A Quartet of Women Scholars Selected for Endowed Professorships

Pamela Keel has been named the 2025-2026 Robert O. Lawton Distinguished Professor in the department of psychology at Florida State University. She first joined the university’s faculty in 2008 and was promoted to distinguished research professor in 2018. As a clinical psychologist, she studies eating disorders and how to address their causes and consequences.

Dr. Keel received her doctorate in clinical psychology from the University of Michigan.

Kish Parella has been named the James P. Morefield Professor at the Washington and Lee University School of Law in Lexington, Virginia. A faculty member since 2013, her scholarship focuses on different levers for encouraging corporate responsibility, such as board governance, responsible contracting, reputational risk, and supply chain compliance.

Professor Parella holds a master of laws degree and a juris doctorate from Duke University Law School, as well as a second master’s degree from the University of Cambridge in England.

Sharlene Smith has been named to the Anne MacGregor Jenkins Endowed Chair in Pediatric Nursing at Florida Southern College. She currently holds the rank of associate professor and serves as the education coordinator for the Carol Jenkins Barnett Center for Early Childhood Learning and Health. Her expertise centers on improving healthy lifestyle behaviors in children and families.

Dr. Smith holds both a Ph.D. in nursing and a doctor of nursing practice degree.

Gretchen E. Henderson has been named the Spence L. Wilson Distinguished Professor in the Humanities at Rhodes College in Memphis, Tennessee. She is an interdisciplinary scholar whose writing spans the fields of environmental arts, cultural histories, integrative sciences, and public humanities. She has authored several books, including Ugliness: A Cultural History (Reaktion Books, 2015).

Dr. Henderson received her bachelor’s degree in history from Princeton University, her master of fine arts degree from Columbia University, and her doctorate in English and creative writing from the University of Missouri.

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