Ranjana Mehta is the interim director of the Grainger Institute for Engineering at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She currently serves as a professor in industrial and systems engineering. Before joining the university in 2023, Dr. Mehta spent 10 years as a professor at Texas A&M University. Earlier, she was a faculty member at Michigan Technological University.
Dr. Mehta earned a bachelor’s degree in engineering from the University of Mumbai in India, a master’s degree in engineering from the University at Buffalo in New York, and a second master’s degree and Ph.D. from Virginia Tech.
Desirée Plata has been named associate dean of engineering in the School of Engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. An MIT faculty member since 2018, Dr. Plata currently serves as the School of Engineering Distinguished Climate and Energy Professor in the department of civil and environemntal engineering, director of the MIT Parsons Laboratory, and director of the MIT Climate and Sustainability Consortium. Dr. Plata’s research centers on the sustainable design of industrial processes and materials through environmental chemistry, with an emphasis on clean energy technologies.
A graduate of Union College in New York, Dr. Plata earned her Ph.D. from the joint program in oceanography/applied ocean science and engineering from MIT and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution.
Krithika Lingappan was named section head of neonatology in the department of pediatrics in the School of Medicine at the University of Colorado Anschutz. Currently, Dr. Lingappan is a tenured professor of pediatrics at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. She is an internationally recognized expert on sex-specific mechanisms of neonatal lung injury.
A graduate of Kilpauk Medical College in India, Dr. Lingappan earned her master’s degree and Ph.D. from the Baylor College of Medicine in Houston.
Erica Haskell has been appointed managing director of the Yale School of Music. She comes to her new role from the Rochester Institute of Technology in New York, where she was the inaugural director of the School of Performing Arts. Earlier, she was the Oskar Schindler Humanities Endowed Professor, associate dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, and chair of the division of performing arts at the University of New Haven in Connecticut.
Dr. Haskell is a graduate of Mills College in California, where she received her bachelor’s degree in music performance. She holds a master’s degree and a Ph.D. in ethnomusicology from Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island.
Nancy Kusmaul was named chair and associate dean of the social work program at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County. She currently holds the rank of associate professor. As a scholar, Dr. Kusmaul focuses on quality of life and quality of care in nursing homes, organizational culture, trauma informed care, and the impact of trauma experiences on workers and care recipients.
Dr. Kusmaul earned her master of social work degree from the University of Michigan and her Ph.D. from the University at Buffalo.
Lynda Ransdell has been named a Distinguished Professor at Boise State University in Idaho. Dr. Ransdell first joined the Boise State faculty in 2004 as a faculty member in kinesiology. She left the university in 2012 to serve in leadership roles at Montana State University, Arizona State University, Northern Arizona University, and Northern Illinois University. Dr. Ransdell returned to Boise State in 2022 to serve as chair of the newly established School of Kinesiology. Her scholarship is focused on sport performance in women athletes, physical activity, public health, and faculty development.
Dr. Ransdell holds a bachelor’s degree from Eastern Kentucky University, a master’s degree from Smith College in Massachusetts, and a Ph.D. from Arizona State University.
Washington State University has appointed Sandra Haynes as executive vice president for WSU statewide campuses. In this role, she will work to align leadership and operations across the university’s three campuses in Everett, Tri-Cities, and Vancouver. Dr. Haynes, a professor of psychology, has over two decades of experience in higher education, including service as chancellor for WSU Tri-Cities and interim chancellor for WSU Vancouver.
Dr. Haynes holds a Ph.D. in experimental neuropsychology with a re-specialization in counseling psychology from Colorado State University.
Heather Servaty-Seib has been appointed vice provost for undergraduate education at Temple University in Philadelphia. She comes to her new role from Purdue University, where she h asas been serving a professor of counseling psychology and senior associate vice provost for teaching and learning. Earlier in her tenure with Purdue, she served as associate dean of student life for the John Martinson Honors College, associate department head in educational studies, and training director for the counseling psychology doctoral program. Her research specializes in thanatology (the study of death and dying), including grief among late adolescents/young adults, suicidal ideation, and social support offered to the bereaved.
A graduate of Concordia College in Minnesota, Dr. Servaty-Seib received her master’s degree and a Ph.D. in counseling psychology from the University of North Texas.
Vaishali “Rani” Schuchert has been named associate dean for student affairs at the University of Georgia School of Medicine. Dr. Schuchert comes to her new role from the University of Pittsburgh, where she was director of medical student education for the department of surgery, the surgery clerkship director, and associate professor of surgery and critical care medicine. She also served as an attending surgeon at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center for more than two decades.
Dr. Schuchert is a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania. She completed her medical degree, general surgery residency, and surgical critical care fellowship, all at the University of Pittsburgh.
Tanja R. Darden is the inaugural faculty leadership fellow for community engagement and societal impact in the College of Business & Economics at Towson University in Maryland. An assistant professor of management, Dr. Darden previously spent 18 years as a consultant in information technology and organizational strategy. Her research examines inclusion, employee–supervisor relationships, and the experiences of minority entrepreneurs.
Dr. Darden holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees in electrical engineering from North Carolina A&T State University. She earned a Ph.D. in organizational behavior studies from Georgia State University.
Martha McNamara was awarded tenure at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. She joined the university in August 2025 as an associate professor of history and associate director of the Slavery North initiative. Dr. McNamara is a cultural historian of eighteenth- and nineteenth-century New England who specializes in visual and material culture with an emphasis on the history of slavery and its enduring legacies.
Dr. McNamara earned her master’s degree and Ph.D. in American studies from Boston University.
Katie Randall is the inaugural Indigenous Knowledges Librarian at the University of Colorado Boulder. Dr. Randall, an assistant professor, first joined the university in 2023 as an interdisciplinary librarian. In this role, she supports scholars in the areas of linguistics and Native American and Indigenous studies. Her research centers on increasing the representation and accessibility of Indigenous Knowledges in libraries.
Dr. Randall is a graduate of Tennessee Technological University, where she majored in history. She earned a master’s degree and a Ph.D. in European history from the University of Colorado Boulder.