Four Women in Academia Win National Awards

Karen Emmerich, an assistant professor of comparative literature at the University of Oregon, received the PEN Award for Poetry in Translation from the PEN American Foundation. She shares the award with co-author Edmund Keeley of Princeton University. The award honors their translation of Greek poet Yannis Ritsos’ Diaries of Exile (Archipelago, 2013). The poems were written by Ritsos between 1948 and 1950 while he was a political prisoner during the Greek civil war.

Dr. Emmerich is a summa cum laude graduate of Princeton University. She earned a master’s degree at Aristotle University of Thessaloniki in Greece, as well as two master’s degrees and a Ph.D. in English and comparative literature from Columbia University.

Irene Leech, an associate professor of consumer studies in the department of apparel, housing, and resource management at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, received the Esther Peterson Consumer Service Award for a “distinguished lifetime of service to consumers” from the Consumer Federation of America.

Dr. Leech has been on the faculty at Virginia Tech since 1989 and has served as president of the Consumer Federation of America. She holds bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral degrees, all from Virginia Tech.

Rumanda K. Young, a professor of engineering at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, received the Lt. General John W. Morris Civilian of Year Award from the Army Corps of Engineers. Professor Young is leading a Department of Defense grant program to reduce energy usage at U.S. military installations worldwide.

Dr. Young is a graduate of the University of Arkansas, where she majored in landscape architecture. She holds a master’s degree in city and regional planning and Ph.D. in environmental planning and public policy from the University of Texas at Arlington.

Julie Chobdee, wellness program coordinator at the University of California, Riverside, received the 2014 College-Based Leadership Award from the American Public Health Association. She was honored for her work to eliminate tobacco use on all campuses of the University of California.

Chobdee has been on the staff at the university since 2008. She holds a bachelor’s degree and a master of public health degree from the University of California, Los Angeles.