Dr. Cooper Whitehead brings extensive experience in student affairs and academic leadership to her new role. She comes to Regis university from Boston College, where she has served as vice president of student affairs since 2021.
For the second year in a row, Danielle Keats Citron of the University of Virginia School of Law, is the country's top-cited legal scholar. Six other women are included among the top 10 most-cited law professors — more than double the number of the past two years.
“I want young women and men at Dartmouth to say, ‘Look at how these alumnae made this building possible. I can be someone who gives back, too.’ These kinds of examples work because they are visible," says Dartmouth Trustee Susie Huang, an alumna who initiated the campaign for the college's forthcoming Alumnae Hall.
The Rochester Institute of Technology has selected Caroline Solomon to lead its National Technical Institute for the Deaf. In addition to her research in aquatic science, Dr. Solomon has dedicated her career to supporting deaf and hard-of-hearing students in STEM.
Thanks to an ongoing partnership between the California Department of Corrections and California State University, Los Angeles, a group of 22 women at the California Institution for Women have earned a bachelor's degree in liberal studies. They are the university's first graduating class of incarcerated women.
For the fall 2025 semester, total undergraduate enrollment at the North Carolina-based women's college has risen by 19 percent and new student enrollment has grown by 27 percent.
Dr. Dougherty, professor of physics at Imperial College London, is the first-woman to be appointed Astronomer Royal since the position was created 350 years ago. She is renowned for leading two major uncrewed space missions to Saturn and Jupiter.
Upon assuming her new role on July 1, Dr. Gina Spivey-Brown will become the first woman to lead Oakwood University. She has served as dean of Howard University's College of Nursing and Allied Health Sciences for the past decade.
As of 2025, 55 of the world's top 200 universities are led by women, representing 27 percent of the top academic leaders around the globe. Two American women lead institutions in the top 10 universities.
Michelle B. Larson, an astrophysicist and experienced academic professional, has spent the past decade leading The Adler Planetarium in Chicago. She is slated to become Clarkson University's first woman president on April 1.
Upon joining Gonzaga University in July, Dr. Passerini will become the institution's first woman president. She currently serves as provost at Seton Hall University in New Jersey.
Effective January 2025, Barbara Jung will become the first woman dean of the School of Medicine at the University of California, San Diego. She currently serves as the first woman chair of the department of internal medicine at the University of Washington.
