New Faculty Positions for a Dozen Women in Higher Education

Nikki Hoskins has been appointed as an assistant professor in religion and ecology at Harvard Divinity School. She comes to her new role from the University of Scranton in Pennsylvania, where she has taught as an assistant professor of theology and religious studies for the past three years. Her research focuses on Christian histories of colonial, race, and environmental domination.

Dr. Hoskins holds a bachelor’s degree in religious studies from Spelman College in Atlanta, a master of divinity degree from Harvard University, and a Ph.D. in religion and society from Drew University in New Jersey.

MK Ford has joined the faculty in the School of Music, Dance, and Theatre at Arizona State University as a clinical assistant professor of dance and media design. Ford is a creative artist whose performative and choreographic work features elements from dance, film and media studies, digital humanities, queer theory, and visual arts.

Ford holds a master of fine arts degree in dance performance, choreography, and pedagogy from the University of Maryland.

Julie Heath has been appointed interim director of the Raptor Research Center at Boise State University. She has been with the university since 2007, currently serving as a professor in the department of biological sciences.

Dr. Heath holds a bachelor’s degree in zoology from the University of California, Davis, a master’s degree in raptor biology from Boise State University, and a Ph.D. in wildlife ecology and conservation from the University of Florida.

Deborah Fuller has been selected to serve as interim director of the Washington National Primate Research Center at the University of Washington. For the past three years, she has served as the center’s associate director of research. She has over three decades of experience in infectious disease research, currently serving as a professor of microbiology at the University of Washington.

Dr. Fuller is a graduate of Hope College in Michigan, where she double-majored in biology and Spanish. She holds a Ph.D. in molecular and cellular pathology from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Cora de Leon has been named director of the master of social work degree program at New York University. She serves as a clinical associate professor in the New York University Silver School of Social Work and has directed the school’s undergraduate program for the past three years.

Dr. de Leon received her bachelor’s degree, master of social work degree, and Ph.D. in social work from New York University. She holds a master of public health degree from Columbia University.

Emma Teitelman has been named assistant professor of global labor and work in the School of Industrial and Labor Relations at Cornell University. She most recently served as an assistant professor at McGill University in Montreal. Previously, she spent two years at Pennsylvania State University, serving as an assistant research professor and associate director of the Richards Civil War Era Center.

Dr. Teitelman holds a bachelor’s degree in history from Wesleyan University in Middletown, Connecticut, and a Ph.D. in history from the University of Pennsylvania.

Fotini Christia has been appointed director of the Institute for Data, Systems, and Society at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. She currently serves MIT as the Ford International Professor of Social Sciences in the department of political science and the director of the Sociotechnical Systems Research Center. In addition to numerous scholarly papers and articles, she is the author of Alliance Formation in Civil War (Cambridge University Press, 2012).

Dr. Christia is a magna cum laude graduate of Columbia University, where she received a joint bachelor’s degree in economics and operations research, as well as a master’s degree in international affairs. She holds a Ph.D. in public policy from Harvard University.

Kim Whitehead has been named the inaugural director of the Women’s College at Mississippi University for Women. Prior to her new appointment, she served the university as director of the Ina E. Gordy Honors College. She is a professor of English and religion and teaches courses centered around women’s studies.

Dr. Whitehead holds a bachelor’s degree from Jacksonville State University in Alabama, a master of divinity degree from the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary Lousiville, and a Ph.D. from Emory University in Atlant.

Brooke Hull has joined the faculty at Pennsylvania State University as an assistant professor in the department of graphic design in the Stuckeman School in the College of Arts and Architecture. Hull most recently served as a teaching assistant and co-creator of a design technologies course at the University of Florida.

Hull holds a bachelor of fine arts degree in graphic design with a minor in marketing and a master of fine arts degree in design and visual communication from the University of West Florida.

Lara Dodds has been officially named head of the department of English at Mississippi State University. She has held the role on an interim basis for the past year. As a professor, she teaches early modern British literature, early modern women’s writing, and research methods. She is the author of The Literary Invention of Margaret Cavendish (Penn State University Press, 2013).

Dr. Dodds is a graduate of DePauw University in Indiana, where she majored in English. She holds a master’s degree and Ph.D. in English with a concentration in 17th-century literature from Brown University.

Tanya LeRoith has been named director of the Veterinary Teaching Hospital at the Virginia-Maryland College of Veterinary Medicine at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University. She has been a faculty member with Virginia Tech for nearly two decades. Currently, she serves as a clinical professor and director of the Virginia Tech Animal Laboratory Service.

Dr. LeRoith holds a bachelor’s degree in animal science from the University of Maryland, a doctor of veterinary medicine degree from Virginia Tech, a doctorate in microbiology and pathology from Washington State University, and an MBA from Radford University in Virginia.

Laura Machia has been named associate dean for academic initiatives and curriculum in the College of Arts and Sciences at Syracuse University. In her 12-year career with Syracuse University, she has served as a professor of psychology, director of the social psychology Ph.D. program, director of undergraduate studies in psychology, and associate chair of the psychology department.

Dr. Machia is a graduate of the University of Colorado Boulder, where she double-majored in psychology and sociology. She holds a master’s degree and Ph.D. in social psychology from Purdue University in Indiana.