Here is this week’s news of grants and gifts that may be of particular interest to women in higher education.
A team of scientists at Michigan State University have received a $3.7 million grant from the National Institute of Mental Health to examine the understudied period of perimenopause and its impact women’s mental health. The project is one of the first of its kind to investigate how hormonal changes during midlife might influence psychosis and other mental health outcomes.
J. F. Drake State Community and Technical College in Huntsville, Alabama recently received a $500,000 gift to establish the Ellenae Fairhurst Endowed Scholarship fund. Named for the pioneering automotive executive and entrepreneur Ellenae Hart-Fairhust, the endowment will provide a permanent source of financial support for Drake Students, with a particular focus on assisting mothers who are pursuing their education full- or part-time.
Tufts University in Boston has received a $4 million gift from Jeff and Linda Moslow to launch the Tufts Women’s Health and Menopause Initiative. The funding will support two endowed professorships – one in the School of Medicine and one in the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy – whose holders will co-direct the initiative. The program aims to advance clinical care, education, and research in novels way that improve women’s health across the lifespan.
The board of regents of the University of Colorado has announced the appointment of seven scholars to the rank of Distinguished Professors, the highest honor for faculty in the four-campus system. According to the university, Distinguished Professors are tenured faculty members who demonstrate exemplary performance in research or creative work; a record of excellence in promoting learning and student attainment of knowledge and skills; and outstanding service to the profession, the university, and its affiliates.
Kristen A. Carpenter is the Council Tree Professor of Law and director of the American Indian Law Program at the University of Colorado Law School in Boulder. Before entering academia, Professor Carpenter clerked on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit and was an attorney at Hill & Barlow in Boston. Her scholarship – spanning topics from sacred site protection and cultural property to tribal jurisdiction and self-determination – has influenced courts, legislatures, agencies and international bodies. Professor Carpenter is a graduate of Dartmouth College in Hanover, New Hampshire, and earned a juris doctorate at Harvard Law School.
Marcia Douglas is a professor of English and College Professor of Distinction at the University of Colorado Boulder. She is also the associate chair of the creative writing program. Professor Douglas is an internationally acclaimed novelist, poet, and performer whose work focuses on Afro-Caribbean and diasporic literature. She is the author of several books, including 
Jade Morton is the Helen and Hubert Croft Professor in the department of aerospace engineering sciences at the University of Colorado Boulder and the director of the university’s Satellite Navigation and Sensing Laboratory. She previously taught at Colorado State University and Miami University. Professor Morton is an internationally renowned expert in satellite navigation, remote sensing, and space weather. Her pioneering research at the intersection of aerospace engineering and atmospheric science has transformed how GPS and the broader family of Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS) are used. Dr. Morton is a graduate of Nanjing University in China, where she majored in physics. She holds a master’s degree in electrical engineering from Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland and a Ph.D. in electrical engineering from Pennsylvania State University.
Martha Hollis Calhoun Wintner, longtime lecturer of German and English at Haverford College in Pennsylvania, passed away on July 9. She was 87 years old.
Each week, Women in Academia Report will provide links to online articles that may be of interest to our readers. The links presented direct the reader to articles from many different points of view that deal with issues of women in higher education. The articles selected do not necessarily reflect the views of the editorial board of WIAReport.
Dawn Lindsay, president of Anne Arundel Community College in Arnold, Maryland, has announced her intent to retire on June 30, 2026.
Nancy Chodorow, professor emerita of sociology at the University of California, Berkeley, passed away on October 14. She was 81 years old.
L’Issa L. Gates has joined the Xavier University of Louisiana faculty as an assistant professor of pediatrics in the Xavier Ochsner College of Medicine. The college is currently in development and slated to become the country’s fifth historically Black medical school once the university secures accreditation. Dr. Gates currently practices as a senior pediatric physician at Oschner for Children.
Vivian Gadsden, the William T. Carter Professor of Child Development and Education at the University of Pennsylvania Graduate School of Education, has been appointed vice president of the National Academy of Education. At Penn, Dr. Gadsden co-directs the Penn Early Childhood and Family Research Center. Her scholarship centers on learning and literacies across the life-course and addresses issues of equity, access, and change for young children and families in historically marginalized communities.
