A Dozen Women Faculty Members Who Will Be Taking on New Assignments

Danqi Chen has been named an assistant professor of computer science at Princeton University in New Jersey. Her research interests focus on deep learning for natural language processing, with particular interest in the intersection between text understanding and knowledge representation/reasoning.

Dr. Chen is a graduate of Tsinghua University in Beijing, China, where she earned a bachelor of engineering degree. She holds a Ph.D. in computer science from Stanford University.

Stephanie Fitzgerald has been named director of the American Indian studies program at Arizona State University. She also serves an associate professor. She is the author of Native Women and Land: Narratives of Dispossession and Resurgence (University of New Mexico Press, 2015).

Dr. Fitzgerald is a graduate of Antioch University where she majored in liberal studies. She holds a master’s degree in American Indian studies from the University of California, Los Angeles and a Ph.D. in English from the Claremont Graduate School in California.

Eve Marder has been named a University Professor at Brandeis University in Waltham, Massachusetts. She is the Victor and Gwendolyn Beinfeld Professor of Neuroscience. Her research uses experimental and computational tools to study animal-to-animal differences in resilience to environmental change.

Dr. Marder is a graduate of Brandies University. She holds a Ph.D. from the University of California, San Diego.

Dorinda Carter Andrews has been named chair of the department of teacher education at Michigan State University. She currently serves as the associate dean for equity and inclusion for the College of Education and as an associate professor of race, culture, and equity.

Dr. Andrews is a graduate of the Georgia Institute of Technology, where she majored in industrial engineering. She holds a master’s degree in education from Vanderbilt University in Nashville, and a master’s degree in education and an educational doctorate from Harvard University.

Donna Ginther has been named interim director of the Institute for Policy & Social Research at the University of Kansas. She currently serves as a Dean’s Professor of Economics and as director of the Center for Science, Technology, & Economic Policy.

Dr. Ginther holds a bachelor’s degree, a master’s degree, and a Ph.D. all in economics from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Enobong “Anna” Branch has been named vice chancellor for diversity, inclusion, and community engagement at Rutgers University in New Jersey. She currently serves as associate chancellor for equity and inclusion and a professor of sociology at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst.

Dr. Branch is a graduate of Howard University in Washington, D.C., where she majored in biology. She holds a Ph.D. in sociology from the University at Albany of the State University of New York System.

Nafissa Thompson-Spires has been named an assistant professor in the department of English at Cornell University. She is currently an assistant professor at the University of Illinois. She specializes in television studies and fiction studies. She is the author of Heads of the Colored People (37 Ink, 2018), which won her the 2019 PEN Open Book Award and made her a 2018 finalist for the Kirkus Prize.

Dr. Thompson-Spires holds a master of fine arts degree in creative writing from the University of Illinois and a Ph.D. in English from Vanderbilt University.

Rita Rahoi-Gilchrest has been promoted to associate dean of the College of Liberal Arts at Winona State University in Minnesota. She has been serving as interim associate dean since 2016 and has held various other appointments at the university including department chair, professor, associate professor, internship director, and assistant professor.

Dr. Rahoi-Gilchrest is a graduate of the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire where she majored in organizational communication/public relations. She holds a master’s degree and Ph.D. both in communication studies from Ohio University.

Tara McCrackin has been named interim president of the Kendall College of Art and Design at Ferris State University in Big Rapids, Michigan. She is an associate professor of interior design has been a faculty member since 2000.

Professor McCrackin holds a bachelor’s degree in interior design from Ferris State University, a bachelor’s degree in art education from Western Michigan University, and a master of education in adult and higher level learning from Grand Valley State University in Allendale, Michigan.

Wendy Hensel has been named interim provost and senior vice president for academic affairs at Georgia State University. She has served as dean of College of Law at the university since 2017.

Professor Hensel is a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Michigan State University. She holds a juris doctorate from Harvard Law School.

Lisa Lattanza has been named chair of the department of orthopaedics & rehabilitation at Yale School of Medicine and chief of orthopedics at Yale New Haven Hospital. She currently serves as a professor of orthopaedic surgery, vice chair for orthopaedic surgery, chief of the Division of Hand, Elbow, and Upper Extremity Surgery, and program director for the Hand and Upper Extremity Fellowship at the University of California, San Francisco.

Dr. Lattanza holds holds a medical degree from what is now the University of Toledo College of Medicine and Life Sciences.

Karen Raber has been named a Distinguished Professor at the University of Mississippi. She is a professor of English and has been a faculty member at the university since 1995. She is also the executive director of the Shakespeare Association of America.

Dr. Raber is a graduate of Yale University where she majored in English. She holds a Ph.D. in literature from the University of California, San Diego.