All Entries in the "News" Category
The American Association of University Women Names Gloria Blackwell As Its New Leader
Blackwell had been serving as the executive vice president and chief program officer for the association. For 17 years, she directed AAUW’s highly esteemed fellowships and grants program which has awarded more than $70 million in funding to women scholars and programs in the U.S. and overseas.
Two Women Scholars Named Poet Laureates of Their Home States
Maryfrances Wagner, a retired English professor at the University of Missouri-Kansas City, is the new poet laureate of the state of Missouri and Ashley M. Jones who teaches at Converse College in South Carolina and the Alabama School of Fine Arts was named poet laureate of the state of Alabama.
The American Academy of Nursing Chooses the University of Wisconsin’s Linda Scott as President-Elect
Dr. Scott became the eighth dean of the School of Nursing at the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 2016. Earlier she was associate dean for academic affairs, director of graduate studies, and urban health at the University of Illinois at Chicago’s College of Nursing.
Vanderbilt University’s Cynthia Reinhart-King Will Lead the Biomedical Engineering Society
Professor Reinhart-King, the Cornelius Vanderbilt Professor of Engineering at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, is a cellular bioengineer whose seminal work on extracellular matrices has contributed to a breakthrough in understanding tumor formation. The citations of her cellular bioengineering research number in the thousands.
The New Provost at Fort Valley State University in Georgia
Dr. Fontenot has been with the university since 2019, serving first as interim chief of staff and more recently as interim provost. Before coming to Fort Valley State University, Dr. Fontenot served as the interim regional vice chancellor for academic affairs at the University of South Florida – St. Petersburg.
Pamela Cipriano of the University of Virginia Is the New President of the International Council of Nurses
The International Council of Nurses is a federation of more than 130 national nurses associations, representing more than 27 million nurses worldwide. Founded in 1899, ICN is the world’s first and widest reaching international organization for health professionals.
Rebecca Blank Will Be the First Woman to Serve as President of Northwestern University
Dr. Blank became chancellor of the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 2013. An internationally renowned economist, Dr. Blank is a well-known researcher on poverty and the low-income labor market and has served as an economics expert in three presidential administrations.
Shelley Lowe of Harvard University Selected to Lead the National Endowment for the Humanities
Lowe is the executive director of the Native American program at Harvard University. If confirmed by the Senate, she will be the first Native American and the second woman to lead the federal agency that provides more than $100 million in grants to cultural and educational institutions each year.
Two Women Who Have Been Appointed to Positions as College Provosts
Jan Roberts-Breslin, dean of graduate and professional studies, will take up the role of interim provost and vice president of academic affairs at Emerson College in Boston and Damara Hightower Mitchell was promoted to provost and vice president for academic affairs at Voorhees College in Denmark, South Carolina.
Andrea Young Will Be the First Woman to Lead Ripon College in Wisconsin in Its 170-Year History
Dr. Young currently serves as vice president for finance and director of strategic initiatives at the college. She oversees the business, financial, and information technology functions of the institution. Prior to her role as vice president for finance, Dr. Young served as the acting dean of faculty for a semester and received promotion and tenure to be an associate professor of mathematics in 2016.
Yale’s Debra Fischer to Lead the Division of Astronomical Sciences at the National Science Foundation
Dr. Fischer is the Eugene Higgins Professor of Astronomy at Yale University. Dr. Fischer will relocate to Washington, D.C. for the new job, but will continue to oversee her Yale research. She is the first Yale faculty member to be selected for the role.
Janell Oberlander Is the New Leader of Gillette College in Wyoming
Janell Oberlander was appointed interim president of the new Gillette Community College District in Wyoming. She has been serving as vice president of the Gilette College of the Northern Wyoming Community College District. Voters in Campbell County, Wyoming, recently approved the creation of the new community college district.
