Kisha Cunningham Aites has been named associate dean of the College of Education at Savannah State University in Georgia. A faculty member since 2013, she currently teaches as a professor of engineering technology. She has chaired her department on an interim basis since 2019. Earlier in her tenure, she was coordinator of interdisciplinary studies.
Dr. Aites is a two-time graduate of North Carolina A&T State University, where she earned her bachelor’s degree and master’s degree in technology education. She holds a Ph.D. in workforce education and training development from Pennsylvania State University.
Melissa Morris has been named director of the Wyoming Institute for Humanities Research at the University of Wyoming. She joined the university in 2018 and currently teaches several courses within the department of history. As a scholar, she specializes in sixteenth- and seventeenth-century American and Caribbean histories.
Dr. Morris holds a Ph.D. in history from Columbia University in New York City.
Wei-Zen Wei has earned the title of Distinguished Service Professor at the Wayne State University School of Medicine in Detroit, Michigan. A faulty member since 1983, she currently serves as the Herrick Endowed Chair of Cancer Research, a professor of oncology, and a member of the Barbara Ann Karmanos Cancer Institute. Her medical research centers on breast cancer.
Dr. Wei earned her Ph.D. in biology from Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island.
Shannon Wanless has been named director of the University Center for Social and Urban Research at the University of Pittsburgh. She joined the Pitt faculty in 2011 and was named executive director of the Office of Child Development in the School of Education in 2018. Before her tenure at Pitt, she conducted research at the Center for Advanced Study of Teaching and Learning at the University of Virginia.
Dr. Wanless is a graduate of Denison University in Ohio, where she studied sociology, anthropology, and psychology. She holds a master’s degree in early childhood education from the University of Michigan and a Ph.D. in human development and family sciences from Oregon State University.
Lynne McLandsborough has been appointed director of the Center for Agriculture, Food, and the Environment and assistant vice chancellor for research and engagement in the College of Natural Sciences at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. A food microbiologist, she has taught at the university since 1995. Her research focuses on food safety, including biofilm formation of pathogenic and spoilage organisms in the food processing environment and how to remove them.
Dr. McLandsborough is a graduate of Miami University in Ohio, where she majored in microbiology. She holds a master’s degree and Ph.D. in food science from the University of Minnesota.
Katherine McDonald has been appointed associate vice president for research at Syracuse University in New York. She currently serves as a professor of public health and senior associate dean for research and administration in Syracuse’s David B. Falk College of Sport and Human Dynamics. She has held several roles with Syracuse since joining the faculty in 2011, including chair of the public health department. In her research, she aims to understand and promote the inclusion of individuals with disabilities.
Dr. McDonald is a graduate of Cornell University in Ithaca, New York, where she earned her bachelor’s degree in human development and family studies and French. She received her master’s degree and Ph.D. in community and prevention research psychology from the University of Illinois at Chicago.