Melanie J. Bernitz has been named executive vice president for university life and wellbeing at Columbia University. She has held the role on an interim basis for the past year. Currently serving as an associate clinical professor of medicine in the Center for Family and Community Medicine, Dr. Bernitz has been a member of the Columbia community for over two decades. Throughout her tenure, she has held key leadership roles with Columbia Health and the Irving Medical Center.
Melanie George is the new producing director and chair of the dance program at Marymount Manhattan College in New York City. She currently serves as associate curator and scholar-in-residence at Jacob’s Pillow, a dance center and school in Massachusetts. Her experience in academia includes service as director of the dance program at American University, assistant professor at Rutgers University, and guest lecturer at Harvard University, the Yale School of Drama, and The Juilliard School.
Vilma Navarro-Daniels was promoted from interim director to permanent director of the School of Languages, Cultures, and Race in the College of Arts and Sciences at Washington State University. A full professor of Spanish and film studies, she currently holds the Marianna M. and Donald S. Matteson Distinguished Professorship. Her current research centers on literature and cinema made in Chile that deal with Augusto Pinochet’s dictatorship, as well as the transition and consolidation of democracy afterwards.
Kyla Terhune has been named senior vice president of the division of education at the American College of Surgeons. She has served as a faculty member with Vanderbilt University School of Medicine for the past 15 years. She also served as the senior vice president for education affairs and associate chief of staff for clinical education at Vanderbilt University Medical Center. Alongside her new role, she will retain an adjunct appointment as a professor of surgery at Vanderbilt.
Yiming Wang has joined the faculty at Haverford College in Pennsylvania as an assistant professor of chemistry. Her scholarship spans the fields of nanoscience and materials chemistry. Before her new role, she held postdoctoral appointments at Harvard University and Boston University, where she gained teaching experience in analytical chemistry.
Regina Williams Davis has been appointed assistant vice provost for online and extended learning at North Carolina A&T State University. She has been a faculty member in the university’s department of English and communication studies for nearly two decades. Throughout her tenure, she has served in several key leadership roles, including associate vice provost for student success and university registrar; interim vice provost for strategic planning, operations, and institutional effectiveness; and director of the Center for Academic Excellence.
Shelby McDonald has been named director of the Human-Animal Bond in Colorado, a nonprofit center in the School of Social Work at Colorado State University. She currently serves as an associate professor and the inaugural Sarama Bliss Endowed Chair in Human-Animal Interaction. Her research how relationships with animals influence human health and wellbeing, and how social and structural inequities shape those relationships.
The Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, an organization dedicated to improving health and advancing the profession of nutrition and dietetics through research, education, and advocacy, has recently announced the recipients of the 2025 Medallion Awards. The award honors scholars for their participation, leadership, and devotion to others in the field and allied health professions.
Mridul Datta is a clinical associate professor in the department of food science and human nutrition and director of the master of professional practice degree program in dietetics at Iowa State University. Before joining the Iowa State faculty in 2018, Dr. Datta was an assistant professor and director of the undergraduate dietetics program at Purdue University in Indiana. As a scholar, she has conducted extensive research in oncology and women’s health.
Sudha Raj is a teaching professor and director of the graduate program in the department of nutrition and food studies at Syracuse University in New York. A faculty member for over three decades, she is currently working to develop a new certificate program in integrative and functional nutrition. Her scholarly work centers on vegetarian nutrition, integrative and functional nutrition, and traditional food and medical systems. Specifically, she has conducted extensive research into the role of acculturative factors as they impact the health and well-being of Asian Indian immigrants.
Hollie Raynor is a professor in the department of nutrition and executive associate dean of research and operations for the College of Education, Health, and Human Sciences at the University of Tennessee, where she has taught for nearly two decades. She also directs the Healthy Eating and Activity Laboratory and holds an adjunct appointment in the department of psychology. Drawing from the fields of nutrition and clinical psychology, her research focuses on identifying best methods to implement behavioral dietary factors that improve outcomes in obesity treatment and translating lifestyle intervention into practice-based settings.
