Six Women Faculty Members Taking on New Duties or Roles in Higher Education

Jessica Logan is a new associate professor of special education at Peabody College of education and human development at Vanderbilt University in Nashville. Dr. Logan was an assistant professor of education studies, quantitative research, evaluation and measurement at Ohio State University.

Dr. Logan is a graduate of Middle Tennessee State University. She holds a master’s degree in research psychology from the University of Tennessee Chattanooga and a Ph.D. in developmental psychology from Florida State University.

K. Avvirin Gray is a new assistant professor of English at Washington and Lee University in Lexington, Virginia. Her research and teaching interests include 19th- and 20th-century Native American and African American literature.

Dr. Gray holds a bachelor’s degree from Sarah Lawrence College in Bronxville, New York. She earned a master’s degree in American Indian studies with a concentration in gender studies from the University of California, Los Angeles and a Ph.D. in American studies and ethnicity from the University of Southern California.

Meredith Frazier is a new assistant professor of biochemistry at the College of Charleston in South Carolina. She had been conducting postdoctoral research at the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences in Research Triangle Park, North Carolina.

Dr. Frazier is a graduate of Elon University in North Carolina, where she majored in biochemistry. She earned a Ph.D. at Vanderbilt University in Nashville.

Stefanie Jegelka, an associate professor of electrical engineering and computer science at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, was granted tenure. She focuses her research on algorithmic machine learning, which spans modeling, optimization algorithms, theory, and applications. Dr. Jegelka joined the MIT faculty in 2015.

Dr. Jegelka is a graduate of the University of Tubingen in Germany. She holds a Ph.D. in computer science from the Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems in Tubingen and ETH Zurich in Switzerland.

Amy Harder, a professor in the department of agricultural education and communication at the University of Florida, was appointed associate dean of the University of Connecticut Extension, effective January 27. Her research focus on competency-based professional development, effective mentoring, and improving organizational practices in extension organizations.

Dr. Harder is a graduate of Colorado State University. She holds a Ph.D. in agricultural education and communication from Texas A&M University.

Catherine Hill was appointed head of the department of entomology at Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana. Her research focuses on Infectious diseases transmitted by mosquitoes and ticks.

Dr. Hill earned her bachelor’s degree in agricultural science and a Ph.D. in entomology from the University of Adelaide in Australia.