Five Women Faculty Members Who Are Taking on New Assignments

Maggie Han, a professor of mathematics at Auburn University in Alabama is taking on new responsibilities as the associate dean for academic affairs for the College of Sciences and Mathematics at the university. Professor Han conducts research on neural networks, specifically in relation to artificial intelligence.

Dr. Han is a graduate of the University of Sciences and Technology of China. She holds a master’s degree and a Ph.D. in applied mathematics from the University at Buffalo of the State University of New York System.

Elizabeth J. Zechmeister, the Cornelius Vanderbilt Professor of Political Science at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, has been given the additional responsibilities of associate provost for research and innovation. Dr. Zechmeister’s research and teaching focus on comparative political behavior and public opinion, particularly in Latin America. Her work includes studies of voting, ideology, political parties, representation, charisma, and crisis. She is the co-editor of The Latin American Voter: Pursuing Representation and Accountability in Challenging Contexts (University of Michigan Press, 2015).

Professor Zechmesiter is a graduate of Loyola University Chicago. She earned a master’s degree in Latin American studies from the University of Chicago and a Ph.D. in political science from Duke University in Durham, North Carolina.

Misty De Berry was hired as an assistant professor of performance studies in the Tisch School of the Arts at New York University beginning in the 2023-24 academic year. Dr. De Berry is currently a senior lecturer in Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies at Dartmouth College.

Dr. De Berry is a graduate of the University of North Carolina School of the Arts. She holds a master of fine arts degree from Columbia College in Chicago and a Ph.D. from Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois.

Heidi Zinzow, professor and licensed clinical psychologist in the department of psychology at Clemson University, has been given the added duties of co-director of the Center for Addiction and Mental Health Research at the university. She joined the faculty at Clemson University in 2008.

Dr. Zinzow is a graduate of Duke University, where she majored in psychology. She holds a master’s degree and a Ph.D. in clinical psychology from the University of Georgia.

Crista Johnson-Agbakwu, a professor of obstetrics & gynecology and population & quantitative health sciences at the University of Massachusetts Medical School, has been appointed the inaugural executive director of the medical school’s Collaborative in Health Equity. She was the founding director of the Refugee Women’s Health Clinic and director of the Office of Refugee Health in the Southwest Interdisciplinary Research Center at Arizona State University.

Dr. Johnson-Agbakwu is a graduate of Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, where she majored in biology. She earned her medical degree at Cornell University.