Seven Women Faculty Members Who Are Taking on New Roles in Higher Education

Georgia Perakis have been appointed the new associate dean of the Social and Ethical Responsibilities of Computing, a cross-cutting initiative in the Stephen A. Schwarzman College of Computing at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dr. Perakis is the William F. Pounds Professor of Management and professor of operations research, statistics, and operations management at the MIT Sloan School of Management, where she has been a faculty member since 1998.

Professor Perakis holds a bachelor’s degree in mathematics from the University of Athens in Greece. She earned a master’s degree in applied mathematics and a Ph.D. in applied mathematics at Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island.

Tara T. Green is the founding chair and CLASS distinguished professor in the department of African American studies at the University of Houston. Dr. Green, who joins the University of Houston after over a decade at the University of North Carolina, Greensboro, focuses her research on Black feminist studies, Black parent-child relationships and Black activism. She has authored or edited six books including the award-winning A Fatherless Child: Autobiographical Perspectives of African American Men (University of Missouri Press, 2009) and her latest work ​See Me Naked: Black Women Defining Pleasure During the Interwar Era (Rutgers University Press, 2022).

Dr. Green is a graduate of Dillard University in New Orleans. She holds a master’s degree and a Ph.D. in English from Louisiana State University.

Leah Lowe was named director of the Curb Center for Art, Enterprise, and Public Policy at Vanderbilt University in Nashville. She is an associate professor of theatre at the university. Dr. Lowe, who joined the faculty from Connecticut College in 2011, has served as department chair for a total of seven years. In addition, she was interim director of the American studies program in the 2021-22 academic year.

Dr. Lowe is a graduate of Oberlin College in Ohio, where she majored in theater and religion. She holds a master of fine arts degree in directing from the University of Minnesota and a doctorate in dramaturgy from Florida State University.

Amanda Pintore was appointed assistant professor of theater for youth and community and acting in the School of Music, Dance and Theatre at Arizona State University. She specializes in arts integration, creative facilitation strategies and training in teaching artistry.

Pintore is a graduate of Chadron State College in Nebraska, where she majored in theater. She holds a master of fine arts degree in theatre from Arizona State Unviersity.

Belle Rose Ragins, the Sheldon B. Lubar Professor of Management in the Lubar College of Business at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, was named a University Distinguished Profesor. Her current research examines diversity training, the effectiveness of formal mentoring and allyship at work. Professor Ragins joined the faculty in 1998.

Dr. Ragins is a graduate of Southern Illinois University, where she majored in psychology. She holds a master of social work degree from the University of Illinois at Chicago and a Ph.D. in industrial/organizational psychology from the University of Tennessee.

Amanda McLeroy, is an assistant professor of counseling and human development at the University of Rochester in New York. She was a postsecondary transition instructor in the Beyond Academics program at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. Her research focuses on the overall mental health of college students.

Dr. McLeroy is a graduate of George Mason University in Fairfax, Virginia, where she majored in psychology. She holds a master’s degree in clinical and mental health counseling from Columbus State University in Georgia and a Ph.D. in rehabilitation counseling and rehabilitation counselor education from North Carolina A&T State University.

Danielle Graham has joined the faculty of Center of Excellence for Poultry Science and the department of poultry science at the University of Arkansas as an assistant professor. She will be conducting research in poultry parasitology for the Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station.

Dr. Graham received s bachelor’s degree in animal science in 2015, a master’s degree in poultry science in 2018 and a Ph.D. in poultry science in 2021 — all from the University of Arkansas.