Wellesley College in Massachusetts, the nation’s highest-rated liberal arts educational institution for women, has announced the awarding of tenure to five women scholars, effective on September 1.
“The awarding of tenure is perhaps the greatest milestone in a professor’s career — recognition that their teaching and their research, scholarship, and creative work have placed them among the best in their field,” said Courtney Coile, the college’s provost. “The five remarkable professors who earned tenure this year are contributing powerfully to the academic enterprise at Wellesley. They are mentoring the next generation of women who will make a difference in the world, while simultaneously advancing the frontiers of knowledge and discovery more broadly.”
Chipo Dendere was awarded tenure and promoted to associate professor of Africana studies. She is a comparative political scientist with a focus on African politics. Dr. Dendere is the author of Death, Diversion, and Departure: Voter Exit and the Persistence of Autocracy in Zimbabwe (Cambridge University Press, 2026). She joined the Wellesley College faculty in 2019. Dr. Dendere, a native of Zimbabwe, is a graduate of what is now Linfield University in Oregon, where she majored in political science and psychology. She holds a master’s degree and a Ph.D. in political science from Georgia State University.
Kara Yacoubou Djima was promoted to associate professor of mathematics and granted tenure. She is an applied mathematician who studies problems at the intersection of harmonic analysis and machine learning, including analysis on graphs, diffusion geometry, and image processing. She earlier served on the faculty at Amherst College in Massachusetts. Dr. Djima, a native of Benin, holds a bachelor’s degree in mathematics and a bachelor’s degree in engineering from the College of Staten Island of the City University of New York. She earned a master’s degree and Ph.D., both in applied mathematics and statistics and scientific computation, from the University of Maryland.
Sabriya Fisher was appointed a tenured associate professor of cognitive and linguistic sciences. She researches sociolinguistics, language variation and change, varieties of English, and the language varieties of the African diaspora. Dr. Fisher joined the faculty at Wellesley College in 2018. She is a graduate of Binghamton University of the State University of New York System, where she majored in English literature and rhetoric. Dr. Fisher earned a master’s degree in language sciences at the University of Lyon in France and a Ph.D. in linguistics from the University of Pennsylvania.
Kathya Landeros was granted tenure and promoted to associate professor of art. She is a visual artist whose work over the past decade focuses on Latinx communities and the exploration of history, migration, representation, and belonging. Before joining the faculty at Wellesley College, she taught at public institutions of higher education in Northern California and Massachusetts. Professor Landeros is a graduate of Vassar College in Poughkeepsie, New York, where she majored in English literature and Hispanic studies. She holds a master of fine arts degree in photography from the Massachusetts College of Art and Design.
Becca Selden was promoted to associate professor of biological sciences and granted tenure. Her research focuses on the effect of a warming climate on ocean ecosystems, with a specific focus on fisheries and aquatic farming. Dr. Selden joined the faculty at Wellesley College in 2019 after serving as a postdoctoral fellow at Rutgers University in New Jersey. Dr. Seiden is a graduate of Bowdoin College in Brunswick, Maine, where she majored in biology. She holds a Ph.D. in ecology, evolution, and marine biology from the University of California, Santa Barbara.