Five Women Scholars Selected for Endowed Faculty Positions

Suzette Malveaux has been named the Roger E. Groot Professor of Law at Washington and Lee University in Lexington, Virginia. She comes to her new role from the University of Colorado Boulder, where she served as the Moses Lasky Professor of Law and director of the Byron R. White Center for the Study of American Constitutional Law. As a scholar, she studies the intersection of civil rights and civil procedure, as well as social justice issues.

Professor Malveaux is a graduate of Harvard University, where she majored in sociology. She holds a juris doctorate from the New York University School of Law.

Jennifer Steffy has bee named a Ro and Shorty Whittington Professor at Vincennes University in Indiana. She is an assistant professor of agribusiness and has served as chair of the agribusiness and horticulture program for the past three years.

Professor Steffy is a graduate of Purdue University in Indiana, where she majored in agricultural education with a minor in crop science. She received her master’s degree in crop, soil, and environmental science from Auburn University in Alabama.

Michelle Geoffrion-Vinci has been named the Roy and Lura Forrest Jones Professor of Languages and Literary Studies at Lafayette College in Easton, Pennsylvania. She is a professor of Spanish who has been with the college for nearly three decades. In addition to teaching, she also serves as assistant head of the department of languages and literary studies. She has authored several books including On the Edge of the River Sar: A Feminist Translation (Fairleigh Dickinson University Press, 2014).

Dr. Geoffrin-Vinci received her bachelor’s degree from Wellesley College in Massachusetts. She holds a master’s degree and Ph.D. from Stanford University.

Martha Castañeda has been selected to serve as the Nancy Humbach Endowed Chair in Foreign Language Education at Miami University in Ohio. She has been a professor of foreign language education and ESOL in the department of teacher education since 2007. During her long tenure with the university, she had a stint as coordinator of the adolescent young adult education program.

Dr. Castañeda is graduate of the University of North Florida, where she majored in Spanish with a minor in English. She holds a master’s degree in Spanish linguistics with a minor in Portuguese from the University of Florida and a Ph.D. in second language, acquisition, and instructional technology from the University of South Florida.

Lana Obradovic has been named to the Goldstein Family Community Chair in Human Rights at the University of Nebraska-Omaha. She currently holds several positions with the university including associate professor of political science, director of the international studies program and director of the BOLD Civic Engagement Fellowship Program. Her academic publications include Gender Integration in NATO Military Forces: Cross-National Analysis (Routledge, 2014).

Dr. Obradovic is a graduate of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, where she earned dual bachelor’s degrees in political science and international relations. She holds a master’s degree in government and politics from St. John’s University in New York, as well as a second master’s degree and Ph.D. in political science from the City University of New York.