Michaele Whelan Will Be the Ninth President of Wheaton College in Norwood, Massachusetts
Since 2013, Dr. Whelan has been provost at Emerson College in Boston. Earlier in her career, she was vice provost for academic affairs at Brandeis University in Waltham, Massachusetts, and associate dean of academic planning and innovation in the Schools of Arts, Sciences, and Engineering at Tufts University in Medford, Massachusetts.
University of Chicago’s Young-Kee Kim Joins the Chain of Presidential Succession of the American Physical Society
Dr. Kim is chair of the department of physics at the University of Chicago. She is the Louis Block Distinguished Service Professor in the department and the Enrico Fermi Institute and senior advisor to the provost for global scientific initiatives. In 2024, she will be the ninth scholar from the University of Chicago to become president of the American Physical Society.
Anita Mahadevan-Jansen Is the New President-Elect of SPIE, the International Society for Optics and Photonics
Anita Mahadevan-Jansen is the Orrin H. Ingram Professor of Engineering, director of the Biophotonics Center, and a professor of biomedical engineering at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee. Dr. Mahadevan-Jansen, who joined the faculty at Vanderbilt in 1996, will become president of the society in 2022.
Jennifer Prah Named Director of the Ortner Center on Violence and Abuse at the University of Pennsylvania
The Ortner Center on Violence & Abuse is a collaborative effort of faculty and students at the University of Pennsylvania who research issues related to violence, primarily violence against women and girls. Dr. Prah is a professor in the School of Social Policy and Practice and the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania.
Gwen Nell Westerman of Minnesota State University Mankato Is the New Poet Laureate of the State of Minnesota
Gwen Nell Westerman, a professor of English, has taught at Minnesota State University Mankato, since 1992. Dr. Westerman, who has won two Minnesota Book Awards, is the first Native American to be Minnesota’s poet laureate.
Lily Wang Is the New Leader of the School of Architectural Engineering and Construction at the University of Nebraska
This is Dr. Wang’s ninth academic appointment since she joined the Nebraska faculty as an assistant professor in architectural engineering in 2000. A nationally recognized expert in acoustics, Dr. Wang also has become one of the most senior female leaders in the College of Engineering, where she was appointed associate dean for faculty and inclusion in 2018.
Journalist Meredith Clark to Lead a New Academic Center at Northeastern University in Boston
Meredith Clark has been named the founding director of the Center for Communications, Media Innovation and Social Change in the College of Arts, Media and Design at Northeastern University in Boston. Dr. Clark, who is a former print journalist for the Tallahassee Democrat and the Raleigh News & Observer will hold the rank of associate professor.
Mills College Board of Trustees Approves Merger With Northeastern University
On September 14, the board of trustees of Mills College approved a merger of the women’s college with Northeastern University. The merger is expected to take effect on or about July 1, 2022, subject to regulatory and other approvals. When completed, Mills will become Mills College at Northeastern University, and the campus will be gender inclusive.
Georgetown University Scholar to Serve as U.S. Executive Director of the World Bank
Dr. Adriana Kugler, who served as vice provost for faculty at Georgetown University from 2013-2016, is a professor of public policy and economics in the McCourt School of Public Policy. Her research focuses on the role of public policies, unemployment, and immigration. She previously served as chief economist at the U.S. Department of Labor during the Obama administration.
Caroline Genco to Serve as Provost at Tufts University in Massachusetts
Dr. Genco, who holds the Arthur E. Spiller M.D. Endowed Professor in Genetics at Tufts University, has served as vice provost for research for the past two years. Before becoming vice provost for research in 2019, Professor Genco served as chair of the department of immunology at Tufts University School of Medicine.
Yale Faculty Member Appointed Commissioner of the Connecticut Department of Public Health
Manisha Juthani is an associate professor of medicine and infectious diseases at Yale School of Medicine and an associate professor of epidemiology and microbial diseases at the Yale School of Public Health. She will take a public service leave of absence from the faculty at Yale while serving in state government.