Christina M. Mortellaro has been selected to serve as interim dean of the School of Nursing and Health Professions at Saint Peter’s University in Jersey City, New Jersey. A faculty member for nearly two decades, she currently serves as an assistant professor of biology and assistant vice president for academic affairs and assessment. In addition to her administrative work, designing programs and leading curriculum revisions, she teaches courses in human anatomy and physiology, as well as related biology electives.
Burcu Akinci has been named dean of the College of Engineering at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh. She first joined the university in 2000 and currently serves as the Hamerschlag University Professor and head of the department of civil and environmental engineering. Earlier, she spent six years as associate dean of the College of Engineering. Her research interests include modeling and reasoning about digital twins of buildings and infrastructure systems to streamline construction and infrastructure operations.
Ebony Gilbreath has been promoted from interim dean to permanent dean of the College of Veterinary Medicine at Tuskegee University in Alabama. She was the college’s associate dean for academic and student affairs. Since joining the Tuskegee faculty in 2011, she has served in several other roles, such as assistant dean for pre-clinical programs and head of the department of pathobiology. As a veterinarian, she focuses on comparative pathology, neurodegenerative diseases, and reproductive physiology.
Maral Mousavi, an assistant professor and the Edna Chow and Daniel Maneval Early Career Chair in Biomedical Engineering at the University of Southern California, has been named the 2026 recipient of the Royce W. Murray Young Investigator Award from the Society for Electroanalytical Chemistry. Presented annually, the award recognizes one scientist from around the world who has made outstanding research contributions to the field within the first 10 years after receiving their doctorate.
Tamara Michel Josserand has been appointed vice chancellor for university advancement at North Carolina A&T State University. She has been serving as the vice president for development at the University of Washington. Throughout her career, she has held key advancement positions with the University of Chicago, Yale University, Northwestern University, the University of Nevada-Las Vegas, the University of Illinois-Chicago, and the University of Redlands in California.
Willa Smith is the new director of the Stony Brook Small Business Development Center at Stony Brook University of the State University of New York (SUNY) System. She has worked for the New York Small Business Development Center for several years, gaining extensive experience in small business advising, portfolio management, and entrepreneurial development.
Anette Saxe has been named assistant dean of administration for the College of Agriculture, Biotechnology, and Natural Resources at the University of Nevada, Reno. Her background includes over two decades of experience in education, fiscal management, and organizational excellence. Most recently, she was vice president of administrative services at Las Positas College in Livermore, California.
Linda Chavers is the inaugural director of restorative practices and mediation at Holyoke Community College in Massachusetts. Her expertise includes crisis management, curriculum design, diversity support, and organizational development. A writer and consultant, Dr. Chavers also has an extensive background in higher education, including various roles at Temple University in Philadelphia and Harvard University.
Beth Dowling was recently appointed assistant provost and institutional registrar at Dartmouth College in Hanover, New Hampshire. She comes to the Ivy League school from New England College in Henniker, New Hampshire, where she has worked for the past 15 years. Most recently, she was associate vice president for institutional research and data governance. Her prior roles with New England College include director of mentoring, registrar, and dean of academic operations.
Kristine A. Brown has been named vice president for strategic communications and marketing at Bucknell University in Lewisburg, Pennsylvania. With over two decades of experience spanning higher education, healthcare, government, and the nonprofit sector, she most recently served as vice president of external affairs at Rider University in New Jersey. Before her role with Rider, she was director of communications for the New Jersey Department of Children and Families.
Janet Hadar has been appointed chief operating officer of the University of Alabama at Birmingham Health System. She was president and chief executive officer of the University of North Carolina Hospitals. Previously, she served in a variety of key leadership roles with UNC Health, including senior vice president of operations for the medical center and system hospitals and vice chair for clinical integration for the university’s department of medicine.
Paula Murphy has been named state director of the Massachusetts Small Business Development Center (MSBDC) Network in the Isenberg School of Management at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. Her background includes over three decades of experience in international trade and business development. Earlier in her career, she founded and directed the MSBDC Network’s Massachusetts Export Center.
Currently, Dr. Lloréns is on leave from the University of Rhode Island, serving as the 2025-2026 Cornille Distinguished Visiting Professor at Wellesley College in Massachusetts, the top-rated women’s college in the United States. There, she is working on a new book about Latinxs accessing the outdoors across the country. She has authored several other books, including her most recent monograph, 
Jennifer Martin has been named the Leon Medical Centers Professor of Geriatrics and director of the Benjamín León, Jr. Family Center for Geriatric Research and Education in the Herbert Wertheim College of Medicine at Florida International University. As part of her new appointment, she will also serve as a senior psychologist and director of the Geriatric Research, Education, and Clinical Center at the Miami VA Healthcare System. An expert in geriatrics, behavioral sleep medicine, and translational research, Dr. Matin previously taught at the David Geffen School of Medicine at the University of California, Los Angeles.
Cambria Kaltwasser has been appointed to the Marvin and Jerene DeWitt Endowed Biblical and Theological Studies Professorship at Northwestern College in Orange City, Iowa. A faculty member with the college since 2017, she teaches courses in historical and doctrinal theology. Her research centers on prayer, sanctification, and Christian life.
Amy Magnus has been named a Lantis Endowed University Chair at California State University, Chico, where she teaches courses on political science and criminal justice. With a particular focus on rural communities, she centers her work on the philosophies of justice and activism, the politics of social inequality and trajectories towards equity, access to justice, and the relationship between law, society, and culture. She also studies the student experience in higher education.
Elena Naumova is the inaugural recipient of the Barry J. Rosenbaum Professorship in Data Science in the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy at Tufts University in Massachusetts. She currently leads the university’s new data analytics and AI in nutrition specialization. Her scholarship spans a broad range of research programs in emerging and re-emerging diseases, environmental epidemiology, molecular biology, nutrition, and growth.
Diane Reidy-Lagunes has been named the inaugural Joseph O. Moore, M.D. Director of Oncology for the Duke University Health System. She is the chief of the division of medical oncology and associate vice president for oncology services for Duke Health, as well as a professor of medicine at Duke University School of Medicine. Her medical research focuses on developing methods to integrate molecular-based therapies into the treatment of neuroendocrine and adrenal tumors.
Mihaela Czobor-Lupp was promoted to professor of political science. Professor Czobor-Lupp started teaching at Carleton as a tenure-track assistant professor in 2010. She is the author or editor of several books, including 
Amna Khalid was named professor of history at Carleton College. Professor Khalid came to Carleton in 2011 as an assistant professor of history. She has taught courses on South Asia’s colonial history, post-independence relations between India and Pakistan, the political and social history of India’s partition, and the relationship between colonial expansion and the spread of disease. After completing her bachelor’s degree in social sciences with a minor in economics, Dr. Khalid earned a master’s degree in development studies and a Ph.D. in history from the University of Oxford in England. She was a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Sussex in England and a senior lecturer at the University of Cape Town in South Africa.
Anna Rafferty was promoted to professor of computer science. Professor Rafferty joined the Carleton computer science department as an assistant professor in 2014. She teaches a wide range of courses, including computer science theory, programming-focused courses, and electives related to artificial intelligence. In her research, Professor Rafferty addresses questions in education and cognition using machine learning tools. Dr. Rafferty holds bachelor’s degrees in feminist studies and symbolic systems and a master’s degree in symbolic systems from Stanford University. She earned a Ph.D. in computer science from the University of California, Berkeley.
Julie Ross, the Paul and Dorothea Torgersen Dean of the College of Engineering and special advisor to the president, has been named executive vice president and provost of Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University. She will begin her new role on January 10, 2026.
Tashika Griffith has been named the seventh permanent president of Germanna Community College in Locust Grove, Virginia. She will assume her presidency on January 1.
Following three months of interim service, Meggan Madden has been officially named president of Principia College in Elsah, Illinois. The liberal arts college enrolls some 330 students, 40 percent of whom are women.
Women in Academia Report regularly publishes a list of new books that may be of interest to our readers. The books included are on a wide variety of subjects and present many different points of view. The opinions expressed in these books do not necessarily reflect the views of the editorial board of WIAReport. As an Amazon Associate, WIAReport will earn a fraction of revenue from qualifying purchases.
Alverno College, a women’s liberal arts educational institution in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, has received a $1.1 million legacy gift from Gwen and Rudy Godinez, who participated in the college’s adult education initiative after their retirement. The donation will fund scholarships for first-generation undergraduate students beginning in the fall 2026 semester.
The National Institutes of Health has awarded a $483,620 grant to Mentewab Ayalew, professor of biology at Spelman College – a women’s liberal arts educational institution in Atlanta. Dr. Ayalew will use the funding to create an integrated genomic data science curriculum for the college’s biology program. The updated program will prepare students to manage the massive datasets that are driving biomedical research in oncology, human genetics, neuroscience, and disease prevention.
The Whitson-Hester School of Nursing at Tennessee Technological University was awarded a $1.5 million grant from the Health Resources and Services Administration to train and certify sexual assault nurse examiners (SANEs). Students who choose to become a certified SANE receive additional training beyond their nursing degrees, preparing them to conduct trauma-informed interviews, collect evidence, document and photograph injuries, and understand how trauma affects the brain and body.
Effective June 1, Texas Christian University plans to close its department of women and gender studies, according to an 
Barbara Gaba, president of Atlantic Cape Community College in New Jersey, has announced she will retire on June 30, 2026.
Huajing Maske has been named the inaugural director of the Sands Institute for Chinese Language and Culture at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. She has over two decades of experience in higher education. Most recently, she was assistant vice president of international partnerships at Wayne State University in Detroit. Earlier, she was an associate professor and executive director of the Office of China Initiatives at the University of Kentucky.
Yun Jin Rho has been named senior director of curriculum and learning analytics at Western Governors University. Her background includes over a decade of experience in educational technology. She most recently served as vice president of intelligence for Transfr, an organization that builds training tools through virtual reality-based learning.
Christy Smith is the new associate dean of health sciences at West Georgia Technical College. Prior to her new role, she spent 20 years with Southern Crescent Technical College in Georgia, where she was program director for medical assisting and healthcare management and department chair of allied health. As head of her department, she led curriculum innovation, faculty development, and programmatic accreditation efforts.
Kelly Bruhn has been named dean of the School of Journalism and Mass Communication at Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa. Her appointment is effective July 1, 2026. A full professor of public relations, Dr. Bruhn currently serves as the school’s associate dean. Her scholarship centers on public relations pedagogy and agency-client relationships. Before joining the Drake faculty, she worked in public relations for Verizon Wireless and various nonprofit organizations.
Jamie Wittenberg has been appointed dean of University Libraries at Loyola University Chicago, effective January 1. She comes to her new role from the University of Colorado Boulder Libraries, where she has been serving as assistant dean for research and innovation strategies. Earlier, she was head of research data management and scholarly communication at Indiana University Libraries and led the research data management program at the University of California, Berkeley.
Heather Greenlee has been selected to serve as interim dean of the Graduate College at Iowa State University. She has been servinig as the college’s associate dean for student and scholar success and holds the title of Lora and Russ Talbor Endowed Professor in Veterinary Medicine in the College of Veterinary Medicine’s department of biomedical sciences. Her research interests include systems biology and neurodegeneration.
Teri Kirby, associate professor of psychological sciences at Purdue University, is the 2025 recipient of the Outstanding Early Career Award from the International Society for Self and Identity. Presented annually, the award is given to researchers who have made impressive contributions to the understanding of self and identity within the first 10 years of obtaining their doctorate.
