Six Women Scholars Promoted and Granted Tenure at Wesleyan University in Connecticut

Wesleyan University, the highly rate liberal arts educational institution in Middletown, Connecticut, has announced the promotion of seven scholars to the rank of associate professor. All seven were also awarded tenure. Six of the seven promotions went to women.

Royette T. Dubar was promoted to associate professor of psychology. Her scholarship focuses on examining the direction of effects between sleep and psychosocial functioning among emerging adults. She holds a master’s degree and a Ph.D. from Brock University in St. Catharines, Ontario.

Kyungmi Kim was named an associate proferssor of psychology. She is a cognitive psychologist whose main research program in the field of memory focuses on the self-reference effect, or the tendency for people to remember information that relates to themselves better than information that relates to other entities. Dr. Kim holds a master’s degree from Yonsei University in Seoul, South Korea. She earned two master’s degrees and a Ph.D. at Yale University.

Valeria López Fadul was appointed an associate professor of history. She specializes in the intellectual and cultural history of colonial Latin America and early modern Spain, with a particular focus on the philosophy of language and the history of science. Dr. Fadul is the author of The Cradle of Words: Language and Knowledge in the Spanish Empire (Johns Hopkins Press, 2025). Dr. Fadul is a graduate of Yale University. She earned a master’s degree and a Ph.D. from Princeton University.

Alexis May was named an associate professor of psychology. Her research seeks to understand the cause of suicidal thoughts and behaviors with the ultimate goal of improving prevention and treatment. Dr. May is a graduate of Wesleyan University and eanred a master’s degree and a Ph.D. at the University of British Columbia. She completed a postdoctoral fellowship at the National Center for Veterans Studies at the University of Utah.

Courtney J. Patterson-Faye was promoted to associate professor of sociology. Her research is situated at the intersection of Black feminism, fat studies, and cultural studies. She is the author of The Body Contract: Black Women, Culture, and the Impossibilities of Fatness, forthcoming from New York University Press. Dr. Patterson-Faye is a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania. She holds a master’s degree and a Ph.D. from Northwestern University.

Katie Pearl was appointed to associate professor of theater. She is a director, playwright, producer, and co-artistic director of the Obie-winning theater company, PearlDamour. Her play, “Ocean Filibuster,” commissioned by the Harvard University Center for Environment and the American Repertory Theater, has been performed in many prestigious venues. Pearl is a graduate of the University of Washington and holds a master of fine arts degree from Brown University.