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.
For the Fall 2024 semester, the college's total undergraduate enrollment grew by 10 percent from the previous year. The women's college also experienced its third consecutive year of record-breaking growth in applications.
Originally founded in 1891, the California Institute of Technology did not admit women students until the 1970s. Five decades later, the freshman class of 2028 is the first in school history where more than half of its students are women.
While Yale has previously appointed women as interim presidents, Maurie McInnis will be the first woman to serve as the university's official president. She has been serving as president of Stony Brook University, a campus of the State University of New York System.
