Three Women Scholars Selected for Endowed Faculty Appointments

Lu “Lucy” Bai has been named the Verne M. Willaman Professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at Pennsylvania State University. She first joined the Penn State faculty in 2012 as an assistant professor and earned the rank of full professor last year. As a member of the Penn State Center for Eukaryotic Gene Regulation, she investigates how gene expression is regulated by chromatin. Her research has led to the development of new genetics and genomic tools that examine gene regulation.

Dr. Bai is a graduate of Nanjing University in China, where she majored in physics. She holds a master’s degree and Ph.D. in biophysics from Cornell University in Ithaca, New York.

Evelyn Micelotta has been named the inaugural Steven Grossman Chair of Family Business at the University of Vermont. She currently serves as an associate professor and a Family Firm Institute Fellow. Before joining the University of Vermont faculty, she was the Desmarais Professor in Family Business at the University of Ottawa in Canada. Her research focuses on the challenges and opportunities organizations face because of their embeddedness in a broader institutional environment.

Dr. Micelotta received her bachelor’s degree, master’s degree, and Ph.D. in management engineering from Milan Polytechnic in Italy. She holds a second Ph.D. in strategic management and organization from the University of Alberta in Canada.

Deborah Berke has been named the inaugural Edward P. Bass Dean of the Yale School of Architecture. A Yale faculty member since 1988, she has served as the school’s first woman dean since 2016. She also currently holds the title of J. M. Hoppin Professor of Architecture. Outside of Yale, she is the founder of the New York-based architecture firm, TenBerke, which has designed projects for several institutions such as Princeton University and the State University of New York.

Professor Berke received a bachelor of fine arts degree and a bachelor of architecture degree from the Rhode Island School of Design. She holds a master’s degree in urban planning from The City College of New York.