Three Women Scholars Receive Endowed Faculty Appointments

Paulina Jaramillo has been named the Trustee Professor of Engineering and Public Policy at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. She currently holds several roles with the university, including co-director of the Open Energy Outlook Initiative, fellow of the Scott Institute for Energy Innovation and Research, and research affiliate with the Kigali Collaborative Research Center. She also holds a courtesy appointment with CMU-Africa. As a scholar, she has conducted extensive research on life cycle assessment of energy systems with an emphasis on climate change impacts and mitigation research.

Dr. Jaramillo holds three degrees in civil and environmental engineering: a bachelor’s degree from Florida International University, as well as a master’s degree and a Ph.D. from Carnegie Mellon University.

Samantha Cross has been appointed to the F. W. Olin Distinguished Chair of Global Business at Babson College in Massachusetts. Earlier in her career, she was an assistant professor in the department of marketing and management at Iowa State University. Using multi-method approaches, her research examines cultural and sensory influences, and societal forces on consumption, decision making, and innovation. She is particularly interested in how diverse identities, perspectives, beliefs, and abilities co-exist in consumers, households, and the marketplace.

Dr. Cross is a graduate of the University of the West Indies, where she majored in management studies. She holds an MBA in international business from DePaul University in Chicago and a Ph.D. in marketing from the University of California, Irvine.

Dawn Meredith Simmons has been named the Monan Professor in Theatre Arts at Boston College. She is the co-producing artistic director of Front Porch Arts Collective, a Black theatre company dedicated to advancing racial equity in the Boston area. Previously, she served as executive director of Stage Source and director of performing arts at the Boston Center for the Arts. In 2008, she founded New Exhibition Room to produce provocative, political, and affordable theater events.

Professor Simmons received her bachelor’s degree in English literature from the University of Buffalo in New York and studied playwriting at Boston University.