Ten Women Scholars Who Are Taking on New Duties at Major Universities

Gemma Rodrigues was appointed the Ames Director of Education and curator of the global arts of Africa at the Johnson Museum on the campus of Cornell University. Most recently Dr. Rodrigues worked as a researcher of emerging technology and design in African contexts with the Critical Technical Practice Lab in Madeira, Portugal. She served as Curator of African Arts at the Fowler Museum at UCLA between 2010 and 2015.

After studying art history at the University of California, Berkeley and St. Andrews University in Scotland, Dr. Rodrigues earned a Ph.D. in art history from Harvard University.

Marjuyua Lartey was appointed interim director of the Institute for Child Nutrition, Applied Research Division at the University of Southern Mississippi. She has been serving as assistant director. Dr. Lartneu earlier served as an assistant professor and project leader for the Delta Obesity Prevention Research Unit at Alcorn State University in Mississippi and as a faculty instructor for the University of Alabama.

Dr. Lartney earned a bachelor’s degree in nutrition and hospitality management from Alabama A&M University. She holds a master’s degree in human nutrition and a doctorate in nutrition and food systems from the University of Southern Mississippi.

Karen J.L. Burg, who holds the Harbor Lights Chair in Small Animal Studies in the College of Veterinary Medicine at the University of Georgia, was given the added duties as vice president for research at the university. She previously served as vice president for research at Kansas State University.

Professor Burg earned a bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering from North Carolina State University. She holds a master’s degree and Ph.D. in bioengineering from Clemson University in South Carolina.

Blair Druhan Bullock has joined the faculty at the University of Arkansas School of Law as an assistant professor. She was a visiting professor of law at Tulane University in New Orleans.

Dr. Bullock is a summa cum laude graduate of Auburn Univerity in Alabama, where she majored in economics. She holds a Ph.D. in law and economics and a juris doctorate from Vanderbilt University in Nashville.

Meenakshi Durham, director of the nonfiction writing program and professor of journalism and mass communication with a joint appointment in gender, women’s, and sexuality studies at the University of Iowa, was named faculty ombudsperson at the university. She joined the faculty at the university in 2000.

Dr. Durham is a graduate of the University of West Florida, where she majored in communication studies. She holds a master’s degree in journalism from Louisiana State University and a Ph.D. in mass communication and media studies from the University of Florida.

LaTasha Barnes is joining the dance faculty at Arizona State University. This fall, she will be teaching Hip-Hop, Dance in U.S. Popular Culture, and a freshman dance seminar, Dance Matters.

Barnes completed her self-designed master’s degree in ethno-choreology, Black studies, and performance studies at New York University in 2019.

Jessica Hammer, an assistant professor in the School of Computer Science at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, was given the added duties as interim associate director of the Human-Computer Interaction Institute at the university.

Dr. Hammer earned a bachelor’s degree at Harvard University. She holds a master’s degree in interactive telecommunications from New York University and a Ph.D. in cognitive studies from Columbia University.

Constance Iloh was appointed an associate professor in the department of higher education in the College of Behavioral and Applied Sciences at Azusa Pacific University in California. Since 2016, she has served as an assistant professor of higher education at the University of California, Irvine.

Dr. Iloh is a graduate of the University of Maryland College Park, where she was president of the Black Student Union. She holds a master’s degree in business management from Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, and a Ph.D. in urban education policy from the University of Southern California.

Lorraine S. Cordeiro, associate professor in the department of nutrition in the School of Public Health and Health Sciences at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, has been named director of the Center for Research on Families at the university. Prior to joining the faculty at the University of Massachusetts, Dr. Cordeiro was a National Institute of Child Health and Human Development postdoctoral research fellow at Wellesley College’s Center for Women.

Dr. Cordeiro is a graduate of Mount Holyoke College in South Hadley, Massachusetts. She earned a master of public health degree at Tulane University in New Orleans and a doctorate from Tufts University’s Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy.

Molly Secor-Turner was named associate dean for research in the College of Nursing at Montana State University. She has been serving as a professor of nursing and public health at North Dakota State University.

Dr. Secor-Turner holds a master’s degree in public health nursing and a Ph.D. in nursing from the University of Minnesota.