Marie C. Johns was named the 2025-2026 Gwendolyn S. and Colbert I. King Endowed Chair in Public Policy at Howard University in Washington, D.C. A former member of Howard’s board of trustees, Johns has over 30 years of experience in business, civic, and government service. She previously served as president of Verizon Washington and was deputy administrator of the U.S. Small Business Administration from 2010 to 2013. She has been serving as CEO of PPC-Leftwich, a minority/woman-led consulting firm in Washington, D.C.
Johns holds a bachelor’s degree and a master of public administration degree both from Indiana University.
Jennifer Jennings is the Class of 1988 Professor in Domestic Policy at Princeton University. A Princeton faculty member since 2017, she currently serves as a professor of sociology and public affairs and director of the Education Research Section. In her scholarly work, she examines racial, socioeconomic, and gender disparities in educational and health outcomes.
A Princeton alumna, Dr. Jennings earned a master’s degree in education from the University of Cambridge in Engand and a master’s degree and Ph.D. both in sociology from Columbia University in New York City.
Sarah Reisman has been named to the Norman Davidson Leadership Chair at the California Institute of Technology. She first joined the Caltech faculty in 2008 and currently serves as the Bren Professor of Chemistry in the division of chemistry and chemical engineering. Her research aims to discover new chemical reactions and new ways to synthesize complex molecules chemically.
Dr. Reisman earned her bachelor’s degree in chemistry from Connecticut College and her Ph.D. in organic chemistry from Yale University.
Jeanne Gillespie is the new Charles W. Moorman Distinguished Professor in the Humanities at the University of Southern Mississippi. As a professor in the university’s School of Social Science and Global Studies, she teaches courses in Spanish language and cultures, American Indian studies, women’s and gender studies, and interdisciplinary studies. Her recent research centers on indigenous women’s voices in Spanish colonial archives and the use of medicinal plants in Nahuatl narratives.
Dr. Gillespie received her bachelor’s degree in Spanish language and literatures from Purdue University in Indiana, a master’s degree in Latin American studies from the University of Texas at Austin, and a Ph.D. in Latin American literature from Arizona State University.
Diana J. Montaño has been named a Georgie W. Lewis Career Development Professor at Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri. A faculty member since 2016, she currently serves as an associate professor of history and director of undergraduate studies in history. Her scholarship focuses on the construction of modern Latin American societies with a focus on technology and its relationship to nationalism, everyday life, and domesticity.
Dr. Montaño received a bachelor’s degree, a master’s degree in Latin American studies, and a Ph.D. in Latin American history, all from the University of Arizona.