Five Women Named to Endowed Chairs at Washington and Lee University in Lexington, Virginia

Washington and Lee University, the highly rated liberal arts educational institution in Lexington, Virginia, has announced the appointments of seven faculty members to endowed chairs. Five of these appointments went to women.

Rebecca Benefiel was named to the Abigail Grigsby Urquhart ’11 Term Professorship. She has been a member of the faculty since 2005. Dr. Benefiel has served as department head for the department of classics and is a core faculty member for the Medieval and Renaissance Studies Program. She has also been an affiliated faculty member for the Women and Gender Studies Program. Dr. Benefiel holds a bachelor’s degree in classics with a double major in Greek and Latin from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She earned a Ph.D. in classics from Harvard University.

Genelle Gertz was appointed to the Thomas H. Broadus, Jr. Professorship. Dr. Gertz has been a member of the faculty since 2003. She has held a number of positions throughout her tenure, including director of the Writing Program, director of the Medieval and Renaissance Studies Program, and chair of the English department. Currently, she serves as the associate dean of the college for strategic initiatives. Professor Gertz holds bachelor’s degrees in English and philosophy from Wheaton College. She earned a master’s degree in English from the University of Pittsburgh and a second master’s degree and a Ph.D. in English from Princeton.

Andrea Lepage was selected to hold the Pamela H. Simpson Professorship. The chair is named to honor the first women tenure-track professor at the university and the first woman professor to hold an endowed chair. Professor Lepage joined the faculty in 2008 and has served as head of the art and art history department since 2018. She is also a core faculty member of the Latin American and Caribbean Studies Program. Dr. Lepage received a bachelor’s degree in art history from Clark University in Worcester, Massachusetts, and went on to earn a master’s degree and a Ph.D. in the history of art and architecture from Brown University.

Karla Murdock was named to the Jo W. and James M. Ballengee 250th Anniversary Professorship. Professor Murdock has been a member of the Washington and Lee University faculty since 2005 and currently serves as the director of the Mudd Center for Ethics. She earned a bachelor’s degree in psychology from Indiana University and a master’s degree and a Ph.D. in clinical psychology from the University of Georgia.

Irina Mazilu was named to the Ruth Parmly Professorship. She has been teaching at the university since 2004 and currently serves as chair of the physics department. She holds a bachelor’s degree in physics from Alexandru Ioan Cuza University in Iași, Romania. She earned a master’s degree and a Ph.D. in physics from Virginia Tech.