Women Scholars Taking on New Faculty Roles at Colleges and Universities

Lisa L. Magana was appointed interim director of the School of Transborder Studies at Arizona State University. She joined the faculty at the school in 1998. Dr. Magana is the author of Straddling the Border: Immigration Policy and the INS (University of Texas Press, 2003).

Dr. Magana is a graduate of California Polytechnic University in Pomona. She holds a master’s degree in public policy and a Ph.D. in political science from the Claremont Graduate School in California.

Terri Francis, an associate professor, was named the director of the Black Film Center/Archive at Indiana University in Bloomington. Terri Francis joined the faculty at Indiana University in 2014. Earlier, she taught for nine years in the department of African American studies and the film and media studies program at Yale University.

Dr. Francis is a graduate of the University of Central Florida, where she majored in English. She holds a Ph.D. in English from the University of Chicago.

Lori Murphy, a clinical assistant professor of nursing at the University of Arkansas, was named assistant director for undergraduate studies at the university’s School of Nursing. She joined the faculty in 2015.

Dr. Murphy holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees in nursing from the University of Oklahoma. She earned a doctor of nursing practice degree from the University of Kansas.

Katrina Bell McDonald, an associate professor of sociology, was named co-director of the Center for Africana Studies at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore. She joined the faculty at Johns Hopkins in 1994. Dr. McDonald is the co-author of the forthcoming book Marriage in Black: The Pursuit of Married Life Among American-Born and Immigrant Blacks (Routledge, 2018).

Dr. McDonald is a graduate of Mills College in Oakland, California. She holds a master’s degree in applied communication research from Stanford University and a master’s degree and a Ph.D. in sociology from the University of California, Davis.

Erin Finzer, an assistant professor of Spanish and chair of the department of world languages at the University of Arkansas-Little Rock, has been given the added duties of associate vice chancellor for academic affairs.

Dr. Finzer is a graduate of the University of the South in Sewanee, Tennessee. She holds a master’s degree and a Ph.D from the University of Kansas.

Juli Wade, chair of the department of psychology at Michigan State University, was promoted from assistant provost for faculty development to associate provost for faculty development. Dr. Wade joined the faculty at the university in 1995.

Dr. Wade is a graduate of Cornell University and holds a Ph.D. from the University of Texas at Austin. She did postdoctoral work at the Brain Research Institute at the University of California, Los Angeles.

Lynn Fiellin, an associate professor of internal medicine at Yale Medical School, has been given the added duties of director of the Alcohol and Other Drug Harm Reduction Initiative at Yale. She joined the faculty at the medical school in 2000.

Dr. Fiellin is a graduate of the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, where she majored in chemistry. She holds a medical degree from Yale Medical School.

Kathleen Dolan, a professor of political science at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee was named a University Distinguished Professor. Her most recent book is Voting for Women: How the Public Evaluates Women Candidates (Oxford University Press, 2003).

Professor Dolan joined the faculty at the university in 1993. She holds a Ph.D. from the University of Maryland, College Park.

Patricia Sobecky, a professor of biological sciences at the University of Alabama, has been given the added duties as director of the new Alabama Water Institute. Dr. Sobecky is also the associate provost for academic affairs at the university.

Professor Sobecky is a graduate of the University of Pittsburgh at Johnstown, where she majored in biology. She holds a Ph.D. in microbiology from the University of Georgia.

Christine Reed, a professor of public administration at the University of Nebraska-Omaha, was appointed interim director of the Center for Urban Sustainability at the university. Dr. Reed joined the faculty at the university in 2002.

Dr. Reed is a graduate of Connecticut College, where she majored in government. She earned a master’s degree and a Ph.D. in political science from Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island.

Sacha Pence is the new director of the graduate program in applied behavior analysis program at Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa. She was an assistant professor of psychology at Auburn University in Alabama.

Dr. Pence is a graduate of Northern Michigan University, where she double majored in psychology and biology. She holds a master’s degree in applied behavior analysis from Northeastern University in Boston and a Ph.D. in psychology from West Virginia University.