s degree in nursing and a Ph.D. in nursing science from Vanderbilt University.

Michelle Williams was promoted to associate vice president for research administration and executive director of operations for the Office of the Vice President for Research at the University of Connecticut. She joined the faculty at the university 20 years ago with appointments in the department of psychological sciences and the Institute of Africana Studies.

Dr. Williams is a graduate of Emory University in Atlanta. She earned a Ph.D. in clinical psychology at the University of Georgia.

Gabrielle Allen, a professor of mathematics and statistics at the University of Wyoming, has been appointed as the inaugural director of the university’s new School of Computing. Dr. Allen also serves as an adjunct professor of physics and astronomy and as a special assistant in the university’s Office of Research and Economic Development. Dr. Allen joined the faculty in 2021 after teaching at the University of Illinois and Louisiana State University.

Dr. Allen is a graduate of the University of Nottingham in England, where she majored in mathematics. She holds a master’s degree in mathematics from the University of Cambridge and a Ph.D. in physics from Cardiff University in Wales.

Paula Fitzpatrick is the director of the new Center for Well-Being at Worcester Polytechnic Institute in Massachusetts. She is an affiliate faculty member in the psychological and cognitive science program at WPI. Dr. Fitzpatrick is the former dean of Arts & Sciences and professor of psychology at Assumption University in Worcester.

Dr. Fitzpatrick holds a bachelor’s degree in psychology and a Ph.D. in experimental psychology from the University of Connecticut.

Kim Dupree Jones was appointed associate dean of academic advancement for the Nell Hodgson Woodruff School of Nursing at Emory University in Atlanta, effective July 1. She is the dean of the School of Nursing at Linfield University in Portland, Oregon. Prior to her appointment at Linfield University, she was a full professor in the School of Nursing at Oregon Health and Sciences University.

Dr. Jones is a graduate of the University of Tennessee, where she majored in nursing. She holds a master’s degree from Emory University and a Ph.D. from Oregon Health and Sciences University.