Five Women Faculty Members Taking on New Assignments in the Academic World

Nikki M. Taylor is the new chair of the department of history at Howard University in Washington, D.C. She was interim dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Behavioral Sciences at Texas Southern University in Houston. Professor Taylor’s latest book is Driven Toward Madness: The Fugitive Slave Margaret Garner and Tragedy on the Ohio (Ohio University Press, 2016).

Dr. Taylor is a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania, where she majored in history. She holds a master’s degree and a Ph.D. in American history from Duke University.

Rebeccca R. Robichaux-Davis, an associate professor of mathematics education at Mississippi State University, was chosen as president-elect of the Mid-South Educational Research Association.

Dr. Robichaux-Davis has served on the faculty at Mississippi State University since 2007. She is a graduate of Nichols State University in Thibodaux, Louisiana. She holds a master’s degree from Louisiana State University and a second master’s degree and a Ph.D. in mathematics education from Auburn University in Alabama.

Pamela R. Metzger was appointed director of the Criminal Justice Reform Center at the Dedman School of Law at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas, effective July 1. Currently, she is the Robert A. Ainsworth Professor in the Courts at the Tulane University School of Law in New Orleans.

Professor Metzger is a graduate of Dartmouth College in Hanover, New Hampshire. She earned her law degree at New York University.

Stephanie Newbold, an associate professor in the School of Public Affairs and Administration at Rutgers University-Newark, was appointed co-editor of the American Review of Public Administration. The journal, founded in 1967, is published by SAGE. Dr. Newbold joined the faculty at Rutgers University in 2015 after teaching at Texas State University in San Marcos and American University in Washington, D.C.

Dr. Newbold is a graduate of Elon University in North Carolina. She holds a master of public administration degree and Ph.D. in public administration and public affairs from Virginia Tech.

Kimberly Ward, an assistant professor of speech and hearing sciences at the University of Southern Mississippi, was elected chair of the Medicaid Committee of the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association. Dr. Ward joined the faculty at the university in 2012.

Dr. Ward holds a bachelor’s degree and a doctorate in audiology from the University of Southern Mississippi.