Jennifer Cochran was named vice president of the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, a U.S. Department of Energy lab housed at Stanford University in California. Dr. Cochran, the Addie and Al Macovksi Professor of Bioengineering, has been affiliated with SLAC for more than two decades. She joined the Stanford faculty in 2005 as a founding member of the bioengineering department. Prior to her new role, she was Stanford’s senior associate vice provost for research.
Dr. Cochran is a graduate of the University of Delaware, where she majored in biochemistry. She received her Ph.D. in biological chemistry and completed postdoctoral research in biological engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Sekyung Jang has joined the faculty of the University of Cincinnati as an assistant professor of music therapy in the College-Conservatory of Music. As the college’s first faculty member in her discipline, Dr. Jang will work to establish a music therapy program in partnership with colleagues at the university’s College of Medicine and the Osher Center for Integrative Health. Most recently, she served as director of music therapy at Radford University in Virginia.
An alumna of Utah State University, Dr. Jang holds a master of music degree from Colorado State University and a Ph.D. in music education with an emphasis on music therapy from the University of Kansas.
Rebecca Puhl was granted the title of Board of Trustees Distinguished Professor at the University of Connecticut. The distinction is the university’s highest faculty honor. Dr. Puhl, a professor of human development and family sciences, is a leading researcher in weight stigma, bias, and discrimination. More specifically, she is known as an expert on the social and health consequences of stigma towards youth and adults with obesity. At UConn, she serves as deputy director of the Rudd Center for Food Policy and Health.
Dr. Puhl earned her bachelor’s degree in psychology from Queen’s University in Ontario, Canada. She holds two master’s degrees and a Ph.D. in psychology and clinical psychology from Yale University.
Cristina Bodea was named chair of the department of political science at Michigan State University, where she has taught for the past two decades. Her research centers around international and comparative political economy, gender and political economy, and political conflict. Dr. Bodea recently completed a three-year term as a Mason Soneral Faculty Fellow with Michigan State’s Women’s Leadership Institute.
Dr. Bodea received her bachelor’s degree in economics from Babes-Bolyai University in Romania and her master’s degree in economics from Central European University in Hungary. She holds a Ph.D. in political science from the University of Rochester in New York.
Paula Lemons is the new associate provost for faculty affairs at the University of Georgia. A faculty member since 2009, Dr. Lemons has been serving as senior associate dean for academic innovation for the Franklin College of Arts and Sciences. Before that, she was Franklin College’s associate dean for the social and behavioral sciences. As a professor of biochemistry and molecular biology, Dr. Lemons investigates biochemistry learning and instruction, focusing on ways to maximize student success in science classrooms.
Dr. Lemons earned her bachelor’s degree in biology from Southern Wesleyan University in South Carolina and her Ph.D. in biochemistry from the University of Kentucky.
Alison Rice was appointed associate dean for undergraduate studies in the College of Arts & Letters at the University of Notre Dame in Indiana. Dr. Rice, the Dr. William M. School Professor of French and Francophone Studies, has served as chair of the college’s department of romance languages and literatures since 2019. Before becoming department chair, she was director of Notre Dame’s Institute for Scholarship in the Liberal Arts. Her most recent book is Worldwide Women Writers in Paris: Francophone Metronomes (Oxford University Press, 2021).
Dr. Rice is a graduate of La Sierra University in Riverside, California, where she earned her bachelor’s degree in English, French, and history. She received her master’s degree in French and her Ph.D. in French and Francophone studies from the University of California, Los Angeles.
Betsy Sinclair was named vice provost for innovation at Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri. Dr. Sinclair, the Thomas F. Eagleton University Professor in Public Affairs and Political Science, previously served as assistant vice provost for digital transformation. She has also served as chair of the political science department. Her research interests include American political and political methodology with an emphasis on individual political behavior.
Dr. Sinclair earned her bachelor’s degree in mathematics and economics from the University of Redlands in California and her Ph.D. in social science from the California Institute of Technology.
Angela Hosek is interim associate dean of the Scripps College of Communication at Ohio University. A faculty member since 2014, Dr. Hosek currently teaches as a professor in the School of Communication Studies. During her tenure, she has served as director of the school’s public speaking program and the Graduate Teacher Training Academy, which trains communication studies and master of fine arts graduate teaching assistants.
Dr. Hosek holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees in communications studies from Texas State University and a Ph.D. in the same discipline from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.