Seven Women Scholars Who Are Taking on New Roles or Duties at Universities

Jennifer Gandhi is a new professor of political science and global affairs at Yale University. She was a professor and chair of the political science department at Emory University in Atlanta. Professor Gandhi is the author of Political Institutions Under Dictatorship, (Cambridge University Press, 2008).

Dr. Gandhi is a graduate of Columbia University in New York City. She earned a Ph.D. in political science at New York University.

Jody Neathery-Castro, was named interim associate vice chancellor for global engagement at the University of Nebraska-Omaha. She is a Distinguished Associate Professor of political science. Dr. Neathery-Castro joined the university’s faculty in 1998 and served as chair of the department of political science from 2015 through 2021.

Dr. Neathery-Castro is a graduate of Texas Christian University in Fort Worth. She holds a master’s degree and a Ph.D. in political science from Rice University in Houston.

Mary Helen Ruffin was named chair of the department of associate of science in nursing program in the College of Nursing and Health Sciences at Mississippi University for Women. Dr. Ruffin has taught at the university for more than a decade.

Dr. Ruffin holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees in nursing from the University of North Alabama. She earned a Ph.D. in nursing education and administration from Wiliam Carey University in Hattiesburg, Mississippi.

Associate professor Laura Soito is the new interim associate dean of the College of University Libraries and Learning Sciences at the University of New Mexico. She joined the college in 2015 and has been serving as director of collections.

Soito earned a bachelor’s degree in botany and physical science from Northern Arizona University. She holds a master of library and Information sciences degree from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro.

Virginia Rougon Chavis, a professor of graphic design at the University of Mississippi, was appointed associate provost. She served as chair of the department of art and art history for almost seven years.

Professor Chavis is a graduate of the University of Mississippi. She holds a master of fine arts degree from the Savannah College of Art & Design in Georgia.

Carla Phillips Savage has joined the Virginia-Maryland College of Veterinary Medicine as an associate professor of practice in aquatic animal medicine.

Dr. Savage earned a master’s degree in food animal medicine and a doctor of veterinary medicine degree at the University of the West Indies before earning a Ph.D. in aquatic animal medicine at the University of Florida.

Kristine Evans, associate professor in the College of Forest Resources at Mississippi State University, is the new associate director of the university’s Geosystems Research Institute. She is also the co-director of the Quantitative Ecology and Spatial Technologies lab in the department of wildlife, fisheries, and aquaculture at the Mississippi State University.

Dr. Evans is a graduate of Ohio University. She earned a master’s degree and a Ph.D. at Mississippi State University.