New Faculty Assignments for Seven Women in Higher Education

Debora Esposito was named an assistant professor in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences of North Carolina State University. She will be based at the North Carolina Research Campus in Kannapolis. She was a senior research scientist at the Dole Nutrition Institute of the North Carolina Research Center.

A native of Brazil, Dr. Esposito is a graduate of the Federal University of Vicosa in Brazil, where she majored in chemistry. She holds a master’s degree and a Ph.D. in cell molecular plant biology from Rutgers University in New Jersey.

Faye Belgrave, professor of health psychology and social psychology was promoted to University Professor at Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond. She is also the director of the Center for Cultural Experiences in Prevention at the university.

Professor Belgrave holds a Ph.D. from the University of Maryland, College Park.

Erin Lynch-Alexander, an assistant professor in the Martha Dickerson Eriksson College of Education at Austin Peay State University in Clarksville, Tennessee, has been appointed director of the Office of Undergraduate Research at the university.

Dr. Lynch-Alexander is a graduate of James Madison University in Harrisonburg, Virginia. She holds a master’s degree from Peabody College at Vanderbilt University in Nashville and a doctorate in curriculum and instruction from Tennessee State University.

Julie Shortridge was hired as an assistant professor of biological systems engineering at Virginia Tech.  She will also serve as a cooperative extension specialist in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences.

Dr. Shortridge is a graduate of the University of California, Berkeley, where she majored in environmental engineering. She holds a master’s degree and a Ph.D. in environmental engineering from Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore.

Tasia Smith is a new assistant professor in counseling psychology and human services at the University of Oregon. She had been serving as a postdoctoral intern at the counseling center of the University of Illinois.

Dr. Smith is a graduate of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where she majored in psychology and sociology. She holds a master’s degree from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro and a Ph.D. in counseling psychology from the University of Florida.

Amy Charkowski was appointed chair of the department of bioagricultural sciences and pest management at Colorado State University. She is an expert in potato pathogens. Dr. Charkowski previously taught at the University of Wisconsin for 15 years.

Professor Charkowski is a graduate of the University of Wisconsin-Madison and earned a Ph.D. in plant pathology at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York.

Betsy M. Bryan, who holds the Alexander Badawy Chair in Egyptian Art and Archaeology at Johns Hopkins University, has been given the added duties of vice dean of the humanities and social sciences in the School of Arts and Sciences.

Professor Bryan has taught at Johns Hopkins University since 1986. She specializes in Egypt between the period of 1600 to 1000 B.C.