New Duties for Four Women Scholars at Major Universities

Karina Nielsen has been named director of Oregon Sea Grant, a program at Oregon State University that supports marine science, education, and outreach. She has been serving as a professor of biology and the executive director of the Estuary and Ocean Science Center at San Francisco State University. Her research focuses on the ecology, oceanography, and biogeochemistry of ecosystems at the edge of the sea.

Dr. Nielsen s a graduate of Brooklyn College of the City University of New York, where she majored in biology. She holds a Ph.D. in zoology from Oregon State University.

Margaret McGovern has been appointed deputy dean for clinical affairs at the Yale School of Medicine and chief executive officer of Yale Medicine, effective July 1, 2022. Dr. McGovern is currently the Knapp Professor of Pediatrics and dean for clinical affairs at the Renaissance School of Medicine at Stony Brook University.

Dr. McGovern received a Ph.D. in genetics from the Mount Sinai Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences. She earned her medical degree at what is now the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York City.

Anita Plummer is the new associate director for research and faculty engagement for the Center for Women, Gender and Global Leadership at Howard University in Washington, D.C. She is an assistant professor of African studies at Howard University. Her research and teaching focus on African political economy, emerging markets, transnationalism and Sino-African relations. Before joining the faculty at Howard University, she taught international studies at Spelman College in Atlanta.

Dr. Plummer is a graduate of Goucher College in Towson, Maryland, where she majored in English. She holds a master’s degree and a Ph.D. in African studies from Howard University.

Katherine Clegg Smith was named vice dean for faculty at the School of Public Health at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore. Dr. Smith is a professor of health, behavior, and society. She previously served in several leadership positions at the school and holds joint appointments in the departments of oncology in the School of Medicine and sociology in the Krieger School of Arts and Sciences.

Dr. Smith holds a bachelor’s degree and a Ph.D. from the University of Nottingham in England. She earned a master’s degree at the University of Leeds in England.