Six Women Named to Positions as Dean

Miriam Chaiken was appointed dean of the Honors College at New Mexico State University. Dr. Chaiken is a nutritional anthropologist and has served as a professor and chair of the anthropology department at the university. Before coming to New Mexico State University in 2009, she taught at Indiana University of Pennsylvania for more than two decades.

Professor Chaiken is a graduate of Arizona State University. She holds a master’s degree and Ph.D. from the University of California, Santa Barbara.

Karen Coats is the new dean of the Graduate School at the University of Southern Mississippi in Hattiesburg. For the past three years, she has served as associate dean of the Graduate School at Mississippi State University in Starksville. She has been on the faculty of the biology department at Mississippi State since 1990.

Dr. Coats holds a bachelor’s degree and a master’s degree in biology from Southeastern Louisiana University in Hammond. She earned a doctorate of veterinary medicine from Louisiana State University.

Kim Chapman is the new dean of humanities and social sciences at Edmonds Community College in Lynnwood, Washington. For the past 12 years, Dr. Chapman has been on the staff at North Seattle College, most recently serving as dean for basic and transitional studies.

Dr. Chapman holds a doctorate in higher education human resource development from Texas A&M University.

Kim LaScola Needy was appointed dean of the Graduate School and International Education at the University of Arkansas. She is the first woman dean of the Graduate School in the university’s history. Previously, she served for six years as chair of the department of industrial engineering at the university.

Dr. Needy holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the University of Pittsburgh. She earned a Ph.D. in industrial engineering from Wichita State University in Kansas.

Judith Babbitts was named dean of graduate and professional studies at Sarah Lawrence College in Bronxville, New York. She was vice dean for advanced academic programs in the School of Arts and Sciences at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore.

Dr. Babbitts is a graduate of Rutgers University in New Jersey. She holds a master’s degree in women’s history from Sarah Lawrence College and a Ph.D. in American studies from Yale University.

Marsha Howell Adams is the new dean of the College of Nursing at the University of Alabama Huntsville. She was senior associate dean of academic programs at the College of Nursing at the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa. She is the president of the National League for Nursing.

Dr. Adams holds bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral degrees in nursing from the University of Alabama Birmingham.