A Dozen Women Faculty Members Selected for New Academic Appointments

Eleanor Hancock has joined the Vanderbilt University Peabody College faculty as an assistant professor of practice of special education. Her primary research interests center around teacher preparation and tiered behavioral interventions for students in general and special education classrooms.

Dr. Hancock is a three-time graduate of Vanderbilt University, where she earned her bachelor’s degree in special education and elementary education, a master’s degree in special education and applied behavior analysis, and a Ph.D. in special education.

Irina Mikhalevich has joined the faculty at North Carolina State University as an assistant professor of philosophy. She comes to her new role from the Rochester Institute of Technology in New York, where she has served as an assistant professor of philosophy for the past seven years.

Dr. Mikhalevich received her bachelor’s degree in philosophy from the University of California, Berkeley and her Ph.D. in philosophy from Boston University.

Alison Reynolds has been promoted to program director for the university writing program at the University of Florida. As an instructional professor, she focuses her work on composition pedagogy, assessment, multi-modal teaching, design thinking, innovation, and creativity.

Dr. Reynolds received her bachelor’s degree and master’s degree from Midwestern State University in Texas. She holds a Ph.D. from Texas Woman’s University.

Kathryn Saynes has been promoted to vice president for academics at Bryan College in Dayton, Tennessee. Over the course of her career, she has held several positions with Bryan College, most recently serving as the dean of professional studies and Bryan College Online.

Dr. Saynes is an alumna of Bryan College, where she majored in elementary education. She holds a master’s degree in instructional leadership from Tennessee Technological University and a doctorate in education from Northcentral University.

Briana Rosenbaum has been promoted to associate dean for diversity, inclusion, and community engagement for the University of Tennessee College of Law. She is an associate professor of law whose scholarship focuses on legal history, procedure, access to justice, and gender studies. Earlier in her career, she taught at Stanford Law School.

Dr. Rosenbaum is a cum laude graduate of Santa Clara University in California. She holds a juris doctorate from the University of California Hastings College of the Law.

Bernadette Meyler has been appointed as a special advisor to the provost on university speech at Stanford University. She has been a member of the Stanford Law School faculty for more than a decade, currently serving as the Carl and Sheila Spaeth Professor of Law and associate dean for research and intellectual life. She is the author of Theaters of Pardoning (Cornell University Press, 2019).

Dr. Meyler is a magna cum laude graduate of Harvard University, where she majored in literature with a focus on classics. She holds a juris doctorate from Stanford Law School and a Ph.D. in English from the University of California, Irvine.

Debra Bangasser has been appointed director of the Center for Behavioral Neuroscience at Georgia State University. She currently serves as a professor in the university’s Neuroscience Institute and as a distinguished investigator with the Georgia Research Alliance. Earlier in her career, she was an associate professor and director of the program in neuroscience: systems, behavior, and plasticity at Temple University in Philadelphia.

Dr. Bangasser is a summa cum laude graduate of San Diego State University, where she majored in psychology with a minor in biology. She holds a master’s degree and Ph.D. in biopsychology and behavioral neuroscience from Rutgers University in New Jersey.

Alicia Olivier has been promoted from interim associate dean to permanent associate dean for administration in the College of Veterinary Medicine at Mississippi State University. She is a professor of anatomic pathology and has taught in the college’s department of pathobiology and population medicine for the past decade.

Dr. Olivier holds a doctor of veterinary medicine degree from Mississippi State University and a Ph.D. in veterinary pathology from Iowa State University.

Anna Nagurney has been selected to serve a five-year term as a supply chains expert in the Science Advice and Guidance for Emergencies program at the United States Department of Homeland Security. She currently serves as the Eugene M. Isenberg Chair in Integrative Studies in the Isenberg School of Management at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. Prior to her current appointment, she was the Isenberg School’s John F. Smith Memorial Professor for over two decades.

Dr. Nagurney holds four degrees from Brown University: a bachelor’s degree in applied mathematics, a second bachelor’s degree in Russian language and literature, a master’s degree in applied mathematics, and a Ph.D. in applied mathematics with a focus on operations research.

Elizabeth Votruba-Drzal has been promoted to director of the Learning Research and Development Center at the University of Pittsburgh. She has been a faculty member with the university for nearly two decades. Currently, she serves as a professor and chair of the department of psychology.

Dr. Votruba-Drzal holds a bachelor’s degree from Michigan State University and a Ph.D. in human development and social policy from Northwestern University in Illinois.

Cortney Norris has been named the Naifeh and RNDC Director of the Wayne Hirst Center for Beverage Education at Oklahoma State University. She has been with the university since 2022, serving as an assistant professor in the School of Hospitality and Tourism Management. Prior to her current role, she gained over 20 years of industry experience in beverage operations and event planning.

Dr. Norris received her bachelor’s degree in hospitality and tourism management from Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana, an MBA in marketing from the University of North Carolina, and a Ph.D. in hospitality administration from the University of Houston.

Tamy Burnett has been appointed director of honors program operations at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. She has worked in the university’s honors program since 2012, most recently serving as associate director. She also serves as a courtesy faculty member in the English department and campus associate in the women’s and gender studies program.

Dr. Burnett holds a bachelor’s degree in secondary education and teaching from the University of Nebraska-Kearney, a master’s degree in English from the University of Nevada-Las Vegas, and a Ph.D. in American literature and culture and women’s and gender studies from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.