Four Women in Academia Honored With Notable Awards

Goulda A. Downer, an assistant professor in the College of Medicine at Howard University in Washington, D.C., received the Caribbean American Heritage Award from the Institute of Caribbean Studies. Dr. Downer was honored for her work in the public health field related to HIV/AIDS.

Dr. Downer is a graduate of Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, New York. She holds a master’s degree and a Ph.D. from Howard University.

Brooke Kreitinger, a visiting assistant professor and director of undergraduate studies in German at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, received the 2016 German Embassy Teacher of Excellence Award from the American Association of Teachers of German.

Dr. Kreitinger is a summa cum laude graduate of the College of Saint Benedict in St. Joseph, Minnesota. She holds a Ph.D. in German from Georgetown University in Washington, D.C.

Joelle Rollo-Koster, a professor of history at the University of Rhode Island, has been named a Chevalier of the Ordre des Palmes Academiques by the government of France. Professor Rollo-Koster is being honored for her academic research in French history. Dr. Rollo-Koster is the author of seven books including Avignon and Its Papacy, 1309-1417: Popes, Institutions, and Society (Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, 2015).

Professor Rollo-Koster holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees in history from the University of Nice in France. She earned a Ph.D. in history at Binghamton University of the State University of New York System.

Elisia Cohen, professor and chair of the department of communication at the University of Kentucky, received the Mayhew Derryberry Award at the Public Health Education and Health Promotion Awards held recently in Denver, Colorado. She was honored for her work on health communication relating to cancer prevention.

Professor Cohen is a graduate of the University of Louisville. She eared a master’s degree at Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, and a Ph.D. at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles.