Four Women Among the Inaugural Members of the Minerva Academy

The Minerva Institute for Research and Scholarship in San Francisco has announced the induction of the inaugural 14 scholars into the Minerva Academy. The Academy honors individuals for their contributions to teaching excellence and innovation. The members of the new academy will select the first winner of the $500,000 Minerva Prize for Advancements in Higher Education that will be announced in May. Among the 14 inductees to the Minerva Academy are four women.

Cathy N. Davidson is the John Hope Franklin Humanities Institute Professor of Interdisciplinary Studies and the Ruth F. DeVarney Professor of English at Duke University. She has announced that she is taking a post as professor of English at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York. She will also be the director of the Futures Initiative at CUNY. Professor Davidson is the author or editor of more than 20 books including Revolution and the Word: The Rise of the Novel in America (Oxford University Press, 1987) and Now You See It: How Technology and Brain Science Will Transform Schools and Business for the 21st Century (Viking, 2011). Dr. Davidson is a graduate of Elmhurst College in Illinois. She holds a master’s degree and a Ph.D. from Binghamton University.

Diane Halpern is the dean of social science at the Minerva Schools of the Keck Graduate Institute in Claremont, California. She also serves at the McElwee Family Professor of Psychology at Claremont McKenna College. Earlier in her career, she served on the faculty at California State University, San Bernardino. Dr. Halpern has served as president of the American Psychological Association, the Western Psychological Association, and the Society for the Teaching of Psychology. Professor Halpern is the author, co-author, or editor of more than 20 books including Women at the Top: How Powerful Leaders Combine Work and Family (Wiley-Blackwell, 2008) and Undergraduate Education in Psychology: A Blueprint for the Future of the Discipline (APA Books), 2009). Dr. Halpern is a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania and holds a master’s degree from Temple University in Philadelphia. She earned a second mater’s degree and a Ph.D. at the University of Cincinnati.

Sheri Sheppard is the Burton J. and Deedee McMurtry University Fellow in Undergraduate Education and professor of mechanical engineering at Stanford University. She also serves as associate vice provost for graduate education at Stanford. Her research focuses on weld fatigue and impact failure and fracture mechanics. She also conducts research on engineering education. Professor Sheppard is a graduate of the University of Wisconsin. After earning her bachelor’s degree she went to work for Chrysler and during this time earned a master’s degree at the University of Michigan at Dearborn. She holds a Ph.D. in mechanical engineering from the University of Michigan.

Jennifer Summit is a professor of English at Stanford University. She joined the Stanford faculty in 1995 and was promoted to associate professor in 2001 and to full professor in 2008. She served as chair of the English department at the university from 2008 to 2011. She was the founder of the university’s Center for Medieval and Early Modern Studies and currently serves as director of integrated learning at Stanford. Professor Summit is the author of Memory’s Library: Medieval Books in Early Modern England (University of Chicago Press, 2008) and Lost Property: The Women Writer and English Literary History, 1380-1589 (University of Chicago Press, 2000). Professor Summit is a graduate of Vassar College in Poughkeepsie, New York, and holds a Ph.D. in English literature from Johns Hopkins University.