Jeanne VanBriesen to Lead the NSF’s Division of Chemical, Bioengineering, Environmental and Transport Systems
Dr. VanBriesen joined Carnegie Mellon in 1999 as an assistant professor and was awarded an endowed professorship in 2014. She recently served as the university’s vice provost for faculty and previously served as chair of the Faculty Senate. Dr. VanBriesen’s research focuses on the biodegradation and thermodynamics of microbial systems
Arizona State University’s Erinanne Saffell to Serve as Arizona’s State Climatologist
Since 2009, Dr. Saffell has worked as a senior lecturer in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, where she develops courses and upper-division seminars in physical geography, meteorology, and climatology, and directs K–12 outreach and training programs on these topics. Dr. Saffell will simultaneously teach various geography courses at the university and serve as state climatologist.
Kindred Murillo Selected to Lead Santa Barbara City College in California
Dr. Murillo has more than 24 years in the California Community College System. Beginning as an adjunct faculty member, she served 11 years as a chief business officer for three districts (Contra Costa, Pasadena Area, Copper Mountain). She was superintendent/president of Lake Tahoe Community College for nine years. She retired earlier this year after nearly four years leading the Southwestern Community College District in Chula Vista, California.
Blackburn College in Carlinville, Illinois, Has Appointed Karla McCain as Provost
Dr. McCain joins Blackburn College – one of only 10 federally recognized work colleges in the United States – after nearly 20 years at Austin College in Sherman, Texas. There she served as associate vice president for academic affairs and professor of chemistry.
Spelman College President Mary Schmidt Campbell Will Step Down at the End of the Academic Year
Dr. Campbell became president of Spelman College in Atlanta on August 1, 2015. She is dean emerita of the Tisch School of the Arts and University Professor of art and public policy at New York University. Early in her career she was the director of the Studio Museum in Harlem and was cultural affairs commissioner for the City of New York. She joined the faculty at New York University in 1991 and served as dean for two decades.
Cathy Cox Has Been Appointed President of Georgia College & State University in Milledgeville
Since 2017, Cox has been serving as dean of Mercer University School of Law in Macon, Georgia. Earlier, she was president of Young Harris College in Young Harris, Georgia, for 10 years. Cox served two terms in the Georgia House of Representatives and later was the first woman in the state’s history to be elected Secretary of State in Georgia.
University of Kentucky Scholar Named President of the Association for Popular Music Education
Martina Vasil is an associate professor of music education at the University of Kentucky. She teaches undergraduate courses in general music methods and graduate courses in music education research and popular music education. Her primary research interests are popular music education, children’s musical culture, and mentoring practices in music teacher education.
Laurie Shanderson Is the New Chancellor of Methodist College in Peoria, Illinois
Dr. Shanderson comes to Methodist College with more than 20 years of higher education experience, most recently as founding dean of the School of Health Sciences at Northcentral University, a private online university headquartered in San Diego, California.
Gloria Thomas Selected as the Next President of HERS
Dr. Thomas comes to HERS from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill where she served as the director of the Carolina Women’s Center. Prior to her time at UNC, Dr. Thomas served as the executive director of the Center for the Education of Women at the University of Michigan.
Pamela Chally Will Be the New Leader of the University of North Florida in Jacksonville
Dr. Chally has been with the University of North Florida for 28 years, most recently serving as the interim provost and vice president of academic affairs from 2017 to 2019. She was previously the dean and a professor of nursing in the university’s Brooks College of Health.
Laura Bloomberg Will Be the New Provost at Cleveland State University
Dr. Bloomberg has been serving as a professor and dean of the Hubert H. Humphrey School of Public Affairs at the University of Minnesota. Over her 24-year academic career at the University of Minnesota, her research has focused on community-based leadership, program evaluation, public value creation, cross-cultural dialogue. and educational policy.
Strayer University Appoints Andrea Backman as Its Seventeenth President
Dr. Backman has been serving as acting president since November 2020. Earlier, she was chief employability officer for Strategic Education Inc., the university’s parent firm. Earlier in her career, Dr. Backman was the chief academic officer at Rasmussen College in Minneapolis.
