Julie Sanford, the Angelyn Adams Giambalvo Dean and Professor of the Capstone College of Nursing at the University of Alabama, was appointed chair of the board of directors for the American Association of Colleges of Nursing.
Dr. Sanford has worked in academic nursing since 1993. Prior to joining the University of Alabama, she was dean of the School of Nursing at the University of Mississippi Medical Center. Earlier, she was director of the School of Nursing at James Madison University in Harrisonburg, Virginia. Dr. Sanford’s scholarly interests include the health status of informal caregivers, program development, decision-making, patient safety, and teaching and learning.
A graduate of the University of Alabama, Dr. Sanford earned her master’s degree from the University of South Alabama and her doctorate from Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center.
Eileen Boris, the Hull Professor of Feminist Studies at the University of California, Santa Barbara, is the new president of the Labor and Working Class History Association.
Dr. Boris joined the UC Santa Barbara faculty in 2001 after a stint teaching women and gender studies at the University of Virginia. She previously taught at Howard University in Washington, D.C., for 14 years. As a scholar, Dr. Boris specializes in labor studies, gender, race, class, women’s history, and social politics. She has authored several books, including Making the Woman Worker: Precarious Labor and the Fight for Global Standards, 1919–2019 (Oxford University Press, 2019).
Dr. Boris received her bachelor’s degree in English language and literature and American history and civilization from Boston University. She holds a master’s degree and a Ph.D. in American civilization from Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island.
Itohan Osayimwese, chair of the department of the history of art and architecture at Brown University, has been elected vice president of the Society for Architectural Historians. She will serve a two-year term as vice president, followed by a two-year term as the society’s president beginning in 2028.
Dr. Osayimwese currently teaches as a professor of history of art and architecture and of urban studies, with affiliations in Africana studies and the Center for Latin American and Caribbean studies. In her research, she focuses on the relationship between political ideologies and the built environment in sub-Saharan Africa, the Caribbean, and Europe between 1750 and 1950. She is the author of several books, including Africa’s Buildings: Architecture and the Displacement of Cultural Heritage (Princeton University Press, 2025).
A graduate of Bryn Mawr College in Pennsylvania, Dr. Osayimwese earned her master of architecture degree from Rice University in Houston and her Ph.D. in the history of architecture from the University of Michigan.
Jane M. Grant-Kels, professor of dermatology, pathology, and pediatrics at the University of Connecticut School of Medicine, has been named president-elect of the American Academy of Dermatology. She will be installed as president-elect in March 2027 and will serve as president for one year beginning in March 2028.
At UConn, Dr. Grant-Kels serves as vice chair of the department of dermatology, director of the Cutaneous Oncology Center and Melanoma Program, and associate dermatology residency program director. She also teaches as an adjunct professor of dermatology at the University of Florida College of Medicine. Her research centers on melanoma, skin cancer, atypical nevi, and reflectance confocal microscopy.
Dr. Grant-Kels earned her bachelor’s degree from Smith College in Massachusetts and her medical degree from Cornell University Medical College. She completed residencies in pediatrics and dermatology at Cornell Medical Center, a fellowship in pathology at Bellevue Hospital Center in New York City, and fellowships in dermatopathology and dermatohistopathology at New York University Medical Center.
Rani Sullivan, the Bill & Carolyn Cobb Chair and head of the department of aerospace engineering at Mississippi State University, was appointed to a two-year term as president of the American Society for Composites.
A Mississippi State faculty member for over two decades, Dr. Sullivan began her tenure as a research engineer with the university’s Raspet Flight Research Laboratory. She was named an assistant professor in 2005 and achieved the rank of full professor in 2018. Dr. Sullivan’s research focuses on structural health monitoring, optical sensing technologies, and manufacturing methods aimed at accelerating the development and adoption of lightweight composite structures for aerospace applications.
Dr. Sullivan is a three-time alumna of Mississippi State University, where she earned a bachelor’s degree in aerospace engineering, a master’s degree in engineering mechanics, and a Ph.D. in general engineering with a concentration in aerospace engineering.