Karen Imgrund Deak has been promoted from interim executive director to permanent executive director of the IDEA Center at the University of Notre Dame in Indiana. She has held several roles at Notre Dame throughout her career, including director of network engagement for the IDEA Center, commercialization specialist in the Office of Technology Transfer, and director of a master’s-level program teaching patent law to prospective patent agents.
Jennifer H. Stephens is the vice president for marketing and communications at Texas Southern University. With over two decades of higher education leadership experience, she most recently served as the chief communications and marketing officer at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette. Earlier, she was deputy chief of staff to the president, associate vice president for public affairs, and interim executive director of government and external relations at Georgia Gwinnett College.
Rolanda Horn has been appointed vice president for institutional effectiveness and SACSCOC liaison at Georgia Piedmont Technical College. Prior to her new role, she was director of assessment at Wallace Community College in Alabama. Earlier in her career, she was the quality enhancement plan coordinator for Alabama State University.
Julianna King was recently appointed assistant director of student involvement for programing in the Office of Student Involvement at the College of Charleston in South Carolina. She has spent the past three years working in Boston, gaining experience in student involvement and campus recreation.
Jessica Ulrich-Schad, associate professor of sociology at Utah State University, recently received the 2025 William R. Freudenburg Award of Merit from the Rural Sociological Society, a professional organization dedicated to advancing social science research and improving the well-being of rural communities throughout North America.
Karletta Chief is the inaugural Agnese Nelms Haury Endowed Professor in Indigenous Resilience at the University of Arizona, where she is a professor of environmental science. A faculty member since 2011, she currently directs the university’s Indigenous Resilience Center. In this role, she focuses on addressing water access, energy, and food challenges that affect tribal communities.
Aviva Abosch has been named the Esernia Endowed Chair in Surgical Treatment of Adult Epilepsy and Movement Disorders at Baptist Health, which manages the faculty group practice and serves as the teaching hospital for the Florida International University College of Medicine. Before joining Baptist Health, Dr. Abosch was the Nancy A. Keegan and Donald R. Voelte, Jr. Chair in Neurosurgery at the University of Nebraska Medical Center.
Sophia Henneberg has joined the Massachusetts Institute of Technology faculty as an assistant professor and Norman Rasmussen Career Development Professor in the department of nuclear science and engineering. Her research focuses on developing, utilizing, and extending optimization tools to identify new, promising stellarator designs, which are a promising path toward fusion energy. Before MIT, Dr. Henneberg was a research scientist at the Max Planck Institute for Plasma Physics in Greifswald, Germany.
Angela Gapa has been named a Lantis Endowed University Chair at California State University, Chico, where she teaches as an associate professor of international relations. Throughout her career, she has focused her scholarship on the sources of political and economic variation among resource-rich countries. Her current research explores the global and local geopolitics of the diamond, platinum, oil, and rare earth mineral industries; the geopolitics of energy in southern Africa; and the role of identity politics in international relations.
Lisa Lambert has been officially named the twenty-first president of Chatham University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. She has led the university on an interim basis since June.
Mississippi University for Women has received a $140,000 grant from the Mississippi Department of Education’s Mississippi Teacher Residency Program. Through this grant, 10 students pursuing a teaching career will receive funding covering tuition, books, and fees. In addition to providing mentoring opportunities from working teachers, the program will also cover licensure exam vouchers, test preparation resources, and professional technology to support the students’ internships during the spring 2026 semester.
The Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York City was recently awarded a $4.5 million grant from the National Institutes of Health to train the next generation of leaders in women’s health research. The program will provide training, mentorship, and resources to three junior faculty scholars each year for the next five years. Scholars will focus their work on how environmental, social, nutritional, and chemical exposures influence women’s health arcoss the lifespan.
The Commonwealth of Massachusetts’ Department of Elementary and Secondary Education has awarded a $199,284 grant to the Pioneer Valley Literacy Consortium, which includes two Massachusetts-based liberal arts institutions for women – Mount Holyoke College and Smith College – and several neighboring public school districts. The funding will strengthen the colleges’ collaboration with local schools and prepare students pursuing careers in education to teach evidence-based early literacy.
